3 Reasons You Should Be Advertising

As much as advertising is a tried-and-true marketing channel, it is also a misunderstood one. Maybe it’s because historically it’s been far too expensive for most business owners to work into their budgets. Maybe it’s because the process of getting started can feel overwhelming. Or, maybe it’s because most wedding pros didn’t go to business school and were never taught how to make the most of it. But, regardless of the reasons why you might not feel like an advertising expert, we’re here to tell you that it is not, in fact, a big, scary, expensive thing that only certain people can be good at—you can successfully advertise your business too! And today, we wanted to talk about the three most important reasons that you should advertise as the first step to lifting the veil on this essential marketing channel so that you can grow your wedding business with it.

Reason #1: It taps you into a different audience

One of the cruxes to building a successful business is being able to constantly (and consistently) put your brand in front of new and inquiring eyes. And, while doing just that is at the core of almost every marketing tactic you have in your toolbox, some of them require lots of trial and error before they are fruitful. The thing is, you don’t have time to test every option out there to ensure it gets new eyes on your business—you have lots of responsibilities as a wedding pro! So, finding an advertising channel that has done the work to build the audience you want to tap into (and saying, “Sign me up!” to it) is a clever use of your time, money, and business resources. 

You see, building an audience takes time, and anyone who has tried to create one, even on social media, will attest to that. Because it’s not just about putting your business in front of any eyes; it’s about putting your business in front of potential and qualified buyers. The Knot and WeddingWire (founded in 1996 and 2007, respectively) have spent decades doing the work it takes to build the world’s largest and most engaged audience of couples planning their wedding and searching for their team of pros. So, when it comes to quickly putting your business in front of an audience that is different (and larger) than your own, investing in a Storefront is a surefire way to increase your brand visibility with minimal effort.

Reason #2: You can leverage someone else’s SEO 

You might be asking yourself, “What does advertising have to do with SEO?” The question is a fair one to ask, but the answer is pretty simple—it helps you build your off-page SEO. In layman’s terms, off-page SEO is the optimization of content that is not on your website (your Storefront(s) being a great example). And, just like tapping into the audience someone else has taken the time to build is good for your business, so is leveraging all of the SEO work they’ve done. 

Advertising outlets are usually large and established, which means their online presence carries SEO weight. This creates an opportunity for you to associate your business with theirs and, in turn, leverage some of the SEO work they have done to establish domain authority (meaning, they have earned the trust of search engines and are considered more relevant, which results in consistent top-page results). So, when you advertise on websites like The Knot and WeddingWire, you are doing a few things:

• You are giving yourself another spot to build your SEO with a listing of optimized content.
• You are creating another backlink to your website, which also helps you build your SEO.
• You are associating your business with one much bigger than yours, and increasing your chances of having a link that points to your business return on the first page of a Google search.

Need a quick course in SEO? This article explains what SEO is and gives you all of the basics!  

Reason #3: It’s full-funnel

Paid advertising supports multiple stages of the funnel, allowing you to use it to nurture leads from awareness through consideration to conversion. And when you use marketplaces to run your ads, you can really execute full-funnel marketing. For instance, The Knot and WeddingWire run national and regional marketing campaigns to bring couples to our platforms. Our Storefronts help couples learn about your business and services, while also providing everything needed to contact you and get the ball rolling. This full-funnel capability is one of the reasons why it’s wise to consider advertising as part of your overall marketing mix. 

Plus, you get to hit all of the funnel stages without too much extra work. For instance, setting up something like a Storefront is usually just one short session at your computer, and once it is done, it keeps working for you. No need to post something daily or worry about writing content all of the time—advertisements are something that only need your occasional attention to review your stats and make small changes along the way. 

Interested in learning more about advertising on WeddingWire and The Knot? Fill out this form for more information.

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