The importance of good quality images in promotion is often neglected. Imagery is one of the cornerstones of the visual promotion of a company or project. Most major companies are well aware of the appropriate and professional approach to this. This includes quality visual material, which includes photographs, sketches, illustrations, infographics… The well-worn phrase “a picture says a thousand words” is actually quite true. We humans are first and foremost visual creatures.
Quick solutions
Of course, smaller companies (and larger ones too, make no mistake) often use instant/generic solutions, which are not necessarily bad, we just need to know how and where to use them. I’m talking about online image databases (iStock, Fotolia, Shutterstock, …), where we can find really good quality solutions that often cover basic needs, especially when it comes to symbolism and “image” presentations, backgrounds or lifestyle presentations….
But sometimes these solutions are not enough. Because nowhere on the web will we find a good photo of our product or service. Logically, we cannot and should not mislead our customers/subscribers with images of something that is not really ours and use generic images to do so, where the product merely resembles what we are selling. Such pictorial material is unique and must be made just for us.
This is where it often gets stuck, because production (photo, video, illustrations) costs money, of course. This is usually where people start going down the wrong path. Everyone knows someone who bragged about their photos from Bali last autumn, and there’s no way they couldn’t have taken one of ours. She has a good machine. We’re going to put up a sheet wallpaper in the garage, and I’ve got to have those lights from the building site somewhere in case it gets too dark… And for the price of a pizza and a beer, we’ll get it all sorted. Excellent! Is it?
Cheap solutions that aren’t
Unfortunately, entrepreneurs do not realise that this “pizza with beer” will indirectly be much more expensive. We are not stupid, and if we come across a presentation where it is obvious that savings have been made in this area, we quickly get a subconscious signal of suspicion. So if the seller values the product and their customers so little, then it is unlikely that they will actually buy or order a product of good quality. You probably wouldn’t trust a professional to install new windows on your house just because he can do a lot of things around the yard and will do it for the price of Sunday lunch?
So when we plan a promotion, it is essential to think about these things and to allocate a certain part of the budget to them. This will pay us back very quickly and richly in the long run.
It is important to be aware of the fact that a handful of good and great photos makes a much bigger impression than a lot of mediocre or below-average ones (the latter can actually have the opposite effect). The same applies to video presentations. It is better that films are short, clear and well edited. Nobody but masochists watches a shaky camera and 5 minutes of footage.
So the bottom line is – less content, and the content used should be really good quality. This will achieve the most important task of promotion, which is to attract OUR ATTENTION in the first place, in addition to providing information.
Tomaž Berčič
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