Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / Being the bride, not the business owner with Nikita Thorne

Transcript

Being the bride, not the business owner with Nikita Thorne · Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney

• 0:00
  Nikita: Instagram isn't quite king anymore, is it?
• 0:02
  So I would say if you're not yet on TikTok, maybe it's time to think about
• 0:08
  whether it would serve your social media strategy and potentially think about the
• 0:13
  kind of content you could be posting.
• 0:18
  Becca: I'm Becca Pountney, Wedding Business Marketing Expert,
• 0:20
  speaker and blogger, and you're listening to the Wedding Pros
• 0:23
  Who Are Ready to Grow podcast.
• 0:25
  I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
• 0:28
  examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
• 0:32
  If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
• 0:36
  and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business, doing what you
• 0:39
  love, then you're in the right place.
• 0:41
  Let's get going with today's episode.
• 0:45
  Today I'm chatting with Nikita Thorne, Head of Strategy at Guides for Brides.
• 0:49
  Since she last appeared on the podcast back in 2022, she's been through the
• 0:52
  wedding planning process herself, so I wanted to get her back to find out how
• 0:56
  her views have changed since planning her own wedding and how it impacts what
• 1:00
  she now tells other wedding pros to.
• 1:02
  Having had this conversation multiple times over coffee, I decided it
• 1:05
  was time to hit record and let you all listen into our conversation.
• 1:09
  Nikita, welcome back to the podcast.
• 1:12
  Nikita: I'm back.
• 1:15
  How are you, Becca?
• 1:16
  Becca: I'm good.
• 1:16
  It's so good to have you back.
• 1:18
  You are one of the very few people that has appeared on this podcast
• 1:21
  twice, but I know it's going to be a great conversation, which is why
• 1:24
  I wanted you to come back again.
• 1:25
  Nikita: What an honor.
• 1:26
  Fab.
• 1:28
  Fabulous.
• 1:29
  And I mean, we've been spending a lot more time together recently, haven't we?
• 1:32
  I think you're doing a lot more stuff with Guides to Brides, so it's great.
• 1:34
  Becca: Yeah, I absolutely love all of the things we've been doing, the networking,
• 1:38
  awards, this in person conference.
• 1:40
  We've had a great year together.
• 1:41
  So as I said in the intro, we've talked a lot about over coffee, about these things
• 1:45
  and it's time to bring it to the podcast.
• 1:47
  So first of all, huge congratulations because you are now married.
• 1:51
  Nikita: Thanks?
• 1:52
  Yes, now a wife, which is really weird.
• 1:55
  It's not one of those things that you kind of can transition to very easily.
• 1:59
  I'm still not used to calling my husband my husband, which
• 2:02
  is, well, very, very odd.
• 2:08
  Becca: You get used to it eventually, you get used to it eventually, but
• 2:11
  what's been interesting for me is As we said, we've been spending time
• 2:13
  together and I feel like I've almost walked through your entire wedding
• 2:16
  planning process with you from right at the start when you got engaged
• 2:19
  through to actually getting married and seeing you after the wedding day.
• 2:23
  So I wanna talk to you to start with about some of the lessons you've learned.
• 2:26
  Now you've been on the other side and been a bride.
• 2:28
  So the first thing I'm gonna ask you is when you reflect back on your
• 2:31
  wedding day, what do you think was the best thing you spent money on?
• 2:34
  Nikita: Oh God.
• 2:36
  All of it?
• 2:38
  No, yeah, the whole day was great.
• 2:39
  I mean, we were really pleased with how we spent our budget and, you know, we,
• 2:46
  we came across quite a few things as we were planning, which was something I
• 2:49
  didn't expect to happen, that we decided to then add to the budget as we went on.
• 2:56
  So I think probably, you know, the things that I'm, I'm happy we invested
• 3:00
  in were photography, videography.
• 3:03
  Those things sort of stay with you throughout the rest of the
• 3:07
  time that you have together.
• 3:09
  And that's a really great thing for, for us to have is amazing
• 3:12
  photos and a lovely video.
• 3:14
  But I think in terms of things that surprised me, I was, I was
• 3:19
  so happy with my wedding flowers.
• 3:22
  I didn't expect to care about them so much, but I did.
• 3:25
  So I was really happy with that.
• 3:27
  And we jumped on the newspaper trend for our wedding as well, which was,
• 3:32
  I'm not sure if you've seen it, Becca, the wedding newspapers, which have
• 3:35
  just completely taken over TikTok.
• 3:38
  And, yeah, I'm really happy we spent money on that because that, that was
• 3:42
  actually a really big hit with our guests.
• 3:44
  They thought it was so cool.
• 3:45
  So, yeah, to be honest, everything, really happy with everything.
• 3:49
  The venue was amazing, the food was amazing.
• 3:51
  The entertainment was amazing.
• 3:53
  Like, you know, we had an amazing band that it just, it was just all amazing.
• 3:57
  That's the word.
• 3:58
  Becca: I love that.
• 3:59
  And one of the things that's jumped out to me from what you've said then is that you
• 4:02
  added to your budget as you went along.
• 4:04
  And I've been talking to my members recently about how actually now is a good
• 4:08
  time to start thinking about upselling or, you know, it's not too late to pick
• 4:12
  up summer weddings, especially for people like photo booths and that kind of thing.
• 4:16
  Because actually I do think there is a trend of people having this set
• 4:18
  budget, getting all the main things in line, but then actually realizing,
• 4:22
  Oh, there's a few extras and saving up a bit of extra money and throwing
• 4:25
  it at those extras last minute.
• 4:27
  Do you think that would be a fair representation of what happened?
• 4:30
  Nikita: Yeah, I would say that's definitely a fair
• 4:31
  representation of what happened.
• 4:32
  I mean, I, I, I understand that I'm slightly biased because
• 4:36
  I am in the industry, but.
• 4:38
  I think I've seen it happen to my friends as well.
• 4:41
  You know, you come across things, you see stuff on TikTok, you see stuff
• 4:44
  on other social media platforms.
• 4:46
  You, you talk to people about what they're doing for their wedding and the
• 4:50
  ideas that they have just sound amazing.
• 4:52
  And it's so easy to replicate, or it's so easy to, you know, Bring into your
• 4:56
  own day that you think, oh, fantastic.
• 4:58
  I'll, I'll, I'll sort that out.
• 4:59
  Like, for example, I went to an event after, after getting engaged and booking
• 5:05
  the majority of my suppliers within the space of about three months, I went
• 5:10
  to an event with work and there was a magician there and I hadn't even thought
• 5:13
  about having a magician at our wedding.
• 5:17
  Having the Magician there and chatting to him and sort of working
• 5:20
  out, actually, do you know what?
• 5:22
  This is a really good way to break the ice between people.
• 5:26
  And we didn't have it on our budget to begin with.
• 5:28
  And so, yeah, we, we, I brought it home.
• 5:32
  I chatted to Matty about it and he, he was really keen on it as well.
• 5:35
  My parents were very generous and so were his, but they, particularly my parents,
• 5:40
  generously sort of said that they could cover that for us or help cover that.
• 5:44
  And, you know, it, I just felt like it was a really good idea.
• 5:49
  Becca: I love a magician at a wedding.
• 5:50
  Absolutely.
• 5:50
  So if you're listening to this and you're thinking, oh, I still
• 5:53
  got some gaps for this summer.
• 5:55
  It's not too late.
• 5:55
  So keep marketing those additional services, keep talking about it
• 5:58
  and tell people it's not too late.
• 6:00
  They can add it on to their wedding day.
• 6:02
  Now, I think one of the interesting insights from when people get engaged
• 6:05
  for us to know as business owners, as venue owners, is how people make
• 6:10
  decisions when they first get engaged.
• 6:11
  So I'd love you to just talk me through, obviously you get engaged.
• 6:15
  What was the first steps you personally took towards planning your wedding?
• 6:20
  Nikita: So the next evening after getting engaged, we, we
• 6:24
  sort of had a conversation.
• 6:26
  We worked out that the date that we wanted 10 year anniversary.
• 6:30
  And so it was a very specific wedding date that we were looking for.
• 6:33
  So.
• 6:33
  October 7th was going to be our 10 year anniversary.
• 6:36
  And we thought, Oh my gosh, it's on a Saturday.
• 6:38
  That's amazing.
• 6:40
  And so I knew like, okay, this weekend we've got to start planning
• 6:43
  because at that point we're about 15 months away from that.
• 6:47
  And so we sat down, we brought out our guest list to get an idea of numbers.
• 6:52
  And then I started inquiring with wedding venues and.
• 6:56
  For me, I knew, I knew a lot of the suppliers that I did want to secure in the
• 7:00
  initial stages anyway, just from the work that I do and who I knew and who I knew
• 7:05
  was good because I'd seen them at shows or I met them through guys for brides or
• 7:09
  I'd, you know, done a few other things with them over time, you know, I've got,
• 7:13
  The Guides to Brides wedding podcast.
• 7:15
  I had quite a few people who were guests on that podcast because
• 7:18
  I was able to chat to them.
• 7:19
  I got to know them.
• 7:20
  So it was, yeah, we knew what we wanted, but the venue for me
• 7:24
  was the biggest question mark.
• 7:26
  And it was also about like finding one that suited us both.
• 7:31
  And so, you know, I started inquiring on Guides to Brides and looking
• 7:36
  on Google and on social media.
• 7:38
  And I found loads of venues and I quickly started inquiring with a handful and got
• 7:44
  those back and there were a couple that were too expensive and that was fine.
• 7:47
  And there were a couple that, you know, just didn't really quite
• 7:49
  fit what we were looking for.
• 7:50
  But the biggest overwhelm point for me was because I wanted that specific date.
• 7:56
  A lot of people were booked and that was stressful.
• 7:59
  Like finding, and that was because that date was so meaningful to us.
• 8:03
  And we had discussed like if there really wasn't anywhere that we were
• 8:06
  happy with that had that date available.
• 8:08
  Then we would be flexible on it.
• 8:10
  But, you know, I think I sort of sold it on myself and during COVID, you
• 8:16
  know, we saw that that was a really big deal for a lot of couples and,
• 8:19
  you know, we were sitting there going.
• 8:21
  You know what guys, it's just a date, it's fine.
• 8:23
  If you have to move it, that's okay.
• 8:26
  And you know, and now I really understood where those couples were coming from and
• 8:29
  why they were so like, aligned with that.
• 8:32
  And I hadn't realized that before, but you know, I had one day where I came into the
• 8:37
  office and I had like, so little sleep.
• 8:39
  And this is the benefit of working in an office full of wedding professionals and
• 8:42
  people who know the industry, because I basically sat down at tea break and I just
• 8:46
  had a little bit of a cry with everyone.
• 8:48
  And they were like, right, Don't worry.
• 8:49
  We're here.
• 8:50
  We're going to help you find something and Alison was there saying like, don't worry.
• 8:54
  Honestly, it's fine.
• 8:55
  It's just a date.
• 8:56
  Just need to remember.
• 8:57
  It's just a date.
• 8:59
  And all of my colleagues were like, right, well, I can recommend this venue
• 9:02
  and I can recommend this venue show.
• 9:03
  Oh, and I've actually got this venue on my call list today.
• 9:06
  Let me, let me ask them the question if they've got that date available.
• 9:09
  And it was, it was just so nice to work in an office full of wedding
• 9:13
  professionals on that particular day.
• 9:15
  Because they were all just so helpful.
• 9:18
  Because like, I was just so stressed.
• 9:21
  Becca: Yeah, and it's interesting hearing that the date was so important
• 9:23
  to you because I think that comes back to remembering that for some
• 9:28
  people the date doesn't matter, but for some people it does matter.
• 9:30
  So if we are a venue or a supplier, how easy is it for people to know
• 9:34
  very fast the availability because you didn't want to waste your time
• 9:38
  talking to people if you already knew their date wasn't available.
• 9:40
  So was it hard to get that availability from people?
• 9:43
  Was it easy?
• 9:43
  How did that work?
• 9:45
  Nikita: So thank, well, thankfully on, on Guides for Brides, I know
• 9:47
  other platforms do it as well.
• 9:49
  There is the opportunity to sort of put the specific date that you want in there.
• 9:52
  And so all of the initial responses I had genuinely had a either, here's our
• 9:57
  availability calendar, take a look.
• 9:59
  Or it was a, yes, we have that date available or no, we don't.
• 10:04
  So it really helped whereas on the websites, I did find that they didn't
• 10:09
  have that very easily, and I wasn't able to inquire about a specific date,
• 10:13
  which at the end of the day is not an issue because I could just put it in
• 10:15
  the message, and again, the response was very specific, but I think, I think
• 10:21
  for me that was really important, but I know I'm probably in a minority in that.
• 10:25
  So for example, my best friend's getting married this year.
• 10:28
  When she was looking for her venue, she really was not bothered about the date
• 10:32
  at all, and it was more for her about trying to get, find a wedding venue that
• 10:37
  could give her the most for her money.
• 10:39
  And if she was going to have a summer wedding, how could she
• 10:42
  make the most of that opportunity?
• 10:44
  Would, what did the venue package include, et cetera, et cetera.
• 10:47
  But for me, it was very much the date, but you know, we found the venue in the
• 10:51
  end and it was the perfect venue for us.
• 10:53
  So yeah, that was, that was great.
• 10:55
  Becca: And I love the venue that you chose because for me, It's a really good
• 10:59
  example of marketing because we had both actually met the venue, hadn't we, when
• 11:03
  we were speaking at a national wedding fair and, and they were exhibiting, this
• 11:07
  was even before you decided on your venue or anything, we'd met them, I think it
• 11:10
  was before you were engaged and they'd given out this beautiful tote bag.
• 11:13
  They'd given me some honeycomb.
• 11:15
  And so like from a marketing and visibility and positioning point
• 11:19
  of view, they had a really strong brand recognition in my mind.
• 11:23
  So as soon as you said to me, the venue I've chosen is this, I
• 11:25
  was like, Oh, they're the people that gave me the honeycomb.
• 11:28
  And so it's, it shows you the importance of doing those little things when
• 11:33
  you're at a wedding fair, when you're online, having those things that
• 11:35
  people remember you for, because it makes the recall so much better.
• 11:39
  And I love that you got married there in the end.
• 11:41
  Nikita: And you know what, Becca, I actually, The, it was in that stress
• 11:45
  period of, I haven't, I can't find anywhere that I really, really like
• 11:49
  and just sort of clutching at every straw to try and find somewhere.
• 11:54
  And I turned around and I looked at my work bag, which
• 11:57
  was that bag, and went, oh yeah,
• 12:02
  And that's the thing.
• 12:03
  And I, and then I looked at them, I looked at their website, I looked at
• 12:06
  their listings, I looked at their social media, and it just ticked so many boxes.
• 12:10
  And you know, the, the real selling point I have to say, and I think.
• 12:14
  This is the right sort of message across the board, the selling point
• 12:18
  for me and for, and for Mattie, was the, the customer service.
• 12:23
  Because we walked into that venue and we were really early because we
• 12:27
  had seen another venue in that day.
• 12:29
  And I just went up and said, we're here, but we're really early, so
• 12:33
  we're just going to sit down and we're just going to order a drink.
• 12:35
  And they were like, oh, don't worry.
• 12:37
  If you're here for the show round, have a drink.
• 12:40
  Like, you know, really easy.
• 12:42
  And then they were able to sort of, we were, we were sitting down.
• 12:45
  We were just, we ordered a bag of crisps.
• 12:47
  Like, you know, just caught up on it.
• 12:49
  Wedding coordinator came over and said, I'll be free in 15 minutes.
• 12:52
  Nice to meet you.
• 12:53
  Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 12:54
  And yeah, it, it just felt like they actually cared about the both of us.
• 13:00
  And that was really important to me as well, because I went to wedding venues
• 13:02
  where they only spoke to me and not to my partner and I did not like that at all.
• 13:08
  Becca: Yeah, really, really interesting.
• 13:10
  And I do think, especially with venues, I think people make decisions on venues,
• 13:13
  a bit like we make decision on houses.
• 13:15
  Almost the moment you walk in the front door, you feel that
• 13:17
  feeling whether it's right or not.
• 13:19
  And if they get that.
• 13:20
  first impression wrong that sets the whole tour, then they're on an uphill struggle.
• 13:24
  But if that first impression is right, it makes the whole
• 13:27
  process a whole lot easier.
• 13:28
  Now you've said already that you work with a lot of suppliers in your job.
• 13:33
  I always say to my members and the people I work with, I'm so glad I
• 13:35
  got married back in 2010 because I wouldn't be able to narrow it down.
• 13:39
  But you obviously had to narrow it down.
• 13:41
  I talk on stage a lot about how I from the research think that couples
• 13:45
  are narrowing their choices down.
• 13:46
  I would love to hear from you.
• 13:48
  How did you narrow those choices down?
• 13:50
  What were the kind of things you were looking for, not just in
• 13:52
  venues, but across the board?
• 13:54
  So
• 13:54
  Nikita: if we focus on suppliers, I think the main thing I was looking
• 13:58
  for was someone I could trust or people I could trust to do a good job.
• 14:06
  And when it came to things that I had to research, like, for example, when
• 14:10
  I thought about my wedding prior to getting engaged, I, I knew in my head,
• 14:14
  right, I want, I would really want this band or I would really want this
• 14:18
  photographer and thankfully I was able to get them, but when I, but I hadn't
• 14:22
  considered things like hair and makeup, I hadn't considered things like flowers.
• 14:28
  It was those details that I hadn't previously considered and therefore
• 14:32
  hadn't like, And I, for those particular elements, the things
• 14:37
  that I was looking at were reviews.
• 14:40
  I was looking at their listing pages, you know, like across the board,
• 14:44
  not even just on Guides for Brides.
• 14:46
  Like if they're on multiple platforms and I saw them a couple of times, I would
• 14:51
  be like, okay, these guys are, these guys are serious about their business.
• 14:56
  And I would be looking at that, I'd be looking at the photos they'd share, how
• 15:00
  recently their last social media post was.
• 15:03
  I mean, it's something that granular of a detail.
• 15:06
  I mean, if I saw that, I got engaged in the summer, so understanding
• 15:10
  that it's very busy at that point.
• 15:12
  And so I would, I would look at their last social media posts.
• 15:15
  And if I saw it was in the last sort of month, I'd be like, great.
• 15:18
  You know, they're obviously a very active business.
• 15:21
  I'd follow a couple of people before even inquiring with them just to see
• 15:24
  if they added to their story, which, you know, is something that is.
• 15:28
  I don't think people realize that others do.
• 15:31
  And I spoke to a couple of friends about this and they were like,
• 15:34
  Oh no, no, we've done that too.
• 15:35
  So I think that's quite an important thing to note.
• 15:39
  Like they're not just looking at your grid posts.
• 15:42
  They're looking at the way that you enter, they interact with their audience.
• 15:46
  Even if it's like a tiny audience of 20 followers, I want to see
• 15:49
  how you interact with them.
• 15:51
  And then I guess as well, the speed of response for the inquiry.
• 15:57
  Great.
• 15:57
  If I'm waiting for weeks on end to hear back from you, I'm sorry,
• 16:02
  I've already booked someone.
• 16:04
  You know, I had it a couple of times where I sent inquiries
• 16:07
  and I got no response at all.
• 16:10
  And if I really liked a business and I hadn't heard back from them, I would
• 16:13
  actually like, for example, if I sent it on a wedding platform and I hadn't heard
• 16:18
  back from them, I would then go to their website a couple of days later and send
• 16:21
  the inquiry on their website as well.
• 16:23
  Because, you know, I know that sometimes, you know, if you've edited
• 16:26
  a platform and you've forgotten to change an email address or something
• 16:28
  like that, it's very easy to do.
• 16:30
  But other brides wouldn't necessarily know that.
• 16:34
  So if I hadn't heard back from someone within a couple of days
• 16:37
  of sending an inquiry, I probably would have disregarded them.
• 16:41
  And I know that's also happening with my friends.
• 16:45
  as well.
• 16:46
  Becca: So do you think time of response, was that a common
• 16:49
  problem that you came across?
• 16:50
  Were most people good at responding fast or did you have a lot of people that
• 16:53
  were slow or just ignored you entirely?
• 16:55
  Nikita: I had a, I had a good percentage of people that were responding within
• 16:59
  like a day and that was perfect.
• 17:01
  You know, I'm not going to sit there and sort of keep refreshing.
• 17:05
  If I really wanted that supplier, the faster they responded, the better.
• 17:09
  Because I was, I was at that point where I was like, oh my gosh, I love this.
• 17:13
  And then I would email, and if I heard back from them within the space
• 17:17
  of like 40 minutes, an hour, I'd be like, oh my gosh, they're so good.
• 17:21
  And I would then sort of go through the process a lot faster.
• 17:24
  Because in that, by that point, by the point you send an inquiry, I You basically
• 17:28
  know that you want to book them, like my makeup artist, for example, I sent
• 17:33
  an inquiry on my tea break at work, and by my lunch break, I had a response,
• 17:39
  and I booked her on my lunch break.
• 17:41
  Becca: I love that, and that backs up what I talk about, so I talk about the
• 17:44
  excitement curve, which is basically the moment someone inquires is when they're
• 17:48
  at their most excited, and the more hours, minutes, days, weeks that pass, that
• 17:53
  excitement curve just drops off, because when you send that inquiry, you're like,
• 17:57
  In like full wedding planning, excitement mode, you've done your research.
• 18:00
  You just want to know they're available.
• 18:01
  You want to know their prices.
• 18:02
  And if they wait two or three days to get back to you, life has got in the way.
• 18:05
  You've, you've gone back to your job, you're doing other things.
• 18:07
  And so that excitement level is a lot lower and therefore it's
• 18:10
  harder to get those responses.
• 18:11
  So absolutely back you up on the faster, the response, the better.
• 18:15
  Were there any other common mistakes that you saw?
• 18:17
  You obviously did a lot of research.
• 18:18
  Were there common mistakes, common frustrations?
• 18:21
  Nikita: Common frustration, I would say is.
• 18:23
  And we talk about it a lot, is not having prices on your
• 18:28
  listings or on your website.
• 18:30
  And that's not true.
• 18:32
  I understand why big, I understand why that is.
• 18:37
  I think there are places where it's important to make sure that you have
• 18:42
  got at least some sort of indication of price, because I had set a budget
• 18:48
  and I had written down in that budget, approximately how much.
• 18:52
  I wanted to spend, and I wasn't afraid of going over what I had.
• 18:57
  If that person was really, really good, like what I had allocated,
• 19:00
  I wasn't afraid of going over.
• 19:03
  I would then, I would, I would hit that as a challenge when it came to it.
• 19:08
  So couples always have an approximate idea of a budget in their mind.
• 19:13
  If you are 500 pounds more, and I really, really like you, then
• 19:19
  I'm not afraid to spend the extra 500 pounds and take it away from
• 19:22
  something that's less important to me.
• 19:24
  So I just wanted to know how much it would be almost and the ones that did
• 19:30
  have pricing or did have a some sort of indication of like starting from
• 19:34
  X or going or like between this and this, you know, even just that was a
• 19:41
  helpful indication for me to know that, okay, these guys are in that range.
• 19:45
  But it's, it's not something that I could like, if, if it was totally out
• 19:50
  of my range, then I wouldn't inquire and I wouldn't waste your time.
• 19:54
  Becca: Yeah, exactly.
• 19:55
  Which is why it's so important to have those prices on the website.
• 19:59
  And if there wasn't prices on the website, so if you went on a supply
• 20:02
  website, you like their work, you like their reviews, there were no prices.
• 20:06
  Did you just inquire to get the price?
• 20:07
  Did it put you off?
• 20:09
  Did you just make a judgment based on what you could see in front of you?
• 20:12
  Nikita: I think it's a mixture of all three.
• 20:14
  To be honest, if we're talking about supplier websites as sort of rather
• 20:18
  than the listing pages, but just as websites, I think for me prices, if
• 20:24
  your website looks really high end, I'm going to assume you're high end.
• 20:28
  And if you don't have prices on your website to suggest that you aren't
• 20:32
  in that luxury, luxury market, I probably won't inquire with you.
• 20:36
  You know, sometimes putting your best work on a page can be
• 20:41
  detrimental if you don't have.
• 20:44
  That key information that's going to help me understand that you are in my price
• 20:47
  range and I and thing is if they even if it was like I wasn't afraid of for
• 20:52
  example if I went on to a videographer's website And I saw that they said oh
• 20:58
  enter your details to see my packages or something like that I'm, not afraid
• 21:01
  of that because I know that i'm enter the details And then I see all the
• 21:05
  pricing and packages and then if they email me I can just reply going, really
• 21:10
  sorry you're out of my price range or yeah I'd like to find out more please.
• 21:13
  So that didn't put me off but I think for a few of my friends it has put them off.
• 21:18
  And I think, you know, it's just important to be aware of the potential snap judgment
• 21:22
  because We all want to represent ourselves in the best way possible, but if, but
• 21:27
  if we're giving a different kind of perspective that to what we actually are
• 21:32
  and we're upselling ourselves to the point where we think we're in the luxury market
• 21:36
  and you are aiming for a different kind of couple, then it's probably important
• 21:42
  to have some sort of prices there.
• 21:44
  To show that indication and to show who you're trying to reach.
• 21:47
  Becca: Yeah, absolutely.
• 21:48
  And it's a dangerous marketing game to play because actually if you're
• 21:50
  good at marketing and you can make yourself look expensive, that's great.
• 21:53
  But then you might also be scaring people because they
• 21:56
  think, well, they must be so good.
• 21:58
  There's no way I can afford them.
• 22:00
  Whereas actually you might be, I was talking to someone who charges a lot
• 22:03
  for their work and they said, I'm not getting inquiries because people can't.
• 22:06
  think they can't afford me.
• 22:07
  But actually, if they were getting married on a weekday, then I
• 22:10
  would do it at a lower cost.
• 22:11
  So I said to them, well, do you tell them that anywhere?
• 22:13
  They were like, no.
• 22:14
  Well, how are they going to know?
• 22:15
  They're just assuming, they are assuming, and we don't want to put the power or the
• 22:19
  assumptions into other people's minds.
• 22:22
  The clearer we make it, the easier it is.
• 22:24
  Nikita: I think, I think that is the core of it.
• 22:27
  Assumptions.
• 22:28
  Because people will make a judgment about you.
• 22:31
  And often if you don't have prices on your website, I am going
• 22:35
  to assume I can't afford you.
• 22:36
  And that's, and that's probably a lovely judgment to have, like, yes,
• 22:40
  you are way above what I can afford and, or you work in the luxury sector.
• 22:45
  Fantastic if that is what you're trying to showcase.
• 22:50
  That's the judgment I'm going to make.
• 22:52
  If you show me that, I'm going to make that judgment.
• 22:54
  So yeah, as you say, just even if you can say something like, you know,
• 22:59
  prices start from X, then That is going to help me make a better judgment
• 23:05
  of whether I can afford you or not.
• 23:07
  Becca: Absolutely.
• 23:08
  Now one of the other things we talked about that I want to touch
• 23:10
  on, we talked about over coffee, that I found really interesting
• 23:13
  was actually after your wedding.
• 23:14
  So you went through the wedding planning process, you had the wedding, you did the
• 23:18
  honeymoon, and we talked about reviews.
• 23:20
  Now you are in the industry, and so you went into this process like, I'm
• 23:23
  in the industry, I'm going to leave.
• 23:25
  Everyone amazing reviews.
• 23:26
  I know how hard it is to get reviews from people, but the conversation we had, I
• 23:30
  thought was a really interesting insight.
• 23:32
  So let the listener at home know a little bit more about that.
• 23:35
  Nikita: So I feel really guilty about this now, but when I, when I got married,
• 23:41
  I had a mini moon and then I went straight back into work after that and
• 23:45
  I only have my honeymoon in January.
• 23:48
  So we had waited to give ourselves that bit more time.
• 23:51
  And I had taken, for the wedding and the, and the mini
• 23:54
  moon, two full weeks off work.
• 23:57
  So when I got back to work, which was a few days after landing from the mini moon,
• 24:01
  I, I just was thrown straight into it.
• 24:05
  I was catching up on everything.
• 24:07
  Life got in the way.
• 24:08
  It was so busy.
• 24:10
  And at that point as well, it's October.
• 24:12
  So I'm starting to think about Christmas.
• 24:14
  I'm starting to think about other things that I've got coming up in life.
• 24:18
  How my best friend's wedding is now less than a year away, and I need to help
• 24:21
  her with the planning, and all of, like, just life, just happened, and I had
• 24:27
  suppliers, like, remind me, like, oh, could you please leave a review, and I
• 24:30
  went, yep, absolutely, and I made a note, and I left the review that evening, but
• 24:35
  others that didn't, and then, or did, and I was, like, I was in the middle
• 24:40
  of my work day, and I, I see something pop up on my phone and I have to like,
• 24:44
  ignore it because I'm at work, you know?
• 24:46
  And so I would then forget because I'm busy.
• 24:52
  And I think it's important, like, it was an important insight for me
• 24:56
  because I thought, yeah, I'm going to be this perfect customer and I'm going
• 25:00
  to leave everyone a fantastic review because they all were so fantastic.
• 25:03
  And then I just totally forgot.
• 25:07
  And it was with the best of intention.
• 25:09
  Becca: Yeah, exactly.
• 25:10
  And I think that's the point, isn't it?
• 25:11
  I think that's what's the interesting insight because you also have the
• 25:14
  best of intentions, which most people probably wouldn't even
• 25:16
  consider before they get married.
• 25:17
  So how much harder is to get a review from them?
• 25:20
  But I think the interesting insight for me is that actually it wasn't that you
• 25:24
  didn't want to leave a review, Yeah.
• 25:25
  or that you weren't willing to leave a review.
• 25:27
  It was just actually the people that reminded you a few times or reminded
• 25:30
  you a good type of day actually were more likely to get you to do it because
• 25:35
  it wasn't that you didn't want to.
• 25:36
  It was just that you kept forgetting.
• 25:37
  Nikita: Yeah, and that's the thing.
• 25:38
  If you like, for example, I work a nine to five.
• 25:43
  Understand your couples.
• 25:44
  Do they work a nine to five?
• 25:45
  Do they work shifts?
• 25:46
  Like what is their work style, work lifestyle like?
• 25:50
  Because if you send them a message at 11am in the morning, the likelihood
• 25:53
  is they might see it and then they totally forget to do anything with it
• 25:56
  because they're too busy to do anything.
• 25:59
  Cause I'm not going to stop working in order to like, you know, being
• 26:04
  paid for this, not for this.
• 26:05
  And I think if they sent me that message at 7pm when I was on the sofa watching TV.
• 26:13
  Yeah, nice and easy, you know, because I'm there and I'm not doing anything.
• 26:18
  Becca: Yeah, absolutely.
• 26:19
  And if you're listening to this thinking, but I don't want to send
• 26:20
  that message at 7pm on a Friday night.
• 26:22
  Schedule it, send it and schedule it to go at 5, 7 o'clock on a Friday night.
• 26:27
  It doesn't have to be organic.
• 26:28
  If it goes out and send a reminder for someone to do a review, that's
• 26:31
  going to be really helpful for you.
• 26:33
  So yeah, I, I love that.
• 26:34
  Perspective.
• 26:35
  I think it's a really interesting thing to have thought about.
• 26:38
  I don't know you're embarrassed talking about it, but actually I think it's really
• 26:40
  helpful for people to realize because I think sometimes people take it personally.
• 26:44
  Oh, they obviously didn't like it because they didn't leave a review.
• 26:46
  It's not like that.
• 26:47
  I know that you loved every single part of your wedding is
• 26:49
  actually just people have lives.
• 26:51
  You don't know what's going on in their lives.
• 26:53
  You don't know how busy they are.
• 26:54
  And so actually just giving them that little reminder and
• 26:57
  making it really easy for them.
• 26:58
  So they can just click one button and leave the review, not trying to
• 27:00
  make it really complicated for them.
• 27:02
  Nikita: Yeah, I mean, I think I'll give an example of my, for my honeymoon,
• 27:06
  actually, the, that I used a private travel agent to plan our honeymoon because
• 27:11
  we were going, we were going to have a Lapland honeymoon to Finland and I was
• 27:15
  like, I don't want to get this wrong.
• 27:16
  I hired a a private travel agent to help me.
• 27:19
  And the day after we returned, she sent me a lovely message saying,
• 27:23
  I hope you had an amazing time.
• 27:25
  Would you mind leaving me a review here, here and here?
• 27:27
  I'm really sorry.
• 27:28
  I know it's three separate places, but.
• 27:30
  You know, it would be really helpful to me.
• 27:32
  And I was like, yes, of course, because the timing is right at the moment in time.
• 27:38
  And I hadn't yet gone back to work because, yeah, she saw
• 27:41
  that I landed on a Monday.
• 27:43
  She then, she chatted to me like, oh, what's your plans after?
• 27:46
  While having the day off on the Tuesday.
• 27:48
  And then we're going back to work on the Wednesday.
• 27:50
  So she messages me on the Tuesday night.
• 27:52
  Becca: Very smart.
• 27:53
  And did you leave her a view in all the places?
• 27:54
  Nikita: Yep, I did.
• 27:55
  Every single place.
• 27:57
  Becca: Wow.
• 27:57
  That is, that is impressive and well worth her asking you those
• 28:00
  questions to get that back from you.
• 28:02
  Yeah.
• 28:03
  Now, Nikita, it would be remiss of me while I've got you here to
• 28:06
  Not taught you a little bit more about the wider wedding industry.
• 28:09
  We talked a lot about your wedding, which I love, and I could
• 28:11
  talk to you about it all day.
• 28:12
  But actually the fact that you are here, you work for guides for brides, I think
• 28:15
  gives you a unique insight into data, into what's going on in the wedding industry.
• 28:19
  Cause you're working at it at a bigger picture place than most people
• 28:22
  who are listening to this podcast.
• 28:24
  So I would just love to know from your perspective, as we look at 2024, What
• 28:29
  is going out on out there in the market?
• 28:32
  What are people looking for from their suppliers?
• 28:34
  Have you got any trends that you're seeing or things that we should be knowing about?
• 28:38
  Nikita: So I think one of the biggest trends that I mentioned this at our
• 28:42
  recent UK wedding conference and it, it's not really a surprising trend when
• 28:47
  you think about it, but it's definitely one that sort of caught my attention.
• 28:50
  Is we ran a survey in November to couples, which asked them the question of which
• 28:57
  social media platform has the greatest influence on your wedding planning.
• 29:01
  And TikTok actually came out on top.
• 29:03
  It was 33 percent of audience said it was the most influential.
• 29:08
  And for me, as I say, it shouldn't really be a surprise because
• 29:11
  it's a massive growing platform.
• 29:15
  It sort of made me realize that, Hmm, it's Instagram isn't quite King anymore, is it?
• 29:19
  So I would say.
• 29:21
  If you're not yet on TikTok.
• 29:24
  Maybe it's time to think about whether it would serve your social media
• 29:28
  strategy and potentially think about the kind of content you could be posting.
• 29:32
  I'm not saying you have to be on there because if it doesn't work
• 29:35
  for your business, it doesn't work for your business and that's fine.
• 29:38
  And we Ideally, we, none of us need another social media platform to be using.
• 29:44
  Cause there's about five or six than that we need to sort of
• 29:46
  think about and strategize for.
• 29:48
  But if you can, and if it's going to benefit your business, I think it would
• 29:52
  be worth investing time in thinking about TikTok and even if you think about it
• 29:57
  as well, like food recipes, for example.
• 30:01
  Where do I, where do I go?
• 30:02
  I don't go to Google anymore.
• 30:03
  I go to TikTok.
• 30:05
  If I want some ideas for a country wedding, I might go to TikTok,
• 30:09
  wedding ideas, country or country I, wedding ideas or something like
• 30:13
  that in, in the, in the search box.
• 30:15
  Because it's so visual and I'm a, I'm a very visual person.
• 30:19
  And if you capture my attention, you've got it for a good 10 minutes.
• 30:26
  Becca: So, yeah.
• 30:27
  And I think I was really taken aback by that insight when you shared it
• 30:30
  at the conference, because I remember you saying it's overtaken Pinterest
• 30:34
  and it's bigger than Instagram.
• 30:35
  And I'm like, Oh no, I'm really going to have to start paying
• 30:37
  more attention to TikTok.
• 30:38
  And I think for me, I'm a millennial through and through I'm not a TikTok user.
• 30:43
  And so I think.
• 30:43
  out there in the industry.
• 30:44
  There's a lot of us that were a little bit resistant to that change.
• 30:47
  However, we have to look at the data.
• 30:49
  We know more Gen Z are going to start getting married.
• 30:52
  We know that that demographic are using TikTok.
• 30:54
  You've just given examples of how you use it yourself.
• 30:57
  And therefore as marketers, as people trying to, you know,
• 31:00
  market to this demographic.
• 31:02
  At some point soon, we are going to have to get over it and start
• 31:08
  paying more attention to TikTok.
• 31:09
  And I think I've started trying to post on there occasionally, but I do think if
• 31:13
  you're listening to this and you've gone nowhere near TikTok, at least just start
• 31:16
  by Set up an account and just look, just go and look, go and have some inspiration,
• 31:21
  see what other people are doing.
• 31:23
  You don't have to dive in straight away, but I do think we need to start moving
• 31:27
  ourselves slowly in that direction.
• 31:29
  I saw it with Instagram.
• 31:30
  There was a lot of people that were resistant to go all out on Instagram.
• 31:33
  They were still sticking with Facebook, but over time they've
• 31:36
  all had to move over there.
• 31:37
  And I think it same with TikTok.
• 31:38
  So be an early adopter and start understanding it now.
• 31:41
  Nikita: I think, yeah, I think so as well.
• 31:44
  I think, I think from our perspective as well, the, actually, do you know what?
• 31:48
  I'll give a couple of tips with TikTok because I've started managing TikTok
• 31:51
  accounts for a couple of my venue clients.
• 31:53
  So for TikTok, a couple of things to remember.
• 31:56
  It's about the sounds.
• 31:59
  It's about the trends.
• 32:02
  And it's about community engagement.
• 32:05
  So those are the three big things to consider.
• 32:08
  Now, trends is a little bit harder if you're a venue or you've got, I'll put
• 32:12
  this in like quotation marks, but like a, a serious side of your business, because
• 32:17
  a lot of the trends are comedy based, so you might want to just take that one
• 32:21
  with a pinch of salt, but sounds and the trending sounds help push your content
• 32:28
  to a wider audience and then community engagement is really important because.
• 32:33
  TikTok will not share your posts to a very wide, wide reaching audience
• 32:39
  without you actually engaging with that audience yourself and with
• 32:43
  the other, other people's posts.
• 32:44
  So if you're scrolling through the For You page and you Like a video or you comment
• 32:51
  on a video or you follow a creator.
• 32:54
  Those are really good ways to enhance that community engagement side and have
• 32:59
  a few, ask your, ask your work, working friends and your other supplier friends.
• 33:04
  Do they have Tik Tok?
• 33:05
  Follow them, interact with their posts because they'll do the same for you.
• 33:09
  And it's all measured based on.
• 33:12
  The community engagement that you do, the, the sounds that you use,
• 33:16
  obviously the, the content's got to be engaging as well, and there's tools
• 33:21
  to help with that, like CapCut, which has got a partnership with TikTok.
• 33:24
  It's very easy to use.
• 33:26
  And additionally on that as well, the more engagement you get, the
• 33:30
  wider the reach of your video.
• 33:32
  So it's all works together in tandem, but those are your elements to consider.
• 33:37
  Becca: Amazing.
• 33:37
  Love that.
• 33:38
  Some quick fire TikTok tips for those of you that are thinking, oh
• 33:41
  no, I don't want to go on TikTok.
• 33:43
  It's, it's time people, it's time to start embracing a little bit more of TikTok.
• 33:47
  Hey, I'm a Zillennial.
• 33:47
  The other thing,
• 33:48
  Nikita: I'm a Zillennial.
• 33:50
  I love that.
• 33:51
  A Zillennial.
• 33:52
  I am, I am literally on the cusp of millennial to gen Z.
• 33:57
  I remember dial up internet, but I also have had the, I've had an iPhone
• 34:02
  since they first came out, you know?
• 34:03
  So.
• 34:06
  The people that are now coming through, there's a much, much bigger
• 34:09
  group of people that are using these platforms because They're more
• 34:12
  interested in the visual, they're more interested in the quickfire, they're
• 34:15
  more interested in these elements.
• 34:18
  So it's really worth considering if you can, but I do understand why if you don't
• 34:24
  think it's going to work well for you.
• 34:26
  Becca: I absolutely love that.
• 34:27
  Zillennial.
• 34:27
  I think that's the first time I've heard anyone use that, but
• 34:29
  it's such a good description.
• 34:30
  You can help me bridge the gap because I heard someone describe me
• 34:34
  the other day as an elder millennial, and that made me feel very depressed.
• 34:37
  So I will, I think zillennial sounds a lot more young and fresh than.
• 34:41
  Elder, millennial, which I think is what I fit into, sadly but I do love
• 34:45
  thinking about all these different things because actually we think everyone's
• 34:48
  like us, but actually the reality is different people are coming through,
• 34:51
  different generations are coming through and we have to pay attention to it.
• 34:55
  Now Nikita, another thing that's coming up from my suppliers a lot is that
• 34:58
  we've gone into January this year, 2024, all excited for proposal season.
• 35:03
  And for some people it hasn't been maybe as exciting as they'd hoped.
• 35:07
  They've seen a little bit of a dip in their inquiries for some people.
• 35:10
  Some people are seeing more.
• 35:11
  inquiries in February rather than January, which has bucked the trend a little bit.
• 35:14
  I'd love to know some thoughts from you about what's going on out there in the
• 35:18
  big wider world and whether there are some changing trends that we're seeing.
• 35:22
  Nikita: So I think it's important to know about the January sort
• 35:26
  of trend that you're seeing.
• 35:28
  I don't think people are alone.
• 35:29
  I think this is actually something that is not to panic about.
• 35:34
  And it's better to focus always on the long term strategy and the things
• 35:39
  that will assist you with that, rather than panic buying lots of Google ads
• 35:45
  or Facebook ads and just thinking, Oh my God, my inquiries are much
• 35:48
  lower than they were last year at this time, and I need to get more.
• 35:53
  Okay, fine.
• 35:54
  Invest a little bit more in that, but don't go full hog, because As
• 35:58
  you say, you know, we're seeing a bit of an uptake in February as well.
• 36:02
  So, you know, it's always going to change and we can never determine
• 36:06
  exactly when the audience is going to.
• 36:09
  inquire with us.
• 36:11
  I think that couples are taking longer now to make a decision
• 36:14
  as to whether or not to inquire.
• 36:16
  I think, you know, as I said, like, if I was inquiring with someone, I
• 36:21
  had enough information at that point to know that they were right for me,
• 36:23
  and it was just about ticking a couple of final boxes before booking them.
• 36:27
  So I think they're doing a lot more research, and I think they are
• 36:30
  looking at a lot more places than they were maybe five years ago.
• 36:33
  So In terms of how they send their inquiry and when, but I'll give you an
• 36:37
  example of actually that recently, my colleague, John runs wedding fairs at a
• 36:42
  few venues around the Thames Valley area.
• 36:45
  And he told me this week, actually, that one of the suppliers at those,
• 36:50
  at the fairs, they had exhibited at the same wedding fair a few times
• 36:54
  they'd exhibited last January, February ish time in the autumn.
• 37:00
  and again this year.
• 37:01
  And they saw the same couple come in the door in that January 2023,
• 37:07
  or Autumn 2023, and then again this year in January, February 2024.
• 37:15
  That couple has only just booked that supplier.
• 37:19
  So it's a really interesting pattern that we're seeing is that, you know,
• 37:26
  couples are taking a lot longer, I think, to make that decision.
• 37:29
  And by a lot longer, I mean they could be taking a couple more days, or they
• 37:32
  could be taking, in the case of this couple, like, Yeah, to make that decision.
• 37:38
  So, you know, I think we just have to go, go with the flow a little bit.
• 37:42
  Don't panic with what you're experiencing, but always think about
• 37:46
  the long term plan because, you know, we saw it during COVID where people
• 37:51
  stopped advertising for, cause they had full bookings for 2021 and 2022.
• 37:58
  And when they stopped advertising, they stopped getting the same
• 38:01
  number of interest for later years.
• 38:04
  And we're seeing a big dip in weddings in 2024 because of all of that.
• 38:09
  And it's always worth considering the long term plan.
• 38:11
  If you are planning to be here for another five, 10 years in the wedding
• 38:15
  industry, what Where are you advertising?
• 38:17
  How are you making sure that you keep that flow going?
• 38:20
  Becca: Yeah.
• 38:21
  And also not everyone is getting married or engaged, sorry, over Christmas.
• 38:24
  I mean, when I got engaged way back in 2010, I got engaged in May.
• 38:28
  I think it was, so it was nowhere near Christmas.
• 38:30
  Yeah.
• 38:30
  Nikita: I got engaged in June.
• 38:32
  Yeah.
• 38:32
  June was my, my engagement.
• 38:34
  And that's the thing I think as well, like, you know, I've got a couple of
• 38:37
  friends who also got engaged in the summer and actually speaking of that.
• 38:41
  Last summer, we saw a much bigger intake than we had before of inquiries.
• 38:46
  You know, I think people are starting to spread out a little bit
• 38:50
  more in terms of their inquiries.
• 38:52
  And I think as well, like, you know, October 2023, we saw quite a big hike.
• 38:57
  In inquiries that we didn't really expect to see.
• 38:59
  And I think that is because people are aware of how this works.
• 39:03
  Like I saw quite a lot of suppliers posting towards the end of the
• 39:07
  year, October, November time.
• 39:08
  Like if you've got engaged this summer, don't forget to try and book your
• 39:11
  suppliers before the January rush.
• 39:13
  You know, what percentage of those people would have waited until after
• 39:17
  Christmas to start their wedding planning if they hadn't had that information?
• 39:20
  So, yeah, I think.
• 39:22
  I think it's always worth looking at the long term plan and thinking
• 39:25
  about actually the way people inquire is always going to change.
• 39:30
  And we've always got to adapt and we just adapt with the way the times are going.
• 39:34
  And right now it seems like.
• 39:37
  They're taking a little bit longer to inquire, and that might be because they
• 39:39
  want to make sure they can trust your business before they send that inquiry.
• 39:43
  It may be because they've got plenty of time.
• 39:45
  Like, a lot of people are inquiring for 2027 on our site already,
• 39:50
  so they're not in any rush.
• 39:52
  So we can just sort of think about, like, take a step back.
• 39:55
  look at the wider picture and think about your long term strategy.
• 39:58
  Becca: Really helpful, and I think it's important for us to remember we
• 40:01
  can only control the controllables.
• 40:02
  We can't control when people are getting engaged or when they're inquiring,
• 40:04
  but we can control not panicking, is a big theme coming out from what you're
• 40:08
  saying, and also just remaining visible.
• 40:11
  all year round, making sure we've got all the information available all
• 40:14
  year round so that whether someone gets engaged at December, February,
• 40:17
  June, August, September, they get the same level of service and they can
• 40:20
  find all the information from you.
• 40:22
  So if you're listening to this and you are feeling that panic, actually
• 40:25
  just reset yourself and think, no, it is a longer term strategy.
• 40:30
  Nikita: And I'll just add to that as well, Becca, I think The way people are
• 40:34
  inquiring, I, I, I think it's getting more spread out in terms of on wedding
• 40:39
  planning platforms, on websites, on social media, because they're looking
• 40:43
  at so many places before they inquire.
• 40:46
  And, you know, guides for brides wise, part of what we do is to act
• 40:50
  as a launch pad for your business.
• 40:52
  So, you know, the platform is there as a shop front, people can
• 40:56
  access your website, they can send you an inquiry, they can look at
• 40:59
  photos, they can look at a video, they can look at your social media.
• 41:02
  Directly from that page.
• 41:04
  So I think it's useful to remember that couples always are going to use
• 41:08
  those platforms in very different ways.
• 41:09
  They're not all just going to go on there and straight away sent an inquiry.
• 41:12
  They are going to use it as a way to find you in different, different ways.
• 41:17
  So it's always worth just remembering that.
• 41:19
  Becca: Fantastic.
• 41:20
  Nikita, this has been such an interesting episode.
• 41:22
  I think it's given people lots of food for thought.
• 41:25
  Now, I always end the podcast with the same question, but today
• 41:27
  I'm changing the question up.
• 41:30
  And the question today is this, what's one thing you want the listeners to do
• 41:35
  having listened to this week's episode?
• 41:38
  Nikita: Hmm.
• 41:39
  I think I'll go back to my big bride frustration, which was around pricing.
• 41:44
  And I, thing is, I listened to this podcast quite a lot and that gets preached
• 41:48
  quite a lot, and I know people are going to be fed up of hearing it, but it's so
• 41:53
  important to have some sort of indication at the very least of your pricing, because
• 42:02
  you know, from my perspective, I was looking at photos, then I was looking
• 42:05
  at price, and then I was reading things.
• 42:07
  If your price didn't fit me, I moved on because I didn't want to waste my time.
• 42:12
  And I think, make sure that you set some time aside to look at all of the
• 42:17
  places that you're listed on, to look at your website, to look at your social
• 42:21
  media, if there's any information on there, make sure it's all joined up,
• 42:25
  make sure all the prices are the same or, or at least reflect the same thing.
• 42:30
  And yeah, just make sure you, you set, set that in your diary, set
• 42:32
  it every six months to just have.
• 42:34
  A check over and make sure you have all of those basics in place in all
• 42:38
  of the areas that you're advertising.
• 42:39
  Becca: I love it.
• 42:40
  And we will keep preaching it on this podcast, Nikita, because I know from
• 42:44
  marketing, you have to hear a message at least seven times before you remember it.
• 42:48
  So you're hearing it again today.
• 42:49
  Go check your website, make sure you've got transparent pricing on there.
• 42:54
  And if you haven't, you've got to have a really good reason why you haven't.
• 42:57
  So go and reflect on that today.
• 42:59
  Nikita, thank you so much.
• 43:01
  I look forward to seeing you somewhere very soon.
• 43:04
  Thank you for being a guest for the second time.
• 43:06
  Nikita: Thanks for having me again, Becca to maybe interview this time again.
• 43:10
  Becca: Yeah, absolutely.
• 43:11
  Thanks for being here.
• 43:14
  Cheers.
• 43:14
  Bye.
• 43:18
  I love that conversation with Nikita.
• 43:19
  Isn't she fantastic?
• 43:20
  I feel like you've had a little insight into all those coffees that
• 43:23
  we've had over the last year and all the things we've been talking about.
• 43:25
  Now we've brought them to you on the podcast.
• 43:27
  And I think it's helpful for us to see things both from a bride's
• 43:30
  perspective, but also from a national perspective with guys for brides.
• 43:33
  And if you're interested in knowing more about guys for brides, go and check out
• 43:36
  my previous episode back from 2022, when me and Nikita went into that further.
• 43:40
  I'll see you all next time.