How to Start a Wedding Invitation Business, Part 4: Promoting Your Brand
You did it!
You started your own wedding invitation business, found the right vendors, nailed down your pricing and services, and you’re ready for the next step: promotion. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably feeling a huge sense of relief that everything is up and running. But, you might also feeling a bit of panic over whether or not this thing will actually work.
So, with that in mind, let’s talk about the final step in this blog series: how to promote a wedding invitation business.
How to Promote a Wedding Invitation Business on Etsy
If you remember back in part one of this series, we discussed selling wedding invitations in an Etsy shop vs. your own website. If you decided to go the Etsy route, building an audience for your brand won’t be as difficult as you think. As long as your shop is fully optimized, you’ll increase traffic, start attracting clients, and grow your revenue by leveraging Etsy’s massive, built-in audience.
You can quickly learn how to optimize your Etsy shop here and here.
I also have a comprehensive list of ways to build hype and promote your Etsy shop here.
How to Promote Your Own Website
If you decided to build your own website, rather than start an Etsy shop, it might take a little bit longer to build up your clientele. But, that’s okay! We all have our own path. When it comes to promoting your own website, networking is key.
Network with Local Wedding Planners
Find local wedding planners in your area to market to. Engage with them on Instagram by leaving heartfelt compliments about their work, comment on their blog posts or Facebook posts, etc.
Most importantly, make a genuine connection before promoting your services.
When you’re ready to promote your wedding invitation business, tell them a little bit about yourself and offer to send them a complimentary sample box. A sample box can include recent invitation samples or a portfolio of your work, details about your process and policies, a business card, etc.
Connect with Wedding Planners Nationwide
I highly recommend joining E3 (Educate, Empower, Encourage) if you have the financial ability to do so. This is one of the best ways to connect with high end wedding planners and step into the luxury wedding market. Plus, you gain access to so many valuable education resources from their incredibly successful founders.
Social Media Marketing
Expand your reach and get others excited about your products through social media marketing. I’ll admit, because I’ve seen so much success from other areas of promotion, I fall behind when it comes to social media. However, there is no denying that social media is a vital tool to expand your reach, especially when you’re just starting out.
Instagram is hands-down the most effective social media tool for wedding stationers. It’s such an easy way to show off your products, explain your process, and help clients get to know you better. You can learn about all of the benefits of Instagram here. Optionally, you can market your business on Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok.
Build hype for your brand by sharing behind-the-scenes videos and images or create a giveaway to grow your following. The key is to post high quality content consistently. (Note: Consistently doesn’t mean daily. It means finding a regular posting schedule that works for you, whether that’s once a week, twice a month, etc.)
Instagram and other social media networks are great for promotion, but keep in mind that the sole purpose is to promote your website and services, not your social media account.
Oftentimes we become so obsessed as business owners with our follower count that we point all of our hard-earned traffic to our social media pages, rather than our website. But the number of followers you have isn’t a good metric of success. Every action you take online should direct back to your website, not your social media pages. In other words, focus on growing your website traffic, not your following.
Pinterest Marketing
Although Pinterest gets lumped into the social media category, it isn’t actually a social media platform at all. It’s a visual search engine. Google on steroids.
Pinterest is one of my biggest sources of traffic in both my Etsy shop and my website. Because of the great return on investment I get from Pinterest, I pour a lot of energy into creating high quality pins to promote my wedding invitation business on the platform.
Because Pinterest is a visual search engine and because so many people use Pinterest to shop, it’s an incredibly effective way to promote your wedding invitation business and grow revenue.
Optimize all of your images for Pinterest by using vertical photos. For even more impact, include a few relevant keywords in your pin description. You can find relevant keywords by typing in the Pinterest search bar and choosing from their pre-populated list of search suggestions.
By optimizing your images for Pinterest, you’ll improve your chances of getting found in Pinterest search and generating more traffic to your Etsy shop or website.
Email Marketing (Optional)
If you’re anything like me, your head might be spinning with all kinds of ideas now. Promoting your own wedding invitation business is time and time again one of the most overwhelming aspects. So, I don’t want to put too much pressure on you by adding one more thing.
But, email marketing is also an incredibly effective marketing tool, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t include it here. If you have the time to implement email marketing, the benefits can be incredible.
Email marketing turns browsers into buyers. When a potential client signs up for your email list, it’s because she loves your brand and wants to hear from you again. She does not want to forget about you or your products and services. After she gets to know you a little bit better through weekly email campaigns, she just might make a purchase. In fact, according to AWeber:
“When it comes to ROI [return on investment] for email marketing, it is not uncommon for businesses of all sizes to see a return of about $38 for every dollar spent on a marketing campaign. Whether you use an email marketing campaign to introduce a new product or service or to alert your audience to a special promotion… your emails can drive sales and boost your company’s revenue significantly.”
I won’t spend too much time focusing on email marketing today because honestly this could be a post all on its own. Email marketing is very involved! But, I don’t want to leave you hanging, so here are some helpful ideas and tips to get started.
How to grow an email list through etsy
Grow your email list through Etsy by offering a special discount (like 10% off) for those who sign up for your email list. Put up a graphic at the end of all of your photos promoting it, like this:
This tactic can feel a little gimicky, if I’m honest. So many other companies do it, and by now, we’ve all caught on. But, it is incredibly effective, and it’s really easy to set up. I get so many leads from Etsy this way, and most of my email subscribers come back to buy day-of paper goods, too.
How to grow an email list through your own website
You can use a 10% off promotion on your own website, too. It’s such a quick and easy way to generate new leads for your business, especially if you’re just starting out.
If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also generate leads through your blog posts. Offer a helpful wedding stationery checklist or envelope addressing guide for readers to download at the end of every blog post. This is how I get dozens of new email subscribers almost every single day. It does take time to set up, but it’s incredibly effective!
Just take a look:
email marketing providers
I currently use Convertkit for all of my email marketing needs. However, FloDesk and MailChimp are two other really great email providers.
One last thing…
There are so many ways to promote a wedding invitation business, and sometimes that can feel like you’re on a constant hamster wheel of marketing.
If you’re just getting started, choose one or two things from the list above. Find what works best for you and be consistent with that to avoid being overwhelmed.
