Posted by
Ryan Watts
on
21/03/2011
Recent blog posts of ours have focussed upon the importance of strong photographic images in marketing.
Good photography is crucial to marketing for retail, as we have seen in a previous post, but perhaps the most wide-ranging area is the Internet, where marketing is carried out through advertising on websites, via email and via social media. There is an ever-growing proliferation of businesses developing online presences, from large department stores to small enterprises and even businesses operating solely over the web. Many of these businesses will attest to the need for good photographs of products, but perhaps it isn’t quite so helpful to look only at businesses in this matter. Each of them is dependent upon customers – so perhaps we should be canvassing online shoppers, too, to find out what they value most about online shopping.
The New York Times recently produced a study of online shopping, one of the conclusions of which was that shoppers intentionally disregard poorly produced, decorative or generic photographs – and that their decisions are made in seconds. The key word here is ‘intentionally’. Represented by mediocre or poor photography, products that might otherwise have a wealth of potential can be entirely ignored by their target audiences. While it is true that shoppers look at the specifications of products as well as the photographs, it might be regarded as a wasted opportunity to accompany these specifications with images that fail to add much to the perceived value of a product - or, at the very least, to grasp customers' attention.
For photographs that capture shoppers’ attention and hold it for a significant length of time, that generate interest in products, that show them at their best – both technically and in contexts that contribute towards creating a character and a brand for both the product and the business – the most effective way forward is to work with a photographer with knowledge, experience and expertise in creating concepts and bringing them to fruition.
With these elements in mind, the Packshot People are an ideal point of contact for quality photographic images - mixing a creative approach with a high degree of professionalism.