They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But, in the case of marketing a product, no amount of words can substitute for accurate, professional images. Imagine, for example, reading that a shirt is “blue”, or that a used car has “a little rust on the fender”, or that a home is “spacious.” These kinds of verbal descriptors demand accompanying images to specify, clarify, and augment a written description. No matter what your product is, or who your target market might be, professional product photography is essential to gain the interest and confidence of your potential consumer.
Why to Use a Professional
A professional product photographer can work magic with a camera and lighting, which goes far beyond simply accurately capturing the product. Good photography makes sure that the pictures are accurate, of course, but also enhances your value proposition far beyond that. Professional product photography also:
- Captures a style. With lighting, staging, and angles, photographs show off the style and design, conveying a mood and emotion to the viewer.
- Documents your differentiators. Good photography captures specific features and differentiators of your product. Whether it’s indicating relative scale, unique design attributes, or action shots, it sets you apart from the competition.
- Validates your claims. Potential customers want to see proof of your product claims. Product photography verifies and supports the value statements you make about the product.
Professional Product Photography Pays Off
A professional photo shoot may seem expensive at first glance. However, high-quality images can be distributed throughout all your marketing endeavors, and form the cornerstone of a campaign. Images are highly desirable content across multiple channels and are a key investment in all promotional activities. Here are just some of the ways to use your product shots:
- E-commerce. Amazon is the powerhouse of online retail, shipping over 1 billion items last holiday season alone. But whether you are selling on Amazon or Craigslist, it’s best for your portfolio to conform to the Amazon standard. Try filling 85% or more of the image on a pure white background with pixel dimensions of 1000 or more. A robust array of product shots that conform to the Amazon standard will support any e-commerce channel you use.
- Social media. Pinterest is the home of social shopping, with 150 million active users. Of those users, 87% have purchased a product because of the social site, while 93% use Pinterest to plan purchases. While Pinterest allows text overlay that Amazon does not, the standard of product over a white background does well on the platform, and high-resolution images can easily be modified to the site’s vertical specs. Whether marketing on Pinterest, Instagram, or other social sites, product images are highly compelling content that gets eyes and generates traffic.
- Web. It goes without saying that your product photography will add value to your website. It lends credibility and value to text, features, and testimonials. High-quality images also make a website more interesting and retain attention better than long paragraphs of text.
- Presentations. Product photography should also be included in pitches and presentations, and it looks much more professional than clip art or stock photos.
- Video. Finally, video is the fastest-growing type of content on the web and will comprise 80% of all web traffic by 2019. Your product photographs can easily form the backbone of an advertisement, demo, or another piece of video content. Furthermore, adding video to marketing emails boosts click-through rates by 200-300%.
With all these ways to use professional product photography to attract, intrigue, and convince your customer, there’s simply no reason to not invest in this critical resource. And you can get an even greater ROI by planning these uses and deployments ahead of time. By working with the photographer to make sure your portfolio is both deep and versatile, you can support all your marketing endeavors. Now and into the future.