Why a picture speaks a thousand words for your brand

When it comes to developing your marketing plan, one piece of advice I’d give - don’t forget photography.

Professional imagery is so undervalued and can make such a difference when it comes to engaging customers, bringing your brand to life and promoting your products and services. Stock imagery can work really, however having professional photos that are unique to your brand and showcase specifically your products or service in action really do start to help customers start form a greater insight into what you are about and represent.

Throughout my career I have worked with a number of professional photographers that have been fantastic at capturing the mood, a moment, a service, product or event. That imagery has then be used in a wide variety of ways, and some images are so good and timeless, I know they are still used years later.

I recently caught up with one of the photographers I met many years ago when I worked for the Big Lottery Fund (now National Lottery Fund), Tom Martin. I’ve stayed in contact with Tom throughout my career and it’s been wonderful to see his work feature in huge campaigns for Budweiser, Samsung and TGI. I’m particularly jealous he got to meet my Strictly favourites, Tess Daley and Claudia Winkleman for a Children in Need campaign shoot one year!

Tom shared with me some of his top tips and insights when it comes to photography in brand marketing and why it is so important to consider it when it comes to planning your next campaign.

• What's the secret to good photography? 

I think good photography makes an instant, impactful connection with the viewer. It can transport them and it affects an emotional response. This is obviously hugely subjective to personal taste. For me personally, I’m always attracted to colourful, playful imagery. The world can be a very cold dull place, particularly at the moment when we are being bombarded with bad news. I want to see imagery that brings a smile to my face and transports me to a colourful, fun place. Good photography to me I guess is escapism.

• Which brand do you think is a good example of using photography as an integral part of their brand? 

 There are so many brands that do it well; it’s difficult to single just one out. I think HSBC always manages use really beautiful worldly imagery; they always do good people and places in their campaigns. I’m also a huge fan of fashion adverts and think Gucci always seem to get it right you can instantly recognise their shoots. I think the hallmark of great brand photography is that it is instantly recognisable even without a logo, you could always recognise a Coca Cola shot or a Guinness shot even with no text.

•  Why should photography form part of your marketing strategy? 

Advertising is without doubt a visual exercise and successful campaigns usually comprise great concepts, design, music, motion and photography. Out of all of these elements photography is arguably the most impactful. A great photo can connect with the viewer much faster than it takes them to read a sentence or watch a video, if its done well the way it makes the them feel is instant and unforgettable.

• What's your view on the use of stock images on websites/social? Are they to be avoided or great way of making a brand look professional?

I have no huge problem with stock photography I think the quality is getting better but I think audiences still make associations with it being cheesy or out of date. No matter what you manage to find though it was still not created intentionally for you. I know if I was selling a product of any sort I would 100% want to create my own, truly unique content and be part of the process. I think it can be useful in certain circumstances and save time but I think ultimately anyone who really cares about the quality of what they are doing will want to create their own original content.

• Is there an image from a particular marketing campaign that stands out for you? 

I think a lot of the advertising that is truly lodged in my brain is mostly things from the 90s when I was younger, I’m sure I must in some way still be influenced by some of these. I remember the Spice Girls doing Pepsi adverts, CK One adverts and things like the Guinness film with the surfer and the horses. I think it just shows how impressionable to advertising when we are young.

 In terms of now, I think the Lloyds adverts with the horses are really beautiful; they always stand out to me wherever I see them.

• Which has been your favourite campaign to work on? 

 I worked on a run of Canon product launch campaigns, which I really enjoyed; they were just great creative shoots to be involved with and lots of travel, which is always nice. The most satisfying thing really was that after I’d done a few shoots I was given a bit more creative freedom. I was allowed to quite heavily influence the direction that the campaigns went in from a visuals point of view. It’s always great to have that level of client trust and I feel like we created some really fantastic imagery because I had that freedom.

…Oh and of course everything I have worked on with you over the years Vicky!

So, some great insight from Tom. If you would like to discuss how photography could be incorporated into your marketing strategy, get in touch.