12 Blog Content Ideas to Reach Couples at Every Stage

Last week I reminded you what you already knew: Blogging is crucial for your business. Especially now that summer proposals are culminating and newly engaged couples are looking at 2021 options – and even 2022 dates!

Regular and well-done blog posts attract an audience to your website where you move them through the buyer’s journey. Let’s remember, sales is about providing the right information at the right time in the right way. The three phases are:

1. Awareness – Couples want to know what they need
2. Consideration – Couples want to know what you offer
3. Decision – Couples want to know you’re a low-risk and high-value choice

This week, I want to talk specifically about how a content blog helps meet all three of these needs.

Now, what I’m talking about here isn’t your standard post recapping an event you did with 50 images, a story about the couple, and links to their vendors. Those posts help drive traffic to your site and inspire couples to love your style, but you’d do well to add more engaging material to your blog.

We’re talking about cornerstone content

I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it: If it’s easy for you to do, it’s probably not the most optimal experience for your potential clients.

Real wedding blog posts are typically the most comfortable kinds for wedding pros to do. Get the images onto Blogstomp or Narrative, provide some details about the couple, and then list out with links to the essential vendors. 45-90 minutes later, you’re done and you can check that one off your list.

But your next couple (and Google) want more from you. They want engaging content to help them on their journey to experience what you’re showing in those amazing photos on the real wedding post you cranked out.

So, I’m going to help make it easier for you to generate the kind of content that your best clients (and Google) will love.

Choosing your blog topics

If your job is to provide the right information at the right time in the right way, how do you do that when you don’t know who you’re talking to? That’s the challenge with a website: You don’t always know who’s at what stage (i.e., awareness, consideration, decision). The best approach is to write content for all three because research has shown your site visitors are distributed relatively equally amongst each of the three stages.

Awareness

When couples are early in the process of choosing a wedding vendor, they don’t know what they need.

They think they know what they want because they saw it on Pinterest, or in an IG feed, or on a blog or publication showcasing extraordinary work. But we all know that what couples want and what they can afford/are willing to pay for usually aren’t the same.

Here’s the rub: the image they see or the IRL experience they had at a friend’s wedding doesn’t help them understand what they need for other critical parts of the decision-making process. Yes, money/budget is a big piece of the information they need to know before choosing a vendor.

They also need help identifying other essential criteria in addition to what does it cost. What style do they prefer? What personality in vendors do they feel most comfortable with? How much time will it cost me? Ultimately, they need to know, What’s most important to me and the others involved in making the decision?

• If you’re a photographer, write about different editing styles and how they alter the image.
• If you’re a planner, write about the difference between full-service planning, month-of event management, or a hybrid in the middle – and which one is a good fit for you.
• If you’re a stationer, write about how the event starts the moment a guest is invited to it – and why skimping on stationery sets a bad tone for the guest experience expectation.
• If you’re a floral designer, write about what arrangements give the most bang for the buck – and how you can wow every guest without breaking the budget.

Consideration

For site visitors who know what they need, it’s time to share what you do.

But don’t waste your time dumping features on them. That’s too sales-y for the blog and belongs in your sales proposal when they’re comparing apples to apples with your comp set.

Instead, write about the benefits of working with you. What do you do for your clients? How does it help them save time/money, make decisions with less stress, showcase their style? What do you differently than others in your field? How do you stand out from others in your market?

• If you’re a videographer, write about collaborating with the photographer to make sure you’re not stepping in each others’ view or using so much gear the ceremony feels like a movie set.
• If you’re a beauty artist, write about how you use only the best, most expensive and hardest-to-find products.
• If you’re a DJ, write about how you get to know your couples through more than a questionnaire.
• If you’re in A/V, write about how you frequently work with the venues your clients often choose, which means you can get in and out of their fast to reduce labor expenses.

Decision

In complex sales transactions, we know the most important criteria at the end of the decision-making process is reducing risk. Perceived value is a close second. So, you’ve got to do two things for potential couples who’ve already gotten a proposal from you and compare it to the proposal they’ve received from others.

1. Show your expertise and authority
2. Demonstrate ALL the perks of working with you

Remember, you may have only talked to one of the people getting married, and you might have other decision-makers lurking behind the scenes, like a BFF or parents. Millennials often make group choices when it matters and especially now with COVID-19 impacting potential attendees’ willingness to make the event.

Focus your blog posts on reassurance and value: What experience do you have in your field that others don’t? What’s your client process and how is it better than others? How do you create your designs? Who do you regularly work with that’s well-respected in the market? Do you have a COVID-19 plan?

• If you’re a photographer, write about how you collaborate with planners/coordinators and the couple to create the timeline.
• If you’re a venue or a caterer, write about the precautions you’re taking to keep your space and team clean and healthy.
• If you’re a floral designer, talk about the flowers you source and how you go directly to the farm to ensure the clients receive only the freshest.
• If you’re a band, talk about how you read the room and shift your sets based on audience energy.

Done well, the cornerstone content on your blog will offer something for everyone, no matter what stage of the buyer’s journey they’re in.

I hope these ideas get you going – and make it easier for you to write about something your best clients want to know more about from you.