Success in business is the result of many factors, ranging from the capacity for hard work, to knowledge of your industry, a strong understanding of what the most important tasks are to address at any given moment in time, and of course, good old-fashioned luck and knowing the right people.
It is also true, however, that having the right tools at your disposal, and applying the right practices to your marketing efforts, can have a disproportionate effect on your ability to make an impression on — and to impress — customers.
Photos are just such an asset, and using the right photos on your website and in your marketing can make a tremendous difference in the success of those endeavours.
So, either get yourself a good camera and an app for photo editing, or look up the number of a professional photographer, and read on to see how using the right photos can dramatically help your business.
By enhancing your professional image
Many new startups, especially those which operate solely online and are the work of solopreneurs — such as many affiliate marketing or freelancing endeavours, for example — fall into the trap, early on, of “opening up shop” while their overall professional image is, for want of a better term, abysmal.
If your website is something that you’ve cobbled together on WordPress in 10 minutes, and includes calls to action, under a grainy photo of yourself that you took on your phone, in your bathroom, you shouldn’t expect anyone who comes across your site to be inspired to use your services.
Professional photographs — particularly of yourself — can completely transform the impression you make for the better. A professional headshot of you, in a suit, makes you look more serious, creative and trustworthy. Like someone with skin in the game.
By improving the “personal connection”
People are more likely to use the services of companies which they feel some form of “personal connection” with. This can take many different forms, but it’s undeniable that the smart use of photography can dramatically help in forming this connection.
Photos of yourself, of your products, and of any other relevant features of your business, help the client to view you as a person who they’ve already met, rather than some anonymous algorithm on the net.
By appealing to a specific motif that resonates with your clients
People are, as a rule, easily swayed by symbolism. It appears to be something innate in the human experience that we look for familiar and identifiable symbols and signifiers of when forming our judgements of things.
With your business — whatever that business may be — you’ll want to appeal to a specific motif that resonates with the kind of people who are likely to spend money in your industry.
So, if you sell cookbooks, for example, an artistic photo of a rustic kitchen with a delicious looking meal simmering on the stove, can immediately create the kind of emotional landscape you’re after.
The messages conveyed by this image are many. Comfort, tradition, warmth, safety, delicious food, things being as they should, and so on.
