Five Reasons Branded Photography & Video is Critical to Your Business

When you think of your company’s brand, what comes to mind? It’s probably your logo, color palette, and typography. Why? Because these things are visual representations of your brand. And as visual representations, these elements are critical to telling your story and building brand recognition with your customers, among other things. However, there’s another key visual component that often gets left out of the strategy or put on the back burner for later — and it’s just as important as the rest of the elements in your brand kit.

What is brand or branded photography?

Brand photography is a collection of unique, professional images (still and video) that visually represent your company to your customers. These photos also fit with your visual identity through their use of color, tone, props, sets, and more. Branded photography could include photos of you and your team in action, your workspace, your products, concepts, and anything else that can visually convey your unique message.

Why do you need brand photography?

From your social media channels and website to printed marketing materials, your brand photography is the first glimpse a prospective customer gets of your company. Your images should fit together seamlessly with your other branded elements, like typography and color palette, and should tell a story to your customers. While it may seem easier to purchase a few stock photos and call it a day, having your own unique brand photos could be a game-changer for your business.

Here are five benefits of using your own brand photography and video.

1. Having your own photography saves you time and money.

While stock image sites can be a good place to find a photo or two and can be a good resource when you’re just getting started, having your own images will save you time and money in the long run. Every content marketer or creative director can tell you how they’ve spent countless hours trying to find the perfect image for a website, marketing piece, or blog article. Having your own photo library will make choosing images easier and give each piece of content you publish a unique look. Plus, if you invest in a branded photoshoot upfront, you will have your own branded images to use repeatedly. This will save you money on stock photos and helps create brand recognition.

2. Having photos unique to your brand differentiates your business from your competition.

When you are spending your time creating content or producing materials for your business, you want to ensure that what you are putting out is unique. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the same stock images on different websites, ads, emails, and other materials — especially for certain industries. 

Remember, if you find a great stock image that you love, other companies are likely to use it too. Having your own photography gives you an edge over your competition because your images will be unique to you and won’t appear anywhere else. 

Having your own images also takes your brand to the next level and shows prospective customers and other businesses that your products and services are unique and worthwhile.

3. Using your own, branded photos creates authenticity.

Producing and using your own branded photography allows you to highlight the things about your business that are truly important to your company. A client of mine was skeptical about spending the money on having their own photos until we walked into a tradeshow and found the same photos we used on three other booths — right next to theirs! We started booking shoots the very next week. With their new images, they not only stand out from their competition but also convey their brand through mood, style, and color. As a result, they communicate the concepts they want to get across more effectively. 

People tend to react more strongly to images than to written content. That’s evident in the higher engagement videos and photos get on social media than posts with just text.

4. Photography helps your customers get to know you better.

Highlighting your work and team visually throughout your marketing gives clients an idea of who they would be working with or the types of services they would receive if they chose your company. Brand photography lets your customers see your operation behind the scenes and makes them feel more comfortable with your company. If you are selling products, brand photography is critical to provide customers with better insight into what they might want to purchase.

Photos with real people take your products and services from seeming unattainable, conceptual, or hypothetical and bring them into reality as something tangible, achievable, and desirable.

5.  Having your own brand photography helps you tell your brand’s story better.

It’s no secret that having your own photography makes your business look more professional and polished. But it also allows you to communicate what you offer more clear and compelling. 

For example, my client, ServiceChannel, has a top-tier software platform and other offerings for the facilities management industry. However, the service provider and facility managers represented in stock photography are typically in contrived situations, with only hard hats, fake uniforms, or dated suits. The photos are not diverse and are not high-end — like the ServiceChannel products. These photos also make it seem that ServiceChannel does not understand its core audience.

However, the branded photography tells ServiceChannel’s story better and is of much higher quality — representing who they are and who they serve while also on brand.

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Thinking about getting your own photography for your brand? Premier Brand Studio helps our clients create unique, branded photography with a range of budgets.  Set up a call to talk through how we can serve you best.