For Customers

Best ways to waste your marketing budget

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Here are some of the best ways for a business to waste its marketing efforts. These have been proven to produce poor results and push customers away. If your business has too much money and you need to waste some of it, these tips should help you accomplish that goal:

• Send out press releases without any pictures. This is the best way to let editors know that your press release isn’t really important and you don’t want attention.

• Use stock photography. Nothing says “we don’t care” more than the use of cheap, stock pictures. Custom photography won’t waste money since it provides useful information to customers.

• Make sure your About Us or Contact Us web page doesn’t have any pictures of your key employees. Why risk gaining credibility and trust with your customers when you can be another impersonal business?

• Use only low-resolution pictures on your web site. Large pictures have the problem of attracting and holding customer attention which can encourage them to open their wallets. Going small is a great way to waste your web efforts.

 

Dear Occupant

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Today, I received a “Dear Photographer” e-mail which proclaimed that I’m being considered for “free” inclusion in the next edition of a prestigious “Who’s Who” book. Supposedly, I’m one of the top, most distinguished photographers in North America. Being included in this book will mark my high level of achievement.

Yeah, right.

For fun, I visited this company’s web site:
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Best public relations photography

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Public relations photography, or PR photography, is about producing editorial photography that puts the client in a favourable light and increases their name recognition.

PR photography must be editorial in nature simply because that’s the style demanded by publications which use public relations photography. Newspapers, magazines, trade magazines, news websites and other publishers of PR photography use only editorial photography and not, for example, advertising photography because it directly impacts the publication’s credibility.

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Ordinary Miracle of Photography

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Every photographer who has developed prints in a darkroom knows the magic of watching an image appear on photo paper. Whether it’s their first or 10,000th print, an image appearing in the developer tray never ceases to amaze.

With digital cameras, the magic is lost. Photography has become so automatic that people barely notice it. Just push a button and check the LCD screen.

The technology behind turning light into electricity, then into digital bits stored on a memory card, and finally into an image is no longer considered magical. Digital images are now routine.

Yet, the essence of photography remains unchanged. It can still capture the right moment, tell a story, inspire hope, stir emotion, send a message, influence a belief, change opinion or illustrate what words cannot.

That’s why smart businesses use custom photography for their press releases, annual reports, web sites and other marketing collateral. These companies understand the ordinary miracle of photography.

 

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Secret Values

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When a business hires a photographer, it’s not just about purchasing images; it’s about gaining value from those images. Companies don’t invest in photography for the sake of having pictures; they use it as a tool to gain a competitive advantage.

Commercial photography should be viewed as an investment in a company’s future. The right photography can build trust, enhance a brand’s image, and attract customer attention. If the photography helps a business achieve its goals, the cost of that photography becomes only a secondary consideration.

It’s not about what the photography costs; it’s about what it earns for the business.

Customers are more likely to buy from businesses they trust, and quality, authentic photography plays a key role in building that trust. The right imagery can make a company appear more approachable. Effective photography can lend power and credibility to a brand’s message.

When choosing a photographer, it’s not about finding the lowest price, it’s about seeking the highest value: the value the photography brings and the value the photographer provides.

While most professional photographers understand this, the challenge is helping clients recognize the true worth of the investment.

 

What’s in Your Photo Closet?

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The start of a new year is an ideal time for a company to re-evaluate its business photography and consider updating its images. Just as schools have a “picture day” at the beginning of each new year, businesses should do the same.

Like a loaf of bread, business headshots can go stale after a while. While you might be tempted to keep using that 12-year-old portrait from when you had fewer wrinkles, the shelf life of a business photo is typically about two years. There’s a reason most annual reports require fresh executive portraits each year. Perhaps it’s time to show your customers that your president owns a tie that’s not from the last century!
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Trust Insurance

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Today, I received an information package from an insurance company from which I might buy a policy. The opening page uses the phrase “trust us” three times, including in a headline. But why should I trust them?

• The information package uses only cheap stock pictures of anonymous, generic people including the cliché woman-wearing-telephone-headset.

• The generic message from the company president has no photo.

• The company’s address is a post office box. If it had a photo of their office, at least that would’ve added some credibility.

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