The Power Of Creative - Advertising Photography
Updated: Feb 29, 2020
Today's culture consists of thousands of smartphones capturing every moment of our lives. It is very easy to overlook the power of specialized photography. Nearly everyone can take a decent photo these days, but the important question is; should it be used to advertise your products?
In this article, we will answer the following questions.
What is creative advertising photography?
How does it stop mindless scrolling and get your customers interested in what you have to say?
How does it build trust with current and potential customers?
Why do companies invest in creative, advertising photography?
Customers are visual shoppers. It is proven that a customer has formed a first impression within 50 milliseconds of seeing your product. If you haven't caught their interest at that point, it's almost a guarantee they aren't going to read what you have to say. We have to change our thinking from saying the right things, to tapping into the visual nature of your customers. Today's customer sees an overwhelming amount of online content every single day. With the hundreds of advertisements and social media posts, a customer sees every day, how many of them even make a customer read the few sentences written under it, or an even smaller number, buy the product?
The research on advertising photography answers those questions.
47% of customers will not buy a product that does not have high-quality images.
66% state that it's an important part of their purchasing decision.
32% of marketers say visual images are the most important form of content for their business, with blogging in second (27%).
When people hear information, they're likely to remember only 10% of that information three days later. However, if a relevant image is paired with that same information, people retained 65% of the information three days later.
Articles with high-quality images have a 94% greater chance of being read.
What emotional response do you want your customers to have? Many companies don't understand this concept. The right photo can make your target audience feel excitement, happiness, fear, romance, and most importantly; trust. This response from your audience is how you build a trustworthy reputation.
These types of emotional responses can't happen with pictures taken on a cell phone, amateur photography, or a written description. A seasoned commercial product photographer will partner with you to learn your brand, your marketing goals and create content for you that will help you achieve your goals.
Avoid these common mistakes.
Many companies are making simple mistakes that affect their reputation and waste advertising dollars.
In our line of work, we see these mistakes often.
Businesses spending money on social media campaigns that have a cell phone picture, stock photo, or a poor quality professional photo. In this scenario, these companies are paying to advertise to their target market and they are giving them an impression that they will have to overcome later. This problem amplifies when they send out mailers with the same poor content.
Email campaigns with poor photos or no photos at all.
Getting upset with social media when posts don't generate traffic to their website. We have heard countless times, "social media does not work for the type of product I sell." It's hard to accept that it's not the platform letting them down, it's the fact that their content is not engaging.
Many companies have the mindset that they will invest in their online image when they are making tons of money in sales. In today's market, you can't make tons of many selling if you don't properly advertise.
Finally, they just don't advertise. Not only are they 100% dependent on organic growth and luck, but they will also lack any social proof when the customers that do find them, look for them.
Below are examples of creative advertising.