The importance of great photography for small businesses and how it can bring in more customers
One of the most important things for small businesses, and something that is often overlooked is the quality of their photography. Many small business owners operating on a tight budget choose to do their photography themselves, taking photos of their own products or services and using those as the backbone of their website, social media and marketing.
It makes sense – everyone takes pictures on their phones now and everyone has access to good quality cameras, but for small business owners doing their own photography is often a false economy – for a start, it takes you away from doing what you should be doing – making more money and bringing in new clients! But not just that…
When someone lands on your website or your social media profile, they make a decision within seconds, as to whether they trust your brand – and whether they wish to do business with you.
In that time, they haven’t read your bio, your about page, your heritage, the features and benefits of your product or your latest and greatest offer.
They have simply looked at the pictures, looked at the overall vibe and presentation of your brand and made a gut decision. If they see a bunch of inconsistent, poorly lit imagery, then their perception of your brand is going to be a lot lower than if the imagery is high end and high quality. We know making high end, high quality imagery not only takes time, it takes skill and it’s definitely not something that you should cut corners with.
That’s actually why we started Unfazed Product Photography – to make it easy for busy small business owners to get access to high quality imagery.
If you went on to a high-end luxury perfume retailer’s website and saw lots of photos of the perfume bottles that looked like they’d been taken on someone’s dirty kitchen counter, with their dinner in the background (believe me, we’ve seen it!) – you’re not going to feel comfortable parting with money.
Whereas when you see beautiful lit, consistent and creative imagery, set in beautiful surroundings – conveying the feeling of luxury and opulence – you immediately understand that you’re looking at something of a high value and trust that the money you part with, is money well spent.
The thing is, many online retailers start small, they start in their own homes and scale up. You can purchase stock and run a business out of your spare bedroom in the early days, but the Important thing is not to make it look like that.
You want your clients to feel that you are established, trustworthy and that you’re going to take care of them. You want them to feel that you will deliver the quality they desire.
One of the biggest tips I’d give to any new business owner is to invest heavily in their photography from the outset. Working with a professional photographer and having a selection of fantastic, professional images that showcase what you do, what you sell and who you are to your clients is a resource you’ll be able to draw from over and over again. Whenever you need something for social media, for advertisements or on your websites – You can dip into your archive of images, and know that everything in there reinforces your brand messages and conveys value to your target market.
You don’t even have to spend a fortune. We understand that small businesses are often started on a shoestring budget and you need to make savings wherever you can. Most photographers are pretty flexible and will be able to work with you on a half day, or full day basis – allowing you to generate a great archive of reusable photos, at a relatively small investment – one that will pay for itself multiple times over. You can even start small and add to your archive over time, as funds allow.
From high quality images of your products for ecommerce, to behind the scenes images of your process and team for social media – having a selection of images like these available to you will save you so much time in the long run, and help keep your brand perception consistently high across all mediums, bringing you a consistent supply of new customers.
