Building a Small Business Brand Identity Without a Storefront During COVID-19

When a business owner brainstorms what content to post on social media, most of the ideas involve pictures of their store, pictures of products inside the store, and happy employees working with customers. This formula aims to make the space as inviting as possible to potential customers while also establishing the brand through the stores aesthetic.

However, with COVID-19, how do you establish what makes your brand different when showing your store is no longer relevant to the current shopping experience? Showing your store could even be a cruel reminder to customers of the past comforts we all long for.

The answer lies in a content formula established by successful businesses that rely heavily on their online sales. That formula is using professional studio-style photos and videos paired with customer-generated content. Before we break down these two forms of content, let’s take a look at a case study.

Ulta Beauty Instagram (@ultabeauty)

Ulta’s Instagram is a great example of pairing consumer content with professional shots. They also have 6.8M followers. In this screenshot, you can see 3 photos of kids at home with one very obviously showing their products being used on a kids toes. You can also see studio shots, tutorials, and paid content with influencers. The shots of children are a great way for their brand to relate to many of their customers who are moms at home working to entertain their kids during social isolation. The account also asks followers to submit content using the hashtag #ultabeauty.

Professional Studio Content

Without your store as a backdrop, you don’t have your brands color pallet visible or that nice reclaimed wood wall that pairs well with the story of your handcrafted candles. However, in a controlled environment like a studio, you can recreate many of these elements and even elevate your brand into a more premium space.

Professional photography and video studios provide precise control of lighting, backdrops, and props. Adjusting these inputs enable studios to mimic window light for a brand looking for a soft and warm look or they can produce aggressive lighting for a sports brand looking for contrast and pop. Adding a prop like a wood wall can be used to mimic key elements from your shop. Accessories added to a shot can also help consumers see what your product pairs well with.

Before COVID-19, I bet you had a mental list of your favorite spots to take photos in your store that were representative of your brand. Now you need to develop a list of key elements that should be in studio shots and stick to that list. Are there certain colors you should use as a backdrop? Should there be any props in the shots or should they be kept nice and simple? Should you use certain textures and fabrics to help establish your brand? These are questions only you can answer, but you need to re-establish how you view your brand using a different set of tools. The tools available to you in a studio vs. in your store.

The one downside of using nothing but professional studio content is that eventually your website or social media feed begins to look too curated. For some premium brands this is a good thing, but for everyone else it can become an issue. When every shot has a certain style and aesthetic to it, there can be an accidental counter effect that your brand doesn’t look authentic. With a storefront you didn’t have to worry about this as much because your shop was a real place with real people visible in posts. Customer-generated content is how we address this issue.

Customer Generated Content

Your customers are still using your products, regardless of COVID-19. Consumers love posting and sharing their favorite products online and some of this content is photographed or filmed really well. We partially have iPhones to thank for this because the average consumer now has an excellent camera always in their hand.

Re-posting this content to your own social channels or websites is a great way to still capture the customer experience without relying on your storefront. These customer photos are authentic and genuine. There is typically a visible element of amateur in them that your potential customers can relate to compared to your professional studio generated content. Using these photos is similar to how you might have pulled out your own iPhone before to capture a candid moment in your store.

If you are looking to implement this advice, here are a few tips to make sure you hit the ground running. Double down on this strategy by posting a competition with free product giveaways to customers who post the best photos. Alternatively, when you reach out to customers to ask for permission to use their photo, award them with coupons, and always make sure to credit them in the caption. Involve the community of customers you already have and you will be surprised at how eager they are to interact online if given the opportunity.

Pulling it all Together

It’s important to be conscious of the type of content you are posting when the world around us is changing so rapidly. Does it make sense to post inviting photos of your store when no one is allowed to visit it? Does your brand look like it’s thriving in 2020 if your photos are of an empty store vs. beautiful studio generated content?

The time to pivot your branding strategy is now. Your brand needs to adapt and you can’t rely on old tools like your favorite camera angles in your physical store. Re-establishing your brand by building a studio brand guide to produce new content paired with consumer-generated content is an effective way to re-invent your brand.

If you are looking for more inspiration, look at some of the bigger brands that already rely heavily on online sales. Oakley’s website at this time has a mixture of studio generated content paired with consumer-generated for their #fortheloveofsport campaign. See below.

Oakley Website — See the #ForTheLoveOfSport

The smart thing about Oakley’s campaign is that their brand is heavily tied to fitness and sports. Pairing their glasses with a sport’s hashtag and consumers exercising at home is an authentic way for them to stay relevant during this time.

How will you change your brand strategy to stay relevant during 2020? Share in the comments or ask us questions if you need help!

Need Help Generating Studio Content?

Contact us, Visual Captive. We specialize in producing visual content for small to mid-size businesses. We are headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, but you can ship us your product(s) and we can photograph and film them here.

Check out our website: www.visualcaptive.com

Find us on Instagram: @visual_captive
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Author Biography: Phil Skulte is the owner of Visual Captive, a Minneapolis-based video production company. He specializes in commercial video work and enjoys sharing his knowledge with aspiring creators and business owners.