When your photography lets you down ...

Digital technology means that businesses now have more images for marketing purposes than they know what to do with. But how good is any of it? I’ve lost count of the number of times that my clients’ sales and marketing people have promised me ‘great shots’ only to find they’re about 50KB each. Or in PowerPoint. And they’ve junked the original files. That lack of quality will become apparent straight away.

There is a novel solution here - employ a professional photographer. There aren’t as many good specialist photographers in some areas as there once were - digital made the bottom fall out of their market - but it’s a good idea to cultivate one for important jobs. He or she will get better with each shoot, throwing in ideas that bring your marketing materials alive.

I’m convinced that good images not only have extra impact, better take-up, more mileage but they also add to your credibility. And you might have a keen amateur photographer among the staff but what’s the opportunity cost of giving them a photo assignment when they also have a ‘real’ job to do?

Digital photography might have made conventional materials obsolete, but not Adam Smith’s theories of the division of labour.