Looking to hire a photographer or videographer for your food business?

As a food photographer and videographer, I’m here to tell you NOT to hire someone like me.

Not until you’ve put some important marketing and business goals in place first.
Not unless you want a bank of content with no aim leading to no growth.

What makes a business successful is having a strong marketing plan and strategy in place.
But what if I told you that the same applies towards taking photos/videos for your food based business?

Something I tell my clients is that visuals like photos and videos are such a strong part of a business’ branding. And branding it part of a business’ marketing.

Being a food based business, as important as it is to have a plan or strategy put in place with your marketing to grow; having high quality, visually appealing content can also impact your business. It can take your brand places and help get sales but it can also do the opposite. Especially when they:
Don't have an objective or plan
Are not thoughtfully created
Are not high quality

Hiring a photographer or videographer after considering some important goals - basically your 'why' behind this content - is crucial for success. Here are some reasons you should have marketing goals before hiring a photographer or videographer:

1. Failure to plan is a plan for failure:

Marketing goals and plans give your visual content direction and purpose. When you move with direction and purpose, it helps you figure out what steps you need to take to grow more effectively. By having marketing goals in place, you’d have a better idea of creating something that relates to your customers and target audience vs creating content for the sake of creating content, or because your competitor has some sick new shots. This also serves as a dual purpose - it further offers the photographer or videographer you hire a solid base for visual direction in creating content that is aligned with your marketing objectives.

2. Cohesiveness and consistency:

If you’re saying you have the best quality food and ingredients on your website, but your photos and strategy look poor on social media, this can really confuse your customers. They’re thinking about whether they can trust you, what you sell or if they should look for another alternative at this point. Communicating 1 consistent message or a consistent set of things everywhere - via your copy, your visuals, your service, customer service and products is what builds brand recognition and trust.
If you’re not sure of your messaging, your visual communications or how to best represent your brand, how will your customers be sure of that? Without proper marketing goals, your visual content will definitely lack consistency and fail to reflect what you’re trying to communicate. This is where marketing goals help guide your decisions and communications + maintain consistency even in visual content.

3. Plan, act, measure:

Marketing goals help you plan well, take action and then gauge the effectiveness of visual content. While it isn’t always straightforward to measure, by setting specific goals and tracking the results, you can gauge the return on investment (ROI) to the relevant goals you set and keep refining them as you go.

4. Take informed actions:

In your research, planning and testing phase, if you find that your customers are mainly coming in from 1 type of social media post you created; you now know what kind of content to create more of and allocate more resources and budget towards that. This can create more of an impact vs going in blindly to create content that end up wasting resources orm that don't align with your marketing objectives.

5. Damage how your brand is perceived:

Without a strategy in place, you may end up with visual content that doesn't reflect your brand’s purpose, doesn't tell a cohesive story or effectively convey your brand message. It takes your brand nowhere and ultimately leads to wasted time, resources, missed opportunities to connect with potential customers and also leads to a regretful investment.

Now that we’ve covered why you should have a strategy or plan in place, let’s talk about some marketing goals you want to achieve and plan for, through photography and videography.

While it’s generally good to be ready before you think you’re ready, the right time to work with a photographer or videographer will depend on your specific needs and goals. Here are a few scenarios when it might be appropriate to work with a photographer and/or videographer.

1. You have or are planning towards some or all of these elements -

Branding, brand identity, logo, packaging, brand personality, target audience, marketing plan or strategy.

2. You're launching a business, new product, a product line, a new menu or menu item-

Whether your’re launching a business, a new product, menu or menu item, quality content is without a doubt, vital to show off the products/items in the best possible light and attract customers. This can impact how your potential customers will perceive your brand and products, how they will expect to use and experience them; and ultimately help them decide whether to purchase it or not. Professional photography can help you capture the essence of your new offering and make it look irresistible.

3. Updating your website, brand visuals, social media visuals -

Your brand is going to evolve over time. Sometimes that may mean refreshing your branding, website, brand look and social media look, product packaging and more. You want your customers to see what’s new and what they should look out for. Whether you’ve already decided on the new visual direction or need help from a brand specialist, photograher/videographer; this is yet another important reason to work with a photographer/videographer and upgrade to having high quality content, This can help you stand out from the competition, not only make a strong first impression on potential customers but also excite your current customers even more.

4. When you're working on a specific campaign -

Campaigns are usually tied to certain marketing or advertising goals. This is a golden opportunity for your products/items to create an impact, make an impression and get the attention they deserve. Hire a photographer and/or videographer to capture your content in ways that align with your campaign objectives and grab some serious attention!

5. Building or improving your social media presence -

Social media is a powerful marketing tool for food businesses. People are always checking out a brand’s social media content before deciding to buy from them (or not). That’s why it's important to have high quality visuals - to provide value and entertain your customers. Working with a photographer and videographer can help you create a visually stunning social media presence that also appropriately reflects your brand and its values.

6. Print marketing materials - flyers, catalogues, banners, magazines

Think about it this way. Your brand is going to be on display on a larger canvas. This means the visuals that represent your brand and how it’s going to be perceived by your customers is going to be hyper focused on. High quality content created by a professional photographer/videographer is a must to grab eyes and create interest.

7. Creating a recipe guide/recipe cards/e-book -

Food based businesses often create e-books, recipes on their website blog or print recipe guides and catalogues to ship with their products. They are such valuable ways to educate customers on how to use and experience your products in the best ways possible. We eat with our eyes and when recipes look delicious, they often encourage customers to make them as well. Work with a photographer/videographer to create that lasting impression on your customers.

8. Working with food delivery apps -

Food delivery apps are used by so many people. That also means there are lots of options for them to choose from. To stand out, use a professional photographer/videographer to highlight how drool worthy your food is and reel them in.

All in all, there are different goals a food business can try to achieve with visuals. So, before hiring a photographer and/or videographer it is not only beneficial to you as a business to know your game plan for using this content and how to market it optimally; it also immensely helps the photographer and/or videographer create cohesive visuals that align with your brand.

Once you are clearer on your strategy and plan, it's time to reach out to food photographers and videographers that reflect or can create the style that aligns best with your brand

Often times this requires building a close and long-lasting relationship with them, as it can take time to hone in on brand visuals. Once it is dialled in, you’ll definitely see the difference when the visuals consistently match and align with your brand’s goals and marketing objectives.

For more help with content ideas for these specific goals, watch out for my idea cheat sheet coming up soon!