Effective marketing is all about relevance and focus. Do you know why some of the best Hotels have excellent wedding venues that often don’t generate the business volumes they should?
Wedding marketing is a specialized niche aimed at a very specific audience, so it requires a specific targeting as well as a particular approach that resonates with that audience. If you just half-heartedly add a wedding venue to the marketing mix as just another feature of your Hotel, the results will likely be subpar.
You must aim for a very focused and relevant promotion strategy if you want to attract more clients; here is some key ideas suggested by Brides Central, an Australian wedding directory website who provides tips and tools for brides, to set you in the right direction:
Make sure to invest in excellent photography
When looking for an appropriate venue to host their ceremony, wedding planners will make their initial decision by looking at available pictures; this means you need to think of the photos you publish as an opportunity to make a great first impression.
High-quality panoramic photos will make an average venue look outstanding, while poorly executed photography will undermine the sales potential of the most astounding location.
This is not an area where you can afford to cut corners, so make sure to reach out to some highly professional photographers that will be able to do justice to your Hotel’s excellent wedding venue. Keep in mind those photos will be instrumental to all your subsequent promotional efforts!
Related article: How To Transform Your Hotels Customer Experiences with Facebook Advertising and Powerful Images
Create a sales funnel specifically for your wedding venue
If you’re just advertising your wedding venue as another service available in your Hotel, you are not communicating clearly with your target audience of wedding planners and young couples.
It’s much wiser to create a dedicated landing page on your Hotel website to promote your wedding venue, making sure to prominently display a few of your best photos available along with some client reviews and enticing copy.
You then want to point this landing page to an independent website that will be exclusively dedicated to promoting your Hotel’s wedding venue – this will allow you to focus your efforts as well as a getting better deals when you buy online ads.
Add your contacts to wedding directory listings
Once you have created a dedicated website to promote your wedding venue, you want to put some time, energy, and money into making sure it’s visible to the relevant audience. One of the simplest and most effective ways of doing this is to get listed in as many directory listings as possible.
It will both help with your search engine optimization efforts, as well as drawing in highly targeted prospects that may be interested in your offering.
Encourage previous clients to leave reviews
The younger generations pay as much attention to online reviews as the older generations once did to old-fashioned word of mouth. If you don’t have a plan to make sure your previous customers leave as many high-quality reviews as possible, you are really missing a valuable credibility boost.
This can be arranged easily by instructing the staff to mention to newlywed couples that your Hotel strives to offer a great service, so customer reviews are really appreciated.
Most clients will indeed comply if only they are reminded of doing so, meaning you can really start collecting valuable marketing assets – merely by asking for a review just before every new happy couple walks away. You really want to avoid nagging clients over reviews though; choosing the right moments to point this out is crucial.
Consider organizing social media contests
Last, but not least, you should really consider organizing social media contests as part of your wedding marketing plan.
You can sometimes get amazing exposure by presenting clients with the opportunity to book your Hotel’s wedding venue free (limited to a specific date during low season, of course), and the relative cost of doing so may turn out significantly lower than what you’d have to spend on online ads to achieve a similar impact.
Related article: Why Your Hotel Needs a Social Media Concierge for Weddings
We are in this together!
I need to let you all know that we are in on this together. If you need to vent, talk, cry, or just have some to talk with then I am here listening. Since I am working part-time at the local Kroger, I will to the best of my ability to work it out around my schedule.
But you can reach me here:
Email: hotelblogger@aremorch.com
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We will get through this unprecedented event together! #hotelstrong #hospitalitystrong
For any specific information on COVID-19, I recommend go to CDC, WHO, AHLA, AAHOA, and HSMAI. Also, follow information from your local authorities.
NOTE
We are starting to reopen some hotels again (Yay!!!). Make sure you follow their guidelines and say THANK YOU to those that now show a unique spirit to serve, and helps us all get through this!! #hotelstrong #hospitalitystrong
Credits
About the Author: Delan is planning to start his business in Australia. He is new to marketing and investing, he has been learning a lot by reading the personal marketing and business blog.
About Are Morch
Hi, I am Are Morch. Your Digital Marketing Coach and Customer Experience Expert that specializes in creating effective digital customer experience offer for hotels while growing and scale customer acquisition and revenue.
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