I support wedding business owners to create a strong and engaging online brand presence, helping you to develop a sustainable social media and online marketing strategy, targeting the right customer and giving you the know how to create badass content that converts! I work with clients on a 1:1 basis which include a variety of bespoke formats;
Intensive deep-dive sessions, social media power sessions, VIP in-store days and 12 week programmes.

Q: How do we reach a wider audience?

A: It’s important not to put your eggs all in one basket, so if you are just focusing on one type of marketing, it’s time to switch it up. Some key ways to reach a wider audience are:

• Optimising your website for your ideal bride. Does it speak to her directly and give her a reason to want to come to you?  Include awesome imagery and content that is SEO optimised. Remember everything on your website can be used for content ideas on other platforms!
• Email marketing. This is often overlooked, but it’s a great way of personalising content depending on what your marketing goal is. If you are not sure what this is, then it’s basically a direct way of targeting your customers using their email addresses.  
• Focus on more than just one social media channel and engage with your customer. Don’t just post and go! Reply to comments, message in the DMs and starting building relationships.
• Collaborate with other businesses or individuals. There are so many ways to do this, from shoots, to events or build a relationship with an influencer. You are then getting access to their audience as well as they are to yours.

Q: There are so many different social media platforms now! Where should we be focusing our time?

A: Firstly, ask yourself where does your ideal bride hang out?  If you don’t know who your ideal bride is, then you need to do this bit of work (I can help more with this!). This should tell you where to focus most of your efforts, but don’t completely forget about the rest! Generation Z (those born between 1997 -2012) are our next generation of brides, and we are already seeing them in our boutique. They use TikTok as a search engine, and generally look to social media to help answer their questions (amongst lots more!) so if we can be present on these other platforms it will serve you well in the long run! Repurposing your content is the key to not letting social media take over your life too.

Q: What kind of content is the most engaging and how do I know if it’s converting into bookings?

A: Again, think about what kind of content your ideal bride wants to see. Video content is a must, but there is still a need for beautiful imagery, informative blog posts and most of all content that is authentic. Brides want to see the real you!  Always ask yourself when you are creating content, is this what my bride really wants to see or know? Is it adding value or inspiration and what do you want them to do with this piece of content? Give them a call to action. Then look at your insights. Social platforms show you your engagement rates so start to track them and do more of what is performing well. Look at your website click through rates. What pages are getting the most hits and why? Google Analytics is a whole other topic though!

Q: When we wear so many hats in our business, how do we make the time for content creation?

A: Planning your content is key for long term growth and generally making you feel less overwhelmed by it all! The first thing to ask yourself is, do you enjoy creating content? If you do, perfect! If you don’t that’s ok, but can you get some help with it? Creating content is a must for our industry so we need to make it work for us in whichever way we can. Find yourself some time in your diary that you can dedicate to just content, whether that’s a few hours a week or a day a month, block it out and turn your email notifications off!
Use a content calendar to plan everything out and get help where you need it. Don’t forget to repurpose where you can. Blog posts can be condensed into short form videos or grid posts. Reels can be saved and uploaded as Idea Pins on Pinterest.

Scheduling your content saves time too. Later is great for multiple social media platforms, or Meta Business Suite for just Facebook and Instagram.

Q: I have no marketing strategy in my business, I just wing it! Where’s the best place to start to put a proper strategy in place?

A: This is something I work on in depth with my clients, but to start laying the foundations, these are the key things to put in place:

• Understand your ideal bride, including their desires and pain points.
• Set your marketing goals. Do you want to increase brand awareness, bookings, sales of a particular designer? Get specific!
• Review your current position in the market. What are you great at, where can you improve, what challenges and opportunities are there in the market? You can then identify where you need to focus your marketing for your business to grow.
• Be clear on your unique selling point. What is it that makes you stand out from the rest and why brides should come to you?
• Choose which marketing channels are going to help you achieve your goals. Make sure you have a varied strategy as different channels attract different consumers.
  Create your content plan. So what actual content you are going to create e.g. newsletters, blog posts, video posts, events.
• Set a budget. Be clear what you have allocated to your marketing activities and keep a track of the spend.
  Review your marketing and assess if it’s actually working for you and helping you achieve those goals.

Find out more

For more details or to book your appointment with Diana, just head to www.badassmama.co.uk. You can also follow Diana at @__badassmama.