With high quality commercial photo- and videography it´s easier to attract your desired target group as well as compete against your rivalries. It´s not enough that the product is high quality; also the marketing materials communicating it should be as high or even higher quality.
Let´s face it; many of us would be willing to pay more for our wedding photography than our marketing photos. If you end up hiring your nephew with a two hundred-buck fee, at least make sure you consider these points to get most out of your money.
1. Define three main points you want to communicate in the images or video
Everything starts with good planning. At this point you should have your brand guidelines outlined defining your overall brand message and visual tone. Based on this foundation you define the product message with three simple points. This gives you the focus for the shoot and makes it easy to compile the script and a shot list with the photo-/videographer.
2. Brief your photo-/videographer WELL
This is probably the most difficult part of the project since it requires excellent communication skills. This is the phase, which defines if the shoot will be a success, or not. You need to sit down face to face or in Skype and brief your chosen photo-/videographer the objectives of the shoot. There are simple briefing forms to help you to collect your thoughts and to communicate them also in black and white. However no form will take away the need to also discuss the points through.
3. Do the aftermath
Once the shoot is done and the deliverables finished and hopefully published with good success, it´s time to give and get feedback. It´s been said that the shoot is only as good as the customer brief is, so you will need to reflect with yourself and your photographer if the result turned out how you wanted it. If and when there is something to improve for the next time, does it require more extensive briefing, other kind of photography style or maybe some new gear for the photographer to deliver the needed result (drone anyone?). Organizing photo-/video shoots is a learning process and it takes some trial and error before mastering it. One way is to hire an experienced photo-/videographer instead of a nephew and jump couple steps up on the learning curve.
Happy shootings!
