Telling Stories with Photography in your Business

Written by Louise Glendon from Click Love Grow

For those of us without a background in marketing, promoting our business can be an overwhelming burden. But there is one very powerful thing we can do that is easy, fun and only requires us to be ourselves!

Connect!

If we establish an authentic connection with our audience it will boost engagement and in turn build brand loyalty. By establishing a connection, I simply mean letting your audience get to know you AND your business.

One of the best ways we can do this is to tell stories using images. Sharing headshots of ourselves and beautiful photos of our products is fantastic, but they don’t share enough of ourselves and our business to build a meaningful relationship. In other words, they don’t tell a story.

Get Creative

With my boudoir photography, I couldn’t always share client images, so I had to be a little more creative with images that I share online. I love taking photos of the small details such as the champagne chilling, the lingerie laid out on the bed, and wide shots of the location to put the detail shots into context.

Where client images show the final product, these images tell the story of my sessions, from beginning to end and everything in between. They help prospective clients who are considering booking a session visualise themselves as my client having a session of their own.

Once Upon A Time

All stories have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Keep this in mind when deciding what to photograph and it will help you when you’re stuck for ideas.

Business Stories

Create a complete picture of your product (remember, beginning, middle and an ending), and think about all related aspects of the process that leads to your final product:

• Talk about your love for what you do – the why
• Behind the scenes – where do you work?
• How do you make your product – show the process and the tools of your trade
• Sourcing and taking delivery of your materials or ingredients
• New materials, eg. if you make handbags and you’ve sourced a new fabric, show it off!
• Sneak peeks of new ideas or what’s coming up
• The process of packaging and delivering your project – don’t forget detail shots like tags, ribbon, your logo stamp, etc.
• Take a variety of different types of shots – the sweet details, wide context shots, action shots, colours and textures, the emotion and excitement behind your business and product.

Check out Katie Makes A Dress, who we blogged here last year. Katie does an amazing job with telling the story of her product from seed to sewn (pun intended!) as well as sharing enough snippets of her life to give us a feel for Katie the Person not just Katie the Creator of Awesomely Fine Clothing. Through her quirky and casual sharing, she makes me want to have a wine with her, then buy one of her dresses!

Think outside the square!

Move around your subject and shoot it from lots of different angles and perspectives – side on, above, below, directly overhead. Don’t just wait until you can blog either…spontaneity is good! Upload them on the fly to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or your own favourite social platform.

Your Stories

It’s essential to share ourselves when trying to engage our audience. Not just our business selves, but our personal selves. We can show our personality by giving a peek into our lives. Sharing photos of the people and pets that you love, your favourite belongings, your days off, your holidays, your successes and foibles. Show you’re a human being, not just a faceless business. Chat about your values, your interests, your hobbies, your loves and your loathes.

Other Stories

Telling stories with images is something we can apply to other areas of our lives such as special occasions, fun family days out and holidays. This blog post tells us how to document our life stories without driving the family crazy with our camera, or missing out on the moments because we’re too busy photographing the whole thing. We can document the story, have something for our walls and family album, AND be in the moment.

Have fun!

This is one of the most fun and easy things you can do to successfully market your business. It’s simply a case of forgetting that professional business face we think we must present if we want to be taken seriously! It’s all about just being yourself and letting your audience know about your passion to be there and your passions in life.

Easy peasy!

Connect up with Louise:

Website – Click Love Grow

Facebook – Click Love Grow

Instagram – @clicklovegrow

6 Quick Photography Wins

Would you like to access 6 Quick Photography Wins that will transform the way you take photos of your products, your blog and your social media? I’ve created a cheat sheet that includes 3 tips from Louise and 3 bonus tips from me! Sign up now and I’ll deliver it straight to your inbox.

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