There are a million and one places to invest in your wedding business, but today, I'm going to give you some FREE places to focus during seasons when you have more money than time. On top of that, marketing for wedding planners should be multi-faceted anyway. It's never a bad idea to invest in some free marketing tools and strategies and some of what I am going to dive into below could pay off for years to come.
I'm never going to be the kind of business coach that tells you there is only one right way to do things. Marketing your wedding business is no exception.
Ready for some free ways to market your wedding biz–especially if you're just starting out? Let's go!
1. Get Yourself on Free Directories
This is a “set it and forget it” kind of task, so I figured we might as well start here. If you are looking for ways to market your wedding business, look for free places you can add your business information to. Certain wedding planning sites like WeddingWire or One Wed will give you a free listing.
When you list your business on these sites, prepare to be pitched to advertise with them. This is NOT something I recommend for most businesses, but we will save that for another day! In the meantime, you can also look outside the wedding industry and list your business on Yelp, Yellow Pages, and Better Business Bureau – the list is ENDLESS. A quick Google search will give you more than enough places to create a free listing for your business.
As business owners, we typically know where most of our couples are finding us. Although I recommend focusing for the most part on what's already working, you never know how many couples are falling through the cracks because they started their wedding vendor search somewhere you weren't expecting!
As an added bonus, sometimes these free listings will link back to your website, which helps with your overall SEO! This brings me to my next point…
2. Put Time into SEO
SEO is kind of my secret weapon (I have to be honest with you!). I know it's not sexy and it's definitely not what anyone in the online space is shouting from the rooftops, but there is nothing quite being on page 1 of Google.
When it comes to marketing for wedding planners, customers might find you on Instagram and absolutely love your work (and that might be how you are booking more of your customers now), but when they come to Google, they are actively looking to book.
Is this you? Oftentimes, I see wedding planners and other wedding pros put a ton of time and money into their website, only to have it bring in crickets. Having a high-converting (and beautiful!) website is only important if your ideal customers are actually seeing it.
If you're worried about the technical aspects of SEO – don't be. Not only am I completely confident you can learn the basic SEO skills you need to be successful, but it's also not as technical as you think. A little keyword research and changing around some of the words you use on your website can often be more than enough to get your website some traction.
3. Write Blog Posts
Okay, friend – I know that blogging is one of those things that always gets pushed to the bottom of your to-do list. But hear me out anyway. Not only is blogging great for SEO, but it's also a great way to show your work and show off your expertise. When your prospective customers check out your blog post, you have a unique opportunity to both attract your ideal client and repel the clients that you don't necessarily want to work with. Think about it – when else do you get to tell a future couple exactly what you desperately wish they'd know before they even reach out?
When it comes to blog topics, talk about the work you love to do (or dream of booking). Dream of working on outdoor tented weddings? Share some outdoor wedding tips! Prefer all-inclusive packages in a ballroom? Consider a venue feature instead.
And listen, if you need a little help figuring out your ideal client, can I pause to recommend The Client Cocktail? It might not be free, but I promise you, it is worth every penny (it's not your mom's ideal client avatar worksheet).
4. Use Pinterest
Listen, you know those things your future self will thank you for? Pinterest is one of those marketing channels. We all know that Pinterest is one of the first places couples go – of all budgets and sizes. Your couples come to Pinterest in search of inspiration and information. Similar to a Google search, when people are looking for your product or service on Pinterest, they are actively looking to make wedding planning decisions. They are in the right frame of mind to slide over to your contact form.
Or, at the very least, if they're just looking for now, they can save your website for later. When is the last time you actually went back to your Instagram collections? Was it 6 months ago or never? But when couples go on Pinterest, they are actively reorganizing their boards and going back to work with the businesses they love. So why aren't more wedding planners marketing their business on Pinterest? In my humble opinion, it's a missed opportunity.
5. Network with your Industry
I proudly owe a lot of where I am today to the connections I made early on in my business. I started my wedding planning business over 12 years ago, and when I look around today, it's easier to network now more than ever. Here's the thing: the key to networking is NOT making it all about you. As a wedding planner, you have a million and one people coming to you and introducing themselves all of the time. Don't be one of those people. Instead, strategically approach the right people (the people you really really want to work with) and make it all about THEM.
6. Establish Relationships with Venues
This goes hand in hand, but one of my favorite ways to attract ideal clients is to talk about and market for the venues they're already looking at (that I love to work with). Whether you are dreaming of a luxury ballroom or a destination wedding weekend away in one of the farm wedding venues a few hours away, focus on establishing relationships with venues that you want to work with. Even as a wedding planner, venues are often booked before anything else. These relationships will pay off over and over again.
7. Use Google My Business
As a coach for wedding planners, I'm often asked where is the BEST place to ask for your couples to leave a review. I always suggest your Google My Business listing first, as it can help push your website up in the rankings, and it's the first thing that prospective couples will see when they google your business name. Using this can be incredibly powerful because, by the time they click through to your website, they already know you have great reviews, so they are warmed up before they even check out your services page.
More than that, Google My Business is coming out with even more new features to help you keep potential customers in the loop about all of the incredible work you are doing. You can add images from past weddings to your profile and even post updates linking to new blog posts or business announcements. These really are the kind of tasks that are super quick to do but so often get missed by your competitors.
8. Create Connections on Instagram
This is one of the free marketing tools for wedding planners that you're probably the most familiar with, first because it is often the most natural to us, and second, because most business coaches are shouting from the rooftop, “Can you believe you can grow an entire business just by posting pretty photos on Instagram?”. Of course, you know there's a catch and that Instagram is a lot of work, but when you are just starting a wedding business or looking to gain momentum fairly quickly, Instagram can be a great place to start. More than just posting your own beautiful work, reach out to fellow vendors that are already working with the type of weddings and couples that you want to be working with. Ultimately, social media is social, and you'll find it to be most effective if you're using it that way.
OK, that was a lot! Let's recap my tips for marketing for wedding planners.
Here are 8 of the most effective free ways to market your wedding planning business:
- Get Yourself on Free Directories
- Put time into SEO
- Write blog posts
- Use Pinterest
- Network with your industry
- Establish relationships with venues
- Use Google My Business
- Create Connections on Instagram
Ready to plan high-end weddings like a pro?
When it comes to Marketing for Wedding Planners, I got you. If you're interested in taking your wedding planning business one step further, I am inviting you to join me inside The Planner's Playbook. This is my new coaching experience for wedding planners who are ready to plan, design, and coordinate high-end weddings like a pro! Ready to become a Playbooker?
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For More Wedding Planner Business Secrets Follow Me On Instagram
Raise your hand if you’ve ever gotten a message so long, you needed a snack halfway through reading it. 🙃
This week, we’re talking about THAT kind of client (or inquiry).
The one with 67 questions.
And unlimited access expectations.
And zero boundaries.
In this week’s podcast episode, I’m giving you the tools and scripts you need to protect your time, your energy, and your business (while still showing up like a professional).
Comment 184 and I’ll send you the link to listen (and let you know the threads post that stopped me in my tracks last week).
#candicecoppola #weddingindustry #weddingpros #weddingpro #weddingindustryexperts #weddingpodcast #weddingbusiness #weddingindustryeducation #weddingplanner
I love living here—but every now and then, a sunset like this one stops me in my tracks!
The kind of moment that makes you pause and remember:
*This* is the whole point.
Not just building a business.
Not just hitting the next milestone.
But building a life that feels like this.
Next week, I get to share this place—my home—with 11 incredible women I have the honor of coaching. And I hope this sunset gives them what it gives me:
Perspective. Peace. Possibility.
🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡
#ialmostforgot #chasingsunsets #barbadoslife #caribbean #coachingretreat #lifeonpurpose #weddingproinsiders
Tariffs. Rising costs. Vendor pricing shifts. 😬
This week’s episode of The Power in Purpose is unlike anything I’ve done before because honestly? This feels like an emergency.
With new tariffs being applied across nearly all imported goods, the impact on the wedding industry is hitting everyone. Florists, planners, rental companies, caterers, DJs… no one is untouched.
So I called in someone who really knows what’s going on behind the scenes: my husband Jason (yes, his very first appearance on the pod 🎙️), who has deep expertise in logistics, shipping, and global trade.
Together, we’re breaking down:
👉🏻 Why these new tariffs are happening (in plain English)
👉🏻 How they’re driving up pricing for vendors + clients alike
👉🏻 What you should be saying to your clients right now
👉🏻 How to advocate, advise, and guide through economic uncertainty
Here’s the thing: you don’t have to have all the answers. What matters most is transparency, honesty, and your ability to help clients adjust and adapt.
Comment “183” and I’ll DM you the link to listen.
#candicecoppola #weddingindustry #tariff #tariffs #weddingindustry #weddingbuzz #weddingpros #weddingpro #weddingindustryexperts #weddingpodcast #weddingbusiness #thepowerinpurposepodcast #weddingindustryeducation #weddingplanner
Does the “wedding tax” really exist - and have weddings gotten too expensive? 😳
As an industry, let’s have an open and transparent conversation about costs… and trust. I’m breaking this down on this week’s episode of my podcast, The Power in Purpose, and I’m inviting you to join.
I’m asking/answering questions like:
👉🏻 Have costs risen too high?
👉🏻 Why are so many couples “venue poor”?
👉🏻 Have we lost trust with couples - and what can we do to gain it back?
👉🏻 Do vendors really charge more when they hear the word “wedding?”
👉🏻 Are we losing our hospitality as an industry?
👉🏻 How can we be more transparent?
And a whole lot more.
Comment 182 below and I’ll send you the link to this week’s episode.
#candicecoppola #weddingindustry #weddingpros #weddingpro #weddingindustryexperts #weddingpodcast #weddingbusiness #weddingtax #thepowerinpurposepodcast #weddingindustryeducation
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hey candice i was hoping that you could talk more about networking and how to go about doing that effectively? i feel like every time i reach out to someone they never respond and i wonder what i am doing wrong