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How to prepare for the holiday season | Keeping your marketing consistent

Session Preparation

This is the season where you’re trying to prioritize your tasks–-order materials, increasing your inventory, all the things! You’re busy!! This is not the time of the year to be overhauling your website and create a new set of images. 

Consistency = Trust

I’m always preaching the importance of first impressions, but here I go again…when someone lands on your website, they’re immediately making judgments about your business and product–how much they value your product, what the quality of your product is, and how much they’re willing to pay for it. When they see that everything looks consistent, the trust they have in your business, and therefore your product, is higher than if it wasn’t (without even knowing anything about your products!).

So here are a few things that you can do to update your website to make it look professional so that things look as consistent as possible: 

Concentrate on your homepage

This is the first place a client is landing when they visit your website. Concentrate on this page, especially the space above the fold (the area of your website that they can see before they start scrolling). They’ll see the consistency there and then pursue other parts of your website. Make sure that your homepage shows exactly what you sell…this shouldn’t be a question! Consider keeping all the images on the website from the same shoot. 

Allison at Cate & Co did an amazing job making her homepage look clean and cohesive using images of her best selling products

Creating consistency

If you diy your own product imagery, here are some tips for making your images look as consistent as possible:

  1. Use the same props & backdrops
  2. Use the same location and time of day for your lighting
  3. Get on your product’s level (this usually means getting down low)
  4. Remember that it’s all about your product!! Don’t distract from it. Keep it simple!!

Keep your brand in mind when it comes to Holiday images

When creating images for your products for the holiday season, you don’t need to go traditional bright red and green. Keep your brand in mind and select holiday props that fit into your brand, if your brand consists of softer colors, then select ornaments and decor in those color schemes (it seems like Hobby Lobby carries every color these days in their holiday section these days). 

Burn Down for What has a very bright & upbeat brand, so we made their Christmas images match with brighter colors
Pencraft & Post’s brand doesn’t lend itself to the bright reds and greens, so we added in some softer tones to create her holiday images

Making it easy also creates trust

Get ahead of some of your client’s questions they may have about your product by answering them in your imagery. That way all their questions will be answered on your site and they’ll easily make the decision to buy from you. Consider adding a couple images to a few of your best selling products to answer these questions. 

Here are some questions you may want to answer about your products:

  1. What is this product?
  2. How will I use this product?
  3. How big is this product?
  4. What is this product made of?
  5. Are there any variations of this product?
  6. What does this product look like from different angles?
  7. What does this product look like up close?

Visit my blog post here for more detail and example images.

One of the best ways to answer the question, “how big is this product?”, is to add in human hands, especially if it’s a child’s toy.

Actionable tasks that can be done now:

  1. Make your homepage look consistent with images from the same shoot
  2. Update your best selling products with images that answer some client questions

Remember to take some notes this season that will help you prepare for next holiday season. Some suggestions:

  • Try to start prepping for the holiday 4-6 months prior to November (especially if you’re bringing in other creatives like a photographer, graphic designer, or website designer)
  • Take notes of what worked and what didn’t
  • Shop for clearance items for props for next year!

meet Gari-Ann

Gari-Ann Kia is an accomplished Branding and Product Photographer with a passion for helping creatives and professionals elevate their brand by showcasing their product, promoting their services, or simply enhancing their brand image. Gari-Ann's expertise in branding and product photography will help you stand out from the crowd. With years of experience in the field, Gari-Ann has honed her skills and developed a unique approach to visual storytelling that resonates with her clients and their target audience to help them stand out from the crowd.

Gari-Ann currently lives in the Washington DC area with her husband and two children. She enjoys traveling with her family, some of their favorite destinations have been Santorini, Wanaka, Paris, & Aix en Provence. In her free time, Gari-Ann enjoys giving back to her community by supporting fellow military spouses & their families and mentoring other small business owners.

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