Written by the talented Megan Breukelman of Brooklyn Wedding Photo (Be sure to follow Megan at @meganbreukelman)
When you are a wedding photographer, your job doesn’t start and end on the wedding day. Cultivating a photography client experience is crucial to your business. Your client experience involves thoughtful and intentional customer service from start to finish. One major component of a customer journey for wedding photographers is client gifting.
How Client Gifting Can Impact a Wedding Photography Business
Client gifting for wedding photographers can become a streamlined process with gift boxes. You may think of gift boxes as a corporate gift, but they work wonders for small businesses. Creating good customer experiences by surprising your clients with a gift box can be simple. Once they sign on for their big day, receiving a box from your business will be the best surprise!
You could just have your wedding photography clients sign the contract and be done with. But they’ve chosen you and your business to capture their wedding photos – lifetime memories! This is a huge testament to the amazing service you’re providing. Thanking them for their choice and their consideration in return can make a meaningful impact.
Gift boxes not only benefit your client, but they can benefit your wedding photography business as well. Let’s dive into why client gifting is important for photographers.
Advertise Your Business
Imagine this: you send out an amazing wedding photography client gift box. They love it so much that they post it on their Instagram Story. Their friends, engaged and in relationships, see your thoughtful and intentional gesture. In turn, those friends follow and engage with your content.
You’ve now created brand awareness with an entirely new audience.
With a simple act of kindness, you’ve now set potential customer expectations. You’ve delivered something memorable that not only sparked joy, but sparked new interest as well. For couples that don’t end up posting on their story, they may still share with friends and family. Imagine your clients texting their friends about the sweetest treat they received in the mail from their photographers!
As a business owner, you can also measure customer satisfaction with how your clients respond to your gesture. Are they coming back to you to let you know what they loved? How about posting on social media? Keep tabs on how your wedding photography clients are responding.
Crafting a Brand Experience
Craft your brand experience with the addition of physical gifts for your wedding photography couples. Create a customized surprise box to round out your positive customer experience. Beyond your website and visual branding, you can create a rounded brand experience for your photography business.
Adding gift boxes can signal to your clients that they’re in for a high-quality experience. When you decide to build a box specifically for your business or use a pre-made Happy Box, it shows that you take time for your clients. They will remember this when talking about your business. If word of mouth is important in your photography business plan, this rounded brand experience will make an impact.
Bring Joy to People’s Lives
At the end of the day, giving your wedding photography customers a gift box brings joy to their lives. If your client’s love language happens to be receiving gifts, this can be especially impactful. While weddings are a joy in people’s lives, they can also create a lot of stress. Bring joy and value into the lives of people who want you involved in their big day.
Client Gift Ideas for Wedding Photographers
Whether you’re just starting a photography business or you’re a full time wedding photographer, client gifts can create impact. It could be something small or a larger gesture to say thank you for involving me in your celebration. But what exactly should a client gift for wedding photography couples look like? Here are some box ideas for wedding photographers.
De-Stressing Gifts
Wedding planning can be a stressful experience for your clients. Gifts that focus on de-stressing your client’s life can be meaningful and bring value. Look into spa-themed items like face masks, bath bombs, and candles. Happy Box has an assortment of self care gifts that will de-stress your clients!
There is one important thing to remember about experiential marketing like gift giving. Your couples will always remember how you made them feel. Consider your brand messaging and how it aligns with the gifts. If you emphasize a low-stress wedding photography experience, self care gift boxes match that energy perfectly.
Party Themed Gifts
Being engaged is a time for celebration! Make your clients feel excited about their big day and about your new connection. Something like a happy hour box might get your wedding photography couples feeling festive! Remind your couples that this is their party, and they can celebrate how they want to.
Practical Gifts
Practical gifts for their engagement like a ring dish and notebooks will mean a lot to marrying couples. If they’re early on in their wedding planning process, they may not have those little details prepared yet. That ring dish can come in handy at home and can make an awesome prop on the wedding day. Stylish notebooks for their vows can come in handy on the big day as a beautiful alternative to reading vows off a piece of paper!
Giving chic, practical gifts to your wedding photography clients will show them how much you care. You understand what they’re going through and want to help them through the process. Practical client gifts show that you’re a professional who knows the ins and outs of a wedding.
What Should Your Experience Look Like?
Figuring out how to shape your experience for clients is the most fun part of the process! First you need to figure out what’s actually going into the box. Moreover, it’s time to figure out how to make your experience unique and beautiful! Let’s figure out how to craft your Happy Box.
Represent Your Brand with Your Client Gift
When building a gift box for your wedding photography clients, it’s wise to align it with your brand. If your website heavily features pink, for example, having pink items in your box will match your aesthetics. Think about how the boxes align with your overall brand experience from a visual standpoint.
Creating Custom Client Gifts with Happy Box
Create customized client gifts for your wedding photography business with Happy Box. By choosing to use customized packaging, you can immerse your clients deeper into your brand. This creates more opportunity for brand recognition. Get started by reaching out to our corporate gifting team for your wedding photography business of any size.