Must-Have Online Marketing Checklist for The Off Season
As a wedding or event professional, the off-season is more than just a time to catch your breath - it’s an opportunity to supercharge your business for the busy months ahead. If you’ve ever wondered, “What can I do in the off-season to generate more leads and grow my business?” you’re not alone. After 20 years of working in the wedding industry, I’ve had my fair share of off-seasons and slow times of the year. Today, I’m answering the question of what are the best things to do in the off season to promote your business, and introducing you to my ultimate solution: the Off-Season Online Content Marketing Checklist for Wedding & Event Pros.
This handy-dandy guide is packed with actionable steps to help wedding photographers, planners, florists, DJs, rental companies, stationery designers, and more maintain a strong online presence year-round. This is the exact system that I unpack every off-season in my business. As I was writing this checklist - during the start of my own off-season when I wasn’t tending to clients and doing my work, I found myself going back and fixing things and updating my marketing tasks for my business!
With that, let’s dive into how luxury wedding and event businesses can turn the quiet season into their secret weapon of lead generation and inquire machines.
Why the Off-Season Matters
The off-season isn’t just downtime; it’s the ideal time to invest in your business’s future. Here’s why:
Consistency Is King: A steady online presence and is critical to staying top-of-mind for potential clients. Taking breaks from marketing during slow months can create gaps in your lead pipeline.
SEO Takes Time: Building visibility online requires ongoing effort. What you do today will pay off in inquiries months from now.
Set & Forget: By creating and pre-scheduling content now, you’ll free up valuable time when your calendar is full of events.
The Wedding Industry Off-Season Online Content Marketing Checklist will help you focus on what truly matters—without the overwhelm.
Key Tasks to Include in Your Off-Season Checklist
1. Audit Your Website
Your website is often the first impression potential clients have of your business. Make it count by working on it during the off season. We don’t always have time to update our website when we’re busy, but now, when things are slows is the time to update photos, work on SEO, update text and make sure those CTA’s are crystal clear.
2. Create a Content Plan for Recent Work
Your past events are gold mines for content. In fact, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, your past work is your single greatest marketing asset as a wedding and event business. The off-season is the best time to come up with a plan to use your past work to get you your future work. This includes organizing your photo storage, writing blog posts, creating social media content and more.
3. Write New Blog Posts
Blogging isn’t dead - it’s a powerhouse for SEO and future client education. I know that many of us in the wedding industry don’t think of ourselves as writers, but do not let that stop you from creating content that will help your business be found and help seal the deal with future clients.
Sure, writing in general might be hard or feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to write about anything other than the topics that you’re already an expert in. Whether you're a photographer, planner, designer, florist, DJ, stationer, or more, I know you can write for days about what you know the most about! And that’s all you need to blog about!
For your blog, focus on topics like the most common questions your engaged couples ask, seasonal wedding trends in your niche, venue spotlights in your area, and creative ideas for weddings or events that would inspire your future clients.
4. Update Old Blog Posts
In the off-season, it is hugely important that wedding and event businesses take the time to revamp their high-performing older content. Especially if you’ve been in the wedding industry for more than a few years, you likely have a few top blog posts that could use a facelift by adding new photos, refreshing outdated information, enhancing CTAs to encourage inquiries, and more.
5. Leverage Pinterest
Pinterest is where wedding dreams come alive. So many couples who are planning a wedding in all price points, including high-end luxury weddings are on Pinterest and are using the platform to help organize their wedding ideas and find new inspiration. They are also using Pinterest to find vendors and professionals to help make their dream wedding a reality. Use the off-season to make a plan for Pinterest and pre-schedule content so that you’re generating traffic to your website and leads to your business all year long.
6. Collect Reviews and Testimonials
Social proof is invaluable. Today’s couples planning a wedding rely on honest and authentic reviews to help them find and book their wedding vendors. As a business owner, it is your job to reach out to past clients and ask for reviews and testimonials. And, the off-season is the perfect time for you to tackle this marketing task that will help the future of your business!
7. Refresh Your Social Media Profiles
Social media is so important to wedding and event businesses. Use the off-season to go through your social media accounts with a fine tooth comb and optimize your accounts. Also, the off-season is the perfect time to plan and pre-schedule social media content for the future.
8. Update Your Press Page
If your wedding or event business been featured in blogs, magazines, or other publications, highlight these achievements. Whether it was a real wedding feature or a quote in an advice article, the off-season is the time to shout it from the rooftops and get the most mileage out of those all-important press features.
9. Develop Your Email Marketing Strategy
Not all wedding and event businesses use email marketing, but if you do, the off-season is the perfect time to create or refine email marketing campaigns. The off-season is a great time to read through your email templates and update your funnels so that they are working on auto-pilot when you’re busy. Also, the slow season is a great time to work on an email marketing calendar and begin to draft newsletters, promotional emails, lead nurturing welcome emails, and more.
Why This Checklist Works
The Off-Season Online Content Marketing Checklist for Wedding & Event Pros isn’t just a to-do list - it’s a roadmap. By following its steps, you’ll:
Stay visible in search results of your ideal clients who are planning a wedding in your area.
Build trust with potential high-end wedding clients through valuable content that helps them through an overwhelming time in their lives.
Keep your inquiry pipeline full, even in the slow season and especially in the busy season when you’re working weddings and can’t babysit your marketing.
Ready to Take Action?
Don’t let the off-season and slow down time of the wedding world pass you by. Make this time your secret weapon with the Off-Season Online Content Marketing Checklist for Wedding & Event Pros. Packed with everything DJs to florists to stationers to photographers to planners need to strengthen their organic online marketing and keep that inquiry pipeline flowing. This easy-to-use and affordable wedding business guide will help companies:
Save time on their marketing by pre-scheduling content.
Enhance their SEO strategy with simple, actionable tips.
Stand out from competitors with polished, professional content.
Grab copy of the Off-Season Online Content Marketing Checklist for Wedding & Event Pros and use the slow season to set yourself up for success all year long!
If you’re a creative small business serving the wedding and event industry - such as a wedding planner, photographer, entertainer, DJ, rental company, florist, invitation designer, and more - and you need help with your online marketing, content creation, or your Pinterest account, please send me an email at info@juliannesmith.com or check out my done-for-you and training services for wedding pros. I’d love to work with you to maximize your creativity and the overwhelm and work with the clients that you want to work with!
For more tips and advice on the wedding industry, be sure to check out past blog posts and sign up for my weekly emails where I’ll send you all kinds of wedding business education nuggets in 100 words or less!