Growing a new, upscale wedding venue

Background

In 2017, local entrepreneur Thom Rippon turned his 90-acre historic country farm estate into a luxury wedding venue, One Barn Farm, for the 2018 wedding season. Thom worked with another local partner to develop a logo, website and rack card (marketing collateral). With just one 2018 wedding booked as of October 2017, Thom and Venue Director Robin Davis asked Uptrend Marketing to supercharge One Barn Farm’s marketing efforts.

We knew we needed to answer the following questions in order to achieve success:

  • How does One Barn Farm establish itself in the marketplace?
  • How does One Barn Farm attract the targeted clients?
  • What does One Barn Farm need to do, internally and externally, to capitalize on those opportunities?
  • Marketing Strategy

  • Competitor Analysis

  • Branding

  • Experience Optimization

  • Graphic Design

  • Photography

  • Project Management

  • Events Marketing

  • Online Marketing

  • Social Media and Website Management

  • Sales

  • Content Creation

How We Helped

Our work began with a competitive assessment of wedding venues within 90 minutes of One Barn Farm and the wedding industry both locally and nationally. We found a saturated local market, declining interest in barn weddings nationally yet steady interest locally, and increased overall spend as couples viewed their wedding an “experience” for their guests worth investing in.

One Barn Farm set its sights as an upper-tier venue, so we identified the target markets attracted to this type of venue and the best methods to reach them. We also refreshed the earlier-established brand messaging to reflect this information, and to draw upon One Barn Farm’s strengths to differentiate them in the sea of competitors. We deliberately changed the terminology from “barn” to “country estate.” We also focused on the flexibility the diverse property afforded for couples in crafting their own signature event. We created a teaser magazine showcasing the property, along with short videos and other collateral.

Uptrend Marketing negotiated with the two major online wedding planning sites and established One Barn Farm’s presence on both. We also signed One Barn Farm up to participate as a vendor at many local wedding expos. We knew One Barn Farm had to stand out from the typical expo vendor displays of the tablecloth-covered long table, two folding chairs and marketing materials scattered around – we had to bring the estate and its charm to the show.

Brainstorming with the Venue Director, we came up with the idea of a physical, 3-dimensional booth structure of a reclaimed barn beam wedding archway. Something that could be used both at the shows and at the venue for weddings. We adorned this substantial archway with floral arrangements, large canvas pictures and photo albums of the property and wedding decor. One Barn Farm definitely made the type of splash we wanted and turned heads, with many expo visitors and vendors alike telling us our booth was best of show…at every show we went to!

The late 2017/early 2018 expo season, plus the presence on the major online wedding sites, helped quickly fill the 2018…and even 2019…calendar. Uptrend Marketing stepped outside of our usual marketing lane to provide additional services. First, we assisted from a sales perspective, representing One Barn Farm at wedding expos and conducting tours of the property to prospective couples. Second, with the calendar now booked and One Barn Farm having a multitude of tasks to complete before the wedding season began, we helped clarify, organize and manage the venue readiness work plan given our copious project management experience.

As 2018’s wedding season kicked off, we helped manage their social media profiles and created content to highlight the weddings happening onsite. One Barn Farm afforded us a new opportunity of actual wedding/live photography. We served as One Barn Farm’s photographer for four unique weddings during the 2018 season; some of those images are shown in the venue magazine below, but if you’re looking for more, head on over to One Barn Farm’s blog.