What will give your business the extra momentum it needs to grow? Marketing plans often promise a lot, but it can still feel like a risk to commit to the strategies. Specifically, custom business photos may seem like an “extra” that your business can do without.
Yet that’s not an area where you want to choose low-quality options. Instead, custom photos are the best choice for your business because they offer a wealth of advantages stock photos can’t match. Take a look below for a full list of why custom photos are a great boost for your company.
Discover Your Business’s Unique Appeal
Your business has something unique to offer your customers that no one else can. So why use photos that everyone else has access to?
One of the pitfalls of using stock photos is that someone else may have the same photo as you on their website or blog post. Worse, that business may be a competitor of yours. What if a customer sees the other business’s photo and thinks they’re booking with you?
You want to stand out so that you win those customers. When you choose custom business photos instead of stock photography, you’re getting a product that you’re sure is unique. You can be confident that you won’t be mistaken for another business and all the customers you gain are meant to be yours.
Earn Clients by Letting Them In
Having a photographer shoot in your space opens your office up to the outside world. Someone who has never visited your office gets a glimpse into your workspace and your personal area. They may learn something about you that convinces them to become a client.
A customer who sees a custom photo for an artist may see a piece they really like and want to purchase. A customer who sees a custom photo for an attorney may see a child’s area of the waiting room and discover you take family law cases. You never know what a personalized photo will reveal about your business that convinces someone to become a customer.
Custom Photos Define Your Visual Identity
In the marketing world, the word “branding” is almost a buzzword. It’s all in the name of helping your business make the best possible impression, though. Potential customers can get the wrong idea from stock images if you’re not careful.
Custom photos can help you define your company’s visual identity and build your brand. Cement in your customer’s mind who you are as a business. Teach them through your photos and clarify in their minds how you can fill their needs.
Make Customers Comfortable with Your Own Photos
When your potential customers see your photos online, you want them to feel at ease with your business. Show them real people in your photos, the actual people they’ll see when they come to the office.
Is your doctor’s office called Johnson-Hughes Family Practice? Post some pictures of Drs. Johnson and Hughes on your website. When customers see online the actual doctors or practitioners who they will see in the office, they feel more comfortable before they’re even shown to the exam room.
They feel like they know you, like they’ve met their doctor already, even if they’re a new patient. Custom photos are humanizing for any industry. If you want to make your customers more comfortable, go with custom business photography.
The Best Reputation
Make a good impression, just like you always clean your house when you have company over or you always wash your car when your dad comes to town. Custom photos can help you maintain a great business reputation, both with existing customers and potential new ones.
Keeping that credibility with stock photos is a lot harder. If they can’t see who you really are and they don’t recognize the office from the photos, it’s hard to appear genuine and honest.
Did you know that what people learn about your reputation later can cause them to remember you differently? Even if you make a favorable first impression, if they see something unfavorable about you afterward, their memories can change.
Research shows they’ll remember you less favorably than when they first met you. In fact, it makes a big difference in the business world, especially as you attend networking events and meet new contacts.
Instead of turning them off, make them see you’re serious about your business. Use professional, custom photos as part of your marketing strategy and ensure you’re known for your dependability.
Marketing Through Custom Photos
You may know a little bit about keyword optimization for web articles and your website. Yet did you know that even images can be part of SEO strategies? Your business photography can be part of your marketing strategy, helping you rank higher in web searches.
Gain traffic from your optimized articles and photos. The more traffic you have, it’s likely the more conversions you’ll see. Using custom photos can be a big part of your marketing strategy.
Reusable Materials
Once you pay for a custom business photo, you have the rights to use it again and again. That means you now have photography for flyers, brochures, mailings, and other marketing materials. They become versatile assets for your business, rather than just another line-item expense.
While you don’t want to repeat photos on your website too many times, you can use them in various places online. For example, using your business photos on your website and then again on social media isn’t too repetitive. It’s actually a great way to streamline your brand and make sure that the crossover is smooth and unobtrusive for users.
The Best Tools
When you’re building a marketing strategy, you don’t want something that will get you by. You want the best options because that’s how you’re going to become the best option for your customers. Even if you already are the best option, if they don’t know that, you won’t get the sale.
Using custom photos can help you convince your client base that you’re unique and genuine. Besides that, you’ll have some valuable, reusable assets when you’re finished.
Capture who you really are with custom business photography from Harris and Ward.
