These days stock photography is easy to get and convenient to use. Brands use it in promotional materials, on their websites, and social media. And stock photography is a wonderful tool that certainly has its place. But in this blog, we'll cover some ways that your brand can benefit from professional business photography.

Professional Photography for Your Business Website

Your business website is your digital storefront. It should be fast, informative, and authentic. It's important that when potential customers visit your website, they see your business. And that's why one of the most important places you can benefit from professional business photography is your website. Whether it's your products, services, building, or staff, professional photography increases your authenticity and credibility to your web visitors. It allows your future customers to get to know your business before buying online or visiting in person. 

When to Use Stock Photography on Your Website

Generally speaking, you should utilize professional pictures to show things essential to your business, like products or services. But there are specific areas where stock photography is an extremely useful tool. For instance, if you run a mowing business, and the design of your website's background will feature a close-up of mown grass, it is perfectly appropriate to rely on stock photography. On the other hand, if you want to show a mowing trailer, it's far superior to have a picture of your own with branding elements like your logo emphasized.

Another area of websites where stock photography can be helpful is on your blog. Maintaining a blog is one of the best things you can do to drive traffic to your website. But you may cover topics in your blog for which you don't have your own pictures. Suppose your mowing company writes a blog titled "5 Hardware Store Products to Help Your Grass Grow." Unless your business sells these products, a generic picture of a hardware store from a stock photography site is perfect.

When to Use Your Own Photos in Your Website

Most smartphones now have a camera that exceeds the standards of many digital cameras from ten years ago. That means you have the opportunity to take pictures of your services, projects, and products on a daily basis. While these pictures are rarely of a quality to feature in your website's design, they are perfect material for blogs or project galleries. At Zimmer Marketing, we highly recommend consistently taking photos of your business in action!

Photography Licensing

A final point on website photography that we should address is licensing. It is easy these days to fall into the trap of downloading pictures from the internet and using them for your business. But using photos without attending to the licensing can result in you having to pay fines for copyright infringement. Be sure always to make sure you have the rights to use stock photography. One of the benefits of having professional photography of your business is that you will be sure you won the rights. The same is also true of any pictures you take yourself.

Professional Photography for Print Materials

The considerations for your company's print materials are much the same as with your website. Generally, you'll want to use professional photography for brand-specific elements of your print materials. For example, at Zimmer Marketing, we recently created these new flyers promoting our policy of putting your brand in your pocket:

Zimmer Marketing's professional photographer, Jason Dittmer, took the photo for this flyer. The photograph needed to show Zimmer Marketing's branded thumb drives.

Photos for Social Media

All three photography categories can be used in social media, including professional, personal, and stock images. However, social media is where the pictures you take shine! Social media users expect to see authentic content, and business pictures taken on your smartphone are perfect for social media. It still pays to have good lighting and focus (everyone prefers attractive photos), but perfectly polished professional photography is not as essential in this format. 

Professional Business Photography from Zimmer Marketing

Are you ready to touch up your brand's image? Zimmer Marketing offers professional business photography! Our web developer, Jason Dittmer, has many years of photography experience and has helped businesses all over the four states craft their images both on and offline. Contact us today!