A lot of people are on the fence when it comes to advertising with The Knot and WeddingWire. And to be honest, that was us too. But we’ve been advertising with them for years now and for us, it works. And we’re going to tell you how we do it! 

What is The Knot and WeddingWire?

The Knot and WeddingWire are online platforms designed to help couples plan their weddings. They have things like 

• Vendor Directories
• Checklists
• Calculators
• Guest list management tools
• Inspiration
• Etc.

So what’s this matter to you as a wedding photographer? We often think of these platforms as just online directories, but they’re so much more. They’re where our potential clients hang out and are full of engaged couples actively searching for vendors. That’s you!

These platforms allow you to set up profiles that showcase your style and pricing. They help with search engine optimization because it can expose you to a larger audience. It’s also a backlink pointing to your website, and it helps with lead generation, which is what everyone wants.

Is it Worth it?

As with everything, there is no clear yes or no. Some photographers might find it more of a pain, but others might get all of their leads this way!

At Three Twenty Studio, we don’t like to put all of our eggs in one basket. We use The Knot and WeddingWire, however, we also market on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. We also send out a monthly newsletter to past clients to keep in touch and stay top of mind. 

One way to answer this question is to know your stats. We keep up with the amount of leads we get each month, and where those leads come from. We also keep track of consultations and conversions. Once a lead converts, we look and see if that lead came from The Knot or WeddingWire. If so, we attribute that income to those platforms, and that tells us how much money they brought in.

Once we know that info, we do some quick math to determine how much our Return on Investment was, or ROI for short. For The Knot and WeddingWire, we want our ROI to be three times what I spent. Whenever we dip below that, we’ll consider stopping advertising. 

How to Get the Most Out of Your Money

It’s not enough to just exist on these platforms. You need to actively use them. It’s important to:

Respond Promptly

Most inquiries are potential bookings. We say most because every now and then you’ll get some spam leads but they’ve done a lot to curb that. Respond quickly and professionally. 

Personalize Your Communication

Try to avoid generic responses. Don’t get us wrong, you can still use canned messages, just tweak them a bit before you send them. So instead of saying something like “Hi there, thanks for reaching out. Wedding prices vary depending on the location.” Try something like “Hey Danielle, thanks so much for reaching out, and congrats on your engagement!” It’s still very generic but also personal. 

Offer Free Consultations

A quick phone call or video chat can work wonders. At the end of that personalized message just add “We’d love to set up a time to chat to go over any questions you may have. When is a good time for you?”

Now, don’t get discouraged, lots of people will ignore you and that’s okay. It is what it is and you’ve gotta move on. However, once people do respond, don’t leave them hanging. Once a lead responds with us and moves forward with setting up a consultation we move them over to Dubsado and they become an official lead. We say official because like we said before, people won’t reply to you.

Other Helpful Tips

So now that we’ve gone through all that good stuff, I wanted to mention a few other things that you might find helpful. These are things that we think will help enhance your success on these platforms.

Have a well-designed and helpful website

Many people come across us on one of these platforms and then click to our website. That’s where they end up reaching out. This is HUGE! This tells us the The Knot and WeddingWire is still helping drive traffic to our website. It also tells us that our website provides enough info for people to want to reach out and work with us! THIS IS HUGE!

Have active social media channels

You don’t have to be on ALL the social platforms in the world, but the ones you are on should be active. This gives you a good chance to show your personality and it allows people to get to know you. In our experience, the more people like, know, and trust you, the more they want to do business with you! 

We hope you found this helpful and if you’re new to the wedding photography world and not sure how to get your first wedding, well we’ve got just the video for you!