In a world where there is everything for everyone and no one is left without media, it becomes really difficult to grab the attention of people. This is especially difficult when you resort to using words and long paragraphs to enunciate, which is (of course) met with a response not many would consider extraordinary. Thus, it is essential that brands, influencers or advertisers start using the technique of “Show, Don’t Tell,” and start showing the people their product instead of making them do the tedious task of reading long and dull descriptions.
Today’s discussion is about this very thing: how imagery and photography positively influence people. Moreover, we will talk about its role in brand storytelling, and how photography can result in being a key element in connecting your audience to you.
Photography as The Voice of the Brand:
In this section, we’re going to talk about how photography can turn into the orator of your brand, letting the audience know what you provide and represent:
Cases: Some ways to establish photography as the voice of the brand is through images of products, team photos and behind-the-scenes shots of what takes place inside your brand and the creation of products and/or the photos and advertisements themselves, which will help the audience connect to your brand because of the raw and unfiltered feeling of getting to see what goes on behind a seemingly official or corporate company.
Creating an Authentic Identity: One of the things that photography of a brand’s products does is that it establishes an authentic, reliable and recognisable identity which speaks directly to the audience. This helps in building a connection, additionally assisting in the audience potentially investing in what you sell.
Visual Consistency: When telling a story to your audience through photography, one of the things that is done to ensure investment in the story and a neatly-established continuation is employing visual consistency. This can be done through the utilisation of similar styles of photography across all images in the various platforms of social media and the web. By doing this, the brand stands out from the rest of your competitors and peers.
Engaging Audiences Through Emotional Connection:
We have already talked a bit about how emotional connection engages audiences. Let’s get more into detail on this topic:
- The Power of Emotions in Photography: Imagery, photography or just about any form of visual art have the ability to tap into emotions much faster than textual or written content, and can also have more gravitas and magnitude. This can result in the visuals leaving a lasting impression on the viewer.
- Reliability and Trust: Photographs like the one we mentioned in the “Cases” section, which showcase the behind-the-scenes or creation of advertisements, designs or other, more intricately shot photographs help make the brand more reliable and trustworthy, and help the audience connect to the brand at a grounded level.
- How to Achieve It: When shooting these authentic photographs, try to be- or at least make it seem less intricate and sophisticated by using real expressions and natural lighting. Additionally, the images should touch more diverse topics so that it connects to a wider range of people.
Non-Verbal Storytelling:
Non-Verbal Storytelling is the art of telling a tale to an audience without using words. It may seem difficult or borderline impossible to do so, but painters, designers and photographers have proved otherwise time and time again. So what exactly is non-verbal storytelling?
Well, let’s take a single image or photograph as an example. Almost all good photographs have a central subject or idea, which is meant to be at the forefront of the image, and the central theme of said image. However, an image is not only restrained to a depiction of the central idea or subject, and can contain many other nuances. Like in, say, an advertisement for peanut butter, there may be a piece of bread on the side, showcasing the peanut butter’s use and objective. Thus, a single image or advertisement of something may also display other ideas or themes.
Conclusion:
In today’s discussion, we talked about Photography as The Voice of The Brand, Engaging Audiences Through Emotional Connection and dived deep into Non-Verbal Storytelling.
We encourage brands to consider photography a storytelling tool and messenger to the audience. Photography is the lens from which the audience sees you, and it can absolutely turn into your brand’s speaker and orator if you allow it to be as such. Additionally, we also encourage brands to review their photograph catalogue and ensure that it aligns with your storytelling goals and ideas.
