Are styled shoots beneficial to my wedding venue business?
Styled shoots can be incredibly beneficial to a wedding venue when they are aligned with your venues style and target audience.
A styled shoot is a great way to showcase your venues assets, network with suppliers, create sharable content for your website and social media platforms, and assist with SEO. However, this is only true if it’s the right styled shoot for your wedding venue.
Image by Sarah Brookes Photography
Styled shoots tend to be put together by stylists, photographers or planners in line with a current wedding trend. If you aren’t coordinating the shoot in terms of vision, mood board, suppliers and storyboarding then make sure that you see at least the mood board prior to saying yes. Ask yourself if what is being portrayed in the images speaks to your ideal customer, and if it doesn’t, I would recommend being very cautious about going ahead.
I would also recommend asking if the plan is to submit to a blog or publication, or if its purpose is for new visual content for all involved. Either way you will get a copy of the images, however if it is submitted to a blog or publication there can be quite a delay before you can share them.
Image by Sarah Brookes Photography
What’s the harm, it gives us new images to use so surely that’s a good thing?
In theory new content is an amazing thing, but if you can’t use it because the shoot style is so far removed from your brand that it doesn’t make sense then ultimately you would have been better off conserving your or your teams’ energy for another styled shoot.
For wedding venues in particular it is important that what is presented in the images can be done in real life (with the right suppliers of course). By this I mean that if there’s confetti being thrown then you allow confetti, or if there is a fire pit you allow this. Otherwise you are sharing images that will offer mixed messaging to your couples and may cause friction further down the line. Another example here is having a styled ceremony set up in a space that isn’t practical or realistic for a real wedding.
Image by Sarah Brookes Photography
I know the above all sounds like I don’t recommend styled shoots, I absolutely do, but I want you to invest your time and effort into activities that will bring you the highest possible return on investment, and for this to be the case a little caution is advised before saying yes to every shoot request that you receive.
Below are a few of the questions I recommend you keep in mind when considering a styled shoot at your venue.
1. Do the supplier’s audiences align with our target audience?
2. Does the style and vision for the shoot align with our brand and speak to our target audience?
3. Are the locations they wish to use realistic when it comes to what is being portrayed?
4. Are the publications or blogs that they are looking to submit the shoot to in line with our target audience?