Marketing The First Dance
Want to advertise your group experiences using The First Dance? Download our new flyer now and fill in your own information.
We are learning how to attract engaged couples. Please tell us what works for you in your own marketing so that others can learn! We will post your ideas here. Keep in mind that our Modern Bride Magazine Trendsetter Award gives the program—and you— credibility with couples.
Our marketing efforts thus far:
Advertising on theknot.com, the largest wedding website, under premarital education as a local vendor in Minneapolis/Saint Paul. It is expensive and so far not something we'll continue.
TV commercial on a local station, airing every other week all summer. We own the commercial and a 2 minute infomerical. Let us know if you want to use either in any marketing capacity (even just showing to your couples if you are unable to use our group program.)
Advertising with The Perfect Wedding Guide, a franchise company located throughout the USA. This gives access to thousands of brides via email/snail mail. We have an ad coming out in their fall issue of their vendor-only magazine distributed to hundreds of retail outlets.
Advertising with a local wedding website. We're in the process of becoming their wedding stress experts with a blog or forum. If you contact local wedding websites and offer to be their "premarital education expert," they'd be likely to have you write articles or advertise your services/agency.
Local newspapers or radio. The First Dance is breaking ground in dealing with the ultimate stress of weddings - the people. You can give your contacts our press release and we would gladly talk with anyone. Or you can talk with the media directly if you're offering our program locally. Advertise yourself with a "newsworthy" bit about The First Dance.
Wedding Stress Coaching is very newsworthy. If you know of couples who would benefit from some coaching, let us know. If we can find people interested in coaching and willing to talk anonymously with the media, then we can blast this newest form of premarital education to increase our visibility (and yours if you're listed with us.)
Search Engine Optimization - we are working very hard to get The First Dance ranked as high as we can in various "keywords". Part of what you can do for your own website is to add content. Search engines love words and you may appear higher if you have articles around wedding planning. We are writing a lot of articles for you to republish, free as long as you credit us with a hyperlink back to our website.
Ideas from marriage educators:
We heard the following ideas from the Smart Marriages conference in 2007:
Create a local newspaper ad for The First Dance group experience.
Wedding vendors might add a $5 fee to their couples and give the Couple version of the DVD to each client.
Someone is going to buy a Couple DVD and give to everyone applying for a marriage license (he works in the County Court system).
Have two dance lessons combined with The First Dance group experience, divided into two over two days.
If you have a wedding logistical planning day, incorporate The First Dance as part of that day. It's a great segue to go from the wedding stresses into the actual nuts and bolts of their big day at your religious setting.
Show our commercial (or 2 minute infomercial) to your large group and encourage them to buy the Couple DVD. (You could buy them for the marriage educator price of $5 and sell them for $5 or for the couple retail price of $9.99.) If you're interested in buying our commercial advertising on DVD, Contact Us. We will have both the 30 second commercial and the 2 minute infomercial on the DVD disc for a reasonable price.
Distribute our brochures as far and wide as you can. The brochures have been completely revamped from last year to be more hip, modern, and written directly for engaged couples (as opposed to marriage educators.) Want more copies? Contact us and tell us how many you want and where to send them.
