How to book more clients with easy email marketing for wedding businesses
As a heads up: this post contains affiliate links for products I use in my own business :)
Why your wedding business needs an email list
As you know, the wedding world is very seasonal. Wedding businesses tend to book the majority of their clients between November and February.
Here’s the problem: What happens when you don’t completely get booked out? Or if you find yourself mid-year in need of some extra revenue? Should you wait it out and hope and pray that next booking season goes better?
Nope. You should build an audience that you can sell to throughout the year and ensure that you’ll have enough weddings to choose from when booking season does come. (As opposed to being forced to take any wedding that comes your way.)
This is called a marketing funnel.
If you can capture someone’s interest and bring them into your audience when they’re not yet ready to buy (a.k.a. a “cold lead”), then you haven’t lost the sale - it just hasn’t happened yet :)
One day, that person will be looking for someone to take photos of their special occasion, or bake a custom cake for their daughter’s birthday, or plan their parents’ 50th anniversary. And you will be right there in their inbox, having already built a relationship with them. Of course they’ll choose you!
If you’re not consistently reminding people of your business’s existence, I’m sorry buddy - they will simply forget about you.
It’s not the best service provider that wins the most clients. It’s the one who’s most visible.
Now you might be thinking, “I already do this on social media; I post constantly!” However…
There are so many reasons email is more effective than social media:
Social media platforms want to make money and keep people on their app; their goal is not to help you get more traffic to your website.
When you have a social profile, you are borrowing that platform and that audience on good faith. They can remove it at any time.
With an email list, it’s yours to do with what you will and you can always reach them or move them to another platform.
On Instagram, only 10% of the people who have already decided to follow you will actually see your posts (source).
Whereas around 83% of emails get delivered to each person’s inbox (source), and on average around 20% of emails get opened (source).
Just about every wedding vendor is using Instagram to market. Not a lot are speaking to prospects in their inbox.
So where does social media fit in to your marketing funnel?
Towards the top. You can use Reels or TikToks to reach new people and build a relationship with them.
But know that you’re competing with hundreds of thousands of other businesses for attention on those apps, so the end goal should be to get them on your email list where they’re more likely to pay attention to you going forward.
Deliver free valuable information to your email subscribers either weekly or twice a month and they will grow to trust you and love you! When you give something to someone, they tend to want to return the favor. That’s how you create a loyal audience.
How to build an email list as a wedding service provider
You just need 1) a lead magnet / opt-in gift / free resource and 2) an email marketing software with which to deliver it (I’ll get to that in a moment).
A lead magnet is the incentive that attracts potential clients (like a magnet ;D). It’s a resource, guide, training, etc. that you offer to give someone if they agree to opt-in for your emails.
Why do you need this? Sadly, it’s not enough to just ask people to sign up for your newsletter because they have no idea what real value you’re going to be delivering and they don’t want the extra noise.
But if you can figure out a problem your ideal clients are having right now and offer them a quick solution, they might be willing to “purchase” it in exchange for access to their precious inbox.
Here are some examples of a lead magnet that you might create:
PDF: 10 types of flowers that are always in season
Audio recording: 6 planning mistakes to avoid on your wedding day
Video: How to dress your best for your engagement shoot
Quiz: Which calligraphy style is right for your event
Checklist: Wedding day emergency kit
PDF: 14 Unique groom’s cake ideas
To get signups, you’ll need to talk about your freebie on social media periodically and make sure it’s visible across your website. But here’s another way you can expand your reach:
My number 1 recommendation for getting more email subscribers: blogging for SEO.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. I have a complete guide to SEO for wedding vendors here. It’s basically learning how to be strategic with your website so you can end up higher in the search results on Google.
My advice is to create a helpful blog post whenever you can about something that your ideal clients are searching for or asking about (you don’t need to post on a consistent schedule whatsoever).
Here’s my checklist for 100 Wedding Blog Post Ideas to attract more couples to your business!
Those blog posts will live on forever until you take them down. Unlike your posts on Instagram which die after a few days, your blog posts can be found by people on Google for years and years.
And here’s where it ties in to your marketing funnel: In your blog post, you’ll share about the freebie you created and give them a chance to sign up for it. Voila! More subscribers on your sacred email list!
PS. Here’s my irresistible lead magnet ;)
Best email marketing platforms for photographers, planners, florists, cake decorators, and wedding pros
Now listen. I know I never shut up about how much I like Squarespace’s website builder (that’s my affiliate link btw - use code BEJ10 for 10% off), and though they do offer an email marketing add-on service, I think there are currently better options available.
And yes… SQSP also seamlessly integrates with Mailchimp but I would ❌stay away❌ from that too. After working with dozens of clients to incorporate email into their websites, I have some strong opinions.
All my top 3 email recommendations aren’t too difficult to learn, they have a good amount of features and functionality for most businesses, and the interface isn’t too ugly 🤣
Mailerlite
Best if you’re on a tight budget. It’s free for your first 1,000 email subscribers!
Flodesk
Best if you need something super beginner-friendly AND best if you want to create beautiful emails. It’s $38 forever no matter how big your list gets. (You can get 50% off your first year with my affiliate link)
Convertkit
Best for advanced email strategies and testing. Pricing increases as your list size increases.
With your lead magnet created and your email marketing software set up, you can start collecting those leads! But once they’re on your list, how do you keep them warmed up?
You’ll want to send them a worthwhile email every week or two.
I know, this can seem super daunting but trust me - you’ll get the hang of it in no time with a little practice. I have tons of content ideas for you so you’ll never have to wonder what to send!
What to send to an email list full of potential wedding clients
There are usually two things we worry about as business owners when it comes to our email list:
I don’t have anything important to send
I’m afraid I’ll annoy people
So let’s bust these fears right now with this one reminder: You have PLENTY of knowledge that your ideal clients would LOVE to know about. They’re going to be grateful, not annoyed. :)
As a general rule to keep people engaged with your emails, you can share 80% of the time and sell the remaining 20%. If both your sharing and selling are coming from a place of serving, then you’re not bothering anyone. Ok? K.
Here are some email content ideas focused on sharing:
Download the free checklist: 100 Wedding Blog Post Ideas. You can use these prompts for blog posts, emails, or both!
Answer a frequently asked question you get from clients
Talk about a misconception that grinds your gears
Educate on a common mistake you see people making
Provide a location-specific resource for clients in your area
Share behind the scenes of one of your creations or of an event
Connect with people over something interesting that happened to you recently, a lesson you learned, or something funny
Ask your audience a direct question to start a conversation or offer them help with something
Then once every 4-5 emails or so, send an email focused on your product or service.
Here are some email content ideas focused on selling:
Give an update on your availability
Highlight a particular service and explain its benefits
A case study explaining your process with a client testimonial
A reminder about other events or holidays for which your services can be used
Remember, if you’re serving your list well and you find that people still unsubscribe, it’s probably because they weren’t a good fit for you. Don’t sweat it! You only want potential clients on your list.
Here’s what to do if email marketing feels overwhelming right now
If you understand the importance of email marketing, but you’re a bit freaked out by taking on this whole new project, I don’t blame you. It took me a while to get warmed up to it, but now it’s my favorite strategy!
There are some small steps you can take to just get started, because the sooner you start collecting leads, the better - even if you aren’t ready to nurture them yet.
Here is the absolute lowest-barrier-to-entry:
Set up a simple form on your website that invites people to your Newsletter in exchange for their email address (in Squarespace, you can use a Newsletter Block)
Send the email submissions to be stored in a Google Sheet (you COULD stop here for now, but if you’re ready to keep going…)
Start researching and testing out email marketing platforms using free trials to find the one you like
When you’re ready, transfer your Google Sheet list of emails into your email platform
Send your audience a welcome email; reminding them why they signed up, who you are, and what they can expect from you going forward
Just do what you can for now and then let yourself expand as you get more comfortable!
Eventually, having an email list can allow you to have more control over your stream of inquiries, instead of just helplessly riding the wave of wedding seasonality.
Please leave a comment if you found this article helpful!
Need to know how to incorporate Flodesk on your Squarespace website? This blog post is for you.
Hay, don’t leave without checking out these other guides for wedding pros:
