If you are a wedding professional, chances are, you know you need a digital marketing strategy. And if you follow me on Instagram, you saw me talk about WeddingPros 2022 survey. 

In case you missed it: WeddingPro surveyed nearly 12,000 couples who were married in 2022 for The Knot’s annual Real Weddings Study. And they found that Couples spend six hours per week, on average, planning. And 90% is done online.

So if you are not marketing online, or working on updating your website, you are missing out on couples.

Point blank, end of story.

And it’s not just about having an online presence: it is about having a digital marketing strategy! Throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks is just waisting you time. And as a wedding pro, you know that time = $$.

And it’s not just about having an online presence: it is about having a digital marketing strategy! As a digital marketer for wedding pro’s, I have helped dozens of amazing vendors, just like you, create the right strategy that works for their business. But here are my top 5 tips for you to get started on your strategy today!

Figure out your goals.

First thing first, figure out your goals and objectives! What is the goal of your digital marketing efforts? Is it to get more clients/leads? To gain more publication exposure? Is it to raise your prices, and be a more luxury service? Or is it to book 50 weddings a year? Whatever it is for your business, you need to get clear on your goals and objectives. Take time to look at what your goals are for 2023, and even 2024.

When tracking your goals, be specific. If you are looking for more clients in 2023, make that an exact number. Or if you want to have a large publication feature, be specific on what magazine or blog you want to be on. The more specific you are, the easier it will be for you to track your goal.

Track your numbers.

Once you have your goals in place, take a look at your KPIs (key performance indicators). These will be the metrics you use to keep track of your goal. If you are looking for more clients, you might want to focus on Google Analytics, and driving traffic to your website. In that case, you would want to increase organic traffic with SEO updates, and consistent blogging.

If you are looking to increase your pricing, you will want to track where your current pricing is and determine the scale of how you will increase pricing. Will it be with every booking? Or a single price jump? Will you add more items into your packages, like albums, or offer more coverage (for wedding photographers, of course!) Look at what metrics will align with your goal and objective, and start keeping track of the numbers.

Find your top social platform (and it might not be Instagram!)

As you start to map out a digital marketing strategy, it is important to focus on where your clients are, and how they find you. As a wedding professional, Instagram is most likely going to be a big source for you. But, it doesn’t mean it will be your biggest! Clients often come to us assuming Instagram is their biggest traffic source, but that isn’t always the case.

We had one client come to us with a huge Facebook following and was never posting fresh content to it! However, when she did post, her engagement was incredible! In fact, whenever she posted images from a wedding, the couple and their family shared it. And that meant she was getting a ton of potential couples seeing her content! Facebook can be one of the most overlooked platforms for wedding photographers and planners.

Think about it: if your couple shares the album you posted, that could be dozens of potential couples seeing it, and falling in love with your work. Instagram can’t always give you that kind of direct exposure to your ideal client.

Pinterest is also an often overlooked platform and can be a game-changer for our clients. By pinning daily, you can be targeting a much larger platform, and targeting your ideal couples in your area. Utilizing an efficient Pinterest strategy can help increase leads, and website traffic, in just a few months.

To find your top social media post, make sure you have Google Analytics! This free tool will allow you to see exactly where traffic is coming from, including which social media platforms.

Blog monthly.

While you might be posting frequently on Instagram, when was the last time you came up with fresh content for your blog or newsletter? In order to move up the ranks in SEO, you need to be updating your website frequently, which is where blogging comes in hand! At Ava And The Bee, blogging is hands down the biggest service we offer! When you create a blog post, you are providing fresh content for search engines to crawl through, and it helps them see that your website is important.

Not only does it help with your SEO and web presence, but blogging is also an important part of the client experience. Clients love to see their weddings on your website, and social media! Even if that wedding isn’t your “ideal client”, it is important to share some images from their day. This will let them share it on their own social media and Facebook, and in return, give you free advertising!

And why wouldn’t you want free advertising? The answer is you do. You want that free advertising. Your business needs that free advertising.

Take a look at your weddings from 2022 – have they all been blogged? If not, start to lay out a content calendar, where you outline which post goes up which week. You can also fill in real weddings and styled shoots with educational content. Some topics can include “The top 5 venues in [your city here]”, “What to wear to your engagement shoot” or “How to plan the perfect wedding”.

Be consistent.

No matter what your goals and objectives are, you need to be consistent in your digital marketing strategy. If you are going to be blogging, keep a schedule, and stick to it. I recommend at least every other week, but once a week is ideal. If you are starting a newsletter, don’t just send one every other month and call it a day. Pick a day and time that your newsletter will go out every month.

Looking to be published? When creating your next styled shoot, keep this publication in mind with each and every design decision. Be consistent in the images and the messaging, and target what that blog is looking for.  Online marketing isn’t a quick and easy way to increase leads and clients. It takes persistence and consistency. However, with time (and an amazing team like Ava And The Bee) you can do it!

Find the right digital marketing strategy team.

That is one of the reasons our clients love to outsource to us. When you hire Ava And The Bee, not only do we help create the perfect digital marketing strategy, but we implement a weekly and consistent schedule. We make sure you have blogs going up every week, and pins going around the clock. We take the time to make your digital marketing run like clockwork without you having to think about it!