6 Marketing Tips for Wedding Videographers
The wedding industry is crowded and incredibly competitive. It’s hard enough to master your craft yet alone building a business around it but here are some great marketing tips to help you reach engaged couples and book more weddings.
To start, the wedding business is one of the most stable markets in existence. Despite the crowded space, people will always get married. As such, engaged couples will always search for a venue, bakery, wedding photographer, and a wedding videographer. This means that the industry is very competitive though. Ranging from your cousin’s roommate’s nephew that just got a camera to full-fledged production studio, you will need to find a way to stand out.
Let’s just make it known: You aren’t going to shoot every wedding that you receive an inquiry for. That’s a good thing. You should narrow your focus on the types of weddings you want to shoot. Do you want to focus on local weddings, or will you be willing to travel for destination shoots? Do you only shoot the ceremony and reception or do you shoot all day? Once you’ve decided what you want to do, then you need to target your market.
1. Maintain and update your online presence.
You have to be online. Whether you have your own website or you use other platforms (e.g. trippix, vimeo, etc.), it’s absilutely necessary to be online. Even if you aren’t happy with how your site looks, just make sure you have something up. Your site should at least include your most recent video highlight reels, and contact information. You can make the site more interesting by writing blogs about each video you post. There you can talk about the wedding day and link to other vendors that worked the event. When couples look for videographers, they will search for videographers in the same city as their venue. Be sure to list your location on your website, as well as any other locations you have filmed in before. Make sure to always update the website with your latest work.
2. Simple, accessible packages and rates
When a couple reaches out to you, don’t respond with a novel-length email for basic, general information about your services. Even if it’s just a digital single page brochure, send them a nice, simple, and informative brochure. Include a breakdown of the pricing, as well as package options. Even if the prices adjust and aren’t fixed, at least offer a starting price. If you offer several different package options, be sure to break down what each package offers. More over, leverage vendor sites that already offer a simple way to show your material. A digital copy of your offerings goes way further today than any physical print out in terms of reach and accessibility.
3. Use social media
Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter. You should have a social media account for all potential customers. This will help with analytics and target marketing. Whenever you release a new wedding video, you can use the “boost Post” feature on Facebook and Instagram. You can promote your film to show up in various news feeds and you get your name out for others to discover.
4. Know other vendors including other videographers
Knowing other vendors is absolutely crucial to your success. There will be vendors you don’t enjoy working with, and there will be some you wish you could work with all the time. One of the best things you can do is to build this relationship with other vendors, especially the ones you have already worked with. Cross-promoting each other is a very strong channel to get bookings. Some couples will ask you for recommendations and others will ask other vendors you’ve worked with for recommendations. Build that rapport and it will pay good karma in the long term.
Don’t shy away from getting to know other videographers as well. A friendship with them can lead to all sorts of opportunities. Not only can you critique each other, but you can help one another. If you ever need an extra shooter, it’s great to have a backup ready. They also make great recommendations when you are already booked on a certain date.
5. Vendors sites and blogs
Wedding magazines are not for wedding videos. A still photo won’t benefit your work and magazine ads are expensive. They can certainly help with name recognition, but you can’t showcase your work. It’s always your video that will win a couple over. So, make sure to leverage wedding vendors sites. but remember to chose one that will allow you to showcase your work.
Likewise, try to be features on wedding blogs. Couples default to them to to learn about weddings and they are a great gateways to get your business introduced. However — be cognizant of ads based blogs. Some are biased and have have misaligned motivations, so chose wisely.
6. Attend bridal fairs.
There are tons of bridal shows everywhere, so be sure to do your research before committing to one. The best thing about these shows is your ability to meet couples face to face. It’s a great chance to show off your personality and style. If you and the couple don’t click, then it just wasn’t meant to be. It’s still better to get the right couple for you. These events are also very expensive to attend. No only do you pay fees for a spot, your booth will need to stand out and showcase your work. You will need to have a monitor or television set up ready to show work. Also, have plenty of brochures, business cards, or at least a sign up sheet. You have to be proactive at these shows. If you aren’t willing to engage with people, then you are just wasting time.
