An experience guide, studio magazine or welcome kit is a wonderful way to introduce your new clients to your brand and the level of service they can expect when working with you.

While this can be done in digital format, we’ve found that providing our clients with a tangible introduction to their experience returns exponential profits to our business, which is why we want to show you exactly how we craft our experience guide to do just that!

If you’re looking for a place to print your experience guides, we use Miller’s softcover signature books. The quality is amazing and the turnaround time is unbeatable.

Here are few tips on how to design an experience guide with an epic ROI.

1. Tell your brand story.

Make sure the imagery and language match your brand, and how you would speak to your ideal client.  If your brand is sweet and romantic, your imagery and verbiage should have the same tone. If you have more of a modern, eclectic vibe, someone should be able to feel that on every page.  Don’t be shy to give a few personal details and reasons behind why you’re so passionate about your work; their connection to YOU is what sold them in the first place. A solid brand story will make your clients fall deeper in love with you, provide validation for their decision to work with you and make them tell everyone they know about you! Yay for referral clients!

2. Set clear expectations.

This is the perfect opportunity to outline your workflow and processes to your clients.  It’ll save you time in the long run because you won’t have to answer the same questions over and over. Keeping everyone on the same page will make your clients feel confident in working with you.  And now that you’ve written it in print, you have to hold yourself accountable to actually make all that happen.

3. Provide LOTS of value.

Adding in fun tips for how to have a successful wedding day, a recommended vendors list or client spotlights with advice from past couples will give your clients a sense of pride when working with you, and an increased appreciation for all you do. By establishing yourself as an expert in your industry with this type of information, the couple will feel like they’re getting more than just your products or services when working with you, they’re getting an experienced professional and peace of mind (which is priceless).  As a result, your clients and their families will hold a higher respect for you, be more likely to talk about you (yay referrals!) and—let’s get real— you’ll enjoy working with them more too because you’re being treated better!

4. It’s all about the upsells!!

Having a 10+ page Experience Guide printed is not cheap! BUT these babies can be super effective if you use them the right way.  We include pages about all of the printed products we offer, samples of these products showcased in homes, and even information about our bridal boudoir sessions or same day edit videos so they are intrigued about adding on even more services.  The best part? Because we are delivering something tangible and beautifully laid out, our clients take it with them to show Mom and Dad (especially if they’re paying for the wedding!), Grandma and the whole family!  Now not only are my clients seeing the beauty of our products and exclusive nature of our services, but their whole family and all their friends are, too. We’re no longer getting lost in their inbox!

5. Done is better than perfect.

It’s easy to get caught up in these types of projects (especially as creatives) because similar to how we could spend HOURS editing one photo, we get stuck in the perfectionism of it all. It’s better to compile a compelling, effective document and get it out there than waste weeks worrying about intricate details.  Start simple and build on it later! You may be feeling the excitement (and also be slightly overwhelmed) for getting something like this pumped out so you can start reaping all the same rewards. Maybe you’re thinking, “Great, but how can I build this from scratch!?”  Well, I have great news for you, there are a lot of awesome resources out there, where you can just drag and drop your images and logo and tweak the language to make it work for you. When I first started offering these guides, much of my inspiration came from Design Aglow templates (they’re awesome and have so many amazing resources). You can also look on Creative Market if you’re looking for a different design aesthetic.

And if you really want an Epic Experience Guide proven to multiply your ROI, you can purchase our fully-customizable template.