In this episode, your host, Ali Dee, breaks down how to make better content as a boutique owner. And better content means content that gets more followers, more engagement, and more sales.
Join us inside the TRENDSETTER membership here.
Work with me in The Sales Lab, DM me SALES on IG or TT for the deets
Follow the Retail Success Club on TikTok and Instagram @retailsuccessclub
In this episode, your host, Ali Dee, breaks down how to make better content as a boutique owner. And better content means content that gets more followers, more engagement, and more sales.
Join us inside the TRENDSETTER membership here.
Work with me in The Sales Lab, DM me SALES on IG or TT for the deets
Follow the Retail Success Club on TikTok and Instagram @retailsuccessclub
This episode of boutique success club is brought to you by boutique blastoff launch your dream boutique. have you been wanting to turn your dream of owning a successful boutique into reality? Let me introduce you to boutique blastoff launch your dream boutique. The ultimate online course designed to guide you. Step-by-step on your boutique journey. Hi, I'm Allie D your boutique bestie and chief cheerleader in this program, you'll gain the knowledge, confidence, and strategies to build a thriving boutique that stands out from the crowd. So what are you waiting for? Start the journey to launching your dream boutique today with. Boutique blast off. Head to boutique success club.com to enroll now. Welcome to Boutique Success Club. I'm Allie d, the founder of Boutique Success Club, your boutique bestie, and your chief cheerleader with over a decade of experience in the retail industry trenches. I'm here to help you skyrocket your store. Get ready to dive into insider strategies and educational resources that will transform your boutique business. No more guesswork. No more struggling alone. We'll be your partner in this journey, and together we will conquer all the obstacles. This is Boutique Success Club. Hello? Hello. Welcome to another episode of boutique success club podcast. I'm Allie D and I am the real world to be back with you. I don't know. Did y'all miss me last week? I actually. Did not put out an episode last week. And I was so disappointed. But the reason why is because I'm going to be very honest with you. It is football season here in Texas. And I usually record my podcast on Sundays. So I am going to have to figure out something different for football season, huge Cowboys fan, and, um, Sundays are just my day with the boys. So anyways, um, If you are a girly who also loves football, you know how that goes? And this episode, I am actually recording from home. Normally I record these. In my office in town, Just, you know, with football beyond Sunday and then working my butt off all week, somehow it just got away from me. And here we are, and I do not want to miss another week. So I'm recording this from home. I don't have all my like fancy mic and everything. So hopefully this sounds good enough sounds okay. Because what we're going to talk about is super important. Also, if I sound a little weird, I am fighting some kind of allergies. The weather went from like extremely boiling hot here in Texas to all of a sudden, shifting to much cooler weather. And by cooler. I mean, it's like in the seventies, but it's super windy, some kind of crazy Paula and God knows what blew in and has everybody around here super stuffy. So if I sound that way, I apologize. Okay. So let's talk about what we're going to get into in today's episode, because this is a major, major, important topic, which is how to make better content. And I'm going to talk about this specifically from the perspective. As a boutique owner, brand owner business owner in the retail industry and how content has really changed the game for everyone involved in this particular industry. Now, when we talk about how to make better content, there's a lot of things that goes into that. And a lot of different strategies you can learn, but I really want to break it down to the basics. Because as I stalk your pages and you know that I do. Whether it's on Tik TOK or Instagram. I'm always looking at the type of content, boutique owners, especially the ones that follow me and interact with me and have also purchased any of my products. I'm always peeping them to see. What are they doing? What kind of content are they making? Because this is going to directly affect any kind of results they have when it comes to making sales content is king. And that is not just a catchy phrase. That is actually true. And it's something that I had to learn the hard way, because let me just be Frank with you. I used to absolutely hate content creation with all of my heart. I dreaded it. In fact, this is actually funny. One of the businesses I own is a brand called alley D, which obviously is my name. So. I was so absent from creating content that when I came back and started posting on stories from like missing, I mean, guys, I'm talking about, like, I showed up a few times a year. It was so hard for me to do. When I finally came back, I realized that people didn't even know that the brand Allie D was actually a person MI. So that's the transformation that I have made going from literally being the person that could not even press record because I dreaded it so much to actually super loving making content. Now guys like. Content is so fun. I absolutely enjoy it. And I'm going to teach you how I totally changed from being that person like this may sound like you. If you're a boutique owner and creating content is one of the worst things about owning a boutique for you. I'm going to totally change that today because what's so important to understand, is that the way. The biggest and best and strongest boutiques are growing right now. Is that they're actually focusing and spending quality time creating their content. So before content was always on the back burner, for me, it was like, if I could get to it that day, which by the way I never did, if I could get to it that day, I would make some kind of content. That's how it was for me before now, every single day. I am making sure that I am not even making sure. It is. It is a priority of mine because I enjoy it because of the things that I'm going to teach you to always show up every single day. So going from dreading it. I never doing it to now showing up all the time and really enjoying it. It's truly affected the state of my business. And I want the same thing for you. Like I was saying the biggest and best boutiques all make time for content. And it's because they know it's one of the most important pillars for them to have success these days. It's just the way it is. So if you're one of my old school boutique owners, I'm so sorry, you're going to have to just finally understand that content creation is, is going to be a never ending piece of the puzzle for you and your boutique journey. So from now on out, creating content is going to be just as important as buying inventory. So you got to put those things side by side. One is literally not more important than the other. These days. Content creation is up there with one of the most important things that you will do for your business. So hopefully I've gotten that point across because I am, when I'm going to your tech talk pages. That's not what I'm seeing. What I'm seeing is a lot of content that just looks. You know, like you just did it cause you had to. So we're going to change all of that in this episode. So that leads me to my very first thing i'm going to talk about really four or five things that's going to make your content better but the very first thing that's actually going to change your content giraffe stickley is your mindset I want you to commit to me today that you're going to focus on changing your mindset around content creation. When you go into content creation with a poor negative attitude, guys, I'm telling you it comes through in your content, whether you want to believe it or not. So, as I was saying earlier, the best boutiques understand. That content makes them money. Right? So they have figured out a way to shift their mindset. If it was negative. Into understanding that what I'm creating content, I'm doing something that is so important for my business, because it's not only gonna make me sales, but it's also part two of this is that it's going to be, what's going to connect you with your customers. Especially if you are solely an online boutique. Creating content is how you talk to your people. They're not going to get to physically walk in your store and see your vibe and feel your energy and, and have your personality shine through just from the moment they meet you. As you walk through the door. Hi, can I help you? Can I get you anything like you don't get any of that as an online boutique? All of that has to be delivered. Precisely through your content. So if you have a bad mindset about creating your content, and you're just taking a video in an outfit just to get it done and throw it up on Tik TOK. Customers are going to notice that, and they're going to go somewhere else where it feels more fun to shop because at the end of the day, people shop because it's fun. It makes them feel good. It's something they enjoy doing. So you have to show that in your content as well. So instead of just being like, ah, I got to throw, I got to do my new arrivals, put them on, make a quick tech talk and move on with my life. No, that's not the mindset. We're throwing that out the window now. It's like, yes, my new arrivals are here. I am so excited. Cited to show my customers. The amazing things that I have for them. I know they're going to love this top. I can't wait to show them this top. It fits great. It's a great color going into the fall. Oh my gosh. It's going to look so good with this denim jacket that I have for them as well. Can you see the different kind of mindset that puts you in when you're creating content? It goes from something like so heavy. And dreaded and drastic. To something that's fun and helpful and exciting. And that is going to shine through in your content. That's going to bring you more followers. But it's definitely going to bring you more sales. Real quick boutique bestie. I know you've been thinking about building and growing your own boutique. It's that beautiful dream that you have in your mind, but maybe you just need like a little push forward. That's why I created the boutique success bundle. If you are tired of the overwhelm, the guesswork, the confusion, then this all in one bundle is for you. I break down everything into modules. It's a step-by-step process where we are building the foundation, setting you up for success. It also has every single guide I have ever created right there and an easy to access dashboard plus Q and a with me, if you get stuck. So if you've been thinking about jumping in now is the time go to boutique success club.com and join us today in the boutique success bundle. Now I want to get into the second, most important thing when you're creating content and you're just getting started. These are going to be a little more like instructional, as opposed to the mindset one, but this one is going to be about lighting. So as I've been looking at your TechTalk pages and your Instagram pages and stalking you and seeing the content, one thing that I'm seeing over and over and over again, I'm sorry to say it guys. It's bad lighting. And bad lighting is an immediate scroll on to the next person. So remember you're trying to compete with other boutiques in the marketplace. So we want to set you up for success by making you stand out in as many ways possible. We want to stop the scroll. We want people watching your content. If you have bad lighting and people can't see you, or it looks grainy and grainy looks cheap and unprofessional, and people are just going to scroll on by. But if you can manage to get some good lighting, which you can do by the way, totally free. You'll just need to find a window in your house or warehouse office, wherever you're filming your content at and stand in front of that window. As long as it's not direct sunlight, you're going to be good to go. It's going to give you nice, even lighting on your face, even lighting on the product and that's all you need. So you don't even need like fancy equipment and like a whole photography set up. If you want. You can step it up a level and you can get yourself a ring light off of Amazon. I think they've got packages for like 99 bucks. You get the ring light and the tripod and the whole nine yards. So having good lighting on your videos is going to work so big in your favor. You can't use the excuse of not knowing about lighting or the technicality of it, or, you know, you don't want to invest in lighting equipment. Nope. Not taking any of those excuses anymore. We're going to go ahead and at least stand in front of a window to make our content where we're getting nice, even pretty lighting. Even sometimes. That's what I like to do instead of the ring light, because you get the best light that way. So again, just remember don't you don't want it like full on harsh sun. Anything besides full sign is going to work just great Now, I'm going to talk about your background and why this is so important to have good content. And actually I'm going to get into a story where this was like 1000000% solidified for me. I already knew it, but once I saw this, I was like, This, you cannot fight the numbers. So there's a boutique that I follow on. Take talk, and I have known her for years and years and years and years. Amazing, amazing woman. So I see her start showing up on Tik TOK and I'm like, oh yeah, girlfriend. Um, she's owned her boutique for years. I know jumping into tick-tock was tough for her. Um, I gave her some tips and so she's like, okay, I'm gonna go for it. So she just got started, right. Showing products. She doesn't even talk. She just kind of walks up to the cameras, shows product, um, you know, has a nice, happy look on her face and that's it. And she was getting a few hundred views and consistently growing and growing. and then she would get, you know, maybe like one to 2000 views and she was just being consistent. There was nothing overly complicated. About her content. She had a good hook on the screen. She had good lighting at this point and you could just clearly see the product and she would kind of just smile and walk around. And then that would be that they were like, I mean, literally 15, second, 22nd clips. No big deal. Guys, let me tell you how she went from just one to 2000 views. To literally like 30 K 40 K hundred thousand views over night, I was shocked. Like, and I thought, is this just a coincidence? But as I watched more and more, I was like, this, this is not a coincidence. This was actually something that totally changed the game for her. Do you want to know the one thing she changed? Can you guess it. Her background, as soon as she changed her background from something that was mediocre to something that was excellent. Her views skyrocketed like crazy. Not only that. So did her sales. I watched her take talk shop, go from like, no, hardly any sales at all guys to like now she's selling 100, 200, 500 of the same product. And all she did was changed her background. She's still doing the 15 to 22nd video showing the product, not even talking kind of thing. It's become her thing. But she changed her backdrop from something mediocre to something very professional looking. It's like a nice white clean backdrop. I think it looks like pho. You know, kind of wood type of thing, not too distracting, though. Very, very, very clean with a nice floor. So all you're seeing really is her and her pleasant personality and the clothes that she has. So anything else that was distracting the viewer or making them continue scrolling because maybe they didn't view it as something that was, I don't know, professional enough for them, whatever the case was, as soon as she changed her backdrop, everything changed. So I say that to say, if you're just getting started, think about. What your background is going to be. And again, If you don't have much to work with clean off a wall, that's behind you. So you got the window in front of you, you got a wall behind you, and if you got pictures on it or whatever, do dads get rid of them, make it nice and clean and clear. So the customer's eye is drawn to you and the product and not a random picture of you and your kids and Halloween costumes from 2010. Okay. So we want to clear up the background, make it nice. This is one thing that I would suggest you think about investing in. Eventually again, it doesn't have to be right away. But what I'm seeing in terms of like the drastic change of views and engagement and sales, when you do this little tweak, Is undeniable to me. So it's something that I would consider investing in. Down the line and it doesn't have to be a lot of money. You could do it for a hundred bucks. So once you start making sales, put a hundred bucks to the side and say, okay, I'm going to invest in a good backdrop.. The next way we're going to make your content better is we're going to focus on your tools. Okay. So what type of tools you need in order to film your content and make it good? The first thing obviously is going to be your phone. So when you're going to create your content every single time before you press record, you're going to do me this one favor. You're going to get like some kind of t-shirt or soft material, and you're going to clean off your lens because Lord knows we're wearing makeup. We're putting it all over the place has got kids, sticking their fingers on it. They've got peanut butter on their hands, who knows that's getting on your lens and you may not realize it. And when you go to create content, It's going to have not as good of a quality because it's kind of like foggy over it and you may notice that and go wonder why my content looks like that. It's because your lens is dirty. And this is such a simple thing. A lot of people don't know or think about until I tell them girl, you need to clean your lens. That looks crazy. Then they just, you know, take a little cloth wipe off your lens and all of a sudden your, your quality is going to go from crappy to amazing. Just with this one little thing. So that's the first thing we want to do when we talk about your tools is clean your lens. Every single time before you film. Another thing that you want to do is make sure that you have got some kind of tripod or tool to hold your phone in place. And we can get pretty creative with this one. We're starting, I don't know, pile up some phone books. Do we even have phone books anymore? I don't know. Pile up some magazines. Lean it against your Stanley cup, whatever it is. Um, I want you to think about investing in a tripod because this is going to make your life so much easier. There's nothing more aggravating than trying to figure out how to get the right angle at the right height, stacking up a million things in your house. They're going to fall over the phone's going to flop over in the middle of creating your content. And it's going to get you so frustrated and you're going to be like, screw this. I'm not going to do it. Just investing in some kind of tripod or tabletop, stand to hold. Your phone is going to be a life changer. Trust me on this. And then another thing you might want to consider, we talked about briefly before is a ring light. So a ring light is a, like, if you haven't seen one before, I'm going to kind of try to describe it, but picture like the ring around Saturn and you take the planet out, this is a weird comparison, but I had my ring light behind me. And I'm just thinking about what it looks like. It looks like a ring around a planet with no planet in the middle. Okay. So it's the circle. Oh, how about a donut? That's more normal. It's like a donut, but with a bigger hole. Oh, gosh. Okay. So think about investing in a ring light, like I said, they're on Amazon. You can get them for, I don't know, anywhere from super cheap. Um, up to like, I would say like 99 or 1 99, but I feel like somewhere in the$99 range, I'm trying to remember the last time I bought one for my showroom in Dallas. I feel like it was around$99. they even have some that you can get like the ring light and the tripod and the phone holder you don't want to forget that part sometimes they don't come with the actual attachment to hold your phone and you have to buy it separate and that's super annoying so just try to get like an all in one package that's going to have everything ready for you when it comes in the box you take it out take out the ring lights set up the tripod screw on the little camera holder thing or phone holder thing and away you go. Also the brand that i like is called newer n e w e r and you want to get a ring light that has a pretty good diameter if you get a small one like a six inch or an eight inch it's just not going to be enough light trust me on this you're going to feel like you're not really getting much for your money so get one that has a big ring around it so you're going to get plenty of great light shining on you. So we've covered a lot of really, really important steps on how to make better content today for your boutique. Remember, first we talked about your mindset. This is extremely important when it comes to just pressing play and recording your content. You got to make sure you're in the right mindset. You have to remember your customer is first and everything you're making and creating is for them. Next you want to make sure you have good lighting, then you want to have a nice clean background. And then finally you want to make sure you have the right tools to set you up for success That's the basics. The last thing I want you to think about is actually your strategies on what type of content to make. So all of this, I break down in the boutique success bundle. We go into detail on what kind of content is working for, what platforms, the type of stuff you should be making for Instagram is totally different than the type of content that you're going to be making for TechTalk. And sometimes you can use the same content for both, but you also probably are going to have to make content. That's specific to each platform so just kind of understand that again put that in your mindset we're going to be okay with that we understand that that's just the way it is it's part of life now and we're accepting that too okay So now for your final step, I want you to go to boutique success club.com. That's going to take you to my stand store. That's where I have the boutique success bundle, posted and located. I want you to look at the bundle, downloaded, learn all of the fricking content strategies that I have in there. I apply all the basics that you learn today from this podcast. And then now you're going to start seeing actual results from the content that you're creating. You're not going to get frustrated. You're not going to get overwhelmed or annoyed, because now that you've learned the basics and now that you're committing to actually learning the strategies. You're going to see the good results that you want. It's going to be like instead of throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks, you're going to have a real plan, the knowledge that it's going to take for you to be successful with your content creation. All right. Boutique bestie. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the boutique success club podcast. Hopefully it sounds okay. And if I can restart recording some from home, I think that's going to make a big difference in how consistent I'm going to be able to be in a weekly podcast over the next few weeks. So hopefully this sounds good enough, please. If you don't mind hit me up on the DMS, either in Instagram or intake talk and let me know, you listen to this episode. I love when you guys share that you're listening to the podcast on your stories and you tag me. I love resharing that. And just seeing that, cause it makes me feel like I'm not just talking to like a void. Have nobody out there. So please DM me, let me know that you're listening. Let me know that this sounds okay. And also any other topics or subjects you'd love for me to dissect here on the podcast, because I feel like I have a lot more time obviously than like a three or 10 or. Uh, 32nd reel on Instagram. So I love having all this extra time here in my podcast. So. Let me know any topics that you want to hear and we will get to them Having an amazing day and we'll talk to you next episode Hey, thanks so much for listening to this episode of the boutique success club. Don't forget to subscribe and give us a five-star review. It really helps us grow and reach more boutique besties. have a great day and go get them.