Great Photography: Why It’s Still A Powerful Marketing Tool
March 31, 2011 by Rick Smith
Filed under All Posts, Marketing, Photography
Credit: Dorothea Lange Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USF34-9058-C
Why?
People really enjoy looking at photos.
A photograph gives you pause and a chance to really look at it, extract details about the image, and then commit it to memory.
You’ve seen how really powerful photographs can change the way you think about a subject. Who can forget that haunting image of Nick Ut’s award winning photograph of the young Vietnamese children running from a napalm strike. Or the images from the battlegrounds of the Civil War.
Photography is the first medium that brought reality to people’s doorsteps in a visceral way. Illustrations, while powerful, were just not the same.
Because photographs contain a frozen moment in time, they are a different experience from watching a video. Think of the stark portraits taken during the Great Depression. Those black and white photos have the ability to communicate so eloquently what even films cannot do.
Ansel Adams’ timeless landscape photos would not have the same power on film.
Photographs are more portable than video.
Another advantage of photos is their portability and ease of viewing. You don’t necessarily need a computer, smart phone, iPad, iPod or anything like that. Photo paper can be a low-tech option.
Social media thrives on photographs.
In the wildly popular social media world of today, people represent themselves, their friends and activities with photos even more so than video. Don’t forget to use your photography arsenal in your social media marketing.
Quality – and a caption – is important when posting your photographs.
Yes, photos still play a crucial role in your marketing messages, but all photos aren’t created equally. The better the photo, the clearer the communication and the greater the impression.
When you add photos to websites, blogs and social media sites, don’t forget to add the icing on the cake – a well-written descriptive caption. I try to write one or two sentences that turn the photo into a micro-story. Be creative and have fun with it. It has been proven that people will read the caption under a photo before they’ll ready anything else on a page. Hint: this is also a great place to put your link back to your website!
Photography is the basis of video.
Like I said at the beginning, all the marketing buzz today is about putting videos on your website. However, don’t forget that video, like movie film, is simply a series of photographs played so fast that the eye and brain interprets it as motion (persistence of vision). So, if you learn the fundamentals of good photography such as composition, lighting and the effect of aperture and shutter speed on an image, you’ll quickly see your videos improving, even if you are just using your cell phone for a camera.
And, let’s face it, photography is fun!
Our first attempts at making a ‘video’ were made from a series of photographs interspersed with text (on black screen inserts) which we put together with the likes of free services from Animoto and OneTrueMedia so although they enabled a finished ‘video’ it wasn’t exactly a work of art
We have now bought a Kodak Zi8 and have been experimenting with it but the first ‘hurdle’ to get past is now the sound of our own recorded voice within the video narration… it sounds so unlike what we imagined we sound like to others!?
Next up will be actually seeing ourselves as part of the video recording and we know that will likely produce a similar reaction and reluctance to be featured ‘on camera’… we hate having our picture taken at the best of times! LOL
We guess the above hurdles are suffered by everyone at first and we are hoping that making videos will become easier with practice… at the moment everything seems so unnatural and awkward
Gary & Val
Gary & Val,
Baby steps. At least you got started with Animoto. That’s as far as many people go and I think they really miss out on the power of sharing themselves and their unique personality on video when they worry about how they will look or sound.
It is very weird to hear your voice and look at yourself but trust me, once you start doing it, you will find it easier to watch and listen to yourself. Kim made a video and wrote a post last year about that very thing. You can read it here: http://howtosellyourvideos.com/2010/03/get-over-yourself-and-get-your-web-video-out-there-bringing-you-business/
Thanks for your comment. Post your link to your videos so we can see how you’re doing them.
Rick