Attracting Your Ideal Clients Through Professional Imagery
I’m excited to introduce you to my friend Emily Burney, a local professional photographer here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Emily and I met through a small business group called the Rising Tide Society. Emily is such a smart business owner and is constantly keeping her business fresh and ahead of the curve through research and staying on top of industry trends and changes. She is a dreamer and one of my favorite coworking buddies. I’m sure you can tell from her headshot below, but she radiates energy and positivity!
I’m excited to share her guest post today about attracting your idea clients through professional and branded imagery. It’s such a great read with so many tips that you can implement today! Enjoy!
If you want to separate yourself from the plethora of side-hustle businesses out there, you simply must implement high quality photographs into your business strategy. They give your business credibility, and consistency that attracts your ideal clients, and shareability which promotes growth and excitement both for you and your consumers!
When you have quality photographs that represent your company, not only will you make more sales, but you will make more sales to your ideal client. This is because images provoke the emotions you want your clients to feel, and help them visualize the lifestyle your business can give to them. When you create images that attract the clients you want to sell to they’re more likely to not only purchase your products or services rather than you competitors; but your clients will be more likely to share your business with their friends because they feel that you fit their personal aesthetic and lifestyle.
In today’s world we are exposed to so many images through our personal circles and advertisements that it takes something really special to “slow our scroll” and get us actually look at an image long enough to see what message the photo is telling us.
That’s why it’s important that you don’t just use those uninspiring “cellphone pics” you took on the job, or that selfie that made you feel cute. Those are great, and are well suited for behind the scenes avenues like instagram stories. But when it comes to your facebook feed, instagram grid, and website - the only way to stand out is with imagery that represents the quality, professionalism, and excitement that your brand brings to its consumers.
How do branded photos convert clients?
Credibility. We can’t help human nature. We see a crummy photograph of something that could be a really great product, but our subconscious automatically doubts the brand credibility and assumes that the product is likely just as crummy as the photograph. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is. When you take the time to create beautiful images for your content, services, and products you are elevating your brand and building trust between you and your clients.
When it comes to getting your brand in front of new consumers, you may have heard the guideline that a potential client needs to see the product or service in three places before they’ll interact with it. Well, in the same way that hearing or seeing something from three sources builds brand credibility, so does having three or more images of the product you’re selling. It shows your customers that you were invested enough in what you’re selling that you took the time to present them with the most visual information you could about your product.
Imagine if I showed you three cell-phone quality photos and three professional photos of an identical product or service, priced exactly the same. Chances are you would automatically make your purchase from the person who had the highest quality photos. Why? Because you believe they take what they do seriously and they care about you and your buying experience. Quality photos will give your consumers confidence and trust in your products and services.
Consistency. If you are taking the time to read this, I am going to assume that you probably care about your business and the way it is represented. You know that projecting credibility is important, but how do you actually create that quality within your brand? Well, to cover all the details, I we may need to write a whole other blog post on it, but in a word: consistency. Everything that your business touches needs to be consistent. Your fonts, your paper, your voice, and your images! Having a consistent look across all your online platforms hits the nail on the head when it comes to proving you are a legitimate, quality, business who cares about it’s clients. Think of your favorite brand, and go check out it’s website, instagram, and facebook. Chances are their profile picture is the same, they’re copy has the same tone, and their images are quality images that are often being used more than once! As an example of this, take a look at Tiffany and Co’s web presence. You will find a very recognizable color scheme and professional, repeating images. Three different platforms, giving you the same message, creating credibility and trust through consistency.
Share-ability. There’s not a business owner out there who doesn't love it when the content on their websites and social media platforms gets shared. In truth, having your content shared is a keystone to getting your business to grow. Quality photos become paramount to business growth as the likelihood that your creative content gets shared goes up exponentially when the image is pretty, on brand, and of good quality. Nowadays, your client’s personal feeds look as curated as some businesses do, so it’s important that the images you are sharing meet and even surpass your client’s quality standards. Otherwise, they might be apprehensive to share. Likewise, you want your business friends to be able to share and support you without even a hint of a thought that the post will bring down the quality and cohesiveness of their own insta-grids.
In the end, so much of branding is about building trust and people trust what they can see. When you have a consistent brand voice that follows through into your images, consumers take a much easier, shorter path to trusting you with their time and money. Make it easier on yourself and your potential clients by letting quality photographs build trust before you even talk to them! Elevate your brand by creating credibility and consistency through photographs.
If you are excited to start converting clients through branded images, but are unsure of where to start – here are a few tips to consider when getting ready for your branded business shoot!
Start thinking about your target market. Regardless of what product you're selling or what service you're providing this is one of the most important steps. This will help you determine what to wear and what setting you want your photos taken in. Maybe at your shop or store would be best, or perhaps a staged office in a building would better attract your client.
Create a mood board out of your brand colors. If you’ve worked with a brand designer, then you likely already have this in your folder of resources, but if not, isolate your brand’s color palette or ask a designer to help you! Having this board will help you determine what accent colors, back drops, and product colors to incorporate into your shoot.
Ask your photographer about flatlays. I recommend talking to your photographer about flatlay work, or hiring a product stylist to aid you with this. If you’re a salon owner bring your shampoos, hair tools, bobby pins, etc! Are you a carpenter? Consider bringing a hammer and nails, measuring tape, and safety goggles! Your photographer or stylist will lay them out to give you some great filler content for your website and sharing purposes.
I’m so excited for you to start dreaming up your brand’s shoot and for you and your clients to benefit from having beautiful photos to share and get inspired by!
Emily has been working in the photography industry since 2011. She’s an Oklahoma based photographer who fell in love with image making because it combined of two of her favorite things: making things beautiful and helping people. Emily specializes in weddings and commercial photography and loves helping others best-selves shine through beautiful photographs.