Brand Photography Welcome Guides Vs. Style Guides: 3 Reasons to Use a Welcome Guide for Client Education
Successful branding photographers know that it is absolutely essential to educate our clients as much as possible before shoot day starts. So, I get a lot of questions about how photographers should do this. Should you send a style guide? What should it include? Or are brand photography welcome guides better? If you, too, have had these questions, this is the blog post for you!
Since starting my business, I've figured many things out through trial and error, including how to handle client education. So, I've tried both style guides and welcome guides. When I first started out, I just sent a style guide to new clients. But, as I got a better idea of what worked and what didn't, I eventually transitioned to a welcome guide instead. Want to know why? Check out this list of three reasons I think brand photography welcome guides are the way to go.
3 REASONS BRAND PHOTOGRAPHY WELCOME GUIDES WORK BETTER THAN STYLE GUIDES
1. Using a welcome guide streamlines the client onboarding process.
Our personal branding photography clients are business owners, just like us. They don't want to be bombarded by multiple emails any more than we do! So, I do everything I can to streamline the post-booking process. Instead of a bunch of separate guides and emails for each piece of information I need to communicate, I send just one email after booking with my welcome guide and pre-session questionnaire.
2. Getting everyone on the same page right away is essential.
The more upfront and clear your early client communications are, the easier it is on the client! By switching from a style guide to a welcome guide, I could do much more to get me and my clients on the same page right after booking. This means fewer unnecessary emails back and forth with clients and sets clear expectations right from the start.
3. Brand photography welcome guides let you share a lot of information in one document!
I include as much as possible in my welcome guide and send it to new clients as soon as they book me. Everything they'll need to know about the planning process and photoshoot is in one easy-to-reference location. Specifically, I share info about what to expect, what to wear, how to prepare for shoot day, and recommendations for session locations and hair and makeup artists.
Ultimately, using a complete welcome guide instead of just a style guide gives branding photographers much more bang for their buck! If you still have questions about my client onboarding process, I'd love to speak with you one-on-one. ATP mentorship calls are a fantastic way to seek support for your business's biggest pain points. Also, stop by my brand photographer's shop for all your session planning needs!
