Marketing & Design

Adding Photos to your Corporate Brand Image

by: Vicki Morris | Marketing & Communications Strategist

The question is not should I use photography in my branding message, the real question is how much am I willing to invest in professional, hi resolution images to communicate my brand message.The last time you looked at a magazine, or scrolled through a branded Instagram feed, did you linger on beautiful pictures of people who seemed to be conversing with you? Was there something about their gaze, or mood that captured your attention? You believe, even if it’s just in that moment, that the person in the picture is communicating directly to you. Now the quality of the image is super, super important. After all, we are talking about your branding message. You want to convey professionalism, quality, reliability, and experience. Add these tips on images and resolution to your corporate communications and just watch the perception of your brand quickly gravitate to an even more positive sentiment in the minds of your audience.

Size Matters: Make sure your images are a high enough resolution to not look grainy when enlarged, and not too big to cause your website to lag when loading.

Cell phone images? If you know how to frame your images, and adjust for lighting needs, and how to edit to get the best outcome with your images without losing too much information in the image, then use your phone to capture great images to use in your social media and web content. The best option here, of course, is to learn to use a professional DSLR camera. They are relatively inexpensive. You can find a decent one around $500. Believe me this is a bargain. Experienced professional photographers won’t use cameras at this price point, but they too started somewhere, and most likely with one of the mass market type DSLR cameras. Once you learn a few fundamentals, you can capture images like a PRO!!!

Professional headshots: Hire a trusted photographer that does a great job capturing your persona. About every 3-6 months you should have a new series of headshots that you can use for various marketing and promotions for your business. Stock Images are you Friend!!!Do not be afraid to purchase stock images to use on your social media platforms and your website. It’s also a good idea to have a graphics person on hand to manipulate the stock images and combine the images with other elements to create an on message brand image for you. This is no easy task. Finding the perfect mix of stock images can take hours, so be prepared to put the time in or pay someone to put the time in :)

Buy Editing Software: There are many apps on the market that do a good job on editing images. However, if you want to be assured the application can handle every image format, and large file sizes, invest in the professional software and learn to use it.

Now, most small businesses may not have the bandwidth financially to have a graphics designer and a photographer on staff. This is an excellent function to be outsourced. This is a must if you are serious about your brand image. There are many independent marketing, branding and communications firms that are happy to work with you.