Transforming the ordinary

Too often, companies think that what they have to photograph is too ordinary and not worth shooting. With the right viewpoint and the right light, nothing is ordinary - everything is extraordinary.

 This image was created for a business to business ad for a manufacturer and distributer of party supplies. 

Great photos can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.  They capture attention, convey quality, build trust and create desire. And they're memorable. 

Don't think for a second that you'll save money by doing it yourself or hiring whoever is the cheapest.  If the images are part of your efforts to gain new customers it's false economy to go cheap. Shoot cheap and you'll look like a third rate operation. Don't believe me? Buy a balloon; photograph it; compare. If your image falls short, then anything else you shoot would fall short of how it could look too.

Perception is everything. Cheap photos won't attract new customers. The money you'll save that day pales in comparison with the income you'll lose by failing to attract new customers. Great photos aren't an expense, they're an investment. 

Quote of the day

"Art is the elimination of the unnecessary."

Pablo Picasso

You only have one chance to make a good first impression

For most people the web has replaced the Yellow Pages as the place to find products and services. If the purchase is large or important to them they'll often cruise several sites before deciding where to take their business.

They'll compare websites and the information provided on them to see who they're most comfortable doing business with. They'll get their first impression of your business from your website and first impressions are lasting.

How does your site compare? Does it show what makes you different from your competitors and how these differences benefit the customer? Does it make you look professional? Does it build trust? Does it enhance your image? 

Using professional photos of your key people and facilities goes a long way toward building trust and attracting those customers that you're best suited to serve. Done properly, they'll do much to enhance your image. 

Your site and the images on them control how you're perceived by potential customers. You don't need the best website in the world, you just need one that's a little better than your competitors. One that conveys meaningful information and builds trust.

Fortunately, this is not difficult as many of your competitors probably use stock photos. Images that don't provide meaningful information and that make them look just like everybody else. 

Quote of the day

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

David Ogilvy

Photos speed communication

We all know that a picture's worth a thousand words (some say ten thousand). The actual number doesn't matter, but the point is that complex stories can be described with just a single still image.

Today, people are overworked and in a hurry. Very few will take the time to read all of the text on a website or brochure. They skim, they scan. 

But they'll look at your photos if they're meaningful (and read their captions if you provide them). The mind can absorb in just a few seconds what paragraphs or pages of text attempt to communicate. 

Choose photos that are meaningful, relevant and that show what makes you unique.  Stock photos do none of these things. 

Seeing is believing and believing leads to buying.

Quote of the day

"Seeing is believing and believing leads to buying."

Harry Beckwith - marketing expert and author

Buying new customers

The best way to think of marketing is that of buying new customers. If you spend $1000 and get 10 new customers then it cost $100 for each new customer. Whether that's profitable or not depends on how much you make on an average sale and how many times an average customer reorders. 

If you make very little on each sale and your customers don't tend to re-order then you can't spend much of anything to get new customers, but if you make a large profit on each new sale you may not be spending nearly enough. 

If you can buy a new customer and still make a profit then you should increase your marketing budget until you have all the customers you can service. 

Quote of the day

"If you don't know where you're going, you will wind up somewhere else."

Yogi Berra

When is the best time to start building a brand?

The answer's the same as it is to the question:  "When is the best time to plant a tree?"

Twenty years ago.

The next best time is now.

Quote of the day

"We can't become what we need to be by remaining what we are."

Oprah Winfrey

Brands are a shortcut to buying

We live in a world with too many choices. Whether you're looking for a telephone or an accountant the choices can be overwhelming.

Few people are interested in devoting a week of their life to try and figure out which product or service is the best available. Even spending that amount of time wouldn't guarantee that they chose the very best.

Most people are just looking for a very good, safe choice. That's where the value of a brand comes in. 

Those buyers who choose Apple products probably buy them not because they're convinced that they're the best that money can buy, but because they're an excellent, safe and easy choice.

Quote of the day

"The fact is, everyone is in sales. Whatever area you work in, you do have clients and you do need to sell."

Jay Abraham

What is a brand?

A brand includes, but is much more than a logo, company name and a tag line. It's really something that exists in the minds of customers. It's the sum of everything that they see, and hear about a company and their experiences with that company and what it sells. 

In an era where there's an overabundance of products and services to choose from, establishing an effective brand is vitally important. Without it you're just like everybody else and the only reason to choose your product or service is if it's the cheapest.

You already have a brand with those who know you, however, it may not be the brand that you wish it was. It's about taking control of how people think of you and what you offer.

It takes years to build a successful brand. Your company has to stand for something. You have to be totally consistent. Everything buyers see and read about and experience from you has to point to the same thing. It's about trust. It's a promise of performance. A brand is a type of insurance for the customer, because it makes them feel safe and secure. 

An effective brand will attract those that it's meant to serve and repel those that it's not suited for. Brands that try to appeal to everyone appeal to no one. Brands stand out from the crowd by being perceived as better and different from their competitors, and the photos that they use in their marketing are an important element of that.

Quote of the day

"All you have to do is know where you're going. The answers will come to you of their own accord."

Earl Nightingale