Promote your business from within!

Anyone who knows me will likely know I get upset when I see businesses building their brand image with stock photos.Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against stock images, they are a fantastic resource often giving the business or marketer a quality image with a high production cost. It isn't the stock image I have issue with, just the way a business or marketer will use them.I have been known to get a bit verbal on the issue!The thing is we all know that authenticity is the new black; just about every business guru will tell you that being real is right up there with being, well, real! Frankly I don't see it changing; I think people want to buy into anything that is real. How this translates on a business basis is making sure that your brand is actually you, made to look good yes, but you.So when I talk to businesses that are visually dry, often office based I get the usual reasons as being: 'our office is a mess', 'nobody wants to be photographed', 'who wants to 'look' at us?' and 'we don't want to frighten the customers away!'Which can mean that when I look at their marketing, the 'office promo' photo is a stock image with a feel that is completely wrong for the company. Which it doesn't have to be; a little planning and good photos can be harvested from any business since there is always a fantastic crop in any office!It makes your marketing authentic and it speaks to clients and customers at a subliminal level. Now granted this process has an immediate cost, yes I will charge you and it will initially be more than buying some stock photos but over a few hours or a day a lot can be created and then it really isn't expensive. You start to build your own library of stock photos which you can dip into over time and feed your social ads and marketing campaigns with real homegrown photos.These photos are of real companies in the service and software business. The people in them are the real people that work at these businesses. These people talk to the clients and customers. They talk to the suppliers and they are the people who are the business.All business and that includes office based, are ripe with great promotional photos which tell your own story, narrative images which form a visual language. They can be focussed on individuals or taken as wider general views, sneek peeks behind the scenes or heavily brand influenced front cover shots.So next time you start to plan a campaign, an update to your website, your marketing material and social media start also to think about building a library of photos which showcase you!Best wishes,Matt