Client Showcase: Erin VanderSluis
The background
One of my main goals when working with any client is to ensure that I offer them something that meets their specific needs. While I have standard service offering categories, I work with each business to create something truly personalized for them. So, when Erin reached out to me with her unique ask, I was thrilled.
Erin is the co-owner of Bouma Builders Inc and the founder of Erin VanderSluis Design. She is a sought-after designer who helps her clients create beautiful and modern spaces through in-person design services and online consultations. She also has a killer social media presence, so when she initially reached out for my support, I had a bit of a ‘pinch me’ moment.
The ask
Erin has created a highly engaged Instagram community, offering her followers helpful design tips, beautiful examples of her work and fashion and style advice. She has a solid brand foundation, is up-to-date on the latest social trends and has the skills to create high-quality content. So why did she need my help? Erin’s social media presence and the content she makes are a large part of her business. While she has the skills and the ideas to create her content, she doesn’t always have the time OR someone to help film her. She reached out to see if we would be open to spending a day with her, capturing her doing her thing, and setting her up with loads of footage to create content.
Typically, when working with clients, I don’t skip right to filming content because we want to ensure we've established a strong brand foundation and content strategy. However, Erin already has a solid brand established and a clear vision for the content she wanted to capture, so this ask was a no-brainer for us (and sounded like a lot of fun!).
The approach
After having a conversation with Erin, we finalized her service offering, which included the following:
Storyboarding & Shot List
Working with Erin, we created a summary of all the different locations and types of content we wanted to film. Our main goal was to provide Erin with as much diverse and valuable footage as possible, so a detailed schedule was required to maximize our time together. Before heading out on content day, we prepared a complete schedule and detailed shot list with locations and concepts to ensure we stayed on track and achieved our goals.
content day
We planned to spend six hours shooting throughout the day at various locations, including Erin’s home, a few Bouma builds and several supplier locations. We focused on three main categories of content:
Behind-the-scenes b-roll that showcased Erin performing various aspects of her work
Planned campaigns and concepts to align with current trends
Generic content of Erin that could be used across a variety of applications and repurposed as needed
content CREATION
As part of our service offering, I brainstormed some engaging concepts and edited a couple of the more complex Reels. I love the editing and creating just as much as I love the filming, and I had a lot of fun executing the concepts we decided on. Because Erin and her husband Scott were game for anything, I had them do the ''Headphone Challenge,'' and the result was hilarious (but I'll let you see for yourself!).
content LIBRARY
We filmed a LOT of videos, in a lot of different spots. One of the things I wanted to ensure I did was ensure Erin could easily find the clips she was looking for when she wanted to use them. I created a Google Drive folder categorized by location or concept and uploaded all the footage for her to access with ease!
The result
It’s been a pleasure to watch Erin bring her ideas and concepts to life using the footage we filmed together, and I know having access to the volume of clips provided will continue to save her time and simplify her life! While I know it’s not realistic for everyone, dedicating focused time to batch-create content and film loads of footage at once can be hugely advantageous for your social media strategy.
This was such an enjoyable experience for me as well, as collaborating with other creatives is one of the things I love most about this work.
Thank you so much for trusting me with your brand, Erin!
