Are you interested in taking pictures of businesses and products for marketing purposes? Here is some information and tips from the amazing Erin Hession!
Erin Hession Photography launched in 1994 and although we specialize in weddings, we’ve branched out into commercial work over the years. Our corporate client list includes Gary Brackett’s Impact Foundation, Estridge Homes, the Columbia Club, Kirles Jewelers, Thomas Caterers of Distinction, Dental Spa, the Indiana State Museum, Classic Cakes of Carmel, Oak Hill Mansion, Summit Realty and lots of other local businesses. Our work has been featured in USA Today, the LA Times, Studio Photography & Design and After Capture magazine.
How did you get started in shooting businesses? We never really thought that we would expand into commercial photography since we specialize in weddings, but it happened quite naturally over the years. We now take on commercial projects during the week, since weddings typically occur on the weekends.
We noticed that a lot of fellow business owners in the wedding industry needed photos for their websites, blogs, etc. and we were able to expand from that. Other business owners took note that our work was being featured in various magazines, blogs, ads, etc. and began contacting us to see if we could do shoots for them as well!
How do you find businesses that are interested in using your photos for marketing? Business owners are actually seeking us out, we’ve never spent any money marketing our commercial work. Once you’re established in your area, it just seems to happen naturally. For example, we’ve had wedding planners who have referred us to their corporate clients for various corporate events and projects because they’ve had a good experience while working with us at weddings.
We’ve also submitted our work to magazines and have had editors ask if we would do additional photography work for their advertisers who were in need of better photos for their ads. We’ve even had friends in the wedding industry expand their business into other market segments and seek us out for photos of other product lines for their websites.
If I was consulting a new photographer or someone who was new to their area, I would suggest connecting with other business owners through various networking events and I would suggest contacting local graphic artists, magazine editors and web developers because those people are working with business owners who are usually in need of great photography for their marketing pieces, online presence, social media and billboard campaigns.
How do you charge them? By picture, time, etc.? How we charge a client depends entirely on the overall scope of the project. Typically we will charge our hourly rate plus a fee for the image CD of all of the photos. Sometimes for smaller projects (like a few corporate head shots) we’ll schedule a mini session and charge a smaller fee since they typically only need a quick photo shoot and one retouched head shot emailed to them afterwards.
Some businesses need more than one shoot though, some are scheduled at more than one location and some need more than just the image CD so we try to look at the big picture and see the overall scope of work required before sending them a quote. Part of pricing commercial work properly is knowing the right questions to ask beforehand.
Will this shoot be scheduled at one of your locations or ours? If you need head shots of your entire staff, will they all be available on the same day or will we need to schedule multiple shoots to complete the project? Where will the photos be used upon completion? When do you need these completed? Do we need to rush the project to meet any deadlines?
How do you find people that want headshots for their business? Business owners who are redoing their marketing pieces or updating their online presence will typically contact us because they’ve either worked with us on other projects or they’ve seen our work online. We blog every photo shoot and we also post the same images to our personal & business Facebook pages.
We like to make sure that we get a broad reach for the time that we spend editing and posting images and we always include our business name and website info on the images so that our name is continually in front of the local audience. I believe that name recognition & referrals are key to attracting new commercial clients.
Tips and tricks for shooting headshots? We have found that a majority of people look their best when photographed from above, so for head shots, we ask them to squat down and look up at us and I will generally stand on a small step stool and shoot their photos from that perspective. My assistant is there to fix the client’s hair if it’s a windy day or hold the reflector if needed, but it’s a very quick and easy way to photograph clients at an angle that they’ll love.
We usually shoot some vertical photos for Facebook profile shots, some artistic horizontal head shots that look great in black and white and then sometimes if they’re looking for a different look, we may also photograph them standing up with their staff in their place of business or in their office to capture the natural environment too.
What kind of usage do you give them for using them in their marketing materials? We are pretty lenient on usage, we include a fee for the image CD for most commercial shoots and then allow them to use them whenever needed, however, we always ask that they credit our work. Photo credits are very important to us!
Any ideas on contacting the businesses? Which ones do you contact? How do you go about doing so? Since weddings are our primary business, we’ve never really contacted businesses directly for commercial work. I’m really into getting to know the people I do business with though and figuring out how I can connect them to other potential clients, so a lot of times friendships form naturally and then whenever they have a need for photography, they automatically think to ask us first.
For example, I met the most amazing dentist last year and we hit it off right away. Her staff was so nice and I really wanted to help her take her business to the next level. She mentioned that she was updating her website and I happened to mention “if you ever need new photos for your website, give me a call!”
Sure enough, we ended up doing photos of her entire dental office, her staff group shots, head shots and décor photos for stock shots on the new site. I truly believe that if you take a genuine interest in other people and their businesses, the work will come your way, you just have to be patient.
Do you contact them in person? E-mail? Phone? I believe personal contact is best. I always try to get to know the client and what their needs are before I do any work for them. I’ll research their company on Google, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest and I try to see what kind of web presence they currently have. A lot of times I’ll even check out their competition to see what they’re up against so that their photos exceed the look of others in their industry.
Do you put together the marketing materials and sell them like that or do you just sell the pictures? We typically just give them the photos and let their graphic artist, marketing department or web designer use them as needed.
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