Image by Hazel Eyes Photography. Keep reading to see why you should be creating free wedding resources

While social media, word of mouth, and Google is crucial for finding new clients, building an email list is one of the smartest decisions you can make for your business. Not only do these emails help you generate leads with potential new clients, but they also help you maintain a relationship with previous and future clients. But gathering these emails can be overwhelming. How do you start? What’s the best way to gather everyone’s attention when they land on your website? While there are multiple ways to go about it, there’s one avenue that beats all of the others–freebies.

As a wedding photographer or videographer, you have a wealth of knowledge your clients may find helpful for their big day. And what better way to share this information than create a free resource you can use in exchange for their emails? We’re breaking down how to create free wedding resources and infographics, why they’re great lead generators, and the types of resources you should be making to create a new reliable lead funnel system that operates at no overhead cost to you.

Benefits of Offering Free Wedding Resources

People love free things–especially when they are useful to them. Creating a free digital product allows you to share your knowledge with your audience without losing revenue or interest. Depending on the freebie you make, it should only take you a couple of hours at most to put together, and unless you’re paying for a specific program to create it, it’s free for you as well.

Builds an Email List

As we mentioned earlier, building an email list with potential and repeat customers can be highly advantageous for your business. This email list is the perfect place to share deals you may be having, openings you have, and recent work you may have shot.

Drives Traffic

The more eyes on your site, the more likely you are to book more customers. And driving your email subscribers to your website via email is the ideal way to do this–especially since more than 70% of people never return to a site after visiting for the first time.

Recommended Reading: 6 Steps to Turn Inquiries into Bookings

Builds Trust

As a wedding photographer or videographer, one of your main goals is to build a level of trust. And sending your email list a private email, even if it’s through a drip campaign, is a more intimate way to communicate with them. You form a friendship and give them the opportunity to reply to your email to ask questions or spark conversation. It also allows you to share other resources you may put together after the initial freebie.

Brand Awareness

When you’re branding your freebie and sharing the graphics that you create on social media (specifically Pinterest), you are creating brand awareness. The more they see it, the more they become familiar with you and your photography. That means you’re at the forefront of their minds when it comes time to book their photographer or videographer.

Recommended Reading: How to Create Your Wedding Photographer Branding

Image by Delhi Velvet

What Kind of Free Wedding Resources You Should Create

Now that you’re set on creating free wedding resources, it’s time to think about what you should create. There are a variety of ideas out there, but we’re helping break down the ones that we believe would work best for photographers and videographers. 

• Checklist – Some checklist ideas include what to bring with them to an engagement session, everything they need on their wedding day, a honeymoon packing list, a vendors checklist, etc.
• Planner – You’ve seen enough weddings to know the ins and outs of a lot of the planning. Why not share a wedding planner that couples can use when planning their own big day? This can be as basic or as in-depth as you want. Just remember that it’s free, so you don’t want to get too caught up in making it
• Video – All of the topics that we’ve mentioned so far can also be turned into a video or video series that you can share for free
• Resource list – Weddings are stressful, and there’s so much information out there that it can be hard to know where to start. Create a resource list with all of your favorite places to go to for wedding planning tips and tricks
• Printable – Checklists make for great printables, but you can also create a single-page resource such as a “questions to ask your vendors” that they can bring along with them as they begin their wedding planning process
• Digital download – Digital downloads are great because they can be done in a variety of forms. For example, spreadsheets, templates, and calculators can all be extremely helpful
• Quiz – Who doesn’t like a quick and easy quiz? Putting together a freebie that helps them determine what kind of wedding they should have based on their answers is fun, quick, and lighthearted

Image by Barbara Schmid Photography

Software To Use For Your Free Wedding Resources

Ready to get creating? Consider using one of these programs to make your vision come to life!

Canva

You’re probably familiar with Canva, but if you haven’t tried out their “Pro” program, you’re missing out. With thousands of templates, a vast photo and font library, and countless handy tools (such as the background remover), it’s arguably as good as Photoshop but much easier to use.

Creative Market

If you don’t mind spending a couple of bucks, Creative Market is your one-stop shop for all things freebies. It has a wide variety of carefully curated templates that have already been made for you, making the whole process a piece of cake. From newsletters to Canva templates to challenges, there’s something for everyone. Not interested in templates? You can also find fonts, photos, and illustrations that you can purchase to take your freebie to the next level.

Photoshop

As a creative, you may be extremely familiar with Photoshop. Why not use this knowledge to your advantage by creating your own freebie using the software? Adobe Illustrator can also be very handy if you’re already paying for Creative Cloud.

Image by Love Is Symmetry

How to Promote Your Freebies

Use an Opt-In Form

The easiest way to capture your audience’s attention is to use an opt-in form. You can have it pop up within seconds of arriving at your site, when they land on a specific blog, embedded as a footer, and more.

Weave It Into Blog Copy

Here at Photobug, we firmly believe everyone should have a blog–including photographers and videographers. Not only is it great for SEO purposes, but it also shows your audience that you are educated in the field. It also allows you to showcase your latest work. So if you’re blogging, why not weave your freebie into the blog copy? It can be a link to a landing page, or you can embed an opt-in form into the blog itself. 

Recommended Reading: 25 Blog Post Ideas for Wedding Photographers

Promote It on Social Media

If you’ve spent a lot of time tailoring a freebie that you know couples planning their weddings will find helpful, you should be promoting it everywhere possible–especially your social media platforms. Whether it’s Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, or Tiktok (or all of the above), don’t be afraid to link to your freebie’s landing page. If you have a bigger budget and want to maximize the number of eyes on it, you can even consider running ads for it.

You’re now ready to create your free wedding resources to utilize for your lead funnels! Once you have those emails, it’s time to think about how you will keep your audience’s attention far beyond the freebie. Luckily, we’ve put together a six step email marketing plan to help!

Image by Kamila Kwiatkowska Fotografia