How good brand photography can grow your business!

Photography is a critical constituent of strong branding. If you’ve ever scrolled through a website or an Instagram page that looks so carefully curated that you immediately get a sense of who that brand or person is and exactly what their values and motivations are, you already know just how powerful brand photography can be.

In this blog post, I’m going to explore the power of brand photography and how it can help you craft a strong image and identity around your business.

Just how much does the photography on your website or marketing material say about your business? A lot. Are you getting yours right?

Using Brand Photography to Connect with your Audience

We all, as humans and as consumers, make a huge number of decisions based on emotion and first impressions. As brand photography can significantly influence how your business is perceived, it can ultimately impact your bottom line. In this sense, it shouldn’t be viewed as a luxury but as an important investment and business asset. Having your own personal catalogue of imagery that reflects your values will positively impact every aspect of your marketing efforts long into the future.

From your website and social media posts to newsletters, press releases, print marketing and more, great brand photography can be used in a variety of ways to enhance your visibility and increase your engagement. Social media posts containing images already drive 650% more engagement than those only containing text, and it is predicted that more than 80% of all marketing communications will be totally visual by the end of 2018.

Higher up the customer journey and consumers don’t really want to read a page of text when they can look at a handful of images and receive the same message. More than 80% of people choose to skim online content, with average users only reading up to 28% of the words on a page during a typical visit.

These are not insignificant numbers, so honing and solidifying your visual style and identity can pay dividends as your business grows.

Getting great shots of your staff of business owners can make a huge difference to the outward appearance of your company, your business and your products.

Showcase the Behind the Scenes of your Workplace

Consumers want to connect on a personal level with the people behind the business. Millennials are more likely than all other generations to research the causes and issues a business supports before making a purchase and almost 90% of American consumers would buy from a business that advocates for a cause they care about. If your audience can’t get a sense of who you are and what you’re doing to champion important issues within your community or industry, you’re likely already missing out on an opportunity to grow.

In addition to corporate responsibility, people fundamentally want to buy from people, not faceless corporations. Showcasing the behind the scenes of your day-to-day, even if you don’t think it’s particularly interesting, will give your audience an insight into the people who make your business a reality. Photography has the power to put this human face to your company.

Shaping your Visual Identity

With standing out from the crowd a priority, here are a few tips to get you started.

Your brand is your identity as a business... getting the right photos can change the whole outlook, and change everything about how people view and remember your brand and products.

Create a Mood Board

Mood boards are an excellent way to determine how to visually represent your brand’s personality and values in a way that will also appeal to your target audience. From iconography to colour palettes, many individual decisions will contribute to the establishment of your unique approach to brand photography.

You can choose to go old school and collect images from magazines to physically compile into a mood board that you can touch and hang on the wall or keep things digital by taking to Pinterest, arranging images that will help you to find your visual identity.

Incidentally, as the active user base of Pinterest has grown by more than 110%, maintaining a public brand account on this visual-based social platform might also drive additional success for your business.

Choose your Colour Palettes Carefully

In addition to being an excellent way to establish specific atmospheres, individual colours also have their own distinct cultural and psychological connotations that can help you to convey meaning to your audience.

Have a read of our complete article on choosing the right colour palette for your brand by clicking HERE.

Consistency is Key

The establishment of a strong brand identity relies on consistency. From the big picture to the minute details, consistency establishes a sense of trust and loyalty between your brand and your audience. Remember, people feel safe and secure when they know what to expect.

This doesn’t mean that there isn’t any room for evolution in your brand’s photographic style, but it does mean that you should avoid jarring changes that might alienate your core audience.

Establish your Own Style

Cliché as it might sound, it really is impossible to please everyone and trying to do too many things will result in a muddled and confused message that might drive your core audience away.

The style of your business photography tells customers what your business style is - straight and boring says that you are a straight down the line company. Slightly more off the wall images suggest that you will bring creativity to the table. But poor photography says that you won't do the job very well. Don't risk giving the wrong impression... hire the pros today!

Incorporate a Message into your Brand Photography

When thinking about what you want your imagery to say, write down a handful of descriptive words that sum up your brand identity. You might, for example, want to establish a minimal, clean and classic visual identity, or perhaps something more atmospheric, emotive and creative might reflect your brand more effectively.

Keeping these words in mind when evaluating the strengths of each image will help you to maintain a cohesive visual identity with your core message at its heart.

Still not sure what we mean? Have a browse of our galleries here.

Here at Havelock Photography we are specialists in brand photography. We have decades of experience creating eye-catching, sales-boosting photography for business. Why not give us a call today? Or drop us an email?

We could be transforming your brand right now!

Get in touch by clicking here: CONTACT