In the United States, the wedding industry is enormous. Employing about 1.2 million people, weddings are a $79 billion market, and couples spend lavishly on the event. In order to get your wedding services into consumers’ hands, though, you’ll need to grab their attention. So where are the brides?
Pinterest Prevails
One place you’re sure to find a lot of brides looking for wedding ideas and services is on Pinterest. The social media site may not be popular with teens, but it has a strong following among suburban adults, and 90% of weekly users rely on Pinterest to make purchasing decisions.
From a marketing perspective, it’s worth committing some time to developing your business profile on the site and selecting key content to serve as promoted pins. You should also cultivate plenty of wedding-related pin boards with compelling titles that will draw in users.
Learn The Language
Pinterest is a great way to see what kinds of wedding themes are popular and how people are talking about them. Tune into that language and use it to your advantage when developing website content. For example, vintage styling is very popular with brides right now, as are rustic inspired events, and boards using these terms have hundreds of thousands of followers each.
Using these keywords in your website content, such as this array of vintage wedding rings from Estate Diamond Jewelry or Crystal Spring Resort’s Rustic Wedding promotion. As with any other kind of advertising, content marketing remains highly relevant in promoting your services.
Stay Social
While Pinterest may be one of the most important social media sites for wedding planning, it’s hardly the only one. You also need to build profiles on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms and keep them updated. If you’re attentive to these profiles, they can help you engage with customers quickly and conveniently – you’d be surprised how many people avoid emails and even website forms today. Consumers are seeking something more instant, even when they’re making a big decision.
Keep Culturally Current
Staying up to date on current wedding trends doesn’t just mean learning the language as mentioned above, but also being aware of major cultural events that are influencing the wedding industry. For example, after Serena Williams got married in bedazzled Nike Cortez sneakers, searches for the shoes went up 8% on the fashion website Lyst. Many other couples have been influenced by the recent royal wedding – you’ll see far more colored engagement rings in the coming year, like the sapphire (formerly belonging to Princess Diana) that Prince Harry gave to Meghan Markle.
As a wedding brand, you want to be part of the buzz around the culturally important nuptials. Live tweet the event, talk about great ideas celebrities have employed to make their day special, and most importantly connect those high profile weddings to your own services.
Today’s engagements are longer than ever before, but that means couples have plenty of time to make decisions about their weddings. You need to wow them early and often with your knowledge, services, and connections, whether to other high profile vendors, celebrities, or peers. The more they hear your name and associate your brand with amazing events, the better you’ll fare in this competitive marketplace.