I know you have all heard me talk about my Style Closet!  I love being able to incorporate my love of fashion into my photography business and I love helping my senior clients answer that all-too-common question…What do I wear?  But there are many different ways that you can create your own unique style closet.  It may be an actual closet in your studio full of awesome clothing, it may be partnering with a stylist or it may just be a virtual style closet like Teri Fode created for her senior business!

I met Teri at the Seniors Ignite Event in Las Vegas a little over a year ago.  I loved what she was doing and loved her instantly!  Following her has given me inspiration for my business and seeing what she was doing with her own version of a style closet really impressed me!  I just knew I had to ask her to share on this blog because I knew all of you would love it as much as I do!  🙂

Below is a guest post from Teri about how she creates and markets an online style closet!  She has included great tips on how you can educate your seniors online about what they should wear to their senior sessions!!  Check it out below!  A BIG THANK YOU to Teri for sharing this with Seniorologie readers!!

xoxo,

Leslie

CREATING AND MARKETING AN ONLINE STYLE-CLOSET
BY TERI FODE

Being a resource for fashion and style ideas is a fabulous marketing tool for your senior business. Having a “Style Closet” of clothing items, shoes and accessories is an amazing idea and while I do have a growing source of fashion items in my studio, I’ve found that having an online “Virtual Style Closet” has been an even greater source of inspiration for my senior clients.
The idea of a “Virtual Style Closet” all came about due to a lack of space to grow an actual “closet” full of clothes in my chic but very small studio space. I also wanted to create a resource for my seniors to have in planning their shoot. That’s always a top question for all of us from our seniors: “what do I wear”.
While I always encourage each of my clients to project their own style and to be themselves, they always look to me for ideas and inspiration for their outfits. Styles change each season and I started paying attention to the projected styles for teens in preparing some ideas for them. This morphed into what I do today to inspire my teens regarding fashion ideas: I call them my fashion-themed Style Videos.
The style videos I create for my Instagram, blog and other social networks are actually a collection of fashion images, collages and photos from my own photo shoots as well as my Pinterest boards, my Polyvore creations and other fashion resources that I follow on Instagram. My girls love these videos and have started asking when the next one is coming out. NOTE: It’s always important to give credit to your sources via hashtags, regram credit, etc. in creating these types of videos for marketing.
The style videos are always theme based, focusing on a fashion trend I want to project to my senior clients. I recently did a “Boho” theme and created a “cover” page in my Polyvore account. If you are not a member of Polyvore, I high recommend it as a resource if you are interested in creating fashion ideas for your own studio. It’s a tremendous resource for fashion trends! It allows you to create not only fashion boards, but many creative marketing tools and tips for your seniors.
I get a lot of questions from photographers as to how I create these videos. Here is a quick and easy “how to” if you are interested in creating your own fashion idea videos. Many of you might be encouraged to know that all of my fashion videos are created in my iPhone; an easy on-the-go way of creating marketing videos!
1. COLLECT your ideas. Again, this should include a few of your own images. But you can also include Pinterest images, other Instagram images, Polyvore boards etc as long as you give credit to your resources. If I am wanting to use any branded logos or images of my own, I simply email them to myself so they are on my iPhone.
2. CREATE A COVER PAGE. This is the theme page that tells your audience what your fashion video is all about. This can be created in photoshop and sent to your phone but again, I do everything right in my iPhone including this cover page. A great app to have for designing is Rhonna Designs (available to both iPhone and Droid users).
3. MAKE THE VIDEO using a video app. There are many out there, but I like PicFlow for still images. Other great apps to integrate into your overall mini-video project are: Flipagram, PicPlayPost and any app that allows you to “slice” your images into shapes such as PolyFrame. Once you have your theme and your images collected, this part is very easy because it’s a matter of “dropping” everything into the app. Select your music, add your logo, and you’re ready to publish your first “Virtual Style Closet” video!
The biggest part of being a resource for fashions and styles for your seniors is how you market yourself. Creating a fun video is great but unless you are doing it frequently and consistently, you won’t become known as a literal resource or “go to” person for ideas by your seniors.
For me, consistency has to do with “posting frequently” but not necessarily on the same day. “What to Wear Wednesday” is great, but I’m not always able to create and post on Wednesdays. Planning ahead is always an option, but don’t forget about “Style Saturday” and Style Sunday”, or “Fashion Friday” as well! Having the flexibility to post on a day that makes sense for my business and my workflow is what keeps me consistent.
Videos are only one idea for being a “Virtual” resource of fashion ideas for your seniors. I also started a separate Instagram account called the “TFSstyle Closet” and I send my seniors there to follow me on Instagram for additional style ideas. It’s mostly a “regram” source of fashions and styles all on one Instagram account. You can create one as your “Style Closet” and quickly become known as a resource to your own seniors by simply re-gramming (again, with credit) great ideas.
Of course Pinterest boards are another way to promote a “Virtual Style Closet” but if using Pinterest, you might consider having very specific boards for styles versus one board that is titled “Senior Fashions”. This way your seniors can view specific fashions that appeal to their own style. The biggest point to keep in mind is that you really need to post consistently if marketing this to your seniors because fashions change every season and you will want your resources to be fresh and current.
Having an online “go to” resource can set you apart in your market as being the photographer that is up on fashion trends and ideas. Have fun with it!

Teri Fode Photography

Website:  www.terifode.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Teri-Fode-Seniors/57536624272?fref=ts

Instagram:  @terifode

Bohemian Cover Page with images of her senior clients wearing the bohemian style below

bohoTeriFodeIMG_0875IMG_4583

Cover Ideas for Videos Teri has done below

 

StyleVideosTeriFode

 

Tip Tuesday – { Virtual Style Closet }

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heck, yes i do!

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