marketing

Corporate photos are like sports announcers

When it comes to producing effective photography for corporate marketing, there are two general types of images: those with story appeal and those that demonstrate something. The former is used to convey an idea or emotion and the latter is used to deliver a fact. The two types can overlap.

Pictures with story appeal are said to have human interest. These pictures, which are usually editorial in nature, will attract attention because editorial photography is the most interesting to, and the most trusted by, the public. Conveying a message through human interest is always persuasive because such photography creates an emotional response in the viewer.
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Is your company a laughing stock?

If your company still uses cheap stock pictures and you enjoy irony then keep reading.

Last month, McSweeney’s published “This is a Generic Brand Video”, a satirical piece by Kendra Eash about the generic branding used by some companies.

Many businesses today use meaningless, generic stock photos and stock video. These companies may think they’re sending a strong message to their customers and building a unique corporate image but they’re fooling only themselves. Everyone sees stock images for what they really are: just a quick way to cut corners and save a few bucks.

Now the irony.
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Corporate photography for first-time customers

When a company decides to dip its business toes into corporate photography, the first photo project is usually either business portraits or pictures of the office. This is all well and good but it may help to have an overall plan for the photography well before a camera shutter button is clicked. Corporate photography should do more than just fill empty spaces on a page.

Sure, the easy marketing plan is, “we want more customers to buy more stuff.” But that’s too vague to be of any help. If you work things backward and break it down to specific steps, you can get it to work:

How do you get more customers to buy more stuff?
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Close Enough

If you made products for digital cameras, what kind of camera would you show on your web site to help market your products?

If you’re Eye-Fi, which makes WiFi-enabled memory cards, you would use an old film camera from last century. [Sorry, the link has gone dead. Screengrab below]. And to make it worse, you would state “The power of WiFi for the camera you love.”


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A confused customer always says no

There’s a well-known saying that states: “A confused mind always says no.” This also applies to customers who are confused about a sales offer. They will always take their business elsewhere.

When searching through commercial photographers’ web sites, a potential customer can become confused when they don’t understand (i) exactly what the photographer is offering, (ii) the benefits of hiring that particular photographer, or (iii) any of the claims made by the photographer.

A photographer’s web site can create confusion by:

• having too much information or too little information. Oddly enough, the correct amount of information might be related to the photographer’s prices.

• offering too many choices.

• using too much technical jargon.

• showing a lack of consistency in presentation or message.

• having no differentiation from other photographers.

Some businesses intentionally try to confuse their customers. This is done so that one company’s products or services can’t be easily compared to its competitors. This practice can be common among companies that sell a commodity in an oligopoly such as telecoms and home energy companies. How much do you enjoy dealing with these companies?

A confused customer is always an unhappy customer.

Many photographers use one of those dubious haze filters on their lenses to eliminate “haze”. Perhaps putting a clarity filter on their business might be more effective.

 

Credibility and Trust

While shopping in a Toronto grocery store today, a woman approached me and simply asked, “Donate?” She held up a laminated piece of letter-sized paper which had the headline “DONATE DISASTER RELIEF” along with some small, generic pictures of people who may, or may not, have been in disaster-stricken areas. I turned her down.

The woman continued walking the store aisle, asking everyone else the same thing. As far as I could see, everyone turned her down.

Although she may have been legitimate in her request, she had no credibility. The flimsy piece of paper she held was obviously cheaply printed and her “presentation” was unconvincing.
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Why you need a business headshot

It takes us only a moment to form our first opinion of someone. This first impression will tell us whether that person might be friendly, smart, honest, kind, trustworthy … or not.

Judging a person by their appearance may not always be the best thing to do but it’s something that we’ve been trained to do by our parents, the media and many thousands of years of evolution.

Pop quiz: which of the following people would you trust enough to do business with:


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