WEDDING MEDIA - A SEISMIC SHIFT THAT CALLS FOR CREATIVITY

There has been a real shift in the landscape of the wedding media over the last few years.  Whilst it’s been quite a fascinating evolution to watch it can leave those in the wedding industry wondering how they are now going to promote their brand to their target audience.

Over the last decade the rise of wedding blogs and Pinterest kick started that shift and recently the traditional print media has struggled to keep up.  Blogs like Love My Dress, Rock My Wedding and London Bride led the way when it came to showcasing real weddings, inspiration and creativity.  Pinterest has become a huge vehicle for the wedding industry, acting as the perfect scrapbooking tool for couples planning their special day.  Everything has been ever more available at the click of a button but where does that leave the traditional wedding media?

Hearst launched ELLE Wedding, a new biannual print magazine, in 2014 that sought to bridge the gap between the blogging world and that of print; “ELLE Wedding is an inspirational, stylish and useful resource for fashionable brides-to-be. It promises to focus on ‘individuality not conformity” and will stand out from all other bridal titles on the newsstand for its bespoke, original and practical ideas for brides.”  It quietly disappeared.

BRIDES, one of the most premium print magazines for the wedding industry ceased printing in the summer of 2019.  "Conde Nast sold the global brand to US digital media company Dotdash in May and is no longer able to use the Brides name, despite the buyer’s decision not to pursue publication in the UK. The UK website was slowly wound down after the sale, and bridesmagazine.co.uk now redirects to the US site.”

Wedding Magazine and Wedding Flowers & Accessories suffered and now You & Your Wedding is the latest closure with global wedding planning company The Knot Worldwide acquiring hitched.co.uk and the digital assets of You & Your Wedding ‘a UK-based wedding inspiration brand with 35 years of heritage’.

Hitched will continue to operate and shows how much of the wedding media market has had to move online.  One of the few surviving national print options is Wedding Ideas, a monthly A5 magian which has proved enduringly popular with brides.

The decline in national print has come in parallel to the rise in regional and independent print over recent years, a trend that was really cemented with the launch of Rock n Roll Bride.  Launched as a blog, by Kat Williams, in 2008, Rock n Roll Bride maximised a niche in the market for alternative wedding inspiration.  She developed on the platform that her blog success gave her with “Rock n Roll Bride magazine, a bi-monthly, nationally available magazine was launched in 2015. Issue 1, released in January of that year, was reported by the distribution company as the fastest and best selling debut issue of a magazine ever. It also sold out for online orders within 72 hours, with over 1000 copies selling in the first day alone.”

Rock n Roll Bride has certainly bucked the trend, alongside regional publications like the series of County Wedding Magazines as well as independent titles and regional titles such as Belle Bridal, Love Our Wedding, Save the Date, Absolute Bridal and Cornish Brides.

Such huge changes can leave a little bit of head-scratching when it comes to working out how to target your ideal customer when the back bone of media opportunity has fallen out of the industry.  Fear not though, it just means we can all be a little bit more creative with how we PR wedding businesses.

Working with wedding blogs:

There is no denying the power of wedding blogs as a great way of communicating with your target audience, but just ensure that you take a personal approach to each blog you reach out to.

• Take time to read their submission guidelines
• Do they offer editorial or do you have to pay to be placed?
• What value can you offer them and their readers?
• Can you collaborate on a competition/discount as a way of reaching and incentivising the potential audience?
• Give a wedding blog an exclusive - if you are offering a real wedding, make sure it’s not been, or going to be, featured anywhere else.

Working with regional wedding media:

There is a huge wealth of media opportunity when you explore regional publications both in print and digital.  Some research for your area, but also across the UK if you serve a national audience, is the best starting point for this aspect of promotion.

• What kind of content do they produce?
• Where can you see your product or service fitting?
• Can you offer expertise?  Do they have an ‘Ask the Expert’ section that you could enquire about being part of?
• What value can you give the audience and what incentives can you offer to drive footfall and sales to your business?

Working with independent wedding media:

Much like regional media, there is a growing wealth of independent media titles and what these can offer you is a much more flexible range of opportunity than the traditional corporate run nationals.

• Get creative with your pitching - can you write an expert article or opinion piece?
• What knowledge and value can you share?
• Could you pitch to be a ‘resident expert’ or columnist giving insight into the world of weddings?
• What content do they feature that will allow you to promote your offering?

Also, explore beyond the media:

• Make use of Pinterest - what brands already do it well and what influence can you borrow for them?
• Be visual on other relevant social media platforms such as Instagram.
• Share insight, advice and value with your following.
• Build up your mailing list and incentivise with friends and family recommendation bonuses.
• Find ways to keep loyal customers in your orbit - they may be married but they can still be interested and they can still recommend you to others.
• Get out there and meet people - do wedding fairs, network in your industry, attend or show at trade events and consumer shows, run pop ups or special shopping events.
• Offer VIP service or incentives to welcome people into your world and build your following.
• Get visible as a public speaker - inspire your audience through sharing ideas and wisdom.
• Position yourself as an expert in your field - build credibility in your industry that causes a trickle down effect to your customer which sees an innate kudos in your industry standing.
• Enter wedding awards - national and regional - to prove your expertise and standing in the industry.
• Collaborate with like minded brands to create a one-off design, put your name to a collection, share reciprocal marketing opportunities, cross promotion to a similar target audience.

Sometimes, it’s just a case of getting creative and opening the right doors.

If you want to know more, pop me an email: [email protected]