Are you considering group shot photography? Don’t miss all the ways you can use these shots to jump start your digital marketing.
What’s the first thing you do when you need a new product or service? I don’t know about you, but at the top of my list is a Google search and a quick peek at the websites that interest me.
So what happens when I click on a prospective company’s website? Usually, the first thing I’m looking for is some general information about the business and the person delivering my service. I briefly survey the homepage, and then navigate to the About page for a deeper dive. If there’s a “Meet Our Staff” page, I always click to see who I may be working with and learn a little bit about them.
But what happens if I click on the About page and find nothing but a measly paragraph? There are no photos, no bios and nothing interesting enough to teach me about who you are and what you stand for.
Honestly, that’s all it takes for me to move on.
If there’s no information about the team, that’s also a red flag for me. I want to be able to learn about the people I’m working with — before I make the decision to commit.
Why Do You Need Group Shot Photography?
Besides the obvious appeal of a stronger website, group shot photography and staff photos have enough branding power to be one of the first marketing initiatives on a business’ list. But they’re often surprisingly overlooked.
Here are three reasons why group shot photography should no longer be last on your list:
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Your marketing campaigns need content.
The part that most businesses miss when they jump on the digital and visual marketing train is that, first, you need content to fill your marketing. Before you launch the greatest email marketing campaign Santa Clarita has ever seen, you need top-notch, gorgeous, professional photos, videos, graphics, etc. If you don’t have visual content to start with, what is your visual brand actually selling? A strong foundation for your visual brand includes all the visuals you need to make a strong, branded impact in your marketing. Along with professional headshots, a staff photo is at the top of that list.
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Consistency is everything.
While a good marketing campaign is diverse in its platforms, that is precisely why you want your visual brand to be consistent. Your visual brand needs to be immediately recognizable, so when your audience sees it across many different platforms, they can make the connection.
A staff photo is an essential piece of that foundation because it gives the entire team a consistent look. Everyone wears similar colors and styles of dress. Everyone is photographed and edited by the same photographer. And, most importantly, everyone is present in the picture, which sends the message that you’re all in it together — and everyone is treated equally. Consistency is established within the company, so it’s also communicated outside the company.
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Emotion drives it home.
I respect a company that respects its team enough to put their faces on the wall — Facebook or otherwise. And I bet I’m not alone. People love faces. They want a “face” on everything, from Progressive Insurance to the iconic founder of Apple.
Faces are filled with emotion. So when you put a bunch of happy, smiling ones together for a staff photo, you’ve just created a lot of feels: unity, appreciation, teamwork, collaboration, loyalty. The list goes on. While logos and graphics are incredibly important visual brand tools in their own rights, they don’t give you the warm and fuzzies like a good ol’ fashioned staff photo.
And emotion is the foundation of effective branding. You want people to feel things — the right things — when they see your brand. What better way is there to tell a positive, emotional story than to start from the beginning: with the faces that make it happen every day?
How Does It Work?
Maybe you’re considering a team shot, but the logistics are driving you crazy. How can you make this happen without getting the team in a tizzy or shutting down business for an afternoon?
At SchlickArt, we offer several customizable options to approach team photos in the easiest, most efficient way possible — without sacrificing quality. When a business is interested in shooting a full set of staff headshots and a group shot, for example, we approach each project a little differently, giving us maximum flexibility and efficiency.
The first thing you can expect is a call from Co-owner and Head Photographer Lindsay Schlick. With Lindsay, you’ll hash out all the details to make your dream shoot work for you. When you book multiple staff members for back-to-back headshots in one day, for example, SchlickArt’s special packages make it worth your while at a discounted rate. Lindsay can even shoot individual headshots in a way that allows them to be pieced together into one stunning group shot.
With many options and approaches, SchlickArt not only helps you get the photos you need but also helps you design a shoot that works for your business.
About SchlickArt Photography and Video
SchlickArt, a boutique photo and video studio in Santa Clarita, started in March 2012 with the simple idea that empowerment creates a kind of beauty and authenticity that shines through every camera lens. Built on a philosophy — rather than a product, service or person — SchlickArt has rapidly evolved, meeting professional portraiture, business photo and business video needs as diverse as the community we capture. It’s the desire to take care of you, the client, that drives us at SchlickArt.