9 Tips for Newbies in the Balloon Decorating Industry

Decorating a venue using balloons have continued to gain popularity in recent years. Now that social media and other online platforms are freely available, anyone who owns a balloon shop or any kind of business can easily do their sales and marketing there. Working in the industry for almost 3 years now, we have gained various experiences through our actual setup in the wide array of party venues here in the Metro. Through our expertise and familiarity of the different varieties of projects that we have made, we are happy to share some tips to the starters in the balloon decorating industry.

Balloon decoration, and the business as a whole, is quite competitive because of the very small amount that you need to start this venture. Take note of this, the best way to become a significant player is to be passionate with your work and make sure that all your clients are your VIPs. Below are 9 tips that will surely help you improve you as a balloon artist. If you want to add your ideas here, you can use the comment box below and we will be glad to have it posted here.

When we first entered the Balloons & Party Supplies Industry, we really thought it is only about selling Balloons per dozen and retail of Party Supplies; and then, after a few days from our opening day, Aboitiz (Metaphil) approached us to do a huge stage arch for them. It was after that event, when we realized that we need an electronic balloon inflator rather than inflating all the balloons by a manual hand-pump. It was more than a hundred balloons that we inflated starting at dinnertime until early dawn. It was already a wake-up call that we need to do some research on how to improve our craft, make everything faster, and better. After reading some of the internet write-ups from international balloon shops, we cannot really find a simple and understandable list of tips that can help us achieve the things that we want. Therefore, most of the tips written below are based purely on our own experiences and we really hope you can get something out of it. We wish that, unlike us, you would have a faster way to become a noteworthy example to the freshmen of the future. We encourage everyone to add your ideas and tips below so we can add to this shortlist of tips, proudly done by us.

Without further ado, here are 9 tips for you!

1. Find ways to innovate – It is a fact that most of the balloon shops offer somewhat the same set of products and services. Always remember that innovative suppliers always get a lot of attention if they do it correctly. Innovation is basically the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new to the industry.

Even though your innovation is not 100% new, having an originality has its benefits for there are lesser or no competitors to your new set of products and services. Being an innovator will surely give you the edge among other “cookie-cutter” balloon shops. Remember this quote, “there is less traffic in the extra mile”.

2. Make unique packages – Having a unique set of packages separate you from the biggest players of the industry – Hannah’s Party Needs, Sparkles Balloons, Wagas Balloons, Ballooney, Ritz Balloons, etc. Unique packages will define you in the future. This is what defines these Balloon Shops as their list of Packages differs from each other.

Notably, Hannah’s Party Needs offers packages that include Food Carts, Ballooney offers nicely done centerpieces and backdrop, Ritz offers Balloons with Flowers packages.

Your distinctive set of bundles and offerings will give you an advantage over the others who simply copy from the more popular balloon shops. Take time to brainstorm with your business partners and think of ways on how to make your bundles more appealing without compromising too much on the price. Besides, those who simply copy packages can be easily reported to Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc making their website or business page virtually inutile – lesser visitors, less rankings.

3. Minimize copying of the designs from other shops – There is a gray area on this part as there are times that some of your clients will send you photos of designs that comes from other balloon shops. If you can convince your customer to make a design that is different from the one she searched from the internet, the better. If she really wants you to follow that design, you do not have a choice.

Copying from others is easy but this is not very pleasurable on your part because you have done less work for your brain – you know that your brain can do more. Having a nicely done setup that comes from your own concept will surely make you proud of your work. Seeing your pictures, even after years of doing it, will certainly make you appreciate what you have done and tell the stories to your friends and relatives that you have done an excellent job without copying the works of others. If you have a choice not to copy from the big players, do it. Being unique will make you exceptional.

4. Register your business – After 4 months of operation we have decided to register our business because of its potential. Even though we have done projects for Corporate Clients, which includes Crimson Resort, Megaworld, Apple One Properties and many others, before we registered this business with the DTI and BIR, we were not able to close a deal with several companies including Smart/PLDT, Globe Telecoms, Isuzu, etc, simply because we cannot provide an Official Receipt.

Aside from being paranoid that someday someone will report us to the authorities, we are losing many opportunities from Corporate Clients. After registering our business in the Barangay and City Levels, we were able to receive projects instantly as we get free customer referrals from them. A huge chunk of our income lately comes from companies that continue to patronize our services. Just imagine how much money you get if you are able to close a deal of 10,000pcs balloons with SM for their 3-day sale.

5. Take care of your customers – Taking care of your clients will make you look more reliable in their eyes. Even though you are a newbie in the industry, clients will still patronize your products and services if you always make them a VIP. Returning clients will let you realize that you are doing something right because one of the biggest reasons why customers return to their previous suppliers is that they are satisfied with the products and services.

There are times when you encounter a “hard to deal” customer and it will most certainly annoy you. By being humble and understanding, you will certainly make this “hard to deal” customer gain trust and confidence in you. These kinds of customers are still “paying customers” and they can bring in more customers for you. Always make sure you go the extra mile to please your customers and they will be willing to get and pay for your service next time. The power of the “word of mouth” is very effective and these customers will be your free advertisement, so take good care of them.

6. Follow simple business ethics – Because it is so easy to start this business even without having a background in business, many fail because of doing unethical actions. Simple values and etiquettes will make you distinct and attractive. By being professional to everyone you deal with, it will give your business an added value because the next time your customers will order from you, they will think of your integrity and behavior. Having the right values, such as being transparent and fair to your customers will make you a more reliable Balloon Decorator. Business ethics will help your organization to protect your reputation. It is needed to make business activities reasonable to consumers.

If a customer asks for refund for a service or product that does not meet her expectation, be sure to have a compromise – such as returning the money, or giving her a discounted rate next time or give her a free product or service. Registered companies are protected by the DTI when it comes to refunds and returns, especially for projects paid ahead of time and cancelled just a few days before the actual event. Make use of a Return and Exchange policy that will help guide your clients. Other cases, such as irate clients, must be handled properly. Be very apologetic and, if possible, the manager or owner of the Balloon Shop will do this.

7. Always be careful when decorating – Decorating a venue needs a lot of experience. Neophytes will take 2-4 times more time compared to the more experienced decorators. This is basically what we call the “learning curve”. Do not worry, as the time will come that you will be familiar with almost all of the venue in your area and decorating it will only take you an hour or less compared to doing it 3-4 hours during the first time you made the same amount of decors on the same location. By being careful during decorating, you can be sure that you will return to your family in one-piece. You can read our 7 Safety Tips when decorating a venue so you will have an idea on how to remain healthy after your project.

8. Share your blessings – It has become a practice by many businesses to share their blessings through their foundations. The main reason for this is they can lessen the tax they pay to the government by declaring that they are helping the poor through their own institution. Because of the relatively low income from the balloons and party supplies industry, it is less likely that anyone will have its own foundation. The best way to share your blessings is through “random acts of kindness”. Occasionally, especially if you get more than what you expect during that month, you can simply buy snacks for street children or you can go to an institution that takes care of the homeless or the elderly and share your blessings there. Calamities such as earthquake, fire and flood will leave many to be helpless and this will be a good time to share what you have. You can also make use of the extra cash that you have to bring your teammates to a nice place or give it to them as a bonus. You might want to check some photos of our Community Service. We are not able to take photo to quite a number of events but this will give you an idea on how much we love to share what we have.

9. Teach what you have learned – Just like this short blog about tips for newbies, we encourage everyone to share their experiences and knowledge in this industry. Share them to the new ones so they will also have an idea on how this industry works. Because of our desire to help those who want to start their own business, we made a Balloon Decoration Workshop. There are no open schedules at the moment because there is a surge in the number of bookings we are getting in the past months. We hope that soon, we can go back to teaching those who are interested with our own techniques. These technicalities cannot be understood just by simply watching a tutorial video. Teaching someone our skills and techniques is very gratifying and heartwarming, especially if we see them do their craft regularly and with ease. We also provide helpful tips on decorating the venue and some basic sales and marketing tips during the workshop. We will just update our FB page once we have open schedules very soon.

Now that you have learned some of the tips, it is better for you to share this page and add your own comments, suggestions and reactions to the discussion box below.

This page is last updated on Nov 23, 2016 @ 4:34 pm