Guest Article
Pictures have always told us a thousand words, but in this age of mobile connectivity and sharing, there is an explosion in the use of images to convey thoughts and feelings. Small businesses should recognize this visual focus, and spend time picking out the imagery that appears on all of their channels, from web, mobile, and social. All of their content including blogs, fliers, landing pages, and social posts need to work in concert, with consistent images that encourages positive feelings and action.
Small businesses should follow some best practices to find the right images for optimal branding:
- Get on the ground. Go out in the street and get the pulse of your intended audience and customer base. Small businesses are about meeting the needs of individuals, so feedback matters. The smaller a business, the more it needs to focus on a niche, and the bigger its need for a strong brand identity. Leverage access to customer feedback by sampling different demographic and cultural patterns to find what resonates.
- High-res or nothing. The clarity and crispness of your images speaks directly to your brand identity. You didn’t take the time to purchase or take great pictures? Maybe you won’t pay attention to meeting deadlines or providing your service on budget. Present professionalism in all facets of your brand strategy.
- Avoid the offensive. While this might seem obvious, keep in mind there might be multiple ways images can be interpreted by a specific audience. Some images might be patently offensive while others might only be seen that way in a certain context, when combined with other images or text content. You want to encourage sharing and engagement, but not the wrong kind of controversy that comes from being offensive.
- Build a visual identity. The majority of a businesses’ images should have similar graphics or effects. For example, using black and white or color, or dream-like images and soft focus instead of crisp images. Think of successful large brands that evoke their brand name and brand attributes merely through image colors and effects.
- Details matter. Some stock images are exaggerated, and many elements from images are taken out of the composition in order for it to have a certain graphic aspect. Think about a classic image of someone talking on a land line in a cubicle. Closer examination shows the cord is missing from the phone, so the person is just talking to air. Such errors might seem minor, but potential clients don’t want to work with firms that can’t catch the small details.
- Avoid clichés. If your small business is a cloud-based collaboration tool, then don’t use images showing smiling people in suits jumping together in an office setting. You need to show authenticity through your images. Some images have been used thousands of time and simply look tired and phony and no longer evoke their original intent.
- Going viral isn’t easy. Every small business wants their image to go viral, but they often try too hard. Companies should look beyond classic stock photos with generic imagery and choose punchy pictures with more un-professional visuals, but they shouldn’t try to manufacture “edginess”. Viral sharing is hard to predict, and brands are advised to focus on authenticity and humor in the images and to leverage any viral sharing as it comes.
- Keep it legal. Using images without permission is a negative risk/reward endeavor. The costs of stock photography through reputable sites is very reasonable, and the negative brand risk of illegally-obtained images is very high. You don’t want to be known as the brand that tried to save a few bucks and used someone else’s work without proper compensation.
You must know your target audience to get a sense of their preferences. Maybe your target customer enjoys surreal imagery with saturated colors and distortion effects or prefers natural-looking images. Keep in mind what you want the audience to do with your content, and consider how your brand images can help or hinder those desired actions. Choosing the right images are especially important because the typical small business doesn’t have too many chances to build the right brand sentiment.
About the author: Serban Enache is the CEO and co-owner of Dreamstime.com, LLC. Serban handles the business development strategy for Dreamstime, and is deeply involved in the everyday operations of the website community. He is a skilled visionary that believes in disrupting the business norms to explore new options.
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