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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We all know that the economy isn’t what it used to be. Budgets for business marketing, public relations and advertising are tight.
This is precisely why a company should avoid cheap photography or doing the job themselves. Why spend less only to get less? A company’s reputation can never be enhanced by going cheap.
If a company has a limited marketing budget, why waste it? It’s important to spend wisely and make every dollar count. Make sure the photography produces a good return on dollars invested.
Commercial photographers don’t waste their client’s time or money. The photographer’s experience means they know how to get the job done right the first time. Their talent means first-rate photography that will make the best impression.
You might say that professional photography doesn’t really cost anything. If $2,000 worth of photography helps generate $20,000 worth of revenue, publicity or goodwill, then there was no cost for that photography.
Something that’s worth more than it costs is called an investment.
Business portrait, executive portrait, headshot, social media portrait or profile picture. No matter what you call it, a picture of yourself is important for your business. Really.
For social media, the most important picture is the author’s own portrait. For businesses, both small and large, having online portraits of key employees is very important. Really.
People trust what (and who) they can see more than what (and who) they can’t. A profile without a photo is like a day without sunshine. (Okay, I made up that last bit but hopefully you get my point).
From an Inc. Magazine article titled Fix Your Profile Picture:
Your profile picture is about branding you and the business you own. Are you handling it that way?
(. . .)
Invest the money in a professional photographer. Profile pictures are a booming sideline for many professional photographers. Hire one. It should cost about $200 depending on where you live and what you need specificially [sic].
(. . .)
Update your picture every couple of years.
In my tiny corner of the Web, (i.e. this blog), I’ve mentioned that the best thing a business can do for its marketing photography and public relations photography is to hire a photographer with a journalism background.
I’ve also written that one of the best things a company should be doing to enhance its brand, increase public awareness and even do a little good for their community is to put editorial content on its corporate web site, (e.g. photojournalism, photo essays, documentaries).
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Many people outside of the photo industry (and even some in the industry) are under the misconception that photography today is much cheaper than it was, say, ten to fifteen years ago. But the truth is that it’s far more expensive today, despite the miracle of reusable memory cards.
Cameras and lenses certainly get better as technology improves. But they’re much more expensive than in years gone by. Even if the purchase cost of an item goes down as technology advances, the product life cycle gets shorter which means more frequent updating. Computers and software also require frequent replacing.
Most folks are also surprised to learn that post-production can take as long, or longer, than the actual photography. Post-production includes, but isn’t limited to, image selection, raw format conversion, captioning, correcting for verticals, removing blemishes, cropping, resizing, and both global and local adjustments for colour, white balance, saturation, brightness, contrast and sharpness.
For many commercial assignments, a rule of thumb is two hours of post-production for each hour of photography.
Photography is not cheaper today. It’s just a lot better.
Contrary to what some may think, professional photography is not a commodity business. Looking for the right photographer is not like shopping for a TV set where you decide on the make and model of TV and then search around to find the lowest price.
When a company is looking to hire a commercial photographer, it can expect to get a variety of photo quotes. For a common assignment like a business portrait, the prices may vary by a few hundred dollars. For a large project, photography quotes can vary by many thousands of dollars.
The difference in pricing reflects the photographers’ different experience, talents, production methods and overhead expenses.
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There are several e-mail scams aimed at photographers. Most start with the sender of the e-mail saying that they came upon the photographer’s web site and they love the pictures. The person will have some sort of urgent photo assignment in the photographer’s area and wants to hire the photographer right away. The person will offer to pay in full in advance.
If the photographer falls for this, the scammer will send a payment cheque for far too much money. When the honest photographer points out this “mistake,” the scammer will apologize and ask the photographer to refund the excess money as quickly as possible. The trusting photographer will be told to wire the money asap. The scammer’s original cheque will later bounce and the photographer will lose whatever money they sent to the scammer.
Another version of this scam is that after the scammer has sent a (fake) cheque, they will say the event has been cancelled and they need the money wired back to them as quickly as possible.
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