Ah, the wedding pro hustle—it’s something we’re all subject to. No matter how long you’ve been in the industry or how much experience you have, capitalizing on strategic marketing opportunities should always be on your radar. Getting your brand in front of the right audience can be a bit tricky—but it’s absolutely crucial to your business’ success. Today, then, we’re talking marketing media, tools, and channels worth considering. Take a look at what we’ve broken down below...and get ready to sign a slew of eager clients.
*In the spirit of full disclosure, this post contains affiliate links, which means we may get commissions if you decide to purchase any of these products. We only recommend products that we love ourselves and that we think you’ll love, too.
Local Print Magazines & Blogs
When it comes to marketing, business owners often make the mistake of wanting to be on the most modern, flashy, exciting medium. And, while there's certainly something to be said for Facebook ads and Instagram stories, we caution you to not overlook some of the most obvious, straightforward, effective media—local print magazines and blogs. While local magazines won’t have the same reach as, say, a feature on a well-known website, they do offer a ton of bang for your buck because they’re reaching the people in your geographic area who are most likely to hire you. Running advertisements in or guest-blogging for locally-based media is a great way to get your brand in front of the right eyes.
Video
Alright, so we say “video” and you automatically think, No way—I’m not a professional videographer...and I can’t afford to hire one! But fear not, wedding pros, we’re not talking high-quality, endlessly expensive drone videos here—don’t make the mistake of thinking you have to hire a pro videographer to take advantage of this increasingly popular medium. Use video on your website (brand videos or wedding videos from past clients) as well as social channels (Instagram stories, live videos, videos in posts). The key with making your own videos lies in creating useful content—something people will actually want to watch—and doing so in a way that feels authentic and engaging. Keep in mind, while your videos don’t need to be professionally done, they should be somewhat well executed—shaky camera hands and poor lighting are an absolute no. At Aisle Planner, we use two super simple, inexpensive tools to create our videos—this handy portable phone tripod (we’ve tried a number and this one is our favorite) and this Auxiwa clip-on selfie light.
So many wedding pros neglect Pinterest all together, or use it simply as an inspiration channel or social media feed—but we encourage you to change the way you think about Pinterest. It’s its own search engine and is an absolute SEO powerhouse—so start using it as such. Upload pins of your own work and then link them back to your website to start building your brand’s SEO chops.
Paid Social Media Engagement
Social media channels are becoming more and more “pay to play” these days—meaning, in order to really get mileage out of your posts, you’ll want to consider boosting them on Facebook and promoting them on Instagram. This shouldn’t be every single post—and there should certainly be some strategy involved in how you go about boosting. Facebook and Instagram will often recommend posts to boost or promote, and they’ll let you set your own specific audience (age range, location, gender, interests, etc.) which is super helpful for ensuring your social media content is seen by the right eyes.
Overall, we encourage you to spend some serious time looking into these marketing tools in order to increase your brand visibility. Every single social media or marketing channel out there has the ability to act in a way that’s super effective for your business—it’s all about seeing these channels as more than just channels and instead using them strategically to sell your brand and convert those eager eyes into signed clients. Cheers, Aisle Planners, to grabbing the marketing bull by the horns this month!