When it comes to marketing your wedding venue, being found and seen online is crucial, with couples taking to Google and Pinterest to find their venue, inspiration and planning their wedding. For venues it is important that all aspects of their online presence is reviewed and aligned with their brand and core goals.

Online Marketing Tips for Wedding Venues

Here are 5 steps to take and things to consider to ensure you are getting the best out of your online strategy.

1. Get your website in check

The first area to review is your website, no matter where you are marketing your wedding venue or how you are found, I can guarantee a couple will view your website before visiting your venue. Your site is your shopfront, it must impress, it must reflect your style and the service you are offering including your ‘wow’ features that set you apart.

When reviewing your website consider these points;

  • Do you have recent high quality photos showing the best features of your venue?
  • Is your site easy to use on your phone, are buttons and links easy to click?
  • Do you have strong call to actions throughout leading couples to click and then get in touch?
  • Do you have all the relevant information included? – Sometimes less is more!

With all the best marketing in the world, if your website is outdated, not easy to use on your phone, or lacking any call to actions to contact you or book a viewing, you are leaving potential leads on the table and not maximising the return on your marketing. Check out our guide on getting the best from your website and things to consider when reviewing here.

Action steps: Review your website at least once a month ensuring it is up-to-date. Having a blog on your site is anther great way to keep current and connect with potential couples, but make sure you post on it!

2. Get social

As we all spend more and more time on social media it is important you are showcasing your venue to it’s full potential here too. Instagram and Facebook are great platforms that can help you connect with couples. Not sure what to post, then get content ideas for your venue on Instagram on this post here.

Spending on targeted ads can focus your posts to your target market but even without spending a penny it is vital to be on these platforms and more importantly to be active.

They allow you to quickly engage with couples by sharing recent photos, updates, blog posts, offers, news and much more. Different platforms are almost like their own mini blogs. The most important thing to remember is to keep consistent, keep to your brand values and engage, negative first impressions from one of your social media platforms can turn away vital leads.

Networking with professional wedding photographers who have worked at your venue, via social media can really help bring your platforms to life, brilliant imagery will do all the talking for you. Read our full guide on ‘How To Use Social Media To Market Your Wedding Venue’.

Action steps: Take a look at your social media pages, are they being updated regularly, are you posting stories, does your feed align with your branding.

3. Knowing your target audience

When doing any marketing it is important to understand your audience. Do you know your venues ideal couple and who wants to book your venue?

An engaged couples yes, but learn more about them, their age range, their style and the type of wedding they want. Knowing these details, focuses your marketing plan and ensures a better return on your marketing spend.

With your ideal couple in mind, you can choose specific blogs and websites to promote your venue on, making sure they are well suited to them and their style, adjust your website so it gives them the information they would want and the style of images you use.

Think about your couples and what they want, and where they are likely to find you.

4. Shout about your Reviews

A couple have fallen in love with your venue, but on your website the last review or testimonial is 2017. Not a great impression. The best form of marketing is word of mouth and great reviews are key to helping build trust with potential couples leading them to get in touch and the result you really want, a booked wedding.

As part of your post wedding process you should be getting in touch with your couples for reviews, ask them to leave a review on your Facebook page, any sites you are promoted on, and if they email one to you, make sure it is added to your website!

You can write lots about your venue on your website, but a review from a recent couple saying how amazing the service was, how great the food was and how amazing their wedding day is worth a lot more than what you could write.

Action steps: Get in touch with couples and ask them to leave a review, pick out your best reviews and make sure they are visible on your website. Consider adding reviews to stories and posts on your social media for maximum visibility.

5. Being Seen

There are plenty of sites and places to promote your venue, from blogs, social media campaigns to online wedding venue directories.

Promoting your venue on directories or venue finders is a great way to get your venue infront of many eyes, however it is important that they are the right eyes for your venue, again this goes back to knowing your ideal couple, and their potential channels of finding venues.

When looking at sites to feature on it’s important to understand their audience, it is better to have fewer quality leads then lots of dead-end enquiries which would result in a waste of your time.

Being on other sites allows you to have a mini shop front just like your website, keep this up to date with new images, features and shout about the site for engagement.

Action steps: Look at where you promote your venue online, are these platforms working for you, do they align with your brand and target audience and make sure they are up-to-date.

Plan and take action

It is important to review your digital marketing regularly and not just annually. A plan and strategy is excellent but it must be actioned, put time aside each month to review your marketing spend, blog, sites, ad campaigns and make sure asking for reviews is part of your norm. These are not just little jobs, they are part of an ongoing process.