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Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint &

Melanie Woodward
All rights reserved.

While all attempts have been made to verify the

information provided in this publication, neither
the Author nor the Publisher assumes any
responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary
interpretation of the subject matter herein.

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For permissions, contact:
Melanie Woodward; Event Planning Blueprint;
Toronto, ON Canada
info@eventplanningblueprint.com
Published by Event Planning Blueprint
Toronto, ON Canada
www.eventplanningblueprint.com
info@eventplanninglbueprint.com

This publication is not intended for use as

a source of legal or accounting advice. The
Publisher wants to stress that the information
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Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint &
Melanie Woodward.

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

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ii

Thanks for confirming your email address!

Hiya, Melanie here.
Im really happy youre ready to take your event
planning business to the next level.
Youre going to love this 100% free, super-cool,
income-generating stuff with countless tips
and pieces of advice that you can put to work
rightaway.

P.S. I wish I could come to your house and hold

your hand through the process of building your
event-planning career. My next best option is to
offer you digital programs that allow me to give
you insider secrets and step-by-step techniques
so you become the best dang event planner
you can be.
To learn more, visit:
http://www.eventplanningblueprint.com/
products/

And, youre going to

Learn Seven Simple Steps That You Can
Apply Right Now To Have Clients Find You.
Discover The Secret Reason You Dont Know
How To Charge For Your Services.
Develop Your Brand So You Attract Your
Perfect Client Today.
Determine THE #1 Way To Get New
Business and it wont cost you anything!
Get techniques to speed up your business
growth even more.

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

iii

Contents
The Reason You Dont Know How to Charge Properly

What Does Your Branding Say About You?

Who Is Your Perfect Client?

How Do Your Clients Find You?

The #1 Way to Get New Business

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

12

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

iv

Start your business today and

be your own boss tomorrow!
The Reason You Dont Know How to Charge Properly
One of the questions I get asked the most from
our event community is How do I charge for
myservices?
Are you surprised?
Yeah, probably not. Its kinda the big one!
One planner even said it like this:
Why do I seem to get stuck on what to
charge my clients when I consider myself an
experienced event planner?
Whether its as frustrating as she paints it or just
a mild case of uncertainty, youll want to follow
these tips so youre not selling yourself short.

48% of Independent Event

Planners Charge $50-99 an Hour for
TheirServices
When I started my event planning business in
2004, I typically charged $75 an hour.

An event planner in the Los Angeles area can

charge more than an event planner in Boise,
Idaho. Just think of the difference in city size, per
capita income, and types of events these two
very different cities would require.
Using Los Angeles prices in Boise would mean
a lot of days twiddling your thumbs because
customers arent calling. Using Boise prices in
Los Angeles might get you more work than you
can handle. It would also send you into the red
very quickly and probably out of business within
your first few events.
Thats not a negative for either city. Its just
important to know which price structure the
area youre doing business in can support. You
dont want to overcharge and you dont want to
undercharge. Staying competitive will help you
build your event planning business so you can
grow and become the event planner to call in
your city.

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

Once You Set Your Rates, Stick

ToThem
Its really important to price your products and
services correctly not only for sales, cash flow,
and profit margins, but also for branding.

4. Create a list of all your costs so you know

what you need in order to make a profit.
Costs can include a computer, pens and
paper, travel time to an event, rent for your
office space, insurance costs, a printer,
phone expenses, stationary, etc.

Once you set your rates, stick to them.

Different fee structures to consider:

Each event-planning project is unique, so you

have some wiggle-room to price a job. But
dont toggle your rates back and forth from one
extreme to the other.

1. Flat Fee: Most clients prefer to know how

much a project will cost, inclusive of all
fees. If you choose this fee structure, you
must determine which services will be
covered for that amount. This is good for
packaged events.

Be consistent with your rates.

Be confident with your rates.
Both will show youre a professional who can
get the job done for your client, which will lead
to even more work (and more profit) for you!
Four steps to determine your rates:
1. Determine what other planners are charging
for the same type of events in other cities by
doing a Google search.

2. Percentage of Expenses: Qualified event

planners should feel comfortable with
charging between 15-20% of the total cost of
an event even as high as 35%. Sometimes,
depending on the complexity of the program
and amount of time it takes to plan and
execute an event, this is necessary to cover a
planners entire cost and source of profit.

2. Determine how or where you can save your

client money.

3. Hourly Rate: Similar to the flat fee rate,

establishing an hourly rate allows more
flexibility for both parties to adjust to
changes that pop-up along the way.

3. Do a little undercover work. Call other event

planners in different cities to see if they
charge a flat fee or an hourly rate for the
same type of events that you plan, and find
out what they charge.

4. Percentage of Budget PLUS Expenses:

this is my preferred way to charge for event
planning services. Charge 15-25% of the
overall event budget as a service fee plus
all expenses. This way youre charging for

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

your time and your client pays all expenses

associated with the event. A detailed event
budget needs to be presented to your client
for every event so they know how much the
event will cost them.

You know what I mean?

If you can think of anyone in your life that has
experienced this, would you be sure to forward
this to him or her?
That way we can make a difference in their life
and business together!

Note

5. Commissionable Rate: Another way that

event planners may collect fees for services
is by securing event space through venues
that offer commissions. Beware of this option
because your client may question your sense
of loyalty.

I get so frustrated when I see someone who

isnt charging enough for their hard work
andexperience.

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

What Does Your Branding Say About You?

Some have told me theyve taken the first steps
to starting their business and others have taken
time each day to improve their business...

Heres a strategy to go through in order to

come up with your event planning business
name and business image:

Most can finally see the possibility of what the

future holds.

1. How do you want your business to

be perceived?

And honestly, Im so excited for you.

Its these small action steps that are going to
make such a difference in your ability to build
your business.
(Hint: it is one of the keys to my success!)
When building a business, many planners feel
like the weight of the world is on creating their
business name and their brands image.
Heres what I want you to do:
Allow your thoughts to be!
You dont need to fight them at all.
In fact, that does the opposite of what you
want to do.

The Branding Exercise

(I recommend asking your team, a few peers,
friends or family members to help you with this
brainstorming exercise)

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

Write out how your clients will perceive

you and your business. Whats important
to you personally, and how do you want
your personality to shine in your business?
Write out what you want to be known for.
Do you want to be known for outdoor
festivals, corporate meetings, or throwing
the best weddings in the city?
Know your WHY. Why are you doing what
youre doing? Why is it important? What is
the WHY that youre selling?
Event Planning Blueprint Tip
Like Mega-Entrepreneur Richard Branson, who
integrates his personality across all his Virgin
brands, be consistent with your marketing!

People dont buy what you do,

they buy why you do it.
- Simon Sinek

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

 What parts of my personality do I want to

show in the name of my business?

2. Create your brand values Ask yourself

these questions:
What are you standing for and what do
you want your business to be known for?
I.e.: family, health, lifestyle, etc.
And more importantly, what do you
standagainst?
Remember to be descriptive: fun, creative,
innovative, etc. is a good start. Then, try digging
deeper like I want to become friends with my
clients, I dont want to work with anyone that I
wouldnt invite to dinner with my family, etc.

Will your target market be interested in

what youre offering?
Ive found that many people put a lot of
stress on themselves when it comes to their
business name...
Make sure it resonates with you and reflects
your personality.
Event Planning Blueprint Tip
Keep in mind; its OK to have a name that is
unique and doesnt have anything to do with
event planning. My first business name was
C!AO Event Management (pronounced chow
and stood for creative, innovative and original)
and I had to explain it all the time, but people
remembered it.

3. Where do I start with naming

mybusiness?
When brainstorming words and names,
take into consideration your personality.
For example, are you conservative, modern,
professional, nerdy, cheeky or sassy? Integrate
that into your brand and business name.
Then brainstorm names and words and narrow
down the list to the one that suits you the best.
When deciding your business name,
askyourself:
Who is your target market? For example, is
your ideal client male or female? How old
are they? Where do they live?

4. Ask 25 or more people in your target

market about the 23 names youve
narrowed down and take note of their
responses.
Breathe easy!
Your business name is NOT the most important
part of your business. You want something that
people will remember, but how you build your
brand (and image) and how you get it out there
is more important.

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

 Go through a process of how you plan

an event by writing down each step, and
defining what you do that nobody else
does or shares in their marketing.

5. Work with a designer. Once you know

how you want your business to be
perceived and what you stand for
(values), hire a designer to create a logo
and brand identity for you.

Ask previous clients, What did you like

about working with me? or prospective
clients What would make working with
meirresistible?

Id suggest using http://www.99designs.com if

you dont know a designer.
6. What sets you apart from
thecompetition?
Not, were better.

Now use these unique words, processes, or

steps in your marketing thats what will set you
apart from the competition.

Note

Be who you are, and do more of that.

Franziska Isli-Hall

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

Who Is Your Perfect Client?

Do you know exactly what your perfect client
looks like, what they like and dislike, where
they spend time, and what TV shows they
like to watch?

Now, youre going to find out exactly whom

your target audience is so you can speak
directly to them when marketing your event
planning business.

The first step in creating the event planning

business you want and the results you desire is
to know exactly who your client is.

People work in patterns, so youll want to focus

on these steps to get a clear picture of the
people you want to work with and be hired by.

Unfortunately, many of us get stuck because we

dont know where to start or how to create the
perfect client anatomy.

After all, its not effective to be all things

to all people.
(Get a pen and paper for this!)

Six Steps to Finding Your Perfect Client

Who do you want to connect with? What do they look like if theyre standing in front of you
at a conference or in a coffee shop?

Who do you want to spend time with? If you were going to have coffee with someone every
morning, what would they look like?

Write out the demographics of your perfect client. Where do they live, how old are they
(stay within a 15yr span, for example 25-40yrs old), what is their ethnicity, are they male or
female, where do they work/what is their employment status, are they educated?

What are they interested in, what do they watch on TV, what movies do they like? Who do
they follow on Facebook? What are they passionate about and what is important to them?

What do they want and what problems do they have? i.e. money, staff, resources, etc. What
are their challenges, struggles, worries, or pet peeves?

Highlight the solutions that youre going to solve for your perfect client and what they wish
was true about their situation. For example, what benefits would you provide them?

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

The things most planners and most businesses

offer are what THEY are about and not the
benefit they provide the client. Many focus on
their experience, their professionalism, or the
stress-free solutions they provide.
But, its more important to focus on the benefits
you provide your customer.
For example, consider the diet industry.
You can search almost any diet-related website
and youll see that theyll sell you a cookbook or
a product, but what theyre really selling you is
weight loss and feeling good, and who doesnt
want that?
Let me put it another way.
Youre not selling the hammer; youre selling the
hole in the wall that the hammer provides.

The hammer is stress-free event planning (thats

what the client needs) but the hole (what they
WANT) is for all their guests to have an amazing
time and be sharing stories and pictures over
the weekend and talking about the event on
Monday morning.
Or, the expertise you provide is the hammer
(they need the event planners experience
thats why they originally reached out to you),
but what they WANT is to save time and money
and not feel stressed about having to plan
an event.
Its important to tell the story and paint a
picture for your client about the feeling theyll
experience rather than selling them solely on
your expertise.
The GOAL for this exercise is to step into the
shoes of your perfect client and know them so
well that you think like them.

Note

Yes, people need the hammer but what they

WANT is the hole!

Now apply this to your event planning business.

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

How Do Your Clients Find You?

If there were a business in your area looking for
an event planner, how would they find you?
Would they search the Yellow Pages (yes, those
still exist!) or, more likely, would they do a
Google search for local event planners?
Would your name come up in the
search results?

And its much harder to get clients when they

cant find your website in search engines like
Google or Yahoo.
This means you need to have a website
developed and optimized for search engines,
and you should list your business profile in
your local event planning directories and travel
bureau sites.

Most prospective clients looking for an event

planner are going to use the Internet to search
for you, so you have to be easy to find.
78% of small businesses attract
new customers through social media.
Relevanza
Do you have an event planning website, or
maybe youre in the process of designing
one now?
Its important to have an online presence
so your clients can find you. I use my site to
advertise in online directories, forward to
potential clients, and use as an advertising
piece for people looking for an event planner in
my city.

Event Planning Blueprint Tip

When youre building your event website, be
sure to use keywords in the text.
Keywords are words that people search for
online, for example, event planning NYC or how
to plan an event, or how to charge for my event
planning services.
Target just a few keywords per (website) page
so each page is focused on different searches.

Think About What Your Competition

is Doing
Trying to learn about Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) for your event planning
website can be overwhelming and seem like
you have to learn a new language, which can be
frustrating (at least it was for me!).

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

But, SEO is critical if you want your website to

come up in the search results when someone is
searching for an event planner in your area.
Quite honestly, if you dont know much about
SEO then I recommend hiring someone
who does.
Event Planning Blueprint Tip
To save you a lot of time and money, if youre
not good at something or dont like doing it,
hire someone who loves it!

The Seven Most Important (and

Easiest) SEO Tips For YourWebsite
SEO can be technical, and a lot of jargon is
oftenused.
For example: what the heck do analytics, black
hat, bot, META tags, or PPC mean anyway?
Dont let these terms scare you.
You dont need to know everything about SEO (I
dont!) but its a good idea to know something as
you build your business.

The Seven Most Important (and Easiest) SEO Tips For Your Website
Use keywords in your domain name or page URL where possible. A keyword or keyword
phrase is something you think people will type into a search engine to find what theyre
looking for. When the actual keyword phrase appears in the URL (the actual address of the
page), your page is more likely to come up higher in a search result for that phrase. For
example, my URL is www.eventplanningblueprint.com keywords are event planning.

Page titles should include keywords. Dont call your portfolio page Portfolio. More
effective would be New York City Event Planning Portfolio, for example.

Repeat keywords in headlines and subheads.

Get relevant and well-established websites to link to your website. If youre the preferred
event planner for a venue or other vendor, ask them to link to your site.

Dont over-stuff your pages with keywords, keep it under about 5% of the total words on
the page a good rule is to use your keyword or keyword phrase every 200-300 words.

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

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The Seven Most Important (and Easiest) SEO Tips For Your Website (contd...)
Include relevant and interesting content on your event planning website so that people
visit multiple pages on your site and share your content (if you blog) or event pictures and
stories through social media.

If youre offering your event planning services in a specific geographic area, dont try to
compete for the very general and competitive phrase event planning. Narrow your
keyword phrases further by being more specific. For example, by including the areas you
serve: Event planning Seattle or Atlanta event planning.
formula always changes to prevent companies
from cheating the system.
If you stick with the seven basics Ive shared
here, youll be further ahead than many of
yourcompetitors.

Note

Entire books, thousands of websites, and many

businesses are devoted to SEO techniques
and services. Its important to understand that
no one really knows the exact formula search
engines (like Google) use to determine how
websites are ranked in search results. And the

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

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The #1 Way to Get New Business

Recently I had a question from one of our
EventPlanning BlueprintTV viewers about event
marketing tools.
After years of travel and event planning for
clients and managing multiple projects at once,
I can truly appreciate the innovation that Jeff,
from Planning Pod, shared with me about why
they created a product that was long overdue in
the event planning industry and how they spoke
to their clients before creating their products.
With 25 years of advertising and marketing
experience, Jeff also shares techniques on how
to position yourself in a particular event niche,
why your event marketing strategy starts with
research and how doing it upfront will make or
break your business, and how to create a web
presence with a small budget.

4. Include a bio and picture of yourself.

5. Put your contact info on each page of your
event planning website.
6. Buy your own domain and dont use free
website providers.
7. Dont use a Gmail or Yahoo account for your
business email.

12 Event Marketing Strategies

to Promote Your Event Planning
Business, Including...
The #1 way for small businesses to get new
business!
1. Create a short list of keywords people use
to Google your business.

Seven Strategies to Help Build Your

Event Planning Website

2. Build your own email list with iContact or

AWeber (I use AWeber!).

1. Use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for

your website.

3. Once every quarter, send an email to your

list of clients and ask for a referral. This
strategy is most overlooked, yet its the #1
way to get new business!

2. Create a good, clean website that sets you

apart and highlights your strengths and the
benefits to your potential client.
3. Use social proof like quotes, pictures, and
videos on your site.

4. Offer an incentive for people who do

referyou.
5. Position yourself as a thought leader in
thecommunity.

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

12

6. Use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to

connect with your clients.

Do What 99% of Event Planners

AreNot

7. Once a month, offer DIY classes.

P.S. Now is your chance to fulfill your dream

and build your event planning business - it just
might be the kick in the butt you need!

8. Advertise in event publications like The

Knot and in local directories.
9. Attend and/or register for industry and local
trade shows and get the list of attendees
to plan your strategy before going to
theevent.
10. Use your business cards, testimonials, or
case study fliers to introduce yourself to
prospective clients.

P.P.S. Do you want to speed up your business

growth even more?
Click Here To Get Started Right Now For
Only $7 (no, thats not a typo!):
http://www.eventplanningblueprint.com/
makeeveryclientwantyou/

11. Have an open house at your office or with a

vendor and invite potential clients.

Note

12. Always, always follow up!

Copyright 2014 Event Planning Blueprint & Melanie Woodward.

www.eventplanningblueprint.com

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