One of the most important thing for a business when it comes to marketing and PR, is having a range of professional photos that belong to just you, rather than more generalist stock images. Therefore, having photos taken during the summer, as well as during the other seasons of the year, means you’ll have images with different colours and various moods that can be used in your marketing materials and on your website throughout the year.
5 ways to use summer imagery
- If your office is based inside a beautiful building, or has stunning grounds, grasp the opportunity to take images when the sun is out, and you are surrounded by colourful flowers and foliage. Plus, it will make a good change to have you and your staff dressed in summery clothes.
And if the grounds or the building really is beautiful, why not have a specific image taken that you can use as a feature wall in the office?
- For a business that has products or services that are mostly used during the summer months, then it is vital to capture images during this time, as it’s hard to fake the warmer weather, quite as easily as it is to fake winter images.
For retail and hospitality, the summer is a busy time, so having a range of images for your website will attract more customers.
- Summer images can be used throughout the year to use in blogs, newsletters and social media posts throughout the summer, and even in September, as we often have an Indian summer then.
- Create images that can be used for ads. You may decide to take the opportunity of having an advertorial and depending on the magazine or media you decide to go for, it’s worth looking at other examples of the types of ads they use, and how you could create the right style.
- Host a summer event for your clients, perhaps with a theme – a cream tea, or an outdoor art show by local artists – ensuring you capture images from the event.
The other thing to think about during the summer months is #ChristmasinJuly Yes, it is a ‘thing’. It may sound odd, but remember that many countries around the world do celebrate Christmas during their summer! However, in marketing terms, people tend to shop all year around for Christmas presents, so recently, retail businesses particularly have started to react to this by planning well ahead and either offering previews or even trialling products ready for Christmas.
Now is the time to start planning and brainstorming ideas well ahead of time. Look at ‘best sellers’ from previous years, and start thinking – do you want to repeat, or make a slight upgrade to the product?
If some of your products always sell like ‘hot cakes’, then why not get ahead of the game and create some new photos ready for Christmas brochures and adverts. You can easily set up a fake Christmas photoshoot, because you can use fairy lights, and dress the space with reds and greens, and Christmas ornaments. The advantage of doing this shoot now is, you won’t be as rushed as you will in December, and also, you’ll have the images well in advance to get to your printer.
If you have ideas for your summer imagery, or just want to discuss what is possible – please get in so that I can book in a photoshoot for you and your business – neil@moore-photographics.com
