Use Real Photographers: Hire a Professional

A night out without the kids calls for something special—a reservation at your favorite restaurant, a fresh wash of the car, maybe an appointment at the barber or salon, and you put on your favorite clothes. Everything is elevated to your very best, right? Of course you go to great lengths to make yourself look and feel awesome—it's important.

So why don't you do that for your company?

So many companies hire marketing agencies to make the brand look great and get results, but when it comes to one of the most important parts in marketing the company and product visually—corporate photography—the ball is very often dropped. 

Pony Up

I’ve been in the game for a while, and at this point I’ve heard pretty every excuse. "But I have a nephew who takes pictures for his high school newspaper," or, "can't we just use our cell phones?" And while I'm sure your nephew is a great kid and it is true that cell phone camera technology has come a long way, these options are not going to get you professional results. Want to look like a million bucks? Well, it doesn't come for free (and please pay your nephew if you do happen to hire him for something). You will need to spend money on someone who gets paid to do a job the same way that you do. By definition, that's what a professional is. Hire one.

Stock the Cupboard

I can't tell you how many times we begin work with a new client, and they have little or nothing existing in the way of inspiring or flattering photography of their product, people or industry. I'm not talking about walking out on the shop floor and snapping photos with your phone. I'm talking about hiring a professional photographer to come to your company with the specific intent to take beautiful photos of you, your workplace, your products and anything else that defines who your company is. See, when your creative team is tasked with making your brand look its best, using generic or free stock photos or (worse) pictures you found in a Google search is not only low-rent, but can get you in trouble with copyright infringement. Just don’t do it.

We’re not talking about just a handful of photos, either, you need to acquire LOTS of them. What you should be aiming to build is a vast corporate image library that can be used for years. Oh, and don’t think this is a one-and-done endeavor, either. This should be done regularly, as your business and product is always evolving. Plan to increase and update your photo library on a regular basis.

The Investment Pays Dividends

Not that long ago, my team was tasked with creating a hefty new product brochure for a client who sells very expensive, complex machinery. The problem was that the very few photos they did have of their product were almost all low resolution and not of a very high quality. They just didn't have anything good, and they weren't in a mindset to have more photos taken. This makes it very difficult to show off a new product if you literally can't show the product with good photos. And of course, if the product doesn’t look good, it will most definitely have a negative effect on sales.

We see it a lot. Clients fall back on repetitive stock photography or low-quality cell phone photos when they should be working with professional shooters that really know how to make their products look their best. The immediate return on investment may not be monetary, but it will certainly be in the form of brand awareness and perception. With good photography, you are instantly more unique, compelling and memorable. It’s a foundational component to building your brand, and it's important to make sure that you are doing EVERYTHING at as high of a level as possible.

Shooters Who Specialize

Nothing against photographers who make their living taking beautiful photos of weddings and families, but these are not the shooters that you should be hiring for your product or facility shots. Manufacturing is not their specialty, and the results of your hire will show in the final outcome of your marketing pieces. Hire a photographer who is comfortable and experienced doing exactly what you need them to do. Or even better, empower your agency to make the choice of who to work with and let them manage the shoots. We love sharing our expertise in that way, and it will benefit you in the long run. 

If you have tiny, detailed products that require close-up studio tabletop shots, you want to look for someone who specializes in that type of photography. Do you need your microbrew captured mid-pour into a mug? Hire a studio photographer that specializes in strobe light liquid shots. Is there a need to have photos of your aftermarket car parts on a car on a race track? Find a photographer that is experienced with high-speed action shots. It does make a difference.

Photography Matters

With a little effort, you and your agency should be able to pinpoint the exact type of photographer that you need, and your visuals will be so much better off for it. Not only that, but you give the rest of your creative team the tools they need to present you in the best possible light for a long time down the road.