A month or two ago, we gave you 9 big reasons to add professional headshots & other commercial photography to your website. So now that you’re convinced of the importance of adding quality photography to your website, you might be wondering what types of images you could possibly add. So here are 6 types of commercial photography to consider.
1. Portrait Photography of Company Employees
Every prospective client wants to be able to put a face to the name... to see who they might be working with and who they're going to be depending on to achieve results. Does the person/people look trustworthy? Professional? Skilled? Friendly? The portrait photography you place on your website will speak volumes. Here are three types of portrait photography to place on your website:
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Individual headshots of key personnel
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Group portraits of all or key personnel
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Semi-posed or candid photos of employees in action
2. Architectural Photography / Room Views of your Office or Storefront
What your office looks like – the architectural design, décor & furniture, meeting rooms, and reception area – all convey to the viewer an idea of your company’s professionalism and prosperity. If your office is well-maintained, prospective clients will feel like they’re in the hands of a competent, reputable, skilled company. After all, if your office looks prosperous, you must be good at your job. What your office looks like can also set expectations on fees. A rundown office will attract budget clients; a well-maintained, prosperous-looking office with well-done professional photography on the website will attract high-end clients. With this in mind, place architectural photography of your office on your website to draw in the type of clientele you want.
Whether your office is a standard office vs. a storefront or restaurant, the concept is the same. For a restaurant in particular, you'll also want the photographs to demonstrate ambience, as pictured below.
3. Product Photography of the Products (or Food) You Sell
I don't know about you, but I am a big Pinterest user. I've pinned and repinned thousands of pins since Pinterest came into being not that many years ago. Pinterest happens to be my favorite site to search for (food) recipes, and I've tried cooking many recipes that I discovered on Pinterest. And you know what I found? Through trial & error, I discovered that recipes with professional-looking food photography are, in general, better recipes than the ones with non-professional photography. Yes, it's true! A recipe with professional-looking food photos are more likely to be delicious than recipes accompanied by amateur-looking photography.
Well, translate that to your business and the tangible products that YOU sell. Lack of product photography or amateur-looking product photography will flatline your sales; professional product photography not only entices the viewer, but also gives the impression that it's a quality product, making your sales boom!
4. Photography of a Completed Service
Are you a landscape designer? A bathroom & kitchen remodeler? A home stager? An interior designer? You absolutely must have “after” photos if not both “before” and “after” photos. Great professional photography isn’t cheap. It may not make sense to hire a professional architectural photographer for the before photos. Splurge instead on professional photography for the after photos, and then use them to showcase your work with pride on your website portfolio.
5. Photography of People Enjoying or Using Your Service
Go a step further and have your commercial photographer capture people enjoying your completed service… relaxing in the gorgeous garden you designed… enjoying dinner in the new morning room you built, etc. And if you can get real clients to agree to be photographed, then even better!
What if your work isn’t as tangible as all that? Say you’re a wedding DJ. You’d want photographs of people dancing the night away. If you’re an event designer, beyond room photos of the ceremony or reception area, how about atmospheric photos of wedding guests enjoying dinner? If you run a summer camp for kids, how about photographs of kids having fun at the camp carnival?
6. Lifestyle Photography
Brand-building expert Denise Lee Yohn writes:
“We humans are emotional creatures. We make our purchase decisions based on how products promise to make us feel. That’s why great brands succeed by seeking intimate emotional connections with customers. Either the product satisfies an emotional need I have (“I want to feel healthy and successful”) or it offers me access to a self-identity that I want to experience and express (“I’m an athlete.”).”
So place lifestyle photography (with your product in use if applicable) on your website with the models portraying the emotions that your buyers will feel when they use your amazing product or service. In addition to or instead of selling a product or service, sell an emotional connection.
I hope your head is now spinning with new ideas of how to use commercial photography on your website to your advantage. Might it be time now to chat with the commercial photographer? We’re always happy to brainstorm with you.
1 Comments
Sep 28, 2018, 11:18:50 AM
Rhianna Hawk - My boss is considering getting a professional photographer to help us revamp our product images on our website, and it's good to know that we should be utilizing Pinterest as well. We sell a lot of various clothing styles, and while it's not quite as flavorful as food pics, I know that professional pictures of clothing can really make or break a sale for customers. We may want to utilize your tip of getting pictures of people enjoying our products as well, maybe with a model for the clothes doing fun activities.