When hiring a business portrait photographer or other corporate photographer, you might be tempted to shop by price. You may think that the lowest price means the best value.
With some tangible products, the lowest price can be the best value. But this doesn’t apply with services like photography and especially not when quality matters.
What’s the difference between value and quality?
Value: Usefulness or importance.
Quality: How good or bad something is. A degree of excellence.
Ideally a photograph has both high value and high quality but that’s not always the case. For example, a poorly exposed, out-of-focus family photo can be very valuable to you.
Quality enhances value
Quality is created by the photographer. Value is determined by you, the customer.
You may not always buy if the quality of photography is high but you definitely shouldn’t buy if the quality is low. The level of quality can create or enhance the level of value. But it doesn’t work the other way around. Value doesn’t create quality.
Corporate photography has three types of quality: technical, creative and functional. Together these three produce value for you. This value is paramount because business photographs are used for marketing not decoration.
For example, a passport photo might have reasonably good technical quality but it has a low creative quality. When used in your passport, this photo has a high functional quality. But if used as your business portrait or social media profile photo, it will have a low functional quality. A passport photo has no value to you as a business headshot even though it has a very low price.
Price is not value
When it comes to business photography, high quality should trump low price. But many folks confuse (low) price with value. Low price offers no value to your business. Your marketing photography is for your customers not you. Choosing the lowest price does nothing for your customers.
Low-priced photographers might seem to offer more value because of their low price. But when you factor in your need for quality (technical, creative and functional), the perceived value can disappear.
Low quality business headshots and other types of corporate photography will always be noticed for the wrong reasons. Low quality implies cheap and it doesn’t build trust. Where does that leave your company?
Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
– Warren Buffett
If you value quality then work with a more experienced photographer. Let first-rate photography create real value for you.
