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Modern marketing has evolved into much more than colorful business cards and overenthusiastic ads in the local paper (does anybody even buy print anymore?).

In today’s image driven world, everything tied to your company’s appearance has an impact on your target audience. While your logo and tagline are essential to branding, so are the images you choose to convey your company’s culture and curate its overall image.

That’s where professional photography comes in to play a major role in your company's perception by the most important judge- your customer.

Stock photos

Stock photos are professional photographs of different subject matters like people, nature, landmarks, events, or common places used for commercial or creative purposes. These images are found in stock photo databases and can be sold and are generally purchased in two ways- royalty-free (user may use image with little restrictions on one-time payment) or rights-managed (user is allowed one-time use of image and is required to purchases additional license for other uses).

As accessible and diverse as stock photography is, it does come with its downs. How many times have you come across the same image among different businesses and industries? This overuse of imagery can cause your brand to lose visual impact and cost you the connection you can potentially build with your customer. Stock photos can be perceived as generic, cliché and dated, especially with overuse. Oh, and let’s not forget the licensing restrictions previously mentioned.

Private professional photographer

Professional photographers are hired at an hourly basis and can charge anywhere upwards of $100, depending on location, difficulty of shoot, among other factors (turnaround time, number of pictures, retouching, etc.). Under US law, the person who presses the camera shutter owns copyright to the image, not the subject in the image or the owner of the camera. However, the photographer may grant you unlimited license for the photos.

Original photography provides a personal approach to your visual content allowing you to engage with your customer on a more intimate level. For instance, if you are a government agency looking to promote a community event on your website, you may want to display images of the actual members of your community to make a connection. If it’s a product you’re marketing, original photographs with your own personal touch could be the difference between “sold out” and “clearance.”

Don't know how much to spend? Take your annual marketing budget and dedicate 5-10% towards photography assets. Depending on the result, decide whether you can invest in original photography or if you should dedicate the budget toward purchasing stock photography. 

If you can't afford a private photography session, it's OK to use stock photos as long as they are consistent with your branding. As your company grows, your marketing budget will also increase and eventually you will need to invest in original photos as our customer, Cigar Stud, had to do as his business exceled.

Professional photography is a valuable resource in today’s business world helping numerous up-and-coming and established brands (does Coca-Cola ring a bell?) alike leave lasting impressions amongst their target audience. To learn more about how professional photography can help improve your company’s vision and other modern marketing techniques, call 1-855-4-INREACT!