Things to think about:
What do you do?
What will your customers be expecting?
What do you want the images for?
Website, social media, packaging, posters, brochures etc.
Budget
What is feasible/logical for the long term? Don’t spend twice is always at the back of my mind.
Time
If you haven’t got much of it, let someone do it for you, let everyone play to their strengths.
We all love a visual representation
Images offer an instant understanding, easy to absorb, sometimes inspire us, make us laugh, or answer questions (wonder what he looks like?!) but they have a message. A picture is worth 1000 words right? Depending on the nature of your business, neglecting imagery could actually have a detrimental affect on your sales. If you are selling products online, not available in store with a visual attachment, for example wallpaper or a piece of furniture to fit into a home's visual theme, no imagery creates a barrier to the purchaser. You wouldn't buy a painting without seeing it first would you?
Images are statistically important
The stats say that social posts receive a much higher level of engagement if they have an image included (the internet says: Buzzsumo found that posts with images receive 2.3 times more engagement than those without).
My images
If you have been looking at my website and my social accounts, you will see I use a lot of stock imagery. I have tried to take nice photos of my desk etc with my limited equipment (Samsung phone camera), the quality isn’t there, the shadows and reflections are there! In my previous life in the office we built a Studio with lights, staged walls, props and so on, very effective but a lot of effort and spend if you’re not trying to create a catalogue of items in a roomset. If this is what you are doing then get yourself a backdrop and carry on.
What I do doesn’t necessarily have great visual appeal. I could not possibly upload daily photos of myself at my desk. However, some businesses will benefit hugely from telling stories with imagery. Obviously a restaurant or a baker of lovely OTT birthday cakes can draw in their audience with shots of the food, closeups, drinks and the décor at the premises.
Imagery – what, when and where works?
Stock imagery – Perfectly edited pics at your fingertips. You can of course pay for these, or find them on free to use (check the type of licence) sites. Either way in my experience, you will scroll through and see images which have been used elsewhere. My flavour of the month is unsplash.
Natural shots – Get your iphone out, Instagram filters can tart the pics up a bit. Behind the scenes (#BTS), action shots, before and after shots (I also like a before, during and after). If you have a creative role, working with your hands, you are a fixer of sorts, these kind of shots will be invaluable to selling your services and documenting the quality of your hard work. In my experience these also get great engagement levels on social media.
Photographer – When it comes to headshots, you can’t really take your own selfie shots if you are looking for credibility, in certain sectors, there is an expectation that you will show and can supply a headshot (if you are invited to speak at an event for example). This is the time to get a professional photographer on board. Make the most of their time, you will be offered shoot time and editing time. Invite the photographer to you, get shots of your offices, your premises, you doing what you do, genuine shots that you can hold in your image library for all occasions (blogs, website, social).
DIY studio – If you have products to sell, you can do it yourself if you have time. As I mentioned in a previous life we had tonnes of product shots to capture for web, packaging, Amazon listings etc. There are videos on You Tube of how to set up your own studio for small product shots, how to make a 360 – there is free software out there, we ordered a lazy Susan, tape measure and all the bits, it did the job perfectly (with a bit of editing along the way).
The final word on imagery
My final tip on this is Fiverr. Choose carefully which suppliers you go to, but for editing photos, cut outs and product drawings, there is some real talent on that site, people who can turn your image editing around quickly and all done online. Well worth a visit.
If you would like to talk about this subject more, or the other ways in which I can provide a helping hand to your small business please get in touch. I also know some brilliant photographers and designers, so if you need to get connected with those that can, drop me a line.
About Virtual Executive Services MK
Virtual Executive Services MK is a Virtual Assistant service based in Milton Keynes, supporting clients across the UK. Specialising in admin, marketing and social media support for small businesses, start ups and entrepreneurs. Find out more.