Question: How do professional product photos help my business? 

Answer: Professional product photos are a super powerful marketing investment for product based businesses! They help ensure your clients or potential clients take your business seriously, help boost engagement so that you get more reach, and eliminate red-flags potential customers might see as reasons not to buy from you – and more.

Promoting Your Business Has Never Been So Complicated

Look – I’m not here to lie to you. The more platforms we add to our whole digital world of madness, that business owners have to think about when they’re creating marketing plans… the more complicated it feels to promote your business. ESPECIALLY if you’re specifically a small business owner, and ESPECIALLY if what you’re selling is a product. I mean, you know as well as I do how saturated almost every niche out there is right now, and how many places you’ve got to put promotional material on a basically daily basis to get eyes on your content.

And don’t get me started on being ACTUALLY prepared to ride a viral wave (if your business makes one happen in the first place). Promotion isn’t what it used to be – it’s not mailers through people’s front doors, or billboards. Those obviously still exist, but the world has evolved, and you know what they say – adapt or die.

Standing out Online Takes Stand-out Images

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that standing out online in an increasingly saturated world, means having standout images. I mean, think about it. What stops YOUR scroll? It’s got to catch your eye, right? Especially if it’s an ad, because let’s face it, ads aren’t our favorite thing to scroll across on any of the platforms we scroll through in our spare time. They’re an interruption. So if you want that interruption to actually pay dividends, then it’s going to have to be eye catching, interesting, engaging – basically, it’s gotta be GOOD.

And that means using visuals that do all of that work for you!

But how EXACTLY can Product Photos Help Your Business Grow?

This is where the photos (and videos!) you use to promote your business come in, because in literally every situation, that’s going to be what people use to judge whether they’re going to pause… or keep scrolling. And with product based businesses specifically, who need to be highlighting their products in those photos, this is even MORE important, if that’s even possible.

I can tell you until I’m blue in the face about how important this is, and how vital investing in branded, consistent, effective product images is for your business – but we’re going to break down HOW they help your business grow. It’s a lot easier to justify something like a marketing expense, when you fully “get” what it’s ACTUALLY going to do for your business! So, let’s get into it!

1 – Higher Engagement = Higher Reach

We’re going to start off easy, with one of my favorite equations EVER. It’s my favorite, because it’s so, totally simple. Higher engagement, equals higher reach. Just like everything I’ve said so far, it’s not rocket science. It’s super simple. But “simple” doesn’t mean “unimportant” – because this is KEY to having promotional content on any social platform (and even your website!) that will get your business, and your products, in front of more buyers.

The whole thing is a vicious cycle. You post content. The content gets engagement – likes, views, shares, comments, etc – and because it gets engagement, it gets shown to more people, who engage with it more, making the platform it’s on show it to MORE people, rinse, and repeat. And well done, targeted, branded images of your products? Well they’re more likely to get engagement from the people who need what you sell. And when they engage with it, then that cycle starts. But in order to get to step one – higher engagement – you’ve got to have your content strategy down. And the core of that? It’s visual. Because social media is visual. So if you want more reach, and more customers, and your chance at that “viral” moment (as complicated as dealing with that is when it actually happens), then you’ve got to have a foundation of branded, intentional product images to use in your promo materials. It’s just not optional.

2 – Professional Photos Eliminate Buyer Hesitation

So we’ve talked about how branded, professional product photos can help you get more reach, but what about actual dollars and cents? Because as we all know, engagement on social media doesn’t always translate directly to sales. How do professional product images break down barriers to profit? Lots of ways – but today, we’re going to focus on buyer hesitation.

If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s one of the ways I like to refer to “things that make people go eeehhh maybe not” when they’re deciding whose products to go with to solve a specific problem that they have. In an ideal world, we want all of your customers to go smoothly from “seeing the thing you sell” to “buying the thing you sell” with very few questions. But unprofessional images? Those raise questions. You’ve done it yourself. Think about the last thing you needed to buy on Amazon – when you were comparing listings, you might’ve had some thoughts like “this listing clearly uses all AI photos, so it might not even be real” or “these mockups look like they can’t possibly show the product at its true size”. These are hesitation points.

Professional product photos show your product as it REALLY is. No mocking things up. No AI trying to process the size of your product next to other recognizable items in the frame. And when your potential customers see those images, they’ll know they can trust them, because those red-flags that raise questions, won’t be there. That right there is HUGE, especially if you’re relying largely on online sales, where people won’t be able to see your product with their eyeballs and hold it with their hands in a shop before they buy it.

3 – Consistently Branded Photos Create Brand Recognition

So far we’ve talked about reach, and buyer hesitation – but there are other ways that professional product photography can help your business grow! And I’ve left a big one for last here. Consistently branded photos, used on all of your online and in person presences all over the internet and the real world, helps create brand recognition that you can rely on. It doesn’t matter what you do or what you sell, brand recognition is key to growth. Repeat buyers use it to find you again. Eventually, some brands become so recognizable that they’re synonymous with the product they provide – Tupperware, anyone? Tylenol?

It may not be feasible to aim for the whole “synonymous” thing – but you at LEAST want the people who see your stuff to recognize that it’s yours. And as I talk about a lot, that’s all about consistency! Which… means having intentionally branded photos that communicate with your people FOR you. That one is true whether you’re a yoga teacher, or an embroiderer.

Looking for Professional Product Photos for your Business?

Keeping all this in mind, it’s time to ask yourself a question. Do YOU need new product photos, taken by a professional, to represent your brand to your people? Are YOU communicating what you want to be with your potential buyers? Do your product photos stop the scroll? I guess that was more than one question – but ask them anyway!

And if the answers are pointing to it being time for new professional product photos… let’s talk. I’d love to help build a collection of photos that help your business grow!

Bonus: Take a look at just a few results that my AMAZING team of collaborators and me have gotten for our social media management clients!