Some Amazing Wedding Venue Marketing Tips to Increase Venue Bookings
When it comes to the perfect wedding day, most people spend the majority of their time and budget on finding an exceptional wedding venue. With so many indoor and outdoor wedding venues to choose from, it can be a very competitive space to stand out in, which is why having a marketing plan is crucial for a wedding venue’s success.
How can I make my venue stand out from the competition?
In the world of weddings, venues are becoming more and more popular. The venue is the center of a wedding - it's where all the magic happens. But before any magic can happen, the venue needs to be booked. To make sure that your venue stands out from all the others, here are some tips for promoting your venue to potential couples:
1. Market What Couples Want
In order to stand out when couples book a wedding venue, you want to make sure you are catering your marketing to what couples want and are looking for. While wedding planners are often assisting, your ultimate target audience is the couples themselves. You will want to conduct research on what people look for and if you are in an area where people love to get married, what are the reasons why? This will help you stand out from your competition.
2. Reviews and Photos Are Gold
Reviews and photos are the top two things couples go in search of to get an idea of what their day could look like and how other people experienced it. When considering the best wedding venues in California, they want to be able to picture themselves there, so they go straight for tangible evidence. Making sure you have captivating photos on your social media channels and website will assist your strategy when couples come looking for photos.
What are some wedding venue marketing tips to increase venue bookings?
The wedding venue is essential. People want to make the most of their special day. So, what role do you play in the plot, then? You can start a successful side business and provide a distinctive experience if you have a location to use as a wedding venue. People get together in a comfortable setting during wedding ceremonies, ready to eat. As a result, many businesses consider using their space as a wedding site. Below are some wedding venue marketing tips to increase venue bookings:
1. SEO Is Crucial
Search engine optimization is probably one of the most important factors there are when it comes to increasing your bookings. Having great social channels and an immersive website doesn’t do you much good if no one can find them. Keywords and title tags are important to research and consider because they will determine how your website ranks on search engines. You’ll also want to make sure you’re optimizing for your location specifically. Couples don’t just search “wedding venue,” they usually have a place in mind. Finally, you’ll want to make sure your webpage is user-friendly and loads quickly for the best results.
2. Choose The Channels Couples Are Using
Making sure you have a defined target audience will make choosing the channels couples are using a lot easier. You’ll want to make sure you’re creating targeted advertisements on Instagram and Facebook, and utilizing tools like Pinterest, since it is one of the top wedding planning tools people use for weddings. You’ll also want to make sure you’re attending in-person events where you can create marketing materials and have a booth presence to increase your market awareness.
What are some of the most common mistakes made by wedding venues?
1. Neglecting To Continuously Update Your Website
One of the biggest mistakes venues can make is to leave their website stagnant. This is your biggest hub in terms of information and selling points, and you always want to be adding, updating, refreshing and optimizing. You should continuously be adding new photos and videos as marketing content and if you add new features or offerings at the venue, the website should be updated immediately. Making sure your keywords and SEO are up-to-date will ensure you are always coming up at the top when people are searching within the wedding space.
2. Failing To Use Video Footage and Virtual Tours
In the world of constant consumption, where people are continuously watching videos on YouTube and social channels, huge mistake venues can make is not utilizing video footage and virtual tours. Videos typically show increased results in website traffic and lead generation, and virtual tours are a more immersive experience that helps potential clients actually picture themselves there. When you put more marketing dollars into this area of your marketing strategy, you are bound to see results.
We hope these tips help you when it comes to increasing your bookings as a wedding venue. Being event venue managers ourselves, we speak from experience and give our best recommendations based on real-life scenarios we’ve encountered.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How do we define who the target audience is?
A. We recommend research. You can hire companies to do the research for you, or you can implement short surveys when someone lands on your website in terms of what they are looking for. You can also conduct past research to see who has booked with you and build out an audience from there.
Q. If we’re only active on Facebook for our social channels, is this a mistake?
A. We would argue yes. In this day and age, there are so many social channels that can benefit you. Instagram, Pinterest, and Tik Tok are three channels that should be considered in terms of popularity and effectiveness.
Q. How often would you say we should update our website?
A. We would say as often as you can. Your website is a direct reflection of your business so making sure there are new things to see and that it’s as up-to-date as it can be is crucial.