Aside from the fact that humans are visual creatures, pictures can also express messages more efficiently than words. This is why marketing experts consider imagery one of the most important aspects of branding.
Building a visual branding strategy can be straightforward with careful planning, the right attitude, and expert help. This is where commercial photography comes in handy.
To ensure you’re ready to hire expert local commercial photographers for your product photos, you must first study the basics of this type of photography and how it can boost brand awareness.
What is Commercial Photography?
Commercial photography encompasses images used for advertising, company websites, product catalogs, and the like. It can come in a lifestyle shot, product photos, or creative snaps of various subjects – objects, people, or places.
But what sets it apart from other forms of photography is its intended use. Any image intended for selling a product or service is included in this category.
4 Benefits of Commercial Photography for Brand Awareness
Commercial photography is all about promoting an offering. With guidance from branding experts and the expertise of professional photographers, you can use commercial photography to boost awareness of your brand effectively.
Here are the four benefits you can expect from commercial photography:
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Credibility and trust
Since the dawn of e-commerce, commercial photography has played a vital role in the success of brands. Now that every offering – product and service alike – needs to be presented in front of the customers, the importance of these images has grown even more.
When done expertly, commercial photography can help capture the essence of a brand by presenting the company’s offerings accurately.
In contrast, pictures that look different from the actual products cause higher returned-product and dissatisfaction rates. This situation causes a loss of revenue and reflects poorly on the company’s brand image.
Using original and expertly captured pictures, you can put your offerings into a proper context (e.g., lifestyle product shots showing how the items can be used or appear when used).
In other words, commercial photography sets the right expectations for your target audience. This prevents disappointments and establishes your brand’s credibility, reliability, and trustworthiness as a product or service provider.
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Brand impact
First impressions last, whether it’s a date or a product ad.
If you want your brand to succeed, you must make sure it can capture and retain people’s attention.
While you can do this in several ways, only a few are as efficient as commercial photography. People tend to remember information better and faster with a visual aid than words. After all, humans are hardwired to process images more quickly than text.
This means consumers can remember your brand more easily if they associate it with a clear and unique concept, like a color combination, a logo, or photo quality.
All this serves as the hallmark that differentiates your brand from the competition.
And since commercial photography focuses on the product (the most critical part of your brand identity, producing high-quality and engaging pictures allows your brand’s uniqueness to shine. This can influence your target audience’s purchase decisions if done the right way.
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Audience engagement
Standing out in a highly competitive market is almost impossible without commercial photography.
Sure, you can use stock photos to fill in the spaces on your website and break up text blocks, but do they make any difference?
More often than not, they lack the originality and emotion necessary to help people feel connected to your brand. After all, stock photos are generic images that may not accurately reflect the unique “feel” of your brand.
To build a lasting connection with your target audience, implement emotional marketing in your brand strategy. This helps brands connect with the audience deeper and more emotionally.
With emotional marketing incorporated into commercial photos, you can create brand imagery that resonates with your audience through specific emotions: happiness, excitement, curiosity, or sadness. Those feelings can trigger customer engagement (i.e., shares, reactions, or comments), raise awareness about your brand, and even influence purchase decisions.
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Consistency
Besides providing a clear representation of your offerings, commercial photography also ensures brand continuity through consistent image quality.
Quality, in this case, is not about the clarity of a picture or whether the angle of the shot is visually appealing.
Instead, it describes the specific vibe the photos exude. This can be achieved through adjustments in photography elements, such as the shoot theme and color grading during post-production, based on your brand strategy and audience persona.
For example, a brand that targets consumers with active lifestyles can benefit from vigorous shoots showcasing people in motion. Some also utilize more vibrant image quality to connect with younger audiences.
On the other hand, companies that aim for a classier appeal tend to do well with silent-looking backgrounds and muted hues. This image quality is also perfect for brands focused on sophistication and elegance (e.g., luxury items).
Again, it’s all about the emotions and ideas the pictures evoke. When done consistently, these deeper connections are reinforced and more effective in generating brand awareness.
Take It to the Next Level
Take a holistic approach when establishing your brand. Besides using the same color palette, logo, and fonts across the board, you must also ensure brand consistency in your marketing images. For example, use commercial photography to boost awareness and bring your brand closer to becoming a household name.
