A picture paints a thousand words

They help us visualise what a place will be like, whether we would like to go there, shop there and in some cases, even want to be seen there, so it is essential to give people a positive visual image of your business online.

What to avoid:

It may be tempting to use stock images; after all, they are professional but the problem is, they do not reflect your business and don’t give people the visual image of your business they are looking for. These days, most people will spot a stock image straight away, so minimise their use in your business as much as possible. When people look for your business online, they want images of your premises, your customers and yourself, not of a generic business in your industry. If anything, it will make them think your business looks so bad that they are best to avoid it altogether. Images must represent your business.

It may also be tempting nowadays to grab your smartphone and snap some quick pictures. Ever gone into a restaurant, opened the menu and discovered an array of fuzzy pictures meant to entice you, but instead they just put you off your dinner? They are usually combined with photos taped to the wall to promote a current offer, printed on pieces of white paper that rolled off the inkjet printer at home, which is running out of yellow. These are the desperate attempts of a business owner snapping some quick shots on their smart phone in a last-ditch attempt to save some time and money. However, it will cost them more in the long run in lost customers and revenue.

Trying to cut corners in getting your visual image out there to save some money or time has huge downfalls; it looks bad on you! It’s obvious that it wasn’t planned and in the end, low quality photos translate to low quality ingredients.

So, what should you do?

Think about how you want to portray your business, your products or services. If you look cheap, expect people to look for cheap and get used to the question ‘How much?’ However, if your images communicate quality you will attract customers who value quality and are willing to pay for it.

You don’t need a large portfolio; nine or ten good quality images will suffice. And you can always get more taken at a later stage. In fact, it’s a great way of keeping your business images fresh and interesting! So, have a think about the key images you need to give your customers a clear and concise visual of your business.

Here, at thebestof we offer a fabulous photographic ‘kick-start’ package, together with the option of video (that’s another subject) for all our new members and once you have your professional images, you can use them all over your website, social media channels, and marketing materials. We don’t believe in marketing our clients without quality images; after all, a picture paints a thousand words.

If you’d like to know more, please call Ian Noble on 01424 858932… We can help you get your business found and noticed! Professionally taken images will do just that!