I lied - this is a long post about images and marketing
I am going to tell you how to use imagery to market your business.
Tldr: If you want a 2 year jump on your competition, start incorporating your own, unique imagery into your digital communications.
This is where you should be
You've got your website, right? It's well designed so that's it quick and easy for someone to understand what is you do, how to find out more about you and how to get in touch, plus it looks modern and professional, optimized for local and it scales well on mobile too.
You've also got a presence on most of the major social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Foursquare, Google+ and you're using standardized text and imagery across this "digital footprint" so that no matter where someone comes into contact with you - they "get it" and can get back to your website.
The really hip among you are already "farming" your existing client base by sending out a regular newsletter and tracking opening rates and clicks through to your business.
Every Monday you get a report that tells you what's happening to your website and every month you compile a document that tracks movement within the digital footprint. After three months - hell - call it six - you begin to understand the underlying "flow" to your business.
Not there?
If you don't have all those pieces in place then you are severely diluting any marketing effort you make. Get in touch with me and we'll put you right.
If you are ready, here's what you do
Make taking pictures a daily habit.
Simple as that.
Get the best smart phone you can afford with the best camera on it - and start taking pictures, lots of pictures. Post them up to Instagram or to Flickr - post them to a place where you don't care if people see them and where people are unlikely to seek them out.
Develop the habit of taking pictures, posting them and then looking at them and thinking about how you could make them better. If you post 25 images a week to your Instagram or Flickr account - at least one of them will be a brilliant accompaniment to a story that presents your business in a positive light.
Setting sail on the social networks
Once you have your stunning image - write a story about your business so that it in some way relates to the image; note - this could be a really, really abstract and loose association - but so long as there is some relevance, you're good.
Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, Foursquare - they're all "Visual" networks. Nothing moves faster through those networks than imagery - compared to text posts - images fly. Think of your image as the sail to your message's boat - the better the image, the bigger the sail and the faster your boat will move.
Caveat
This is totally gaming the system - the underlying construct is flawed - but for now until we develop better ways of identifying good information - this approach will get your message, your story, your content out to significantly more people than if you didn't do it.
I reckon this approach has a couple of years of life left in it - maybe less. It's a marketing advantage that you can apply to your business right now. It requires no capital but requires you to become better at taking photos and capturing moments. There are huge side benefits.
If you'd like to discuss this - how to do it - how to make it work for your business - get in touch here.
Of course, sometimes it's just easier to use other people's imagery - which is cool if you know where to get them! These images come from unsplash and are credited to:
Written while listening to: