Brand Photography: Why It’s Essential for Your Business
Last update: 10 January 2023 at 04:25 pm
3.00/5The world we live in today is filled with so much information and it can get overwhelming. Hence, users only look for information they truly need and won’t waste time paying attention to anything else. So, how can you showcase your brand most efficiently and effectively as possible?
The answer might be brand photography. Instead of showcasing your brand through a single word, you could showcase your brand through a thousand different words with the art of brand photography.
An image is easier to process rather than a block of text. Of course, this doesn’t mean that any random image will do. With brand photography, you can capture the essence of your brand and communicate with your audience through curated visual experiences.
In this article, we’re going to dive into the world of brand photography and explain to you why you need it in your business today.
What is Brand Photography?
When we think of branding, what comes to mind is often logos, colors, and fonts. However, there’s more to branding than those three things. Branding consists of so many different elements, like photography.
Brand photography is defined as a set of professional images that visually represent your business or brand. These images are usually in line with your brand’s visual identity through colors, tones, props, sets, and many more. The photos can range from product photos to behind-the-scenes shots.
Below, we list some of the most common types of brand photography used by businesses today.
Headshots
A headshot is defined as a portrait by a professional photographer usually used by a professional to represent themselves through social media or agencies.
It is a chance for individuals to reveal themselves to the world and is usually used for personal branding photography or professional brand photos. It gives your profile or brand a face.
Depending on your brand’s visual identity, headshots can be colorful or muted— the options are limitless.
Behind the scenes
Behind-the-scenes photography gives your audience a chance to take a peek at how your brand functions behind the lens. It shows what goes into creating your product and service.
This type of brand photography is excellent for building credibility and connecting with your audience since it shows them your vulnerable side. It’s also great for emphasizing your product or service’s unique aspects.
Client interaction
If your business involves interacting with clients regularly, having a set of photos of client interaction is great for showing potential clients what working with your brand is like.
As a business owner, this helps increase brand credibility and trust. Giving potential clients a glimpse of how you interact with your clients might reduce their concerns and hesitation to work with you.
Detail shots
If you want to show off your product’s details, a good way to do it is through beautiful detailed shots. These images can be shared on social media and websites.
Detail shots are aesthetically pleasing to the eye and can be useful for your brand in the long run. Not to mention, they’re great at catching people’s attention because of their simple yet unique touch.
Interiors/Exteriors
Professional brand photography can also come in handy for showing off your office or workspace. Whether it’s your office desk, your favorite part of the store, or where customers love to spend their time in, interior or exterior photography is great for providing more context about your brand or business.
Logo and Branding
There’s a significant probability that your brand has a logo and that you have merchandise with your logo on it. Logo and branding photography can help show off your brand with curated photos.
These types of images can help showcase your brand’s logo and increase brand awareness. For instance, if you have branded bags, tags, or cups, you can show them off through brand photography.
Products
Whether you have physical or digital products, it’s important to have professional photos of them to show your audience. These photos are pretty straightforward and usually show your products.
These images can be uploaded to your website or social media and can be used to drive sales and show your audience the products you sell.
Hobby and personality
Lastly, there’s hobby and personality brand photography. These types of photos are especially useful for those looking to work on their brand.
If you want to create an instant connection with your audience and give them a glimpse into your personal life, hobby and personality, brand photography is a great way to do that.
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Why Is Brand Photography So Important?
According to research, 82% of consumers are more likely to trust a company and 77% are more likely to purchase from a company if the founder or brand is on social media.
What makes a social media profile successful is great engagement and most importantly, compelling content. Since social media relies on visual elements to build engagement, images play an important role in a brand’s ability to perform on social media platforms.
Brand photography is also important for your brand’s overall marketing strategy. Brand photography focuses on helping you connect with your audience.
So, if you want to create a great first impression, you need to have content that is in line with your business’s visual identity and branding.
Here are four reasons why brand photography is important:
It helps tell your brand story
Your brand’s story needs to make a good impression. The best way to reel in your audience is by impressing them with curated images that represent your brand.
Other than telling your brand’s story efficiently and effectively, it also keeps them engaged. Utilizing brand photography also ensures that your brand’s story is still aligned with your branding and visual identity.
It connects you with your audience
Connecting with your audience requires you to publish content that interests them. Although articles do a great job of keeping your audience engaged, the use of images can make connecting with your brand easier.
Brand photos are needed to help your audience connect with your brand because it gives them a visual idea of how your brand operates.
It elevates your brand
Other than helping you connect with your audience, brand photography can elevate your brand. Good brand photography gives a sense of quality and professionalism to your brand.
Sure, you can use any picture but having curated and specialized images fit for your brand can be a good investment in the long run.
It increases brand consistency
Poor-quality images can show your potential customers that you’re not that serious. By investing in brand photography, you can communicate to your audience that you take your business seriously.
Having consistently branded photos shows professionalism and credibility, which is something you want to show to potential clients.
How Can You Use Brand Photography in Your Business?
The good news is that there are a lot of ways brand photography can be useful for your business. You can use it for your marketing materials, bespoke images, and even a few photos for your personal brand.
Below, we list six steps to start implementing brand photography for your business.
Begin conceptualizing your brand’s image
Before you start taking any pictures, you need to know what image you want your audience to perceive when they see your brand. So, begin by conceptualizing your brand’s image and the types of photos you would like to take.
A good way to know what brand image you’d like to show to the audience is by conducting a target audience analysis and get to knowwhat they want and respond to. You would also need to know what goals you would like to achieve with your brand.
For instance, if one of your goals is to increase engagement and a large portion of your audience is female, then you might want to invest in branded photography that is more feminine to create a sense of connection.
Start taking photos
Once you have an idea of what kind of image you want to show to the public and a few key shots in mind, it’s time to start taking those photos. If you have all the equipment and skillset to do the job, it’ll save you a lot of time and costs.
However, if you need some professional help, don’t hesitate to call a professional photographer to give you a hand.
Curate your collection
When you have some shots and photos ready, it’s time to curate your collection. By now, you’ll have a bunch of photos to choose from and they might seem disorganized. To get them into order, organize your images based on your needs. We prefer organizing them in these categories:
- Website design
- Social media content
- Stock photos
- Product photos
- Behind the scenes
Whenever you need an image for your website revamp or latest social media post, you won’t have to rummage through a bunch of files. It will also decrease the chances of uploading duplicates.
Build a solid style guide
To keep your brand photography consistent, it’s important to have a solid style guide. For those who are just starting with brand photography, having a style guide might be new to you. So, don’t worry if you don’t have this yet.
As you start to grow your collection, you’ll start to see your brand’s style develop. This is a good time to pick and choose elements that you want to keep and what not to keep. Don’t rush this process and take your time with it. The important thing is that you have a few guidelines your team can follow.
Edit your images
It’s rare that you can get a perfect shot on the first try. The reality is that most amazing photos go through a thorough editing process and that’s nothing to be ashamed of.
You don’t want to publish photos that aren’t finished yet, so it’s important to edit accordingly. The editing process may take up some time, but don’t let that discourage you.
Tell your story
Lastly, when you have finished editing your branded photos to perfection, it’s time to publish it to your audience so they can take in your brand’s story. Remember to publish them in the right places and ensure that everything is aligned with your branding and visual identity.
Final Tips: Do’s and Don’ts
Now that you know the steps you need to take to start using brand photography for your business, here are 5 final tips you need to know before you start working on your brand photos.
Stay consistent
The style guide is there for a good reason. It’s supposed to prevent you or your team from straying too far from your brand’s visual identity, unless you’re looking to revamp your brand. So, try your best to stay consistent when creating your branded photos to maintain brand image and not confuse your audience.
Hire a professional
If you don’t have a knack for photography, we recommend hiring a professional photographer or team to give you a hand.
A professional photographer will be able to advise you and ensure that the photos will be top-notch, which means you won’t be wasting your time and money.
If you’re not comfortable on camera, a professional photographer can help you feel comfortable during your shoot. Hiring a professional photographer will help you reduce mistakes and make the process seamless.
Don’t use stock photos
Stock photos can be handy but we don’t recommend using them for your brand photography. You want to make sure that your brand photos have a personal touch and using stock photos won’t give you that personalized appeal.
Don’t over-edit images
Editing your photos are needed but it’s important not to go overboard with the editing process. So, edit your photos with caution and only make the necessary changes. Focus on making edits that improve the quality of your photos instead of trying to change your photos as a whole.
Practice preparing a brief
Lastly, practice preparing a brief. Creative briefs are usually needed when working with photographers or creatives. When you know how to create a creative brief, it makes the creative process easier and ensures that your team or photographer understands what you want and what’s right for your brand.
Conclusion
Brand photography can be an effective part of your branding and marketing strategy. It allows you to connect with your audience and tell your brand’s story through visual experiences. Start building your brand’s photography collection with high-quality images by hiring a professional photography agency.
