This blog post was written by our friend, Carissa of The I Do Society.
Carissa is the Marketing Director at The I Do Society. She spent over 8 years in the wedding industry with experience in bridal styling, marketing and paid ads. Her background in bridal gives her a unique understanding of the wedding industry, small businesses and the couples they serve.
As a busy wedding business owner, your days are full of serving clients, managing inquiries, and keeping everything moving behind-the-scenes. If you still have openings on your calendar or you’re ready to scale your business, you may be wondering—is now the time to start paid ads?
Paid advertising is the most effective way to generate a consistent stream of qualified leads, but they only work when your business is ready for them.
In this blog, we’ll break down what paid ads are, tell you the best strategy, and how to know if now is the right time to invest.
What Are Paid Ads?
Paid ads are sponsored placements that help your wedding business get discovered by a targeted audience of your choice.
The three most effective ad platforms are:
- Google Ads
- Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram)
- TikTok Ads
Instead of waiting for couples to find you organically, these platforms let you reach your ideal couples based on their location, interests, and behaviors. That means you can show your best content and testimonials to those who are actively looking to book wedding businesses like yours.
Which Paid Ad Platform Is Right For My Wedding Business?
- Google Ads - Google Ads put your business in front of couples who are actively searching for your services. These ads work because couples already know what they’re looking for, and your business shows up at the top of their search.
- Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) - Meta Ads help you get in front of couples who may not know you exist yet, but are in the market to book you. These ads are a great way to showcase your work, share testimonials, and build trust.
- TikTok Ads - TikTok Ads help you build huge trust and excitement for your work through short-form video content. These ads work especially well for business tours and behind-the-scenes video clips.
What is a Good Paid Ads Strategy?
The most effective strategy uses all three platforms together, because you want to be seen everywhere. If your wedding business isn’t ready for all three platforms, we recommend starting with Google & Meta, then adding TikTok down the road.
A couple might first search for a business category and their location on Google, visit your website, then find your Instagram and get familiar with your profile, and then scroll your content on TikTok before returning to inquire on your website. All three work together to reinforce who you are, what makes you different and why you’re the best choice.
If you only show up in one place (i.e. only advertising with Google Ads) but you aren’t present for their entire journey, you’ll waste money and think “ugh! Ads don’t work!”.
Today, the couple’s buying journey is non-linear – which is why it’s so important for you to show up every step of the way. When you do, ads work incredibly well!
Signs Your Wedding Business Is Ready for Paid Ads
Paid ads are a good fit for your wedding business if you have…
- A Clear Offer - couples should quickly understand what you offer and why they should choose your unique business.
- A Strong Website - Your website should be easy to navigate and include a clear path to becoming a customer.
- Photo & Video Content - A handful of high quality photos, 3-4 vertical videos, and testimonials are a great start and essential for ad performance.
- A Follow-Up Process - Responding quickly to new inquiries is key to turning leads into bookings; having a process in place to text, email or call your leads is very important.
- A Budget to Test - Ads need time and data to optimize, we recommend testing for 90 days before making any major changes. A great starting ad budget is $500/month per platform.
Signs You Are NOT Ready for Paid Ads Yet
Paid ads are designed to amplify what’s already working in your wedding business, they are not a magic button or a quick fix. If any of the following statements apply to your business, we recommend addressing those areas before investing in paid advertising.
- Your messaging is unclear → Couples should immediately understand exactly what you do, where you offer it and how they can get it.
- Your business website does not have a clear call-to-action → Your website should clearly guide visitors toward the next step, whether that’s inquiring, scheduling a consultation, or checking availability.
- Your business doesn’t have any active social profiles → It’s important for couples to see your business multiple times across multiple platforms throughout their booking journey. Your social profiles don’t need a massive following, but they should be active, professional, and include up-to-date information..
- Your lead follow-up process is not yet dialed in → Paid ads are served to a cold audience meaning these people don’t know you, like you or trust you yet. Your lead follow-up process should include an automated response to the first inquire (letting them know you’ve received it and will follow up personally soon!), multiple forms of communication (call, text, and/or email), and a clear path that builds trust, educates the couple, and guides them toward booking.
- You are not open to testing and change → Ad platforms and couples’ buying habits are constantly evolving. Successful ad campaigns require ongoing optimization, patience, and a willingness to test new strategies, creative, and messaging in order to stay ahead and continue generating strong results.
The great news is that all of these are fixable! Once your foundation is in place, paid ads can become one of the fastest ways to grow your wedding business.
What Can The Right Paid Ads Do For Me?
A bridal store in Oregon doubled their revenue in the first year…a wedding venue in Texas generated $300,000 in the first 6 months…
The short answer? → The right paid ads can deliver up to 60% revenue growth, possibly more. While we know that sounds like a whopper, we can back it with actual data.
Here’s the scoop → Since 2010, we’ve been helping wedding businesses grow with paid ads and we’ve studied thousands of ad campaigns along the way.
If you already have strong systems & processes in place, a decent social media presence, a strategic website and lead followed up that is dialed in – you can experience this growth after starting ad campaigns that reach the right couples (by demographics like age, job title, income, etc) and running paid ads for a full year. When following this strategy, your couples will see you repeatedly - in multiple places, multiple times as they plan their wedding.
What causes this growth? The answer is simple: massively expanded reach to couples who want your services, but just didn’t know you existed. Only paid ads can do this in such a short period of time!
Ready to Start Running Paid Ads for Your Wedding Business?
If you have a strong website, clear messaging, and great content; paid ads can become one of the most reliable ways to scale your business and fill your calendar.
The I Do Society is the wedding industry’s leading paid ads agency; we’ve contributed to the growth of over 2,500 wedding businesses and manage $30M per year in wedding business advertising. Visit our website to learn more about our down for you services, or if you want to manage your own ads, check out our DIY Ad Kits. And use the code ENJI to save $50!
