Have you established that you need brand photographs to promote your business but not entirely sure what you actually need? I can help you figure out exactly what you require.
If you’re getting photographs without any actual purposed in mind on how you’ll be using this photographs, you may end up with lots of pretty photographs that you will never use, which means wasted time and effort and nobody wants that! This is also something as a brand photographer I will help you with when we go through the initial planning of your brand photoshoot.
So here’s how you can figure out what photographs you need for your business and brand.
WHO IS YOUR IDEAL CLIENT?
Are you trying to sell to everybody or do you have a niche market?
If you narrow things down to identify who your IDEAL CLIENT is, then you are better placed to speak their language and appeal directly to them. It’s all about building relationships with the right people, people who resonate with what you’re saying, they will take notice of what you have to say and what you are selling. Knowing who you are talking to will help you shape the look and feel of your photograph to reflect your business and brand.
KNOW HOW AND WHERE YOU WILL BE USING YOUR IMAGES
Are you using them on your WEBSITE? This means you need photographs to reflect what you are saying/selling on the relevant pages. These need to be eye catching so visitors stop and read what you have to say. If you stop the scroll, you can start to convert these visitors into paying clients.
Are you using them on SOCIAL MEDIA? Do you have a social media strategy in place? Do you have any future campaigns, sales, promotions that you want to run, if so you will need photographs to run alongside the messaging. If you have captions and stories, you will need photographs that are relevant to the content you will be sharing (layout and sizing should also be considered to fit your social media platform, for example, you use square images on instagram).
Knowing how you will be using your branding photographs will help you create a better list of shots, so you get the most out of the photoshoot, the photographs you need whilst saving time and money.
CREATE A SHOT LIST
This doesn’t need to be too specific but if you make a list it will give your brand photographer a great insight into what you need. Make sure you keep your IDEAL CLIENT in mind as the images need to appeal to them.
What LOCATIONS best reflect your business and brand? What shows off you, your business and your products/services. This could be the workplace, working from home, a cafe bar, anywhere that has relevance to your brand.
What personal elements can be pulled into your photoshoot to help you build relationships with your future clients? Such as family, does a family life add to your business or is more product based and where products can be used.
People are naturally nosey so BEHIND THE SCENES are always a favourite, as people want to see what happens, these are great for story telling and for your audience to get to know you better.
Photographs of you, yes remember YOU ARE THE BRAND! People do business with people, so it’s great to showcase you, your personality and values.
DETAIL shots, tools you use in your business that can be anything from laptops, to notebooks, to actual tools of the trade!
PRODUCTS can be showcased either on their own or with a lifestyle element to put them into a real environment. Studies have shown that photographs that have people in them get more engagement than the white background type shots.