The business side of photography
This may be old news to some but ten months ago, public relations firm Edelman published its annual Goodpurpose survey that studies the relationship between consumer attitudes and corporate social purpose.
For those who are fans of the TV game show Jeopardy!, I’ll phrase it in the form of a question: How does a company’s community involvement affect consumer behaviour?
Some of the key findings from the survey:
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Nine weeks ago, Nortel sold 6,000 of its patents for about $4.5 billion. Three weeks ago, Google paid $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility’s 17,000-plus patents. Google bought 1,000-plus patents from IBM in July and another 1,000-plus patents from IBM again this month.
Now, Kodak is looking to sell its digital imaging patents which may be worth $2 billion to $3 billion. This is more than the current value of the entire Kodak company which has a market value of about $210 millon. Kodak’s intellectual property is worth more than the company itself.
Intellectual property rights are the currency of the 21st century.
– Lesley Ellen Harris, “Digital Property: Currency of the 21st Century”
Like the Kodak situation, the copyright in a photo can be worth more than the photograph itself. Copyright has real value. But only if you’re smart about it.
The Western Canada Lottery Corporation today released this handout photo of a $40 million winner:
Maybe I’m being too critical but someone at the Lottery Corporation doesn’t know how to fill out a cheque properly.
It’s just a ceremonial cheque being used as a photo prop, but why not take an extra minute and do it right?
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In a 1989 interview, Steve Jobs was asked, “Where do great products come from?”
His response included:
I think really great products come from melding two points of view – the technology point of view and the customer point of view. You need both. You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them.
(…)
It sounds logical to ask customers what they want and then give it to them. But they rarely wind up getting what they really want that way.
Commercial and corporate photographers need to think the same way. Successful business photography comes from knowing what the client really needs and then building a good photo from there.
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The usual way for a commercial photographer to quote a job is to provide the client with a price for the requested photo assignment. But another method is to provide the potential client with a few variations of their proposed assignment along with the corresponding price for each variation.
Wedding photographers have always done this. All wedding photographers usually offer at least three packages of photo services. A small bundle of services for a low price, a medium bundle with a medium price and a large bundle of photo services for a higher price.
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Here in the Toronto area, the Ford Motor Company is currently running a radio commercial promoting its new vehicles. During the radio spot, a man exclaims that the technology in his Ford is so advanced, “I feel like I’m driving a computer!”
Huh? Who wants to drive a computer? Who wants their car to feel like a computer?
Many car companies promote the high-tech gadgets in their cars because that’s the easy thing to do. But technology isn’t an end point. It’s a tool. It’s a description.
What does this have to do with photography?
Clients don’t care about the technology behind photography. They don’t care about megapixels or megabytes. They don’t care what’s under the hood.
All they care about is results. Good pictures on time. No surprises, no excuses.
Clients want value not technology.
A business portrait is essential for any professional, executive or entrepreneur. Business headshots can be used for media handouts, press releases, public relations, social media, corporate publications, company web site, business cards, vCards, etc.
A portrait helps build a personal connection. There’s a reason why every politician uses a business portrait in their campaign, on their web site and in brochures. It works.
If a politician is caught in a scandal, a good portrait can help mend a lot of credibility problems. Why? Because we trust an honest face, a smiling face. For better or worse, we judge a book by its cover.
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