Gift guides are an excellent method of sharing the news about your products to potential customers. Gift Guides are versatile. They can be shared online on your social media, shared within email newsletters or as blog content for your website. In this blog, we will give helpful tips on making the perfect gift guide.
Customer Personas
by MO Studios
A customer persona is a detailed study of a fictitious person who represents your target audience. This research is done by looking into existing and potential real life customers and then considering how your product slots into their daily life to benefit them. Think about absolutely anyone who would benefit from your product, gift guides allow you to approach unlikely potential customers. You’ll also want to keep in ind that the people viewing these gift guides a likely to be friends and family of your customer personas rather than the customer persona themselves. For example, consider different age groups, hobbies, locations etc. Use customer profiles as means to also a great time to research your competition and how they approach a similar customer audience.
Update your product image portfolios by creating lifestyle shots with your white background shots as secondary images. Gift wrap is a great prop to show how the product looks when unwrapped as a gift. Lifestyle shots are all about encouraging the imagination. Imagine how the gift looks unwrapped by it’s recipient. Also think of occasion your gift guide is tailored to when you source props. Using a professional photographer is the best way to show your products visually in a high quality format that reflects your business as high quality.
Graphic design for Gift Guides
There are plenty of programmes out there with varying levels of accessibility and budget options to help you achieve aesthetically pleasing results. Good graphics alonside professional photography are a great way to achieve an effective first impression with your potential customers. Canva is a great budget friendly option for complete beginners as they provide a range of beautiful and easy to use templates.
Plan Your Gift Guide Ahead Of Time
List all of the holidays celebrated with themed gifts. Holiday dates and traditions can vary greatly in different locations. Therefore, it is best to look into everywhere you ship to. You need to plan gift guides in advance too. Providing a gift guide before christmas is great but if this guide is made available just before or after you stop shipping in time for christmas it is essentially useless. You’ll also need to factor in the time it takes to create photos.
Show Variety
People often have a desired budget on how much they’d like to spend on the recipient and this, evidently, can affect your gift guide. Share different price points for each group.
Think of Unique Ways of Presenting Gift Guides
There are multiple ways to present your gift guide effectively, whether this is an online pamphlet or a blog post. Set yourself apart from the competition by making your gift guide immersive, fun and memorable. Buzzfeed has popularised online quizzes, and these can be a fun way to match your customer with the ideal gift. However, it is essential to include a written option, too, as some people may deem this a waste of time.
Overall, your business’ gift guide is an invaluable marketing tool and can suggest products a customer may not think about. Therefore, it’s important to refresh your gift guides in case of new trends. New trends include the new year or the different seasons, and ensure you make them seen online.
How will you present your gift guide?
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