When considering your marketing budget, professional photography is often seen as expendable. No matter what stage of entrepreneurship your business is in, the cost of professional photography might tempt you to wonder if you can just get by without it.
Why couldn’t you just use stock photos, or take some pictures yourself? Surely there are more important things you should spend your organization’s finances on rather than professional photography, right?
Wrong.
The truth is that every business in every industry experiences vast benefits from professional photography. No matter whom your audience is or what you’re aiming to sell, high quality photography is a tremendous tool and asset that will contribute to your overall success. Of course, since we are a photography business and our services ARE photos, we certainly have to display a wonderful product. However, this applies for EVERY business. Whatever your product or service is, it needs to be showcased at its best. So when it comes to business expenses that are absolutely worth it, professional photography should be at the top of the list.
There are so many benefits to having professional photos of your organization and the products you offer. Here are just five of the numerous reasons that every business should invest in high quality professional photography.
1. A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words
You’ve probably heard this adage before, and it is likely more true today then ever before. We live in such a visual society and social media has amplified that a million times over. Images allow your audience to instantly see what you’re about, and that impression is crucial. In this day and age, consumers like to see things for themselves before making a decision about a purchase or a commitment, so the quality in what you’re showing them is more valuable than ever before.
2. Your Media Represents Your Business
You have constant opportunity to communicate with potential customers using your website, social media, print, and other visual mediums. Their first impression of your business is likely a visual one, so the photos and videos that you put in front of them tell them who you are as a business. Creating an awesome visual that represents the quality of your services goes a long way! On the other side of that coin, a low-quality visual can give a low quality impression to potential customers.
3. Customers Want to Get To Know YOU
Stock Photos are one alternative that some organizations consider when they feel a photo shoot with a professional photographer might be out of reach. While stock photos are certainly helpful for some purposes, they are not the best way to showcase your business. Why? Because they are not photos of your business.
When people visit your website, they want to get to know you! Stock photos don’t help them do that – and they could give people a false impression of what you have to offer. The best way for potential customers to get to know and trust your business is by showing them actual photos of your business, your team members, and your products.
4. Images Can Help You Get Found On the Web!
If your business has a website, you may have heard of search engine optimization, or SEO. SEO is the practice of strategically optimizing various elements of your website in an effort to help it perform better in the search engine ranking results. There are many elements to SEO, and one element is images.
Optimized photos can help your website get found in the image results and perform better in the overall search results. They can also help to engage customers and keep them on your site for longer, or encourage them to choose you over a competitor.
5. Professional Photos are Versatile Assets
When it comes to marketing your business online, you have probably heard the phrase “content is king.” This has been the case for a while now, and it definitely still holds true. But what many don’t realize is that photos are content – and they are a powerful, versatile form of content at that.
Online, photos can be used to make your website infinitely more engaging. They can be used to build your brand on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+ and more. They can also be featured in blog posts and articles – the possibilities are endless.
Offline, photos can be used in brochures and promotional materials of all kinds. By investing in professional photography, you provide yourself with new, helpful ammunition that can be used to enhance your marketing efforts in a plethora of ways.
Invest in Professional Photography For Your Business
When it comes to successfully marketing and promoting your business, professional photos are a MUST no matter what industry you work in.
Interested in learning more about the benefits of professional photography when it comes to promoting your business? Wondering what else you can do to enhance your organization’s online presence? If you're looking for more marketing help, we’ve included some recommended resources below and, as always, we would love to help you in any way we can! Check out more of our professional and commercial photography HERE.
Testimonial
“Photographs are an invaluable marketing tool in the construction/design industry, and the quality of the photograph can make or break your marketing efforts. We use our project photographs for everything – website, proposal submissions, formal presentations, outreach media kits, and more. No matter how complex or unique the project, if you can’t visually relay that to a prospective client, your chances of winning that client drop significantly. Professional photographs of our projects are not only a sound investment, they are a must-have to stay viable in a highly competitive field.
Sam’s architectural background, coupled with his keen photo-eye, are the perfect combination to showcase our premiere commercial construction projects. His images constantly surprise me with their ability to show me more than mere angles of a building, but rather a living, breathing work of builder’s art. I simply won’t trust our photos to anyone else.”
Vikki Jones
Director of Marketing
RLM General Contractors
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