Advertising Photography

In a world where perception is often confused with reality, a low-quality image can lead to low-quality perception.
Suppose you are the owner of a restaurant that sells burgers. You are new to the market and people are not yet aware of your ability to make very tasty burgers with the highest quality ingredients. Now imagine trying to sell your burgers without using photos. Hard to do, right?

People may not even notice your advertisement and even if they do, they won't understand how great your burgers are just from the description.

So advertising photography works like a secret sauce on a burger. It makes everything look delicious and makes your audience want to buy the burger.

The saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words" is the absolute truth when it comes to advertising photography and its connection to the world of Digital Marketing.
However, advertising photography - like fine art photography of course - is not about simply taking uninteresting photos but about creating narratives, evoking emotions and building strong connections with your audience.

What is advertising photography?

Advertising photography does not describe a specific type of photography but is an umbrella term that encompasses several genres such as: 

1. Product photography

2. Indoor & Outdoor photography

3. Lifestyle Photography

4. Food Photography

5. Fashion Photography

6. Advertising portraits

The purpose of advertising photography is to promote and sell your products or services while transforming your vision into a dynamic image that fully captures it.

Why do I need professional photos for my brand? 

As mentioned above, advertising photography is vital in the world of digital marketing and communication. Without quality images, it's difficult for a brand to formulate its unique identity. It's like being in a large crowd from which one is unable to stand out, as everyone overlooks and forgets about them the next second.

So what is it about professional photos that will make my business stand out?

They create an authentic visual representation of your brand.

Surely you've happened to stare at the TV or social media and see an advertisement for which you can tell from the start which brand is advertising without the name or logo being mentioned yet. 
Such brands are Apple, Coca Cola, Nike, Nestle etc. 
These companies have a distinct style that differentiates them from the rest. This is what we call a "Brand Identity".  Advertising photography is an integral part of your brand identity and helps create a common aesthetic in between all your marketing platforms making it easier for your customers to remember your brand.
When people start to remember and recognize your brand it will be a focal point for your business as the sense of familiarity they feel will make them choose your products or services over your competitors. 

They improve your presence across all online platforms and help to increase the engagement of your audience.

With social media taking over our daily lives, it's impossible not to have witnessed a funny photo with a witty caption that has gone viral.  These types of photos not only manage to promote a brand but also create an emotional connection with their audience.  People are very likely to start sharing this photo with their friends, creating memes, and even start buying related merchandise like mugs, t-shirts, key chains, etc.  Thus, from a simple image it turns into a cultural phenomenon. 
Imagine this: You are browsing meaninglessly on the internet.. you are indescribably bored, the material you see is repetitive, until suddenly a striking image with vibrant colors stops you unexpectedly. You're like stumbling upon an online treasure chest.

To better understand what we are saying, we will think of the scroll (the scroll wheel) we do with our mouse, touchpad or mobile device (or tablet) as a magic wand. So when a user "scrolls" and a photo comes up that catches their attention, that photo will act as a spell that will activate the wand and the scrolling will stop on it. That's it!  Audience engagemnt was just achieved. 
Whether this photo is of a delicious burger dripping with cheese or a pair of floating sneakers the conclusion is the same. These images scream to the viewer "Hey, stay a little longer." 
This is the power of narrative advertising photography. A viral image that tells a compelling story can evoke strong emotions leaving a lasting impression on your audience. This will potentially lead to an increase in their loyalty but at the same time increase your sales.

High quality images improve the Perceived Value of your products or services.

To further analyze this advantage let's first learn what Perceived Value is. 

Perceived Value is the price that the public is willing to spend for a particular product or service. 
Ex. When we are in a super market and we want to buy a product the Perceived Value is what plays a key role in deciding which brand to pick from the crowd. 
Perceived value is determined by various factors such as quality versus price, brand, design, usability, durability, sustainability and more. 
Among these, quality photography is capable of determining the perceived value of your products or services.

How does quality advertising photography affect perceived value?

Let's look at another example inspired by our everyday lives.

Imagine you want to buy new sneakers from the internet. As you browse you end up on two different websites that both sell the same sneakers at the same price.  One of them contains crystal clear high resolution images of the shoes - from different angles, while the other website has blurry and poorly lit images. Despite the fact that both sell the exact same shoes at the exact same price, you are much more likely to find the pair with the high-resolution images to be more "valuable" and in some cases even pay more money (!) for them. In some even more cases, it is not unlikely that a website that has poor quality photos will be considered completely unreliable or even a scam by some more suspicious users!

So we conclude that advertising photography does not just present a product but helps our potential customers to understand more deeply the value of our products or services.
We can't stress enough how much positive impact carefully taken and professionally produced photos can have on your business.

Summing up, we will observe that advertising photography has a lot of advantages to offer to businesses, which go beyond the visual aesthetic part.

They help in creating credibility and emotional connection with the audience as well as enhancing your brand recognition and social media appeal. Using them will help you effectively convey the story behind your brand, maintain absolute consistency, gain SEO benefits and ultimately manage to gain a competitive advantage in the market!