Waaaaaaaaaaaay back in June of last year, I asked for help brainstorming packaging for Jenna Cole. I admit it took me months to get my act together and jump into action, and things progressed very slowly. I took your ideas and tweaked some of them and today I thought I’d show you what my clients are getting when they order discs or products. What I’m showing you below is an example of a “deluxe” mailing, sent out to my wedding clients. For all of my other orders I look at what they bought and decide from there what to include.

I’m slowly working on developing a consistent shooting and processing style and figuring out what I want the overall Jenna Cole brand and experience to be. I’m going to start incorporating the tagline “Fresh. Original. You.” into my copy and my mailings, and I hope that the elements you see here combined with the images you see on Jenna Cole blog help convey that message.

All of the elements. The wig and other logo elements were designed by Jess Lehry Designs. Jess really deserves all of the credit for helping me figure out where to start in developing the Jenna Cole brand. If you’re starting your own photography or creative-related business I can’t recommend enough how important it is to hire a designer (if you aren’t one yourself!). You’ll look more professional and I think it helps your clients feel confident that you are someone who can get the job done.

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A letterpress business card by Duet Letter Press.

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A key lime sucker made by Vintage Confections tied with a letterpress printed tag by Duet Letter Press.

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Wedding clients are given a Little Kiss album with images selected by me and the design by me as well. It’s my gift to them, done whether they order an album or not. I give these because I so strongly believe that everyone should have a wedding album to show off their images, even if it’s a little tiny one. Trust me, as I learned from experience, hardly anyone will ever see your wedding photos unless you get them printed out somehow and people tend to like flipping through a book to see them.

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A case for the Little Kiss designed by ChrysQ. I had her design a case for my own wedding album, using buttons from our wedding. I need to take some pictures so you can see it, it’s so beautiful!

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Each mailing includes a hand written thank you note (the notes were ordered through one of the printing labs I use, ProDPI). I try to minimize the amount of handwriting my clients see because mine is so awful, but I like the personal touch of a handwritten note.

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See that awful handwriting?

Each DVD has a printing rights release so clients can print wherever they please. (Although I beg them not to go to Walmart or other such discount printing places. The results are atrocious, I’ve tested it several times myself!)

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Larger orders such as weddings also include a set of blank letterpressed notecards, my gift to my clients, also printed by Duet Letter Press. I wanted something that was universal (and a bit luxorious) but would also remind them that they got it from me. I think my wig is generic enough that someone would send these out to say hello to a friend, right?

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Discs are continaed in a metal tin, which I learned about when Kelli Nicole delivered my wedding images in a similar tin. The tin came from American-Digital, the brown labels are from Labels by the Sheet and printed using our printer at home. The little tag is made by (who else?) Paloma’s Nest.

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All of the materials are tucked inside a box and wrapped up with kelly green tissue paper.

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I ordered the box through Rice Studio Supply and I use a custom stamp I had made (http://rubberstamps.net/) to mark the outside with my wig logo.

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With everything tucked safely inside and the box closed up I break out the kraft paper (I buy mine in the postal section at Walmart). To further minimize the use of my handwriting I use labels printed with the client’s address and my own address. After all of that work, it’s finally ready to be sent on its way!

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As some of you have probably guessed, all of the elements in this package added together equal a pretty large price tag. I made the decision to pour a little bit more money into my packaging after attending the Spread the Love workshop put on my Justin and Mary. They talked frankly about how they felt they had wasted money on print and online advertising, and showed all of the attendants their really amazing packaging and gifts they send to their clients. It made me realize that I wanted to head in a similar direction. These packages that I send out are often the last interaction I have with my clients and I wanted to put together something that would make them smile, and hopefully leave them wanting to tell their friends and family how much they loved the entire Jenna Cole experience.

What do you think? I’m sure I’ll constantly be refining, but do you think I’m headed in the right direction?

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