If product photography won’t help you achieve your business goals, then why do it? Can you tell if it did? If you can’t, that is the first thing you need to tackle.
Product photography is, unfortunately, the kind of task that is often left till the very last minute & it is only done because it has to be done. This leads to compulsive decision making instead of objective & goal oriented decision making. Having a roadmap leads you to your destination, having none, means you either arrive by luck or go round in circles.
Here are some things you can do, to ensure your photography investment grows your business for you.
Have a Goal
What do you want to achieve with the investment you are putting into product photography? Are you launching a new product and want to create awareness? Do you want to refresh the look of your product images to boost your sales? Define your goals in a measurable way so they are easy to track.
E.g. I want to shoot this new product and drive efforts to increase awareness by 30% in the next 3 months.
This is essentially your roadmap, you have given yourself a plan of what you need to achieve. Now, every decision that you make should align to your goal.
Measure the impact of your investment
When you haven’t defined your goal clearly, it becomes very hard to measure the impact of your photography. Yes, you shared it online, yes you printed a poster. However, what was your goal? If its sales, how did the photography & all the decisions around it help you achieve that goal?
How do you determine the amount of sales your photography investment contributed? If it’s brand awareness, how will you determine that? It will take you or your staff a bit more time to do this additional task but it will grant you and your business the ability to make the right decision based on data. Some common ways to measure different goals:
- Sales – increase in walk ins, increase in calls, increase in messages, increase in enquiries
- Brand awareness – increase in brand mentions (There are various online tools to help you achieve that)
The truth is, apart from photography, there are other aspects that contribute to your sale or brand awareness like the copy you use with it, or the promotion you are driving or selecting the right location for you billboard.
So how do you filter down to get the micro data for photography specifically? It may still not be pure but you will be able to see which communication is leading to certain types of numbers. You can for instance, when sharing the images give a CTA to a new landing page, meaning all those people are from that post or poster. Or you can request for feedback from your customers using a survey, use a unique QWERTY code (QR code) to lead them to specific web pages etc. This will give you more accurate data.
Also, don’t be afraid to experiment with different photos & communication & measuring which one works.
Through scanning the QR code, the team at Unilever will know how many people interacted with their POS display & image.
The QR code was directing to a recipe book that you could download. It becomes easier to track the number of downloads, the people who also scan but don’t download.
Brief your photographer in detail
Your photographer doesn’t know what goal you want to achieve with your photography, they only know you need the images urgently in 3 days. Therefore your photographer can’t consult with you and advice you on how best to achieve your goals. Briefing your photographer correctly and giving them your vision goes a long way in giving them the right inspiration to deliver for you.
So the next time your photographer shares a brief or asks you questions don’t dismiss them with “It’s just a simple shoot…..”
Tell your authentic story
We all draw inspiration from different people and our own environments. However, these things that you find inspirational should help you articulate your own story in your own way. Novelty is selling in the digital space at the moment. So if you are able to offer your own unique point of view (POV), you become differentiated. I mean, have you seen the 5minutes craft Instagram page? They do all sorts of annoying things yet they have a shocking amount of people who still watch & complain in the comments section. It’s OK if you still do, we won’t tell on you.
Not telling you to become 5 minute Crafts, probably not the best example, but your uniqueness is what the world needs you to contribute to it. How does this affect your photography? Photography is part of storytelling, use it.
Sell the lifestyle not the product
There’s a reality show on Netflix called “selling sunset.” It’s not called, selling you the best luxurious 5 bed roomed houses. Those facts come later. Sell the lifestyle that your product affords your customer, what they get out of it. Most of us get lost in driving the sale rather than how our customer’s life will change for the better. That is why it is good to have a strong “Why for your business.”
This applies to your photography.
Don’t sell them the water, sell them the hydration, the health benefits. How do you do that with photography? See the images below? Who do you think is selling water & who do you think is selling hydration?
Do we want to make money from our photography? Of course we do! However, you know what will make us even more fulfilled? Knowing our photography helped you achieve your business goals & objectives.
Want to talk about your production investment & how it can create more investment for you? Reach out to us here.
