Environmental Headshots

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These are from a series of location headshots of employees that I created for a company's website. They were shot on location at the company's headquarter's in NJ. The goal was to make everyone look likable and approachable. The man with his head centered is the company president.

Click on the link to see more examples of my headshot photography.

Most Photographers Just Don't Get It

The purpose of your images should always be to increase sales. They should be eye-catching, convey quality and create desire. 

Unfortunately, many professional photographers, graphic designers, creative directors and ad agencies just don't get it. They get so caught up in their desire to "be creative", win an award or copy the latest fad that they totally miss the point. They forget that the whole reason they're hired is to increase sales.

Buyers are bombarded with information, overworked and more than a little busy. They'll search for a particular product or service and they'll compare your website or brochure with your competitors. Most will quickly scan your materials and look at the photos to get a feel for the quality of your company and what you're selling. 

Because we think in pictures (think of your car - does an image come into thought or do words?), images influence perceptions. You'd better have images that convey quality, create desire and build trust. Images that are at least as good as your major competitors and preferably better.

The photos you use create powerful perceptions of your products or service. High quality professional photos provide a great return on your investment through increased sales.

Images that aren't high quality create the perception of an second rate company and cheap products. The money you think you're saving is small compared to the sales you'll lose.

Images that increase sales will return profits that far exceed their modest cost. Cheap shots  will cause you to lose sales without you even knowing it.

Ghost mannequin photography

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With more and more people buying online, clothing manufacturers need to have images that are both attractive and descriptive. Great photos both increase conversions and reduce returns. 

Ghost mannequin photos are increasingly desired by some apparel manufacturers. They offer the advantage of showing the clothing without the change in shape caused by laying them flat or the expense and distraction of having them worn by models. They require much more time to create than photographing them flat, but if you want to increase your internet sales they can be a great investment.

Think of the internet as a dating site

The internet is a giant match.com, and your website is your "listing". You're competing with other businesses to attract people who are deciding who to "ask out" (someone they'd like to do business with). They're searching, and they're comparing you to others. They have MANY to choose from.

If you were on a dating site what would be the first thing you'd look for?

If you're like most people, you'd check out their photos. What if they didn't have a photo? Would you think they had something to hide?

What if you saw a photo of Angelina Jolie or George Clooney on someone's listing? What would you think then? Could you trust them? That's what happens when the photos used aren't theirs. They're called stock photos.

Most people compare the photos, then if they like what they see they read to find out more.

If you want your website to attract new business, great images are vitally important. It's foolish to skimp on photography because we buy with our eyes. Your website is being compared to others. Lots of others.

You need images that attract, create desire and inspire trust. If you don't have them, they won't even read about what you have to offer. They'll just leave your site and go elsewhere.

Painful, isn't it?

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, beautiful 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.

Stock photos make you look the same as everyone else.

They give you a website that says as Seth Godin puts it: "We're the same, we're the same, we're. . ."

He goes on to say: "Sometimes, we try so hard to fit in we give consumers no choice but to seek out the cheapest. After all, if everything is the same, why not buy what's cheap and close?"

You need images that show your uniqueness. Stock photos can't do that.

How much should you budget for your photography?

This is a key question that buyers need to ask themselves before hiring a photographer.

A skilled photographer may be able to create a much better image in 5 minutes than a less skilled photographer could create in an hour. Nevertheless, every image, every piece of art, is going to reflect the thought, time and energy that goes into it.

It's said that Leonardo da Vinci spent 4 years on the Mona Lisa. Now, I'm sure that that wasn't continuous effort. It probably sat in a corner for a while and he'd look at it and think "That fingernail could look better" and then change it. At the same time, he was a great sketcher. Are his sketches as good as his paintings? Of course not. He put much less thought, time and energy into them.

Likewise, with photography, I can crank out a quick snapshot or spend a day or more creating a single image between photography and Photoshop.

When my clients come to me and ask for a quote, the major question in my mind is "What is the proper amount of time that I should devote to each image?" What drives my decisions (and the buyer should also be thinking of this) is "What approach is likely to give the buyer the highest return on their investment?"

If a company's use of a photo is for internal use then they should probably take their own photos or buy cheap stock photos. They just need a "sketch".

But if a business wants images that will attract customers, enhance perceptions and increase sales then it's a whole different ball game. They should spend enough to ensure that their marketing materials and websites are effective. People compare websites and brochures to decide where to buy. Because we buy with our eyes, the importance of the photos can hardly be overstated.

However, you don't want to overspend on photography either, you want to maximize your return on investment.

You need to figure out:

How much profit is involved in an average sale?

How many times a year does an average buyer make a purchase?

How many years do we keep an average customer?

Multiply those three numbers together and you get the value of an average customer to your business.

With that number in mind, you can make a much more informed choice on what you should be spending to get new customers and how much you should spend on photography.

Think of it as buying a customer. If an average customer has a value of $2500 to you would you be wise or foolish to try and save money by hiring a cheap photographer? If the photos that they took brought in just one less customer a year, your savings would be more than wiped out - those photos would be costing you more in lost business the longer you used them.

Another way of looking at it is this - if you go with a cheaper photographer, the most you stand to gain is the difference in price from the better photographer. The amount you can lose from lost sales may be much greater. They may make your marketing ineffective. If you go with better photos, the most you could possibly lose is the difference in price from the cheaper photographer, but the potential upside from increased sales they bring is unlimited.

The better you understand what new customers are worth to you, the better you can communicate to your photographer how good the images need to be to accomplish your goals. Let him or her know what you're trying to accomplish with your photos. Then you'll get an estimate that better reflects the type of image you should be using.

What are you trying to communicate?

Before you design your website (or corporate identity piece), it's very important that you decide who your target audience is, what their problems are (or what they want), and how you can help them. You can't appeal to everyone, and shouldn't even try.

Think about how the goods or services that you provide are different than your competitors and what type of buyer receives the greatest benefit from your unique way of doing things. Then decide on how best to communicate to those buyers what they'll gain by purchasing from your company (and what they'll lose if they don't).

Only after this is done should you decide on what images will reinforce your message and how they should be executed. The photography should be crafted with a consideration of what you want to communicate and who you're appealing to.

You want images that show your uniqueness, are believable, convey quality, work together stylistically and strengthen your brand.

Recent project for a website

This is one of many images created during a one day photo shoot for a company's website. I was hired to create images of their staff and facilities. They provide imaging analysis for the biotech industry.

Use photos that show your uniqueness.

Your sales copy, headline, and photos are all made stronger the more unique they are.

We are surrounded by a sea of companies all trying to get our attention, and most of them are just copying what most in their industry are doing because they haven't thought things out.

If your headline and sales copy could be used by your competitors, you're not giving buyers any compelling reason to buy from you. You must emphasize what makes you different.

Likewise, your photos must do the same. They should convey some of the "personality" of your business, and it must be obvious to the person viewing them that these photos are of real people and show your real facilities. That's the only way to foster trust, which is exactly what stock photos do not do.

Your photos should also have captions whenever possible, as they're read much more often than sales copy. This way you can communicate many of your benefits whether all of your sales copy is read or not.

Make yourself and your differences seen

One of the biggest problems in business today is the intense competition caused by our ability to produce things faster than we can consume them. Because of computers, almost every task can be done faster and more efficiently. Fewer workers are required to do any task. So you have more products and services available than there are people who can afford them or even have time to use them.

Take movies or books for instance, how many can anyone possibly see or read? How many other things are competing for our time and attention? We're all very picky then about where we spend our time and money, so you have a situation where a few products and services do very well and the rest don't.

If you want your business to be one of those few that do well, you have to stand out and be different. You can't look like everybody else. You have to be visible and communicate your unique benefits very quickly (people are in a hurry).

Photos that are strategically created to communicate your story can give you that winning edge that tips the scale in your favor. They communicate the advantages of what you provide far faster and in a more convincing way than words alone, words that may not even be read. Don't just tell them what makes you the better choice, show them.

Learn from Apple

Apple has some of the best marketing and branding (and products) on the planet. Learn from them, study their website - www.apple.com.

They understand that people buy based on their emotions and then look for logical reasons to justify their purchases. They get people to pay a premium for their products (premiums which I happily pay myself). Look how they use images to communicate their message.

They use beautiful images and almost always combine them with a caption or headline. (They understand that people are busy and that photos communicate much faster than words.) People also read captions on photos much more than body copy.

They use large photos on each page. Photos that make their products look great.

They have more photos and less words - only increasing the amount text as the viewer is drawn into learning the details about the products benefits and features.

They never, never, never use stock photos.

Almost every selling point is reduced to a few lines or a paragraph and has an accompanying photo or illustration. They say less and show more.

They communicate beauty and simplicity with everything that they do. Their products, their marketing, their packaging, their instructions, and their software. All of these things strengthen their brand, increase their sales, allow them to have higher profit margins, and improve their customer's experience and satisfaction.

They get it.

The role of marketing.

To understand the role of marketing it's essential to understand the way that buyers decide what and where to purchase.

First, a buyer recognizes that they have a need or desire.

Then they seek out information: they have questions. Marketing's role is to educate buyers about what needs your product or service fills and the special advantages that you offer. You can't appeal to all buyers in all ways (you can't be seen as the top quality provider and also the low cost provider). You must carve out your own niche that appeals to a segment of the buyers and then educate them. You must answer the question "Why should I buy from you?".

Your marketing should act both as filter and funnel. It should filter out the buyers who you aren't meant to serve. It should funnel the rest to either buy or contact you for more information (in a frame of mind that's predisposed to doing business with you). Then it's the role of sales (one on one selling) to fine tune the presentation to their specific needs.

If your marketing doesn't educate, if it doesn't clearly explain why they should choose you, then it's not doing its job. You'll lose sales. They'll leave your website in a second to look elsewhere.

Photos are an excellent way to educate. They speed up the process since the brain understands the information in a photo so much faster than text. They provide a way for clients to connect with and relate to you. But only if you use images that are uniquely yours.

If you use stock photos you'll look no different than everybody else. They don't educate and inform. Buyers will wonder what your hiding. Stock photos undermine trust, and without trust you'll lose sales.

Stock photos are the new clip art.

If you're trying to differentiate your business from the sea of look-alikes in your industry you must understand that stock photos aren't going to cut it for you. Stock photos are the new clip art. That's all they are. Most are crap. Any competitor of yours can use the same images (along with any other business in any other industry) and there is nothing strategic about them.

I realize that I have strong opinions about this and motivation for doing so, but I really believe every word that I'm saying. I believe that stock photos have only very limited applications and are are a smart choice in only very limited situations. (They're excellent for making sub par businesses look as good as an average player in their industry.) To show my sincerity in all this, I've never submitted a single image to a stock photo agency in my entire 35 years in business as a photographer. During this time, many other photographers were telling me that I should be doing this to earn additional income. (And I could have really used the money at the time.)

Use them at your own peril. Most people can tell that they're stock. They don't inform. They don't make you look unique. They don't inspire trust, they undermine it.

In short, they make you look second rate.

Target your ideal customers

In today's marketplace you must differentiate yourself from your competition. You must design your website and your sales copy so that it targets your ideal customers: those that benefit the very most by purchasing your service or product.

This branding will make you stand out from a sea of clones who copy what everyone else in their industry does. Their websites all look pretty much alike. Because they try to appeal to everyone, they don't have a strong appeal to anyone. Will this specialization turn off some potential customers? Yes.

You have to give something up to get something else. Strong brands repel as strongly as they attract. However, the customers that you lose are not the ones that you want, and you'll make it up with repeat business from those who you're meant to serve.

My website (www.Quindry.com) for instance is geared to business. My ideal clients are those that want to either increase their sales by attracting new customers or wish to improve their image (or both). I don't shoot weddings, babies, model portfolios or pets. The people that I am not meant to serve usually leave my site as soon as they see my home page. That's fine. My website communicates what I do and who I serve. It's meant to attract only my ideal clients.

Yours should too. You'll gain much more business than you lose.

What does your website say about your business?

For many businesses, their website is the primary place where new prospects get introduced to the company. Search engines have replaced the yellow pages as the place buyers turn to for information when looking to buy products and services.

Your website creates the first impression they get of your company, and first impressions are powerful and lasting. It must be relevant, easy to navigate, convey quality, instill trust and show what makes you different from others who provide similar products or services. If it doesn't it's as easy as a mouse click for them to go elsewhere.

So what does your website say about your business? Does it make you look like an industry leader or like everyone else in your industry? Does it clearly and concisely explain the benefits you offer over your competitors? Does it show your staff, your facilities and your products in their best possible light? Do you come off as first class or third rate? Do you provide social proof - testimonials of how others have benefited by doing business with you? 

Using a template makes you look like everybody else and makes you look second class. Stock photos also make you look second class and erode trust - people will wonder what you're hiding. Everybody knows they're stock photos. Who do you think you're kidding? Using photos that aren't professionally done makes you look cheap and doesn't make a good first impression.

Selling to the overwhelmed

We're all overwhelmed. Too much information and not enough time to absorb it. Too many choices to make whether we're buying breakfast cereal or mustard. It used to be that if you wanted to buy a phone you had a choice of a black desk model or a black wall phone - now you have dozens if not hundreds to pick from.

What does this all mean? It means we have no spare time. Doing something means not doing something else. We're overwhelmed with too many features on electronic devices. Features we don't understand or even care about. We yearn for things that are simple, direct and easy to understand.

Apple understands this. They design products for simplicity and usability. They have raving fans (including me).

It's all about clarity. In an age where we're bombarded with information it's more important than ever to communicate in a way that's simple, direct and that leaves no room for misunderstanding. Websites should be simple and easy to navigate. Copy should be short and easy to read.

Also use custom photos to communicate your message. They speak volumes and can be understood in seconds. They're perfect for simplifying and speeding communication. They provide clarity.

The lifetime value of a customer.

Appreciating the lifetime value of a customer is key to both understanding the importance of marketing and how crucial it is to provide both top notch products and superb customer service.

First of all it's always more profitable to retain a customer because it's estimated that it costs three to four times as much to get a new customer than it does to retain a current one. 

You'll still always be wanting to add new customers though, both to grow your business and to counteract attrition of your current customer base.

You can estimate the lifetime value of a customer by taking the profit from an average sale, multiplying it by the number of times a year an average customer orders, and then multiplying that by the number of years that you retain a typical customer. 

Work out the numbers for yourself. If you're in a high margin business the lifetime value of a customer can be huge. When you realize how valuable each customer is, you'll know how much you can afford to spend on marketing to "buy" a new customer. You'll also better appreciate your current customers.

You'll also know how much money you're losing every time a customer doesn't respond to your marketing. Cutting corners on your marketing can be very expensive indeed.

That's why it's so vitally important to make your website and brochures the very best they can be.

Website traffic isn't enough

So many businesses spend a fortune on search engine optimization (SEO) and Google ads thinking that if they increase their traffic that the business will just flow in.

So naive.

Traffic is important, but that's not nearly enough. You have to clearly answer the reason why people should do business with you while at the same time conveying quality and building trust.

A website only as strong as it's weakest link. Design, copy, graphics and photos must all work together to reinforce a cohesive message, show what makes your service or products special and give compelling reasons to do business with you.

If you use stock photos and/or templates you'll just look like everybody else. You'll never build trust.

Visitors aren't captive like they are in a sales showroom. On the web, they're only a couple of clicks away from your competitor. 

If your website isn't generating sales or at least leads, you'd better re-think it and change it.

Quote of the day

"That's when it hit me. The site is more important than me."

 Harry Knowles