Way too many people try to market their store by posting pictures from the wholesaler, if you’re doing this, stop immediately!
You can tell if a picture is from a wholesaler, it’ll be very standard, bland and boring, no personality, or emotion and so many people are using the same photo you look just like everyone else. There are minor positives to that approach, it shows people what you have, but it doesn’t draw people into your store, and it certainly doesn’t captivate people to continue browsing and reading on your site.
To pull people in you’re going to have to show that there’s more than just clothes available. You need to show fashion, style, trends something that sets your online boutique apart as the go to place to shop.
The best way to market, especially as a smaller unknown retailer, is to do one of three things: entertain, educate, or inform! (And don’t say your copied stock image from the wholesaler is highly informative, because it’s not!)
An educational stance is one of the best ways to convey information, and if done with style and a little pizzazz you can entertain while educating for a double whammy. If a picture is educational and entertaining it’ll draw people to click on your website. Your website is where you can put on the full show to detail all the exiting benefits of your products.
So here are 6 ways to use photos to help attract people to your site
#1 Outfit pictures:
Use pictures that show people wearing or using your clothing in different ways. Highlight how versatile that pair of blue denim jeans are, or how well it will match with almost anything.
Look for photos that are showing an entire outfit, even if the other pieces aren’t yours. If you sell a dress show it with some shoes and jewelry. It’ll give people an idea of what they can do with the dress, and even make it easier for customers to visualize themselves wearing the product. More captivating pictures will be a lot more shareable then just a picture of a dress on a white counter.
#2 Top 10 lists:
People love numbers and lists of things. How many websites have you found yourself on that have titles similar to “top 10 ways to call in late for work” or “5 best summer desserts”. Make a list focusing on a specific product or niche. For example, “top 10 dresses to wear for Valentine’s Day”, each Valentine’s Day item comes with a little description and a story on why specifically it has been chosen for the list. When creating the list, ideally you want all the pictures to be your own, but if you’ve decided that’s not possible it’s okay to splice in a few pictures from other sources.
It can be done by grouping the all the products together on your site, creating a graphic outlining the top 10 list so when people come they can click on all the glorious products you’ve grouped, and learn exactly why they’re in the top 10.
If you have an item that is difficult to wear or may be slightly confusing you can use a list style post to show exactly how you can use it to accessories or boost an overall outfit. I love seeing posts that list multiple ways how you can wear an infinity scarf. Another example is how you can wear a button down shirt, and jazz it up with pants or stockings or jeans or whatever awesome idea you think of!
Overall the top 10 list are a great way to easily make a post that educates, entertains and overall boosts sales.
#3 Videos:
Video are immensely informative. I saw a Dior video last weekend showing briefly how they make high end bags, showing quick cuts of each process like stretching the leather, stitching and sewing handles. The video outlined all the various materials used to make the bag, showing how quality the process is. With rapid cuts and nice close ups, it turned a long process into an entertaining couple of minutes.
Video is an easy way to compress information with preparation, think back to cooking shows where the chef pulls out an already finished dish and says “here’s one I prepared earlier”. Facebook and Instagram videos are a great way to stand out in social media feeds, because the movement attacks the eye as they scroll through a crowded feed.
#4 Behind the scenes:
You can also do a behind the scenes shots if you’ve got a model shoot happening. All you have to do is start taking pictures of the photographer taking pictures (be sure to include the model in as well). Or you can shoot the models prepping their hair and makeup, photo documenting the lead up to the actual shoot.
Giving people a deeper look at what you do to get your products out there is a big brand booster, so be sure to include your logo or name into the behind the scenes promotional material.
#5 Memes:
Memes are an amazing way to entertain, and they’re a considerably easy to make. Get some of your photos and start making captions, funny ones are really effective as they get shared more often, and have the potential to go viral.
If you are stuck for ideas, think back to your favorite memes and how you can adapt them to one of your products you’re selling. Keep creating them too, the more you make the better you’ll become. Try not to steal other people’s memes, you want to add your own personal touch.
Here’s an awesome site that has an easy-to-use meme making interface. http://memegenerator.net/create/instance
#6 Text on pictures:
Text on pictures can really make an image pop. It informs people exactly what product is in the picture so if they like an outfit or a particular article, they’ll know how to find more information about it.
The trick is to artistically put the text on the image to improve it, not to hinder it! Check out the website canva.com It is really easy to upload a picture and pick one of their various templates to add stylized text. There are multiple tools too if you want to get extra creative and make your own style. You can also write out what is in the picture, what number it is on the list, or decorate it with your favorite emojis snapchat style!
With a little captivating text on the image it works wonders for the top ten list approach. It better informs people of what they are looking at. When someone sees one of your pictures on an image sharing site and it says “Summer Dress #3” they’ll be interested to see what other items you’ve picked out. So there are a lot of benefits to customize your pictures and add some text