How to Increase Bookings For My Wedding Venue?
Scroll DownWedding venues are set for a busy few years, with many venues booked up until 2024. But with venues seeing their calendar go from zero to full-speed ahead, it can be difficult to find the time for marketing and new wedding venue sales. Increasing bookings and sales now is an essential way to future-proof the success of your business once the chaos of post-pandemic has quietened down. This article will explore the best ways to increase bookings and wedding venue sales.
Make Your Wedding Offerings Clearly Visible Online
Spouses-to-be need to be able to see all of your wedding services as quickly and clearly as possible online. On average people spend about 45 seconds on a website before they make a decision. Make sure you have a clear and quick access menu with a "Weddings" link, taking you to landing pages for all your key wedding services.
To help you book more weddings at your venue, make these wedding pages visually appealing with high-quality images and engaging content. Your website should include photos of the ceremony space, reception hall, outdoor areas, and decor options. Even better, provide a virtual tour of your venue, creating an emotional connection with potential clients.
Showcase Your Wedding Services With A Newsletter
Almost all email users check their inbox every day, making email marketing one of the best ways to showcase a wedding venue's services. Yet it can also be one of the most counterproductive if you don’t invest time in research, as spamming potential customers can put them off your business or even worse get your sending domain banned.
Use sites like Sprout Social to research what your clients want to see. This can help tailor your email content to their interests. For example, if you discover that many clients are interested in outdoor wedding options, highlight this in your emails.
Make it as easy as possible to sign up but be sure to capture GDPR compliant consent. Less is sometimes better to keep engagement rates high. You may want to limit scheduling to a weekly update so subscribers are not inundated or segment your list based on customer typology or lead quality. Whatever you send, spend some time on copywriting. Creating catchy email subject lines will keep your readers engaged and subscribing.
Build A Wedding Blog To Offer Added Value To Clients
Clients have a lot to plan for with a wedding. In a recent survey by online wedding registry site Zola, over 70% of people planning a wedding consider it more stressful than job hunting. As a wedding venue, you can take the lead as an expert on wedding planning and curate a wedding blog to offer added value to clients. A well-placed wedding blog can help portray you as a subject expert and add even more credibility to your reputation.
Create content that is meaningful, but also incorporate an SEO strategy to boost your blog's search engine rankings. Use keywords related to your venue, services, and local wedding news. You may want to consider writing articles about wedding trends, tips for choosing suppliers, and real wedding stories held at your venue. There's nothing like authentic content to generate interest.
Don't forget to cover a wide range of topics that actually save couples time in their wedding planning. For example, provide checklists, budgeting tips, and advice on choosing the right season for their wedding. Stay tightly relevant to your target audience but cover all their needs.
Make Your Visuals High Resolution & Quality
A recent WeddingWire study revealed that photos of a wedding venue were one of the most important factors in choosing a location. When looking at a wedding venue, clients want to be able to imagine themselves there on their wedding day. Curate a select portfolio of glossy and high resolution images on your website and print material to make this possible.
Use a curated selection of photos from past weddings to show your clients how you can make their day as beautiful as possible. Showcase the beauty and versatility of your space with photos that highlight different wedding styles and themes.
Consider creating a 360-degree virtual tour of your venue that potential clients can explore online. This immersive experience can help them picture their own wedding at your venue.
Share The Reviews (Don’t Be Afraid Of The Negative)
The WeddingWire study also revealed that 4 out of 5 couples would consider a venue with both positive and negative reviews over no reviews at all. Use your social media changes to highlight positive reviews from clients, and ensure that negative reviews are acknowledged, responded to and actioned in a constructive way. The communication you use in responding to negative reviews will also add to your overall credibility as a venue.
Show How You Can Help Clients Plan Their Big Day
Showing clients how to manage their big day with bespoke wedding management software will give them confidence to arrange the wedding of their dreams with you. Giving them their own planning portal is a great way to give agency to your couples, give them an extra reason to get married at your venue and allow you visibility on their needs and preferences.
A good wedding management software will also help you increase sales by letting them easily view their payment plan, organise and book their tastings and easily contact you directly. As a bonus, it will also tie nicely into your own backend so you can save time when managing pending payments and suppliers.
Create Good Wedding Supplier Partnerships
Over time, work closely with caterers, photographers, wedding planners, and florists to build trust and reliability. Collaborating on multiple weddings establishes a sense of teamwork and cohesion.
Create a complete list of these trusted suppliers and make it readily available to your clients in advance. Include information on their expertise, past collaborations, and examples of their work, such as photo galleries and client testimonials.
When potential clients see that your venue has a history of working seamlessly with these vendors, it significantly boosts their confidence. They'll feel assured that their big day will be well-coordinated, knowing that these professionals have successfully executed events at your venue in the past.
While some venues may have exclusive supplier contracts, consider offering flexibility to your clients. Allowing couples to bring in their own preferred vendors can be a major selling point. The option to incorporate personal choices can increase future sales and bookings, as it caters to a diverse range of client preferences.
In addition to sharing your list of suppliers, offer guidance on how to choose third-party services. Many couples appreciate the expert advice you can provide in selecting the right vendors for their specific needs. This added value can make your venue even more attractive and help you book more weddings.
Make Sure You’re Using The Right Social Media Channels
Create a social media presence for your venue and make sure you are using platforms that potential clients visit. Pinterest is the go-to for brides looking for inspiration on everything from wedding dresses to flower arrangements. Over 900 million pins about weddings take place on Pinterest every year according to wedding planning site The Knot. Facebook, Instagram and YouTube also rank highly for social media accounts visited by couples planning a wedding. Visual content is a huge draw for customers so focus on those emotive images and videos mentioned earlier in this article.
Make Online Bookings a Breeze
Conversion rate optimisation is all about removing barriers. In this context your goal is to make booking a breeze whether that is a viewing or simply a request for more information. Make sure you have an attractive form that is clearly visible on your front page and/or main menu. Use your wedding software to embed booking tools that automatically pull the data into your CRM. This will make it easy to keep on top of incoming requests, segment and respond in timely fashion. Some software even allow you to automate follow-ups for those frustrating enquiries that go cold before you've even had a chance to pitch your services.
Be Accessible To Your Existing Client
All of the techniques above are about adding value to your potential client and understanding them, but none of them will matter if you aren’t accessible to your existing clients via email, phone or social media. Communicate frequently with your client at set points throughout their wedding planning journey, from pre-sales to ongoing communications in the run up to the big day. It is their experience that will translate directly to glossy photos, positive reviews and word of mouth referrals, so prioritise them as well as your future wedding pipeline.
Understand That Flexibility Is Key
Flexibility in the supplier list is the top priority for a wedding venue, but offering a range of wedding packages, services and options for your client is also a huge draw to couples choosing a location. Couples can be demanding and witnessing the, change their wedding theme, menu or guestlist in the run up can be frustrating. However, although you have seen hundreds of weddings they are usually experiencing their first which means they will be reassured by offers of flexibility at the outset. The greater the magnitude of the event, the more the ability to change things down the line will be valued at the time of booking. Unforeseen circumstances inevitably crop up as well and being able to adapt well to these changes will boost your reputation.
Conclusion
Increasing bookings and sales for your wedding venue is possible with a mixture of clever marketing, targeted content and focusing on mutually beneficial relationships. Newsletters, blogs, websites and social media content should always leverage high quality images and positive reviews to truly showcase your venues to the client. Seamlessly interacting with your clients throughout their wedding planning will be an advantage, as will being able to adapt and customise your offer to the needs and demands of the market.
Do you need more time to grow your wedding venue sales and bookings? Sonas Events wedding management software will allow you to streamline many of your operational processes and transform the way you communicate.
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