7 reasons why you need to add photography into your mix
Your People
Get professional photos taken of you and your team. Then publish them online and in social media to let your clients and potential clients see who they would be working with. Psychologically, people have emotive responses to seeing pictures of other people either in a social or professional capacity. Place your pride in the team on show for all to see and demonstrate each team member’s area of expertise which will reinforce your company’s offering. Play around with colour compared to black and white and image filters – choose a theme that work’s best with your website’s look and feel.
2. Reinforcing brand values
Your products should be photographed with careful consideration for your overall brand characteristics and be able to conjure mental imagery that helps form emotional links between customers and your products and brand.
How can I reinforce my brand values with my product advertising? Some examples are shown below to get you thinking about imagery that might be incorporated into or alongside your product pics.
Your brand value is …
Organic Plant imagery background, plant and flower sprigs next to product
Green Utilising forest imagery, pristine water imagery (still water also reinforces values of beauty, nature and tranquillity; flowing water also reinforces values of movement, ruggedness, activity, impact and nature)
Joy Incorporate photography of groups of happy people in action using your products. Think Coca-Cola summer fun with happy people sipping on Coke and enjoying water-based activities.
Diversity Incorporate images of models from different walks of life in different sizes and shapes
Discovery People discovering new items, new landscapes, people exploring, Facial expressions of delight and WOW!
Identity Experiment with self-portraiture to convey your identity with your audience
Diversity can be shown in many ways - this image showing different ethnicities
3. Less can be more
You don’t need throw all the bells and whistles (and the kitchen sink) into your words. Leave enough room for an audience to create their own story. Choose a simple concept and then identify a real-life situation that resonates with your audience. Test your proposed imagery with a few audience prospects to see if they connect with it and how it translates to them.
How do you take your tea?
4. Model interactions with audience
Getting your team or models in photography to look directly into the camera emphasises eye contact and helps to form direct bonds with your audience that your words will not necessarily deliver on their own.
The windows to the soul
5. Adding not subtracting
A photo should enhance your brand and/or product and not jar it. The creative concept should embrace the product and brand values and the ultimate expression should show your client’s problem being solved. Focus the photography on what sets you apart from your competition and what enhances your brand and your products.
This image reinforces natural support and vegetarianism/veganism
6. Do it better than your competition
Take a good look at brands you respect. What are they doing with their imagery? What are 3 key image types they are using to reinforce their brand or products?
Let’s explore roofing, as I have been through this exercise of late. I’m looking at a key NZ roofing company right now – the three image types I am seeing are material quality, people meeting with clients, and safety measures. Do these image types match a customer’s needs?
I’m not convinced they do. What are three things that might resonate the most with roofing prospects? I’ll give it a guess here – finished solutions (both off the shelf and bespoke), testimonials and reviews with happy customers, and clear guides about what a customer with no roofing experience needs to consider (e.g. provide checklists that outline different options) and photography that supports it.
This website makes great use of customer testimonials. They also show social media images of their customers to authenticate the review.
7. A picture is worth a thousand words
The origin of this expression is a little murky. Some believe it dates to Confucius’s expression “Hearing something a hundred times isn’t better than seeing it once”. Irrespective of its origins it is indeed aptly describing how imagery can convey the essence of multiple and complex ideas quickly and more effectively than drawn-out written descriptions. It can be a way for you to reduce content on your website or in articles that allows your site pages, bogs etc. an opportunity to create space and breathe.
There is certainly a lot you could read into this image which is why the image is so powerful and would take a lot of words, and space, to convey.