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Ivory & Pearl is an award-winning bridal boutique in Northern Ireland established in 2013. The business is based in Comber and sells wedding dresses to brides across Ireland that have been sourced from wedding designers around the world.

Kate Speers, the business owner of Ivory & Pearl Bridal Boutique, explains how they have promoted the company through Instagram.

Marketing strategy

"Our target audience is females who are engaged - we are a niche business which makes it easy to identify our audience."

"When I first opened Ivory & Pearl, I promoted the business through bridal fairs in Donegal, Dublin, and countless shows in Belfast - a lot of work goes into bridal fairs."

"Therefore, Instagram is a resource-saving platform for me - as I can promote our wedding dresses for free from the comfort of my home."

"We have been in business for nearly ten years, so much of our business comes from word of mouth. We get lots of sisters or friends of brides who have bought their dresses from Ivory & Pearl coming back to buy their wedding dresses. We also use Google ads, Facebook, Pinterest and Tik Tok."

"I attended lots of seminars on social media at the start and absorbed as much information as I could. They gave me the knowledge to be able to manage my social media."

Content creation and evaluation

"We try to post on Instagram every few days and are very lucky as our suppliers often do stunning photoshoots in destinations such as Santorini. Therefore we have access to great photography to use on the channel." 

"We set aside dedicated social media days to create content, whether this is a professional photographer/videographer coming to the boutique or ourselves creating reels."

"There are many free social media graphic design tools available to help you create professional-looking posts - we use Canva."

"Me and two staff members have access to social media accounts. We will all try to come on to Instagram stories and say ‘hi’ when we are in the boutique, as we like our brides to know us when they come in. It can be daunting trying wedding dresses on, so it’s nice to see a familiar face."

"I also do glimpses of behind the scenes, glimpses of dresses, glimpses of my home life - I want the channel to be as natural as possible."

"I have a company that looks at my google ads and social media activity every quarter. This assistance helps us to identify ways of increasing appointments in the boutique."

"All appointment bookings come through our website, but we know that most of these brides-to-be have already seen Ivory & Pearl on Instagram. We have a direct link to Instagram on our website."

Business challenges and successes

"The main benefit of using Instagram is cost-effectiveness. It contrasts significantly with our marketing channels when we first opened - paying for magazine advertisements and exhibition space at bridal fairs."

"It is a full-time job, as I am always thinking of what to post on Instagram daily - even when I am on holiday!"