How Brittany Cole Got Into the Wedding Industry and is Now Her Family’s Sole Provider

Who: Brittany Cole

Website: brittanymichelecole.com and littlebkc.com
Course Topic: Wedding Vendor Business

Interesting Stats: Many students upgrade to her full-service package

Who are you and what course have you created?

My name is Brittany Cole. I’m a 5X business owner currently running a Digital Marketing Agency for Wedding Vendors (Little Birdie Digital Agency) and a Business Launch Coaching business for brand-new entrepreneurs (Brittany Michele Cole Coaching).

My course is a Facebook and Instagram ads course for Wedding Vendors. It helps them get more wedding leads and book more weddings without having to spend hours responding to posts in social media groups or getting ghosted by price shopping leads on The Knot or Wedding Wire. The course is called The Booked Out Wedding Season Instruction Manual. It takes my clients, step by step, through the entire process of creating a high-converting lead generation campaign on Facebook and Instagram.

What market does your online course serve?

My course serves anyone in the wedding industry. So Photographers, Videographers, Wedding Planners, Venues, DJ’s Caterers, etc.

What’s the biggest benefit of taking your course?

The biggest benefit is learning the best way to get wedding leads. Most wedding vendors rely on unreliable sources like word of mouth, organic social media, or listing sites like The Knot or Wedding Wire to get their leads. This leads to an unpredictable amount of leads and weddings booked each year. Facebook and Instagram ads are reliable. They can bring in a steady stream of leads every single week. My course teaches them exactly how to make that happen.

How did you get into the market?

I got my bachelor’s degree in Strategic Communication, which is basically a fancy word for advertising. Then after completing my two Master’s degrees in Data & Analytics and Management & Leadership I knew I wanted to start a business of my own.

I kind of fell into the Wedding Industry by accident when my first few clients just happened to be wedding photographers. From there, it just made sense to keep helping other wedding photographers. I even branched out to others in the wedding industry. That’s because I knew those were the people I could get results for. I’ve loved working with wedding professionals, too. They are some of the nicest, most genuine, and caring people you will ever meet. They make amazing clients!

Why did you decide to create an online course in the first place?

I’ve owned my agency (Little Birdie Digital Agency) for a few years now and the main service we provide is done-for-you digital marketing packages. Not everyone can afford a full digital marketing package right off the bat but they are still interested in working with me in some way to get more wedding leads for their business. So I developed The Booked Out Wedding Season Instruction Manual to offer at a lower price point than our other services so that more wedding vendors can have access to the magic.

The Booked Out Wedding Season Instruction Manual covers every step of how to do what I do for my full-service clients. So those who enroll can still end up getting the same great results on their own, for a much lower investment upfront.

Did you have any moments of doubt before you created/launched it?

Of course!! Even though I had already had tons of people asking me for a lower-cost alternative to my full-service offerings and I knew that people did want to work with me if I had something like that to offer, I still doubted and worried that no one would buy the course once I started selling it.

There are so many courses to choose from these days, it seems like almost everyone you meet has a course to sell. So I did have moments where I worried about how I would get people to choose my course over all the other options. It was also a very time-consuming task putting the course together and it can sometimes be difficult to stay motivated creating something like that when you’re not actively getting paid for the work yet.

If so what made you turn it around and do it anyway?

I worked a lot on my mindset and just reminded myself that there was once a time when I wasn’t sure I would be able to find full-service digital marketing clients, but I did. I reminded myself that there was already interest in the product, I just needed to finish it. And I also happened to be pregnant at the time, so my biggest goal was to just get the course done before my daughter was born. So having that deadline really helped push me along.

What’s your online course like?

My course is a mix of PDFs, worksheets, and video lessons. For the video lessons, I have both “over-the-shoulder” type walkthroughs and slideshow presentation-type videos. The entire course is self-paced and students get access to the entire course upon purchase.

How long did it take you to create your course?

The entire course took me about 3 months to complete. I had to carve out extra time to work on it outside of working on my current client accounts and completing regular administrative activities for my business so I ended up working on the course mostly at night after all of those other things were done. I’m someone who needs a deadline and needs a schedule so I mapped out all of the lessons I wanted to create and when I wanted to have them done by. Having that schedule kept me on track and helped me to see the progress I was making to keep myself motivated.

Tell us a little about the process of launching your course and getting your first sale(s).

About a month before completing the course, I started to talk about it on social media. I posted to my Instagram stories about it once a week to keep my followers updated on the progress and to let them know when it would be available to purchase. I also created an email drip campaign introducing the course to my subscribers and of course a Facebook and Instagram ad campaign to promote it outside of those who follow/subscribe to me.

The last thing I did was reach out to 10 wedding vendors who had expressed interest in something like this in the past and offered the manual to them for free in exchange for their feedback on how to make it better. - Brittany Cole Click To Tweet

I did this about 2 weeks before the launch so that I would have time to make any updates or changes that they suggested to me. That was one of the best things I did because I got the chance to hear directly from my target audience on what exactly they needed from this course to make it work for them and it really helped.

My first sale actually came on the day after I officially launched (and let me tell you that wait was excruciating!) but the person who bought it was one of my followers on Instagram and they saw my post in my Instagram stories and purchased it directly from there.

Do you have a lead magnet?

Yes! I have a Free Ads Bundle that I use as a lead magnet. The ads bundle includes 5 mini lessons directly from the course and it’s a great introduction to the course. It gives people an idea of what to expect from the course and if the full course will be valuable to them. This lead magnet works great for me and is actually currently the driving force behind at least 75% of my sales of the course in the past 6 months. After someone claims the free ads bundle, they get the chance to buy my course at a discounted price and then they get put into an email drip campaign that nurtures them through my process and drives them to buy further down the road. I’ve gotten a few full-service clients from this lead magnet as well.

What’s the traffic strategy that works best for you?

Facebook and Instagram ads for sure. Just like I teach in my course when done correctly, social media digital marketing can drive incredible results and it’s the best way I’ve found to reach my target market for the lowest cost / highest ROI. I also use Pinterest to promote the course and get a good amount of traffic from there as well.

What online course platform are you using?

My course is built in ClickFunnels.

Do you like it?

I love how easy it is to use and onboard new members. I’m not crazy about the price tag but for all the functionality that you get, I haven’t found anything else I like better.

Are there any features you wish it had?

The biggest thing for me is mobile functionality. Clickfunnels courses do not work well on a mobile device. I do wish they would make their platform more mobile-friendly for my clients that want to access the course on their phones.

What made you decide to use your chosen platform over others?

When I first launched my course, I actually just hosted it on my WordPress site using Thrive. It worked fine, but there was no easy way for my customers to create their own accounts and get instant access to the course. So I ended up just creating a master username and password that I shared with anyone who purchased the course. This obviously wasn’t sustainable in the long run. That’s when I chose to move over to Clickfunnels. I had taken a few other courses that used the platform and I liked how easy it was to use. I liked how easy it was for new clients to create their own accounts and access the material pretty intuitively. It also integrates really well with my other tools (active campaign, stripe, etc). The website builder is easy to use as well.

What other tools do you use to run your online course business?

So many! Let’s see if I can list them all here: Clickfunnels, Stripe, Active Campaign, WordPress, Bluehost, Zapier, Google Drive, Clicksend, FOMO, JotForms, Facebook Ads Manager, Canva, Later, Pinterest, Calendly

Do you have any big mistakes you’ve made along the way that you’d be willing to share?

Sure! I wouldn’t call it a “BIG” mistake so much as just a lapse in judgment.

When you’re creating a course, chances are that the material will need to be updated. Often usually on a regular basis as the topic, you’re teaching evolves. - Brittany Cole Click To Tweet

I was naive to think that my course material would last forever. But I learned that as the Facebook Ads landscape is always changing, I would need to keep my course materials up to date. That way my students get the most accurate information. I now make sure to update my course videos regularly. That way I keep up with any changes. Usually, this happens about every 4-6 months since Facebook is always updating its platform and rules.

Please share some idea of revenue.

My course officially launched in July of 2020. From July 2020 – May 2021 (at the time of this writing) my course has made a little over $9,000. The course itself only costs $149, so it’s a pretty low-cost product as far as most courses go. However, from those 60 people who have purchased the course, 5 have actually ended up upgrading to a full-service package which runs $1995/month and they stayed clients for at least 3 months each. So counting that- my course has helped to generate a total of over $38,000 in 10 months.

Please tell us a little about what the money you’ve earned from your course has done for you.

Most of the money I’ve earned from my course sales has gone right back into the business to help drive higher ticket clients. The growth in my business that I’ve been able to create since launching my course has actually helped me to become the sole provider for my family. My husband was able to leave his job in October of 2020 to become a full-time stay-at-home dad. He pursues his passion of drag racing because of the success my business has seen.

In addition to revenue are there any numbers you would like to share?

Every day I add at least 10 new subscribers to my email list from my lead magnet. I spend $6 per day on Facebook and Instagram ads to promote this lead magnet and usually convert at least 2 of those 10 leads into paying clients of some sort, either from them purchasing my course, my full digital marketing services, or one of my other products (ad presets or monthly ads support).

What has creating your course done for you personally?

Creating my course has brought me a sense of fulfillment. It’s great knowing that I am able to help more people to grow their businesses. Like I mentioned earlier, not everyone can afford a full digital marketing package at first, and that’s totally okay! I really enjoy helping people start and grow their businesses.

If this course helps another person continue on their self-employment journey longer by helping them to bring in more clients, that just really means the world to me that I was able to help make that impact for them by offering a… Click To Tweet

Do you have a story of a transformation from any of your clients?

Yes! I have a ton actually but one of my favorites is one of the first success stories I ever got back from a client. She said “I’m LOVING my experience with your system. Yes, it’s all new to me but I’m actually talking to real couples that would never have found me otherwise!”

In just one month of running her ad campaign, this client was able to get over 100 wedding leads for her business. She also expanded her service area to 3 more major cities because of the interest she got.

Any time a client/customer tells me that what I did for them made a difference in their business it makes my week. That’s the reason I do any of this. I am such a huge advocate for self-employment and entrepreneurship and all of my clients are self-employed small business owners. Helping them continue to live their dreams and grow their business keeps me moving forward.

What advice do you have for people just starting out?

The best advice I ever got was to just start. There is no “perfect” time. You’ll never be 100% “ready.” You just have to start and keep going a little bit every day. And if you do that, if you show up every day and make at least a little bit of progress each day, eventually you’ll get it done and you’ll be so proud of what you accomplished.

Learn more about Brittany Cole of brittanymichelecole.com:

Website: brittanymichelecole.com and littlebkc.com