Before hiring a photographer for your business, part 2
Many times, my discovery calls with new clients I haven’t worked with before go something along the lines of this:
“I’d like to get some images done because I want to make some changes to my website and do some marketing stuff . . . I don’t have any specific marketing goals, I just want to grow my business . . . and I think some new images will help me do that somehow.”
Does this dialogue sound familiar to you?
What I’ve come to realise is that many of my clients aren’t aware of some of the important foundational steps that need to be nailed down first, before we jump to making cool photos / videos / content.
Without these first foundational steps in place, trying to create strategic images is a bit like throwing a dart blindfolded at a moving target.
So what needs to happen first before you bring on board a photographer?
1. Clarify your goal(s)
This might be the hardest step (at least it always is for me) but it’s definitely the most crucial piece of information to have nailed down and fixed in place. You need to get crystal clear on your marketing goal(s) for the quarter/year.
Some examples of this could be to boost awareness of a new service you’re offering or increase the conversion rate of your website audience into leads. Pick your target and fix it firmly as the end goal and with this in mind you’ll be able to create a plan to suit.
If you’re really stuck in your goal setting, it might be worth reaching out to a business advisor or marketing consultant to help you get clear on where to focus your energy and resources.
2. Plan with a ‘bird’s eye view’
Now that you’ve got your fixed goal on the horizon, create a ‘bird’s eye view’ plan of how you’re going to achieve it. This is where you gather insights and come up with a strategy to move forward. So, if your goal is to increase your website’s conversion rate that might look like this:
Install software (like hotjar) that allows you to see exactly how your audience flow through your site, where they get stuck, drop off, and etc.
Analyse which pieces of content work best for your site and whether a change of layout might be needed to create a smoother flow.
Draft up a new website layout that helps increase audience dwell time. Decide what content you need, where it will live, and how it educates audience on your product/services.
3. Identify your image’s ‘home’
Now that you know your goal and have come up with a plan of how you’re going to achieve it, you’ll have a much clearer idea of what photo content you need and what that content needs to communicate to your audience.
You’ll also know the primary home for where those images will ‘live’ on your website. For example, with your new website layout you’ll know you need exactly 10 new images and you’ll know exactly where on each page each image will live and the role it will serve. Those 10 image slots will be the primary home for those new images.
4. Hire a photographer
Congrats, you’re now ready to reach out to a photographer! With this information you’ll be able to get really specific on what you need because you’ll know each image’s primary purpose and your photographer will be able to help you ideate cool concepts to suit.
Because each image was created with a specific goal in mind, you can feel confident that you’ve now got strong, strategic visuals in place working with your website content to drive home your messaging.