2 Ways to Make Sure That Brides Respond to Your Ads

Wedding Professionals:


{Special Note: Due to popular demand, I'm now featuring this November 2009 blog post again. BridalTweet has a lot of new members (7,900+) and I didn't want those new members to miss out on this advice.}

“What motivates a person to click on an ad is really not a separate question from what motivates a person to click on anything,” said Clay Shirky, media whiz. “They think they’ll be happier after the click than before.”

I see this happen all too often. A wedding vendor will spend a ton of money on an advertisement in an expensive magazine, on a popular website, or even in an email. The next thing you know, the vendor is shocked by the incredibly low response rate that he or she received. The vendor invested time and money on something that just didn’t work.

So, what went wrong? Is advertising a big waste of resources?

Definitely not. Often times (but not always) the problem is the advertisement itself and NOT where the ad was placed. Here are two best practices that I’ve learned along the way to help increase the effectiveness of the ad itself. These two tips will help increase your advertisement’s response rate and ultimately, they will help you attract more brides.

1. What’s in it for the bride? For any advertisement to drive a high response rate, it must effectively communicate what is in it for the bride. In other words, it must communicate how the bride will benefit from your services. This message needs to be simple, clear and obvious when a bride first glances at your ad. You only have a few seconds to grab a bride’s attention, so this main message must “pop.” Look at your most recent advertisement. Does the main benefit that you deliver “pop?”

2. What do you want the bride to do? I can’t tell you enough how important it is to clearly communicate this in your advertisement. In every ad, you must tell brides what you want them to do. Do you want the bride to call you, email you, visit your website, fill out a survey, etc.? Pick one (yes, only one!) thing that you want the bride to do and make that extremely clear in your advertisement. In marketing, we call this message the “call-to-action.” For example, if you want to create an online advertisement that will encourage brides to visit your website, then add language in your online advertisement that says “Learn More” or “Click Here.” This can be very effective whether your ad is an email or even a tiny banner. You may also want to place this language inside a larger, colorful button that will really grab the bride’s attention. If your ad is a full webpage or email, then be sure to repeat this “call-to-action” or message towards both the beginning and end of the advertisement. In your most recent advertisement, did you make it your “call-to-action” as clear and obvious as possible?

Can you think of any other best practices that have helped you increase your advertisement’s response rate? If so, please comment below.

About This Blog: Christine Dyer is the Creator and Founder of BridalTweet. Christine has an MBA in marketing and shares over ten years of marketing expertise with the wedding community. In this weekly blog, you'll find advice on an array of wedding business topics such as how to market to brides, social networking, wedding PR, wedding sales, vendor networking, branding, pricing and much more. Please pass this news along to your own professional wedding network. To receive this advice in your email inbox each week,
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