Why a picture is worth a thousand words

26/07/2021 18:23:33
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Almost two-thirds of the adult population are visual learners. This has long been the argument of graphic designers, illustrators and photographers – inspiring emotion before we’ve even laid eyes on the first word.

In the age of the ‘digital native’, photography is part of our everyday lives. How many times have you reached for your phone before your fork? Many companies are relying on smartphones as a substitute for professional photography. But is that always the right thing to do?

Why should you invest in professional photography?


With smartphones promising to turn even rank amateurs into professionals, it’s easy to wonder why you’d invest in professional photography. But if we break it down, the value of a professional photo shoot is so much more than the images themselves:

Professional photo shoots come with professional photographers.

No amount of selfie culture can compare to the knowledge and skill of a professional photographer. They’ll understand exactly what different media outlets look for from a photograph, as well as how to capture your best angles, arrange your face and gait, and how to work with lighting. They’ll also have more tools than a smartphone alone – giving you free rein to get your message across without the constraints of a selfie stick.

Professional photographs offer a huge return on investment.

Posed, touched up and perfected: there’s no reason why your professional shots shouldn’t stand the test of time. You may want to use them on your website, social posts and profiles, newsletters, brochures, email footers, award entries, media backgrounders, blogs and guest posts. Each of these channels is a chance to represent your brand, whether that’s you looking your best or your team doing what they do best.

A good photo can make or break a story.

With a professional shot, you guarantee a well composed and thought-through high-resolution image, which is music to the ears of many a journalist. It’s a little-known industry fact that some journalists will ‘spike’ a story if the accompanying image is low-quality or irrelevant.

We want to make journalists’ lives as simple as possible. This article from Muckrack discusses some of the top reasons journalists reject pitches – including making them jump through hoops such as download links to find photos.

Picture this

There’s no doubting that visual content can have a profound impact on your customers. Just look at the stats on social media. Stats from Twitter (in the days before X) showed that posts with images have a 35% higher retweet rate.

And that’s without considering the benefits of product photography. Portrait images are a great way to capture your business personality, but product or service images can push up your conversions. One retailer reported a 27% increase in conversions after posting 360° images of their product. You can’t do that on an iPhone.

What the professionals say

Beyond the numbers, the true value of investing in professional photography is in the emotion it inspires. Nigel Roddis, former Picture Editor at the Yorkshire Post, says: “It’s all about the image you take away. Look at any story – you could write up a 1,000-word charity pledge to raise funds for third-world famine and hear nothing. Add an emotive image of a mother and child, and you make the words real.”

He adds that the same applies with social proof. A professional shot demonstrating the benefits of a product – such as cereal ingredients in a mouth-watering finished product – will help bring your product to life and drive purchasing decisions.

At Partners, we combine images and words to help get your message across. Contact us today for help with managing your brand image.

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