All companies need some type of corporate photography to help market their business. And of course when hiring a photographer, every company is looking for a deal, a bargain, a discount.
Professional photography isn’t like selling widgets or any low marginal-cost item. When a photographer has a very low price, it means something is off, something is missing. But is this always a bad thing?
It’s okay to go with cheap photography when:
• You want less.
• You’re happy with good enough.
• You don’t mind working with a less-experienced photographer.
• You like to cut corners.
• The pictures aren’t really important.
• Your business marketing doesn’t have to be effective.
• You don’t need to make a good impression.
If any of those apply to your company then go ahead and hire the cheapest photographer you can find. Why not save a few dollars?
But if those reasons don’t describe you then choosing a photographer based on lowest price will be an expensive mistake.
Many companies forget that corporate photography is not for the company but rather it’s for the customer. They forget that customers deserve the company’s best efforts.
Customers look at photos on a company’s web site and other marketing materials to gain information and form an opinion of that business. When cheap photography fails the customer, the money saved in the short term by using that cheap photographer will pale in comparison to the long term loss. Low quality corporate photography pushes customers away.
High quality photography effectively creates an emotional response in the viewer which can enhance the perceived value of the company. It can also trigger a buying decision for customers or influence editors to publish the press release photos in their editorial publication. The value of these responses is worth much more than the additional cost of hiring the premium photographer.
