Who is your target audience?

Your marketing will be much more effective if you tailor your message to a particular target audience. Those people who have absolutely the most to gain by using your product or service.

People buy for their reasons, not yours. You must figure out all the benefits of what you offer, who will benefit the most, and how to communicate those benefits to them in a way that gets and holds their attention as quickly as possible. Photos greatly speed up communication, but they too must be crafted to communicate the message you want and designed to appeal to the demographics of your target audience.

Quote of the day

"The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck." Tony Robbins

Recent assignment for a jewelry ad

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This image was created for a full page ad for jewelry from Alaska. It will appear in magazines on Alaskan cruise ships in addition to posters.

The jewelry is intentionally the sharpest part of the image so that the viewer's attention is drawn to it. Everything else plays a supporting role to frame and draw attention to the jewelry. 

The cuffs of the coat form the top of a heart.

Quote of the day

"Advertising is totally unnecessary unless you hope to make money."
Jef Richards

Images for print ads.

You have only a couple of seconds to grab a reader's attention, and a great image is often the most effective way to do it.

When people look at ads, almost all of them look at the image before they'll even think about  looking at the words. However, the image must relate to what your selling, otherwise you just create confusion and people won't bother to read your ad.

The image should be custom made to reinforce the words in your ad. If you don't, you risk wasting your entire ad budget. If you're selling a product it should also create desire.

Quote of the day

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."
Confucius

Recent assignment for a magazine cover

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This image of a fund-raiser was produced last week for the cover of a Philanthropy magazine. More space was left around her than is shown above to allow room for the masthead and type on the sides. The magazine requested pastel colors for the background so the background was made lighter and also softer to allow for better readability of the type. She brought a couple of different colored jackets and when I saw that one closely matched the colors of some nearby flowers, I decided to use this jacket and position her to one side of the flowers so the colors would repeat. I wanted something both soft and upbeat.

Images communicate best when they are tailored to fit the use, the desired mood, and the audience. The style and approach taken must vary based on the situation. There should always be a combination of planning and an awareness of new possibilities when producing an image. A photographer who produces images that always look similar is more like an omelette maker (who just knows how to make one thing) than a chef. A really good chef has the imagination to take a bunch of ingredients at hand and whip up something wonderful. Same with the best photographers. 

Quote of the day

" "Think simple" as my old master used to say - meaning reduce the whole of it's parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles."
Frank Lloyd Wright

It's not enough to just have images that get attention.

Many who don't know better often think "All I need is a photo that will get attention", figuring that a viewer will then read the copy. It's not that simple.

In the case of an advertisement you do need an image that will stop viewers from flipping past your ad, but it's still not enough. Attention is really very easy to get. An image of a train wreck or a dead cat will get attention, but it most certainly won't make people want to buy. The image also needs to increase desire for the product or service that you're selling.

If your talking about images for a website, attention doesn't even enter into it. If they're at your website already you don't need to get their attention, you've already got that. They're there for information. You need well executed, pleasing and interesting images that communicate benefits to the viewer. You're selling trust, and images such as these go a long way to providing the information and trust that they require before they'll buy.

Quote of the day

"I don't regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information."

David Ogilvy