Your Startup Should Start with Pro Photography

For the last decade, we have heard analysts say that eCommerce takeover of the retail and services markets was eminent, but the projections always left this supposed takeover to 2025 or 2030. No one expected people around the world would be ushered indoors and they all would become frequent shoppers of the digital marketplace.

Tomorrow is Now Today

2020 has radically changed the eCommerce landscape. In 2019, less than 20% of transactions occurred online and now, online is the only path.

Online shopping has doubled and continues to increase since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. 42.2% of the world population shops online in 2020, with a market size of over 3.2 billion people worldwide, according to Invesp

For many small businesses and startups, you now have to manage the (daunting?) task of developing your digital media presence, your website, your social media, and then the bread crumbs that lead people to these resources.

Photography and video are essential to building your branding in this new virtual and increasingly crowded market.

58% of marketers state that using visuals is the most important form of content for a brand, according to a study published in the Social Media Examiner — Michael A. Stelzner

We get it —taking your own photos instead of  hiring a photographer seems like an obvious cost-cutting opportunity. However, before pulling out that red marker and smashing delete on that Excel spreadsheet, let us make a case for why photography should actually be a priority expenditure—an essential expenditure—for your business to sustain itself and grow in the digital age.

Here are some of the benefits of pro photography for your business

• Professional photography communicates success and fosters trust with clients by creating a professional and compelling brand

• Not only do professional photographers create higher quality content for your business, but they also provide valuable creative direction

• Professional visual media is multipurpose and can be reused across your digital platforms

• Professional photography provides customers with an organic impression of products that they previously would have bought in-person

• Visual media allows you to constantly adapt to trends and capitalize on customers' changing interest

Just as professional photography adds legitimacy to your brand and efficacy to your marketing strategy, videography does the same—with the enhanced storytelling capability of video.

Nikko Mascarinas, NYC Clicke Photographer

Shane Barker, a marketing strategist & digital branding instructor at UCLA , further stated:

“The importance of videos can’t be understated. Videos can help you explain and showcase your products better than images ever can. You should consider adding videos of your products in your eCommerce store.”

See it before you buy it

In this increasingly digital world, businesses need to develop digital alternatives to the experiences customers previously had in-person.

Katrine Moite, NYC Food Photographer

Your website's product photography should simultaneously set clear expectations of the product (excluding confusing elements, removing accessories that may not be provided, etc.) and help the customer visualize use cases through creative and engaging product placement.

In studies of Amazon marketplace sellers, there was a clear connection between sales and the photo quality present on the sellers' product pages. Sellers that used pro photography saw 4x higher rates of purchase than sellers of similar products who had amateur product photography.

This study also showed that the descriptions are becoming less important for customers to understand a product, while photos are becoming the primary deciding factor.

Big Commerce found that 78% of online shoppers wanted visual media to bring products to life and place strong emphasis on video as a vehicle for product purchase decisions.

Marketing is essential to business growth and should be a focus of small businesses as they grow. With thoughtful planning, your brand can find affordable photography that propels your brand and message forward.

Case in Point: Lily Pulitzer

But first—an example of the potential of a successful digital campaign focused on the benefits of pro photography

Lily Pulitzer, the fashion brand now known for its colorful and chic floral prints, previously utilized low-quality visual media and simple product placement photos to promote their online business. Their media team was seeing lackluster results in their online store, so they decided to invest in professional photography for their website.

Meeting with Miami Creative's Wellington Guzman, Miami Clicke Photog

They created a marketing campaign using simple collages that contextualized their vibrant prints with the lifestyle that inspired them and the sartorial process of creating them. Overall, the shoot was not high cost by marketing campaign standards, but it was effective through inspired creative direction, product placement, and professional photography.

The result, through this one campaign alone, was an increase in website traffic 49 times over the previous month and over a 300% increase in their conversion rate (a person making a sale) through their website. The team isolated release variables and continued to test small changes to only their visual media and found similar results — visual media drives engagement and the decision to purchase in their site visitors.

Lily Pulitzer is just one case study among the 1000s of businesses leveraging digital content to maintain and grow their consumer base. If your business isn't already a case study, it's time you became one. Contact Clicke today to learn how.

Clicke is your partner for finding local photographers to create and provide content for your visual media strategy.

With a bespoke approach to every client, we leverage our close relationships with local photographers to provide local, professional photography solutions to every business at every stage of digital marketing.

How to Host a Photoshoot During a Pandemic

Everyone has been been learning new ways to live their lives within the new norm, and for photographers and videographers, it's not just about relearning how to live your daily lives–it's about adapting the way you earn your livelihoods. Photography is beautiful because it has the ability to bring people together, but in this new environment it's important to understand the risks of bringing people together and how to best prepare you and your clients for safe photo shoots.

Photo Shoot Check-List

1. Discuss travel needs, group size, and guidelines with the client to ensure a safe photoshoot for both parties

2. Check current local guidance (because it's constantly changing)

3. Optional - Have your Client fill out a Liability Release Form

4. Have your client book through Clicke so your paperwork is virtualized and payments are automated

5. Clicke will take care of photoshoot reminders and pre-check

6. Equipment Check

7. Camera (Lol if you forgot this)

8. Hand Sanitizer

9. Sanitizing Wipes

10. Mask (Bring 2-3 for every photo shoot)

11. Pens (disposable)

12. SD Card

Ishan K self portrait in Mumbai, India

This guide aims to provide a list of considerations to help you guide and structure your client interactions during these unprecedented and dynamic circumstances. We realize that it may not be comprehensive, so please reach out to us if you have any questions! We are happy to help and/or point you in the right direction towards additional resources.

1 & 2. Understand and Comply with Local Regulations

Whether you're operating as an independent freelancer or as part of a collective or studio, the first step to a safe photoshoot is ensuring that you are in compliance with the current, local reopening guidance. To help sieve through the legalese, we made a short list of considerations:

1. Does your state allow non-essential business practices?

2. What is the maximum group size for events in your area?

3. Will you or the client be traveling beyond state lines and need to observe local quarantine procedures?

The New York Times has created a website that tracks each state's significant reopening policies. We recommend bookmarking this resource.

Photoshoot held in Midtown Manhattan, New York City

Set Clear Expectations of Risk and Emphasize the Importance of Clear Communication

Interacting with people in this new environment requires a deeper understanding of risk and what you and your clients expect from each other. We suggest that you provide clients with a brief list of considerations and preventative precautions that you can agree upon ahead of time to make sure both you and the client are comfortable.

Engin Akyurt self portrait wearing a mask

You can broach the topic of safety precautions informally within your normal scheduling conversation, and if you are using the Clicke app, you can use the messaging function to facilitate the discussion. For a more structured approach, you could use the template below to start the safety conversation:

Since we are still in the middle of a pandemic, I'd like to discuss some safety precautions and expectations for the photoshoot.

I assume you will take your mask off during the photoshoot. Would you be willing to wear it when we are not actively taking photos?

Social distance guidelines suggest six feet in between us. Are you comfortable with me getting closer (with a mask on) to take photos?

Guidance around indoor areas is unclear, with outdoor spaces considered to be safer since they have free-flowing air. Are you comfortable doing a shoot indoors, or do you want to stick with one outdoors?

I haven't had contact with any one with COVID or travelled recently from a hot spot. Please let me know if you have, and I'll do the same.

This is also a good time to inform your client of any risk factors unique to your situation, such as being an essential worker.

3. Liability Release

Giving your client another form to fill out may not spark the creative process, but it can help protect you and start the conversation about having a safe shoot.

While following local guidance and safety protocols does not assure you will not become infected, its always best to discuss status before things get too intimate.

We have, through collaboration with some of our photographers, drafted a potential Liability Release Waiver. The importance around this information is not to absolve risk, but to provide a avenue for dialogue and observation by all parties involved in a photo shoot where there is inherent risk for Covid exposure.

Liability Release Waiver

.pdf

Download PDF • 27KB

Please note the inclusion of this form is for educational purposes and its use is not of endorsement by Clicke, inc. and is not to be served as health or legal advice by Clicke, inc. or its affiliates.

4. Bring the Right Equipment for a Safe Photoshoot

Disinfectants

The scent of the summer is Purell and Lysol, and we recommend that you take both. Get into the habit of using Purell after touching high-trafficked objects (door knobs, drawers, pens) and do not share camera equipment or props if at all possible. Disinfectants can damage sensitive camera equipment, and even used properly, it's nearly impossible to fully disinfect cameras. We recommend you do not share your equipment with anyone.

Please note that the more glitter a hand sanitizer has, you can presume its that much more less effective.

Utilize Lysol wipes before placing your camera against your face (we recommend a Lysol wipe that has moisturizer because ashy skin doesn't make anyone cleaner).

Mask

The majority of states now require the use of masks in all public spaces, and you should enforce mask wearing where social distancing is not possible. Have your clients wear masks up until they are staged for the shoot and then replace them once completed. Remember that your mask is to block pathogens from entering your body and from infecting others, but they may still be present on the mask. Remove your mask from the loops on the side and sanitize after putting on/removing.

Do Not Share Equipment

Again, your equipment is where you are squishing your face and becoming real intimate from a bacterial perspective. Cameras, especially in the case of respiratory illness, would nullify any protections you have with a mask because it comes in contact with your eyes and skin, which can still infect you.

Disinfect Clothes

Generally, your clothes are safe and will not infect you, but to be safe, we recommend washing your clothes and changing after shoots.

Some other things to remember:

• Your mask only protects you if it covers your nose and mouth

• Your mask becomes ineffective once it has been removed (if you are using disposable masks we recommend replacing instead of reusing)

• Do not use disinfectant products in your mask

• Maintain your Distance if Possible and When Possible

Utilizing a wide-angle lens and distance instead of close-up shots should be your new norm. Shoots should be conducted outside or in a well ventilated environment. In these cases you will need to account for light exposure and wind as disruptors to your planned shoot.

Open up your Opportunities

Remote photo shoots have rose in popularity and people are learning new tricks to conduct shoots through video conferencing, producing high-resolution and quality prints. Certain types of shoots, such as portraits, do not require as close interaction with clients and may be less risky categories to explore than wedding, maternity, or children's photos where more intimate shoots may be required.

Getting Started with Drone Photography

Welcome to our new segment of Clicke Bait called Clicke Teaching Clicke, where as the name suggests, we’ll feature informational articles by members of the Clicke for members of the Clicke. Send us an email if you’re interested in writing for us or have a topic you’d like to suggest!

Getting started with drone photography

By Nakiesa Tajrishi

I remember the first time I thought about buying a drone. I was looking at a friend's drone photograph, thinking how cool it would be if I could do that, too. But that thought was followed shortly by a much more pressing thought — how would I even fly this thing?

Drone photo self portrait, by Nakiesa

I did have a few hours of video gaming under my belt, but I never seemed to master using both controllers simultaneously. I knew if there was a drone out there for me, it needed to be user friendly.

If your curiosity already led you to Google, then you probably discovered, as I did, that there were infinitely more options than I had anticipated.

There are drones of all shapes, sizes, price points, and purposes. Some of them have a UX remote where you see what is happening; some of them just have a remote.

Some factors to consider in your purchase:

• They range in price

• Total distance you can fly

• Fly time per battery

• Megapixels & quality of the camera

• User friendliness (i.e. how easy it is to fly your first time)

• GPS capability

• How well it will survive a crash

• How long it takes to charge the battery

I wrote this article to walk you through my process in hopes that it will (a) help you decide if you want a drone; and (b) streamline your process of finding the right drone for you.

Drone self portrait captured in West Palm Beach, FL

Luckily, it was close to Christmas when I was considering getting a drone, and I had the opportunity to give my father a drone as a Christmas present (that I could also conveniently test out).

If you have the funds and opportunity to purchase a mid-priced drone first, that can be a good starting point from which you could go up or down depending on your needs and budget.

I started with a reasonably priced drone on Amazon that had decent reviews. Primarily, I was focused on something that would survive crashing, something that wasn't too hard to figure out how to fly (re: note on crashing!), and something that wasn't too expensive, but not too cheap either.

The drone I went with cost around $300 and came with fifteen minutes of flight time per battery charge. In my head, all of this sounded reasonable. Christmas Day came, and my dad opened his present. He was definitely interested — it was kinda hard not to be! — the photo on the box looked super cool and promising.

The mid-priced drone proved to be a fun toy, and the thrill of seeing it fly in the air was definitely exciting, but as a photographer, it wasn’t going to cut it for me.

As first-time drone operators, some of the kinks we ran into (with the $300 model) that you should be aware of too were:

• Even at a medium price point, your drone may require some DIY

Luckily, my dad is an electrical engineer, so a trip to his toolkit fixed the faulty connector on our drone. For those of you who don’t have electrical engineers handy, it might be worthwhile to get something more ready-made.

• If you’ve never done this before, you’re going to crash a lot...which can be frustrating

We launched the drone at my cousin's farm, with plenty of open space and as few trees as possible, and I’d suggest you find as open of a space as possible.

• The fact that our drone was constructed with a light and flexible frame was a sort of double-edged sword

On one hand, this was fantastic for avoiding any damage when crashing, but on the other hand, it was terrible for staying steady as a gust of wind blew by.

• Since our drone did not have UX, we had no way to see what the drone was seeing, which definitely made it harder to fly

The remote looked like a remote control car remote, and honestly, flying the drone felt like driving a remote control car. UX is more helpful than you may think for both flying the drone and for getting a sense of what the photos will look like.