BUENA LANE
the brand plan + copywriting for new website launch
OUR CHALLENGE
Eileen Roche is the founder and lead photographer of Buena Lane Photography. She offers natural and intimate images to couples in San Francisco.
Eileen had been in business for several years when she came to Prim'd Marketing. While she was shooting regularly and kept a full book, she felt like she wanted to create focus for herself and her brand. She wanted to be shooting more of the weddings and couples she loved, and in San Francisco's saturated wedding market she was ready for her brand to be known for something.
She also felt in the next several years she wanted to scale Buena Lane by bringing in a team of photographers to shoot under her.
Together we took her to The Brand Plan to different her messaging and offering, bring focus to marketing, and position her for growth and scale.
OUR APPROACH
01: the brand plan:
core messaging + target customers
To begin, we started by looking at the customers Eileen really enjoyed working with.
Interestingly, in our first conversation, it came to light that Eileen didn't love working with brides who wanted the big ballroom wedding, but rather she loved elopements, destination weddings, or celebrations that felt more genuinly alined to a couple.
At the time her website was not calling to these customers, but instead she had color palette, website and voice looked similar to many other wedding photographer in the city.
We identified common traits between these couples that were more likely to do something "off the beaten path," and developed positioning and language that let these couples know that Buena Lane Photography was just for them.
the brand plan:
social recommendations
Once we had a clear sense of who we were talking to and what we needed to communicate to them, we stepped back and helped Eileen understand how to best use social media. We outlined which social platforms to use for personal vs professional content, and how to use her passions for travel and adventure to draw in more of the right potential client.
We closed up The Brand Plan with action steps, leading her on what to focus in the short, mid and long term.
02: Copywriting for new website
After The Brand Plan, it became evident that Eileen needed a new website that better positioned her with her best clients.
She worked with her own web designer/developer, but continue to work with Prim'd Marketing to help her translate her findings from The Brand Plan to design-ready copy for her new website.
We focused on her core messaging to clients who wanted to do something unique and intimate for their wedding celebration, while brining the Buena Lane origin story and Eileen's love of travel and adventure to life.
You can see her new site here.
I had a long list of goals and dream for Buena Lane, ranging from one to three years down the road. I decided that the biggest game changer I could invest in was establishing confidence in my brand, my client, and my vision for my business.
Through the process of going through the worksheets and interviewing my clients I saw themes beginning to arise. But it was during the Presentation Meeting — seeing my values on the page — it was the greatest hit in the gut.
The Brand Plan also acted as a guiding light for the website build. It informed pretty much every aspect of the project. My designer was able to see at a glance what our priorities were and what the messaging needed to be. Any time I felt stuck having to choose between two design directions, I was able to refer to the values and client profiles in the Brand Plan and it helped clarify and remind me of our direction.
outcome
Eileen's site is so much more aligned with her vision for Buena Lane's future — from her messaging to her color palette, and font choices, even the weddings she's choosing to highlight on the site.
Eileen has joined our Momentum Mastermind, a group just for Brand Plan Alumni, to keep her working on newsletters, social media, and continuing to scale her business.