As a small business owner, I understand the difficulties that come with trying to establish your own company. There are so many things to do, so many aspects of the operation to manage, and endless costs to cover. You need to market your product or service in order to earn new business, but you need to afford the costs of marketing. It’s the old dilemma of “what came first?”
With so much to think about, it seems that most design firms, trade professionals, architects, etc… forget about the visual side of marketing and the images that represent their work. Leaving little to no budget for photographing and documenting your work can really hold the growth of your business back, as you’re not always showing off your work in the best light, and in turn limiting the overall effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
It takes time and continued effort to devise a marketing strategy that works best for your particular business. We are constantly trying new things, testing campaigns, and evaluating what will cause the phone to ring and your website to flood with traffic. Fortunately, one simple boost to your marketing campaigns can be paying a professional to photograph your projects to create a strong portfolio of your work rather than relying on someone else’s stock photos (for the same price, actually…).
Plan Ahead
Photography is an operational cost often overlooked, or neglected until a need arises. If you plan for photography costs from the beginning, you will be able to afford it when the time comes. I often speak with potential clients that need professional photographs of a completed design project, but they don't really have a budget for it. Planning ahead for marketing is the solution. The budget for professional photography can be established before the need arises. If an interior designer considers the cost of photography when estimating a project, that operational cost can be built into the designer's fees. Then when the project is completed, funds are already set aside for professional photography.
I highly suggest to anybody looking to hire a photographer, or build a new website, or start a pay-per-click campaign, that you budget for photography from the start. If not, then you are forced to pay out-of-pocket, and you reduce your profits. If you include photography in the costs of doing business from the time of estimating and pricing, and you’ll never have to worry about affording this key component of your marketing campaigns again!
If you are an architect, engineer, builder, developer, or interior designer and you need great photography to showcase and document your work, contact us to see how Arris Photography can help.