If the pandemic has taught you anything about running a business, it’s how important it is to be relevant to your customers even in such overwhelmingly difficult and extraordinary times like this. So, how can your business become relevant when your customers are trying to save their hard-earned money, keeping it for harder times ahead? You have to be different. You have to stand apart from your competitors and show to your target market that you are needed; that if they ever need to style an event (whether in the midst of a pandemic or after), yours is the first name they have to remember.
Most event stylists depend on Instagram alone to showcase their talents and skills. And while social media has been a great marketing method for organizations in this industry, there are also other ways to connect with and reach out to your market. Forgetting about these other methods can ultimately lead to disaster as customers are more discerning when it comes to products and services that they spend their money on.
An event portfolio will help you get to where you want to bring your organization. It will show who you are, your designs, your styles, your inspirations, and the services that you offer. The portfolio will help clients decide if you are the right one for them. It will give them an idea of how their events will look like. And while there is no hard-and-fast rule about building a portfolio, it’s important to have them on a variety of traditional and new media.
Showroom
One of the most important investments for an event stylist is a showroom. This is a small space set up to look like an event that you designed. It can be a wedding, birthday, anniversary, or corporate event theme. You can change it every month or every chance you get, though changing it regularly is important. The point of the showroom is to give your clients a glimpse of how the actual styling will look like.
To save on cost, you can look for linen rental companies. This way, you don’t need to wash, dry, and iron all the linen you use when you change the theme of the showroom. You can also choose from a variety of linen and textiles, showcasing your talents and skills.
Website
Event stylists forget about building their own websites where they can show their professionalism. Websites show how serious you are about your profession. It shows that you are invested in it and that you’re actually spending a good amount of money maintaining a website that will give future clients all the information they need about you. Sure, websites can sometimes feel obsolete because of social media, but not if you have a well-designed and well-maintained site.
What should the website include? First and foremost, it should have all your contact information—email, office telephone number, social media accounts, etc. Then, it should include client testimonials. Sometimes, these are the hardest to highlight on social media because so many things are happening there.
Social Media
Of course, how can an event styling business survive without social media? This is the first thing that customers will look at. They’ll want to see what events you have covered and how you design them. They’ll want to see if you’ve worked with celebrities, social media influencers, and other personalities. This is where you showcase those kinds of events and relationships.
On social media, you can share more than photos. You can create content and engage potential clients. You can host a question-and-answer segment so clients can ask you questions about your rates, package inclusions, experiences, styles, inspirations, and many others.
Newsletters and Pamphlets
Traditional media such as newsletters and pamphlets still work like magic. You can distribute them easily during industry events. It’s the easiest way to market your business given that it’s a handy marketing material that anyone can peruse in their free time. It doesn’t require commitment since they can just glance at it and put it in their car’s glove compartment. The idea is to put the basic information in their minds that “hey, we’re here.”
An event styling portfolio is your best arsenal during a time of great competition in the industry. It represents who you are and what you can do. More than anything else, it proves your professionalism, marketability, and influence. While others insist only on using the internet and social media, take it a notch higher by providing them with different avenues to reach you.