To hire a photographer… or not
If you run a small business or a nonprofit organization, every marketing dollar has to work hard. While you know you have to be frugal, you also know how important it is to promote your products and your mission.
A key part of that promotion is staying at the top of the attention of your customers, clients or donors. This takes repetition, lots of communication, and frequent use of images that reflect who you are.
That’s why every nonprofit and small business reaches a fork in the road when it comes to marketing: hire a professional photographer or do it yourself. It’s an important decision that involves either investing in your marketing assets or shifting your internal culture to take photos and stay organized.
When to hire a pro
You don’t have shutterbugs on staff– If you’re shy in asking people to take their photos or if you or your staff aren’t passionate about photography to learn about the latest skills, equipment, or software, you need to hire someone. Incorporate annual or semiannual photography shoots into your marketing plan and budget.
Your staff is what you do– When your staff is in the public eye or when it’s their talent and skills that make up what you do, make it a priority to get annual headshots and editorial photos of them at work. This is especially important for highly service-driven companies and nonprofits like banking and financial services, legal services, or social work.
Your location is your hub of activity– No cell phone camera can truly capture the spirit of a building, a storefront, or a center for your community. Hiring a professional can help you convey the feeling of your physical space in your print and digital marketing assets.
How to go it alone
Encourage staff to take lots of photos– Cell phone cameras are getting better every day. Support your staff in capturing moments by allowing them the time and funds to experiment, learn skills, and have the latest equipment through stipends and professional development training.
Practice good camera etiquette and digital hygiene– Take lots of photos, but have a good system for saving them. Delete bad shots from your phone or camera before they get downloaded to your files. Have a system in place for tagging photos or identifying the people in the pictures. Ask permission before taking people’s photos and have photo (and sometimes location) releases on file. Print marketing materials always need high-resolution photos too, so think ahead about the file sizes of your pictures.
Faces. Always faces.– Even if your trade is in products or services, everything comes down to a human connection. Take photos of people and focus on their faces first. This is where you’ll find smiles of happy customers, clients and staff. Selfies and groupies are wonderful ways of putting people first on social media and in your marketing work.
If you’re planning to do your own photography in-house, check out this free “Intro to Photography for Marketing” guide created by Kyle Wege of Crimson Sun Studios. It might be just the knowledge source you and your team need to help improve your marketing materials.
Stacy Harbaugh is a writer at Unstuck Communications and is the Social Media and Community Specialist at designCraft Advertising.
Reach Stacy at editor@unstuckcommunications.com