How do you go about getting the right photos for your business website and marketing activity? Here are 4 tips.....

Do you struggle to find the right photos which represent your business? So that you can tell your business story? Below are a handful of tips to help you get the right photos for your websites and marketing materials. But first....a quick reminder as to why we need to get the visual message absolutely bang on on your website, social media posts and marketing activity.

• Did you know that people remember visual information 6 times better than information that they have read.

• Add to that the fact that content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images.

• And to top it all off......according to Business Insider, we only have 7 seconds to make a strong first impression. That's people deciding whether to stay on your website or go to a potential competitor.

So - the question is.....what do people see when they look your business up online? On your website, your social media and your marketing literature? Do they see generic people from stock images? Or do they get to see what you actually do, the real team behind your business and what services that you offer? And do you make a strong first impression?

Obviously there are options to use stock images and also free images from various websites. However, whilst I'm the first to admit that these can be useful, do remember that these images can be used on your competitors' websites. Also - they tend to have a very generic feel to them - it's usually quite obvious that models have been used rather than the real people who work in your business. So, you're not going to be surprised to hear me recommending that you have your own custom photography for your business!

However.....before you jump to conclusions that this is going to be hugely expensive....bear with me! There is often a misconception that booking a photo shoot is going to be expensive. To give you a rough idea, I worked with a small business recently and we did a two hour photo shoot. This cost him £330 and he now has over 100 photos at his fingertips to market his business.

Your next barriers might be.....

• I work from home - I can't show that on my website!

• What do I show? My business isn't visual

• How do I go about coming up with a shotlist?

Let me answer your questions:

Tip 1: Show what you do . Whether you are a big retail business, or a sole trader working from home, there is always something we can photograph to represent what you do. For example - one client I worked with is a Copywriter - Alison Harmer from Harmer Editorial. She works from an office at home and mostly works on her laptop. So, we set up a series of 'scenarios' to represent Alison's business. From Alison meeting a 'client' (in reality, her neighbour!), the tools of her trade (her laptop, books and some stationery) and we headed to a local hotel, which were happy for us to use as a location. In total, this shoot took 2 hours - we did not pay a location fee or for any models. Here are some of the photos:

Tip 2: If you don't have an office or shop you can show, use your client locations instead. I have worked with many businesses which don't have anywhere suitable to show where they work - so, the simplest thing to do is to use your client locations instead. For example - I took website and social media photos for a care agency in Windsor called Complete Care. Obviously their workplace is their client's homes. So, I spent a few hours shadowing one of their teams to photograph them going about their day to day work. Surely - that's much more effective to show than stock images? Here are some examples:

Tip 3: How do I come up with a shotlist? My background is in marketing, so before we do anything, we sit down over a frothy coffee and chat about what exactly it is that you do. Covering things like what services do you offer your clients and how do you deliver your service/products? This works whether you are a huge corporation, or a small business. And before you know it, we will have a shotlist which will set you up with a bank of photos you'll be able to use across your whole marketing mix - your website, your blogs, your social media posts - basically anywhere you can squeeze them in!

Tip 4: Rope in friends to help : In the 9 years I have been taking business photos in Berkshire and the Thames Valley, I have never once paid a model fee. Every photo shoot has always either used employees and colleagues or for those running small businesses, we have roped in friends to stand in as 'models'. In fact.....I have even been known to stand in when we ran out of different faces! See here....!

So hopefully, these tips give you a bit of an idea how you could go about getting photos for your website and social media posts to market your business. It doesn't have to be expensive, and believe me, I have worked with every size of organisation and I am yet to find a business that wouldn't benefit from having their own business photos.

So, to sum up - copy on your website and social media posts is important - but the photos are much more important - they will help your potential new client decide in under 7 seconds whether they are going to stay on your website or go to your competitor. Professional business photos will enable you to stand out from the crowd - by 2020, 80% of adults will own a smartphone - people LOVE photos - so why not tap into that and use professional photos of your business to stand out from the crowd.

So if you're looking to tell your business story - why not give me a call and we can have a no-obligation chat about how we might be able to go about it. I can come up with ideas for photos which will represent your business and help you bring your business to life .

https://www.photosbypennie.co.uk/business-stories-photos-for-websites-and-marketing-berkshire