10 steps to a winning wedding venue marketing plan
Today on the blog, I am delighted to have the wonderful Tamara Holland, super marketing strategist from Dot & Stripe talk to us today about creating a winning marketing plan for our venues! Thanks so much Tamara - a piece full of so many golden nuggets…
Let me guess. Getting your beautiful venue in front of couples is one of your top priorities. Your joy and passion for your venue is infectious, but you need to start seeing bigger and better results.
But sometimes it can feel like you are going through the motions with your marketing, sending an email here or there, posting on Instagram, posting an advert in a wedding magazine- you are spreading yourself thin and not seeing these efforts translate into bookings.
There are some really simple, small steps to get your venue visible and start seeing a BIG transformation with your results and it all starts with a clear marketing plan.
But why do we need to create a plan?
Well without one we are drifting aimlessly from task to task, without a clear understanding of how our efforts are really making a difference to our wedding venue.
A marketing plan should also be a GUIDE for your business- a living, working document because we can never predict what is coming next (pandemics and recessions for example). We want our marketing plan to be an agile document- like our favourite book that we want to keep coming back to.
But where on earth do we start with creating this plan? I have pulled together a list of 10 elements you need for a success marketing plan so you can make your plan work for your venue and start making an impact.
1. CREATE A PICTURE OF YOUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Goals are one of the most important parts of our marketing plans, without them we have no way of knowing whether your work is worthwhile.
Our marketing goals should always aim to make a meaningful impact to our wedding venue and not just produce impressive-sounding vanity metrics.
Our goals should always be SMART (Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) and also feed into the different stages of our customers journey with us.
I always recommend starting with a small, achievable list of marketing goals so you don’t get overwhelmed, and this also helps us identify whether things have gone to plan.
2. GET CLEAR ON WHO YOU SERVE
This sounds basic, but getting clear on who you are and what you offer is vital- if we aren’t clear then how can we expect our couples to be?
It’s important to remember that you don’t want to market to everyone, you want to focus on those most likely to buy from you. Focusing on these individuals help us to focus our message and find the perfect fit for your business.
Remember that being clear on who you serve is about identifying as much about their demographic and psychographic as possible- your net doesn’t always need to be wide, it needs to be precise.
3. IDENTIFY YOUR CLIENTS NEEDS AND CHALLENGES
Tory Burch once said that “People don’t care about your business. They care about their problems. Be the solution they are looking for”.
I love sharing this quote, it’s so true! I would argue that more important than identifying the demographic and psychographic about your ideal customer is understanding their needs and challenges.
Once we know more about their ‘pain points’ we can really tailor our messaging and share how we can help solve them.
4. WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE
Do you have a clear USP for your venue or for weddings? Building our unique selling point/ proposition is essential to solidify our value against our competition. We want to share our USP often across all our marketing platforms and channels.
5. AUDIT YOURSELF AND YOUR COMPETITION
Thinking about about your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in your marketplace can really help you audit your business and marketing efforts.
It might feel strange to look back at what we have done previously and what we may need to start adapting but by auditing our existing tools, resources and channels can see where we need to prioritise in our efforts.
Audit your core marketing channels and systems, but also take time to review your core competitors or brands that inspire you to see what they are doing really well. What is most important though, is to not obsess over what your competitors are doing- focus on your customers and create yourself a list of actions of areas of improvement.
6. UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMER’S JOURNEY
When we consider our buyers journey, we need to think about the marketing channels they visit before they actually sign a contact.
For example, at the discovery stage your couples may just be learning about your venue and what you offer- this stage Is all about building awareness so they can find you for the first time. Here we may want to focus on showcase our USP on our website, social media channels or at a wedding far for example.
At the consideration stage the couple may be actively considering booking, so we need to show why you are the venue for them. Some likely channels you might use here are email marketing (to stay in regular contact), retargeting social media adverts, client case studies on your website for example.
And finally, even before they sign those contracts, we need to consider how we close the deal in the purchase stage. Your couple might be ready to make a purchase, but they might just need a nudge in the right direction.
7. GET CREATIVE
At this point in your marketing plan, you want to start getting creative and have a marketing brainstorming session. Get your team together and share as many ideas as possible and consider how these may fit into all your marketing goals.
A regular marketing meeting is a great way to get your team on board, share results from other activity and see what ideas others have.
8. CREATE A TACTICAL PLAN
Once you have a clear idea on your ideas, campaigns and channels of focus it’s really important to create a tactical plan. Consider all the marketing tasks you need to do each day or month, what assets you might need to create and also what your measure of success will be.
This is the important list of all the actions you need to do to make your ideas come to life. It’s also your opportunity to see what tasks you might need to outsource to an expert or gain support from your team with.
9. BUILD YOUR BRAND (BRANDING AND TONE OF VOICE)
Once you are clear on who you work with it’s important to pull together you’re branding. fonts, colours, imagery and even tone of voice (what language you use) so you can be consistent with your branding.
Consider what branding and tone of voice will appeal to your audience but also keep your core brand values at heart.
10. ANALYSE RESULTS
You should always be measuring, reporting, and testing your marketing regularly to see what is working and what isn’t. It might sound strange, but this is actually the fun bit- because you can really see what is resonating with your buyer base.
It’s key to remember that the metrics you want to track should align with the goals you set for yourself right at the start of your plan.
There you go, 10 simple steps to creating a marketing plan you can actually implement for your wedding venue.
I know that sharing the joy of what you do with your perfect customers can be tricky. You might not be ready to Do-it-yourself or have the budget to complete outsource- you just need the 1:1 expertise, support and accountability to get marketing DONE.
My one-to-one marketing support packages combines online or face to face support and guidance with access to a toolkit of training and resources to make those big transformations in your business.
Book a discovery call at my website to learn more www.dotstripe.co.uk or contact me via my favourite social channels below:
Tamara will be coming in live to bring The Wedding Venue Members’ Club a full training in this subject. Come and join us today!
