How to Make Marketing Feel Less Random and More Like a Plan

If you're waking up most days feeling unsure about what to post or where to spend your time marketing your wedding or event business, you're not alone. Most wedding and event pros from florists to planners to DJs to photographers I talk to feel like they're constantly guessing when it comes to marketing and generating leads. One day it’s a video, the next it’s a blog post (but is blogging dead?), then Pinterest, then email, and suddenly hours are gone and nothing feels like it's really working - and you’re back to working another long weekend with no time to focus on anything but making your client happy. Rinse and repeat.

The good news? That scattered, overwhelmed feeling is not because you're bad at marketing. It’s because you're missing a clear plan. In this post, I’m going to talk about how to stop the guessing game, how to make your marketing and getting more leads feel less random, and what it really takes to show up consistently and confidently, without letting it take over your life.

If your wedding or event business marketing feels scattered and exhausting, it’s likely because you’re working without a clear plan. In this post, I’m getting real, real and taking you BTS of my business to share how setting specific marketing goals helps me stop overthinking your marketing and start seeing real results. Using Instagram as my example, you’ll learn how to shift from chaos to clarity with a marketing and lead generating system that starts with your goals and turns them into effective, easy-to-follow marketing tactics.

Easy, peasy! I got you!

Photo credit: Carter Rose Photography

Random Marketing Comes From Skipping the Planning

Let’s get real: marketing only feels chaotic when you don’t have a plan. That “I don’t know what to post” or “I don’t even know if this is working” spiral comes from making decisions in real time, without a strategy guiding you.

What most wedding pros from rental companies to entertainment to stationers to wedding cake designers to bridal shops don’t realize is that the plan doesn’t start with a content calendar. It starts with your goal. That goal determines your strategy. And that strategy tells you what tactics to use.

It’s as simple as this: goal > strategy > tactics. Done and done.

So many wedding professionals are exhausted because they’re skipping this step. They don’t spend time on defining their goals, much less their strategies. They’re jumping straight into tactics. Should I post today? Should it be a video? Should I follow that trend? Should I email my list again? The answer is always: I don’t know. What does your goal say?

If you’re still struggling with burnout and overthinking every marketing move and way that you bring in new leads, from blogging to networking to social media, take a step back and read this that I wrote just for you: How to Stop Wedding Business Marketing Burnout. It’s the first step to making everything you do more strategic, more efficient, and less overwhelming.

But let me take a hot minute to talk about how I define my goals…

How Your Goal Determines Everything

Let me show you what this looks like in real life with my own business, The Garter Girl. Like many of you, I’ve spent years trying to figure out how to make social media feel less like a full-time job. I checked the data and realized that only 5% of my customers were coming from Instagram.

Only 5%! That means 95% of my leads and revenue were coming from somewhere else.

That one number forced me to get honest about how much time I was spending on Instagram versus how much it was actually helping my business. I knew I still needed a presence there, but it could no longer dominate my day. So I built a system rooted in clear goals. Goals that work for my life and my business, not the Instagram algorithm. And certainly not someone else’s goals. (Too often wedding pros look outside of themselves for advice on how to run their business and end up chasing the goals of someone else. But, that’s another post for another day!)

Here are my Instagram goals for The Garter Girl:

Goal #1: To show that I’m open for business.
Strategy: E-commerce customers want to know it’s easy to buy and the lights are always on, aka someone is going to take their order and ship their order.

Goal #2: To show that I’m a real person.
Strategy:  People buy from people. I’m not Amazon, this is a handmade wedding heirloom, there is a real  “girl” behind The Garter Girl sewing ever stitch and tying ever bow.

Goal #3: To show the range of what I can do.
Strategy: Brides want something unique and personal. My custom and personalized work sets me apart.

These goals made/make everything else so much easier (You’ll see below where I lay it out and how the goal informs the tactic.). Even before I got to what to post or when to post, I had to get clear on the goals first. It can feel like a lot or confusing when you’re juggling a million balls and you’re an expert it something else like baking cakes or designing weddings (or making wedding garters!), but I pinky promise that if you start with the goal in mind first, it will make everything that comes after that much better.

My Instagram Plan in Action

Once I had my goals and strategy in place for how I use Instagram to bring in new leads and create connection with potential clients for my wedding business, the tactics wrote themselves. I didn’t have to wonder what to post or how often. I had a rinse-and-repeat system that aligned with what I wanted my marketing to do for me.

Here’s how it looks day-to-day:

• I auto-post every 24 hours using pre-scheduled content.

• I use a 5-day rotating post template (custom work, real clients, testimonials, custom work again, my face).

• I keep captions simple by reusing copy from my website or blog.

• I use all 30 hashtags, but I don’t overthink them, just relevant keywords.

• My Instagram stories always show some behind-the-scenes (order packing, resharing posts from my main feed).

• And most importantly, everything I post on Instagram is repurposed content. It would exist anyway for other parts of my marketing like Pinterest or blogging.

This system now runs itself. I don’t let trends derail me. I’ll watch a trend, see how it plays out, and only act on it if it fits with my goals.

What I Don’t Worry About Anymore

Because I know my goals for using Instagram to generate new leads and build trust with potential customers for The Garter Girl, there are so many things I’ve stopped caring about entirely:

I don’t care about likes.
I don’t care about follower count.
I don’t care about engagement rates or views.
I don’t care about clever captions or hashtags.
I don’t dance, do voiceovers, or jump on every trend.

Why? Because none of those things serve my goals. No where in my goals did I say “get a whole bunch of likes” on your post, or “write the most clever caption ever.” Those things might be important to some other business - heck, maybe yours - but I had to get honest with myself that things like vanity metrics and follower accounts just don’t align with my stated goals for how I was/am going to grow my wedding business.

Trust me, it’s hard sometimes to look at my Instagram account and see two likes on a post, or see my follower account loose followers. But again, I have to keep reminding myself of the things that I said I wanted when I was calm and rational about marketing and promoting my business. And then I look at my bank account and everything is much better!

This mindset shift has saved me so much time and mental space. And it can do the same for you.

From Chaos to Clarity

Once you have your goals in place, everything gets easier. Much easier. You stop waking up wondering what to post. You stop overthinking every decision. You stop scrambling to keep up with what everyone else is doing. You’re not random anymore. You’re working from a plan.

And when you’re working from a plan that’s rooted in your goals and your wedding or event business needs, your marketing and promotion starts actually working. It becomes more sustainable, more focused, and a whole lot more effective.

If you want a roadmap for building a system like this, I’ve broken it down for you in the best wedding business marketing system. It’s the same system I teach my clients, and the same one I use in my own businesses every day.

Every Marketing Platform Needs a Goal

What I shared here is just my system for Instagram. But this idea—start with the goal, then define the strategy, and finally choose the tactic—is how I approach all of my marketing. Whether it’s Pinterest, blogging, email newsletters, or even in-person events like wedding industry conferences, I always begin with a clear goal.

For Pinterest, my goal might be to drive traffic to specific product pages or blog posts. For email marketing, it’s to build trust and keep my brand top-of-mind in their Inbox. When I attend a conference, my goal could be to strengthen vendor relationships or generate new referral opportunities. And just like with Instagram, I don’t overthink these goals. But I also don’t go into any marketing effort blindly.

This kind of clarity allows me to make quick decisions without second-guessing. I know what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and how it connects to my bigger business goals. That’s the difference between reactive, scattered marketing and a system that’s strategic and sustainable.

Want to know what this looks like across your whole business? I’ve outlined the full approach in my guide to the best wedding business marketing system. Trust me, once you start leading with purpose instead of panic, everything changes.

Recap: Making Your Marketing Feel Like a Plan

Marketing feels random (and overwhelming!) when you skip the goal-setting step. You can’t plan your content calendar, choose your platforms, or create content that converts unless you know what you’re trying to achieve. So instead of starting with “what should I post?” start with “what’s my goal?”

Your goal decides your strategy. Your strategy determines your tactics. That’s how you go from reactive to proactive. From burnout to confidence.

And if you’re ready to turn that clarity into consistent, effective marketing that actually works for your business, check out my breakdown of the best wedding business marketing system.

FAQ

What if I don’t know what my marketing goals should be?
Start with what your wedding or event business needs most right now. Do you need more brand awareness? Higher-quality inquiries? To stay top-of-mind for vendor referrals? That’s your starting goal. (And keep in mind that your goals should come from you, not from someone else like a competitor or another business outside of your industry.)

How detailed should my goals be?
Keep it simple and specific. “Grow my business” isn’t a goal. “Show I’m open for business” or “demonstrate my range of services” are goals that guide content creation.

Do I need to have a goal for every post?
Yes, but the goal doesn’t have to be complicated. Even a simple post should serve a larger objective like visibility, trust-building, or conversion.

What if the marketing trends don’t fit my strategy?
Let them go. You’re not marketing for engagement, you’re marketing for results. Trends are tools or tactics, not the goal.

Do I need a different marketing plan for every platform I use?
Yes, but the core of your plan—your goals—should remain consistent. Each platform or option may require a slightly different strategy, but all your tactics should stem from the same overall goals.

Is it bad to reuse content across platforms?
Not at all. Repurposing content is one of the smartest ways to stay consistent without burning out. Just make sure it aligns with the platform’s format and your specific goal for using that platform.

What if I don’t have time to make a detailed marketing plan?
You don’t need a complicated plan. You just need clear goals. Once your goals are in place, the rest becomes easier and faster to execute because you're not starting from scratch every day.

How often should I revisit my marketing goals?
Review your goals quarterly or anytime something big shifts in your business. Otherwise, stick to the plan—you’ll avoid the constant guesswork that causes burnout. Too often, wedding vendors quit too soon to measure results.

Ready to Stop Guessing?

If you’re done with random posts, chasing trends, and second-guessing every piece of content, it’s time to put a real system in place. Head over to The Pin Pipeline to learn how I help wedding pros create marketing that brings in better leads without burning out.