Finding Suppliers for Your Event
UPDATED: We’ve recently been made aware of issues concerning UKBride and suppliers, and a lot of small court claims ongoing so we have amended this blog to remove their mention. Upon research about their business practice we thoroughly DO NOT recommend going near them at all – as a customer or supplier. They offer a free trial to sign up, but then auto-renew without warning and if you do not cancel in the one specific way that they ask for (and seemingly ignore) they will send threatening letters demanding payments. Avoid at all costs!
I was going to publish a different blog, on wedding planning, but an interesting exchange on a Facebook Wedding Group has triggered this blog post instead – the wedding planning one will still happen though so watch this space.
So, this blog is all about finding supplier for your event – as usual, we don’t gatekeep here at Funbooth. That’s not what we’re about, so this is going to give you an insight in to what its like behind the scenes for suppliers. Obviously, this is our experience – so I’d be really interested in your thoughts, whether you be a supplier or not.
For background, to explain what’s prompted this. We’re in a lot of Facebook groups regarding weddings/events; those ones where suppliers can advertise, and those looking for suppliers can request recommendations, or ask advice. A lady asked the question “Where does everyone look for their food truck/ catering options? I have looked on hitched and Bridebook”. I’m planning my own wedding for 2024, and having been in the industry for 5+ years now, I answered ‘AddToEvent’. Full disclosure, we use AddToEvent as a supplier, and as an ‘organiser’ – their term for those looking for services for our own parties – particularly if we’re looking for caterers! (But they have a huge range of suppliers in different categories).
A photographer responded to my comment, stating that suppliers have to buy credits to access the contact details of the enquirer, and it’s a total rip off like Bark. I responded saying I use it as a supplier, and its been successful for me – I’m careful in spending the credits, and Funbooth has had a huge Return on Investment from it. (I’ll explain how it actually works in a little bit as the comment from the photographer isn’t strictly accurate). The photographer came back and said “but people searching should know this info! What you spend your money on is completely unrelated”. I simply responded with OK, as we all know arguing on the internet is not good for your mental health! ? I don’t understand how the photographer could say it’s a rip off to spend to respond, but when I say I don’t think it is, its unrelated the I choose to spend to respond – maybe I’m misunderstanding what they meant? However, it gave me the inspo for this blog, so positive from it – lets start a conversation. How do you find suppliers for your event? Here’s what we think from the suppliers side of things:
- Direct Recommendations: word of mouth and all that – we’re really proud of our recommendation tally in terms of past customers recommending us to new ones, and what we do when we can’t help for some reason is signpost other companies in the area that we’ve worked with and would trust ourselves. Its part of our ethos to be helpful to any customer. Life is too short not to be helpful. If we say we don’t know someone who offers the same or similar service to the standard we do, we say that. So, if you do get a recommendation from us, be assured it’s a good one.
- Google/Search Engines: I think the first step for most people is Google (or some other search engine). We generate a lot of business this way – as a supplier, I think it’s an expected cost to run a business to pay for a website (free are available, but these tend to be very limited in terms of functionality/how much you can actually showcase). To be seen, you have to work hard to maintain your information, work on things like Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) by adding key words and playing a system. It’s not a simple thing to do, but would you buy from someone without a GOOD website? And, I think everyone knows this, but maybe not, IF you pay, you’re seen first. So if you have a business and the expense is justifiable, you’d pay to be the first result. (Think like people searching for Pizza Hut, and Dominoes is the first result as an ad….).
- AddToEvent: The one that started this blog; so, as a supplier you sign up free and explain what you do and what area you cover. As an organiser, you put in your event details for free (what you’re looking for, where, when etc.) and AddToEvent sends this request to all the relevant suppliers who have said they provide the service you’re looking for in the area you’re looking at. If the supplier would like to send you a quote, they buy credits to respond. You can buy credits in batches, say 100 credits (there are smaller batches), and the ‘cost’ of responding to requests range from 2-5 credits per request. If you don’t want to quote, you don’t have to and it doesn’t cost you anything. Our personal experience is that it provides a good return on the investment in credits – we’ve reached new customers and had wonderful events with them. A number of quotes get declined, but this is life. We like it, and we recommend its use. I don’t know why the photographer in the Facebook group dislikes it so, but to me it makes sense – it is cheaper than paying for the first spot in Google, it’s a dedicated space for people to search what they’re looking for at their event, and we’ve had great conversations from it. For us, it’s a justified business expense to buy credits, advertise etc. and use AddToEvent. Its specifically for events; weekly we get numerous options to quote. Its our choice whether we do or not. I also don’t understand why it matters to the organisers that suppliers have to buy credits – a successful business can do this; if a supplier decides its not a justified expense for them, I’m not sure why its unfair that those who can afford to respond do – at the end of the day, the customer might find what they’re looking for. Maybe I’m simplifying it too much?
- Bark: I do agree with the photographer in the group that Bark is a rip off. It works in the same way that a company signs up for free, and customers make requests for free, but the quality of the requests is questionable (to the extent I would think they are fake to be honest). Our experience of the company is that they absolutely hound you to pay for promotion. I’m talking daily calls, constant emails etc. We do not recommend this, and do not use it. Its not specific for events either – so there is just lots of ‘noise’.
- Hitched/Bridebook: We have a free listing on Hitched, but nothing on Bridebook. Occasionally, we get requests for more information via Hitched – probably 1 a month if that. As someone planning their own wedding, I used Hitched to request quotes from florists and bakers and found the companies I have booked with through it. It could be that our particular area is too broad for these sites, which is why they aren’t the most successful for us, but our main reason for avoiding the paid process is that a set monthly outgoing fee for little to no return just does not make business sense. Full disclosure – we’ve never paid to advertise on these sites, but did use a different one previously (I won’t name, its not fair as this was before lockdown – in fact, a quick search makes me think it’s not around anymore anyway) and apart from 1 booking, we had nothing in 8 months use. In today’s market, suppliers have to spend wisely and this isn’t a wise spend for us. Its also worth noting, clearly these are wedding specific – if you do other types of events, these sites won’t help you – and we do lots of different events!
- Social Media: After search engines, this is probably the most used way of finding suppliers. We got a good few recommendations this way – obviously we’re really thankful for them, plus we have our own profiles to advertise and highlight our services. As a business, you have to have social media to reach new customers – again, it’s an expected business cost. Profiles tend to be free, but most social media sites will charge businesses for promotion. We occasionally do this, when it makes sense to do so. However, as we know, it can be a really murky area for those searching for suppliers. People join groups to help with planning and ask for recommendations; and, since I’ve been there, you’ve got no way of knowing whether the recommendations are genuine or not – you have people recommending their own company without being upfront about it, you have scammers, you again have paid for advertising (algorithms – fascinating but scary. I think everyone’s had it where they’ve been talking out loud near their phone and suddenly all your adverts are for what you were talking about), and you have to do your own research to verify any recommendation before booking. See our blog on booking suppliers safely here. From a suppliers perspective, if we pay for advertising, we need it to have a return – and social media is so ‘busy’ with competition, it’s not guaranteed as you’re casting a ‘net’ as such, hoping the right customer sees your ad at the right time. This is a known business risk, and obviously applies to all businesses, not just those in events, and something you have to do when it suits.
- Wedding Publications (like magazines etc): We choose to advertise in Your Hampshire and Dorset wedding – and we’ve advertised in other publications in the past. We continue with this particular magazine because the team behind it are lovely; the value is there in terms of its reach and content and, obviously, it gets us out there to new customers. We get a decent Return for our investment, and we get to supply editorial to expound on what we do. But again, like AddToEvent, it’s a paid for reach so as a supplier, you would expect to get something back for this investment. If you don’t, you’re not going to stay in business for very long. Again, this is wedding specific, so if you do other types of events (as a supplier) this is only going to reach one area of your audience.
- Wedding Fayres: clearly, wedding specific again. These have an upfront cost to attend, and some can be very pricey to secure a big pitch which some suppliers just can’t afford, although you get a dedicated wedding planning audience. Well run fayres tend to separate similar suppliers out, so although there may be multiple of the same type of supplier, you’re not next to each other, and you get to have really nice conversations with couples planning their day. We know some suppliers who secure most of their business through fayres – for us, we balance out having to ‘close’ the business for a day to attend a fayre and hope for bookings following it. We’ve attended fayres; some have been successful, and some absolutely haven’t. It’s a riskier approach with no guaranteed footfall of the right customer for you, as a supplier, but if you show case what you do well, our experience is that you tend to cover the cost of the pitch so at least you break even.
In summary, the no or low cost options of reaching customers looking for suppliers are few and far between, so suppliers must be prepared to pay in some way. Good suppliers will carefully consider their approach, and review what works and what doesn’t FOR THEM and change accordingly. At the end of the day, customers need to find their suppliers – how they do it is up to them, and we don’t think customers should avoid a certain avenue of searching just because suppliers have chosen to spend their money or not.
And just to make it absolutely clear – we’ve received no affiliation or referral fees for this blog, we don’t work on that basis! Just genuine opinions based on our own experience, and a way of providing insight that may not be apparent.
What other ways do you find suppliers? Did you realise the costs involved in each of the ways we explained above?