Why is brand photography important?
82% of consumers trust a company more — and 77 % are more likely to buy from a company — if the founder uses social media. This isn’t to say that these photos are just for your social media profiles, or that they should all include you, but to point out that people want to connect with other people, relate to others and see the face behind the company.
Now I know what you’re probably thinking, and as someone who HATES having their photo taken and objectively looks much better in person than in photos, I hear ya! But I’ve realised how important it is that people know who I am, conquered my fear over time, found a photographer who makes me feel comfortable and confident, and had my first set of branded photos taken last week! So from one non-supermodel business owner to another, I can assure you that it’s doable, not as scary as you think, and totally worth it! (Watch this space! I’ve seen a first edit of my pics and they’re so cool!)
When you and/or your team can be seen throughout your marketing, potential clients will be able to see who they would be working with, get a glimpse into the process, and imagine themselves being a part of that experience. Photos with humans in them take your products and services from seeming unattainable, conceptual or hypothetical, and bring them into reality as something tangible, achievable and desirable.
BRAND PHOTOGRAPHY SETS A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION
People form a first impression in just 50 milliseconds, so everything you share has to wow and do it fast! Good quality, consistent, professional brand photography is going to help capture potential clients in a flash as they’ll see that you appreciate attention to detail, high quality content, consistency and great aesthetics. I know that if something is presented well, I’m already mostly convinced without even knowing anything about the product or service!
BRAND PHOTOGRAPHY INCREASES ENGAGEMENT
We all know by now that visual content goes a long way and has a much better engagement than text-only content, and if you’re not convinced yet, here are some cold, hard facts for ya. 65% of marketing execs say photos, videos, illustrations, and infographics are key to communicating your brand story; Facebook posts from brands that included images earned 87 percent of all engagements; 51% of B2B marketers prioritize creating visual assets as part of their content marketing strategy; tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than tweets without images; articles with an image once every 75-100 words received double the social media shares as articles with fewer images; Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without images. (Hubspot) On board yet?
You need images and more importantly, you need good quality, on-brand images.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY, AND PHOTOGRAPHY INCREASES BRAND CONSISTENCY
You might have your logo, colours and fonts down, but if your photography doesn’t match, you’re in trouble. Having all of your visual elements work together cohesively is vital in maintaining brand consistency. Brands that are consistently presented are 3 to 4 times more likely to experience brand visibility and 90% of consumers expect their experience to be consistent across all channels and devices used to interact with brands.
Now you may be able to find some good stock images that kind of work but chances are they aren’t quite on-brand, or if they are, a hundred other people are using the exact same photos in their brand. Stock imagery is good when you’re first starting out, and I still use some from time to time, but it should be the goal to have your own, unique and perfectly on-brand photos to use instead.
This information was perfectly summed up by the amazing people at https://www.blackandwhitestudios.nz/blog/brand-photography
