An online magazine or fashion lookbook is a form of content marketing that can help build excitement around your products. Online magazines are most popular within the fashion industry. Lookbooks showcase lifestyle shots of models wearing clothes from your store. Top retailers usually include them. Some brands use lookbooks as a teaser for the upcoming fashion season. They also help your customer better visualize your products. It lets them see your apparel styled and in a different setting to allow you to imagine the possibilities if you were to wear it. Lookbooks are great piece of content that can be shared to build greater brand awareness and reach a bigger audience.
Fashion Lookbook Example: Net-A-Porter is an online retailer who also has their own online magazine. While most retailers offer their lookbooks or digital magazines for free, this brand charges a fee and delivers it right to your door. The magazine has a large reach and is sold in stores and online. Their magazine covers stories on relevant topics such as beauty and celebrities. They also include lifestyle images of models wearing their apparel and editorials.
Fashion Lookbook Ideas and Tips:
Images play the biggest role in lookbooks and online magazines. You’ll want to have a mix of lifestyle shots and products laid out like a traditional magazine spread. Model photos shouldn’t be with a plain white background as that can make the lookbook boring. Having models in different poses in different outdoor or indoor settings will allow enough variety that customers will want to flip through other pages. Feel free to have fun with the types of photos you include in your fashion lookbook like Of Mercer does.
One Tribe Apparel created an internationally sourced lookbook. Their lookbook includes their products worn by people from 6 continents, 16 countries and 21 locations. You don’t need to hire a photographer to take your pictures for you. You can use influencers to take photos for you. Their lookbook includes a clickable map where you can choose which country you want to view pictures from. Once you land on a country’s section, you’ll find outdoor pictures with models wearing the apparel. However, the images are balanced with short story-like quotes. Overall, it creates an interactive experience while showcasing products in a different light.
Have an engaging layout. Unless you have strong design skills, stick to using a template for your lookbook. A template will help ensure that the look of your online magazine is up to today’s standards. Think of how an online magazine or standard fashion lookbook typically looks. Not all pages have the same layout. If they did, the lookbook would be a bit boring. Have fun with the style.
Include links. Many of the lookbook creators in the tools section below allow you to add links using words like ‘Shop this look’. If you have different products on each page of the lookbook, link out to all the product pages. You can also add a ‘Want the whole look?’ section with a link to all of the products ready for checkout. This can help make the shopping experience easier for your customers while also monetizing the lookbook and increasing average order value.
Add a section for different trends. Fashion is all about trends. Many customers enjoy shopping by trend. If the romantic look is in season, you might have a few pages of your lookbook devoted to floral or feminine apparel. Your lookbook can be as long as you want it to be. Have a few different sections devoted to the latest trends so that customers can better visualize different trends and looks.
Add a section on ‘Top 10 Picks.’ Customers love seeing lists. They’re easy to process. And they’re fun to look at. Choosing your top ten best selling products for your Top 10 Picks makes it more likely that customers will want to buy those items. The art of product curation can be a challenge but if you let the data make the decision for you, you’ll get better results. If your store hasn’t had a sale yet or you don’t have data on what your bestsellers are, the focus should be on getting sales not on creating a lookbook.
Add editorials if you have the bandwidth. You don’t need to write articles for your lookbook especially if you’re short on time or resources. However, adding a few editorials can increase the amount of time on page your readers spend on your website which can improve your ranking in search. It shows Google that people enjoy staying on your website. You’ll still want to have a bigger focus on visuals instead of written content. However, a few pages of written content can help with search.
Create a new lookbook seasonally. Some retailers choose to create a lookbook each season while others might combine Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer. Do what works best for your brand and with the resources you have. You’ll want to be consistent with how often you create and share your look book.
Be cautious about using celebrity photos. Many lookbooks or online magazines include sections on celebrities using their quotes and images. Many reputable photographers take celebrity photos meaning that they can and likely will take legal action if you use their images without their permission. When it comes to images, stick to images you’ve taken yourself or images you have permission to use.
Add social sharing buttons. Allow customers to share your lookbook. You’re investing a lot of time into creating one. The goal should be on increasing your reach. The more people who visit your lookbook, the more likely you are to generate sales through it. If customers like your lookbook they’ll likely want to share a page or two with their friends. Make sharing easy! And don’t forget to share it on social media.
Online Magazine Maker and Tools:
Flipsnack is an online magazine creator. If you run an online fashion store you can easily turn a pdf into a lookbook on your store. You can make the lookbook interactive by adding links, rich media and an internal navigation. If you change your product collection each season, you might use a lookbook to tease customers about the new inventory that’ll be coming in. You can also use a lookbook to mix and match items in your store to create new outfits or looks for your customers.
Joomag is a online magazine maker that allows you to make digital newsletters and magazines. You can choose from over 300 templates in over 12 categories. Interactive content like videos and music can even be added to your online magazine. Slideshows can also be created within your lookbook. Pricing starts at $39 a month.
Calameo’s online magazine creator allows store owners to create publications in advance. You can even schedule the release date. You’ll be able to add interactive content from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion or Soundcloud. Data can also be viewed to better understand who your readers are and to determine it’s performance. You can add a widget of your magazine on your website. But don’t worry your publication can be hosted on your website. They have a free plan where you can add up to 500 pages to your publication with a maximum storage of 15GB.
Fashion Lookbook Resources:
How to Make Free Digital Lookbooks for Your Brand covers whether or not a lookbook makes sense for your business and how to create one. It mentions the components of what you’ll need from premium images to free a Lucidpress account.
How to Create a Powerful Lookbook and Get More Customers details what a lookbook is, the psychology behind them, their major benefits, and how to create one. From design guidelines to what you should include in them this article covers it all.
