When it comes to running a successful marketing campaign, quality images are crucial. Audiences are more likely to engage with content that includes authentic and visually appealing imagery. By using Professional photography, you can capture your target audience’s attention and help increase brand credibility.
In this blog post, we chat with 10 business experts and explore the different ways they have effectively used professional photography to attract their target audiences and subsequently increase their sales.
But first, we’ll chat a little bit about what a target audience is, why images are important for advertising to your target audience, as well as share 5 steps on how to use professional images as a tool to market to your target audience.
Target Audience Defined
A Target Audience is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as a particular group of people to which an advertisement, a product, a website or a television or radio program is directed. A target audience is identified by demographic data such as; age range, gender, race, religion, sexual preference, marital status, socioeconomic status, education level and much more. An example of this would be the marketing campaign for the Barbie movie targeted towards both young girls and women.
According to an article published at Digital Marketer- “Barbie Movie Boosts: How The Barbie Movie Redefined Brand Marketing“, there were 8 key elements of their marketing strategy:
- Understanding the Power of Brand Nostalgia
- Effective Audience Segmentation (both young girls & women).
- Leveraging Cross-Platform Promotion
- Inclusivity and Diversity in Storytelling
- Building Anticipation with Previews
- Collaborating with Influencers and Partners
- Emphasizing Female Leadership
- Storytelling as a Central Element
The article explains each element in more detail, so definitely check it out to learn more valuable insights!
With these strategies, Mattel developed a strategic marketing plan to connect with and influence their target audience. Their initiatives paid off, as the Barbie movie grossed near $1.3 Billion at the box office and is one of the top 20 highest-grossing films of all time.
Moreover, the resulting merchandise sales after the release of the movie have been calculated at $1.25 Million (doll sales up by 24% & Barbie sales up by 14%). Making this a very successful multi-tiered marketing strategy to boost revenue, build back brand recognition and authority, and continue to solidify their longevity in the industry.
To summarize in very basic terms; catering marketing efforts towards target audiences = a higher likelihood of sales conversions.
Why Using Images to Market to Target Audiences is Important
Images play a significant role in attracting and engaging target audiences. They serve as a universal language that transcends linguistic barriers, enabling marketers to communicate their message clearly and effectively. Images, particularly professional ones, add visual appeal to marketing material, making it more inviting and engaging. They can quickly convey emotions, concepts, and information, making it easier for the viewers to understand and connect with the brand’s message.
Images can significantly boost the recall value of a brand, ensuring that it stays at the top of consumers’ minds. According to Brain Rules, people remember only 10% of information three days after hearing it, but adding a picture can improve recall up to 65%.
In our increasingly digital world, images are more shareable, playing a vital role in viral marketing strategies. Leveraging images is crucial for any marketing strategy aimed at attracting and influencing consumer behavior of a specific target audience.
Related: Case Study – Benefits of Using Images in Client Proposals
5 Steps on How to use Professional Photos to Market to your Target Audience
1. Use professional photos that showcase your brand’s unique selling point. Your brand’s unique selling point is what sets you apart from your competitors. It’s a statement that communicates your value proposition, and professional photos can help convey this message effectively. A great example is; if your brand’s unique selling point is your eco-friendly manufacturing process, use photos for your ad campaign that showcase your green practices. These images will not only attract your target audience but also differentiate you from competitors.
2. Use photos that reflect your target audience’s interests and preferences. It’s important to understand your target audience profile. To grab your target audience’s attention, you need to use photos that reflect their interests and preferences. Use images that relate to your target audience’s lifestyle, hobbies, and preferences. For example, if your target audience is young professionals who value adventure and travel, use images of people involved in outdoor activities.
3. Use photos that reflect the emotions associated with your brand’s message. Emotions drive people’s decisions, and using photos that connect with your audience’s emotions can be a powerful marketing tool. Use photos that reflect the emotions related to your brand’s message. If your brand promotes high-tech products, use photos that convey a sense of innovation. If your brand promotes relaxation and self-care, use images that exude calmness and serenity. Photos like these will engage your target audience directly and help build your brand’s reputation.
4. Use professional photos that are consistent with your brand’s overall theme. To effectively use professional photos in your marketing campaign, consistency is key. Choose a specific colour palette, lighting style, and image composition that is consistent with your brand’s overall theme. Consistency creates a cohesive brand image that your target audience can easily recognize and remember. When choosing photos for your campaign, ensure that they are consistent with your brand’s overall image.
5. Include professional photos on all your marketing and social media channels. Lastly, you need to ensure that your professional photos are prominently displayed across all your marketing platforms. From your social media pages to your website, include professional photos to help build your brand’s credibility and reputation. High-quality photos attract and retain your target audience’s attention, increasing their level of engagement and loyalty.
Related: Blog – After the Photoshoot: How to Choose the Right Website Images
Real-Life Expert Examples
To further emphasize the importance of using professional photos to market to target audiences, we heard from 10 business professionals and marketing experts regarding how they use professional images to attract their target audiences. They provide some real-life examples from their businesses, as well as some statistics they have tracked to evaluate effectiveness.
We split the responses into three categories; responses from marketing professionals, businesses with products, and businesses with services. The one common theme amongst all responses was the importance of evoking authenticity through professional imagery, which translates to building trust with consumers.
Let’s dive in below to learn more about their businesses, how they utilize professional photography to attract their target audiences, and their conversion rates/metrics:
Marketing Professionals
Team Photos Increase Engagement and Open Rates
High-quality, professionally shot photos that reflect our brand and its values have helped Promodo stand out. We recently redesigned our website to feature professionally shot images of our team, showing them tackling real projects. These images have created authenticity and a personal connection that stock photos cannot achieve.
Our social media posts with these professional images have a 47% higher engagement rate. At the same time, our email campaigns show a 23% increase in open rate compared to earlier, when we did not include any professional photos. This proves that professional photography can help reinforce a brand’s message and engage with the target audience. Now, professional photos have become an integral part of our brand-building.
Valerie Lavska, CMO, Promodo
Product Photos Enhance Case Studies and Lead Generation
As a design agency, we offer comprehensive product-rendering options. Yet, it’s the live, professional photos of our clients’ products that truly invigorate our case studies. These authentic images not only showcase our design prowess but also demonstrate that our packaging outshines competitors in the real world. Our case study pages rank among the most effective lead-generating sections of our website.
Jason Vaught, Director of Content, SmashBrand
Candid Team Photos Enhance Website Engagement
Professional photos have become a cornerstone of our content strategy. Instead of generic stock images, our website proudly displays candid shots of our actual team in action. This authentic touch not only showcases our vibrant company culture, but also deepens trust with visitors.
Since integrating these genuine snapshots, we’ve seen visitors spend 25% more time on our team-centric pages, a 15% uptick in click-throughs to our “About Us” section, and a notable 10% increase in conversions from leads referencing our team photos. Clearly, showcasing the real faces behind our business resonates, underlining that people value genuine connections and authenticity in the brands they engage with.
Alex Stasiak, CEO and Founder, Startup House
Products
Pinterest and Blog Photos Drive Traffic and Sales
As a sticker printing company, we’ve found tremendous value in leveraging professional photography on platforms like Pinterest and our company blog. We use high-quality images of our unique, colorful stickers on these platforms and make sure to use appropriate tags. These pictures offer a detailed look at the quality and creativity of our designs, showcasing them in real-world contexts—such as on laptops, water bottles, and notebooks.
This visual approach has yielded positive results. Since implementing this strategy, we’ve seen a 20% increase in website traffic from Pinterest and a 15% rise in blog engagement. These have led to a 10% boost in sales conversions, which we attribute to the improved visibility and appeal of our product imagery.
David Rubie-Todd, Co-Founder and Marketing Head, Sticker It
Product Photos Build Trust and Improve Brand Value
Using professional photos can make all the difference in our business. At Ubuy, we use professional photography in many ways to attract our target audience. For instance, we promote electronic gadgets by showing high-quality images from different angles, with close-up shots showing their key features. These images must be visually appealing to compel the customer to buy the device.
Moreover, using multiple images that accurately represent products gives a comprehensive view and builds customer trust. By consistently using professional photos across all our marketing channels, we improve our brand value while adding to our brand identity. The images that work best for us show the products with all their features to help our customers with their requirements.
We measure the efficacy of our photos by analyzing the sales metrics and tracking which pages work better and the images used on them. We can’t emphasize the importance of professional photos in our industry enough.
Faizan Khan, Public Relations and Content Marketing Specialist, Ubuy UK
Craftsmanship Photos Boost Sales and Customer Loyalty
In my business, professional photos have been a game-changer for attracting our target audience. We sell handmade jewelry, and high-quality images of our products showcase their craftsmanship and detail.
Since incorporating professional photos into our online store, our sales have increased by 30%. Customers often mention how the images helped them make confident purchase decisions, contributing to our growing customer loyalty. These photos have undoubtedly strengthened our brand, making us stand out in a competitive market.
Rob Blum, CEO, Blumsafe
Real-World Apparel Photos Increase Campaign Results
At DasFlow Custom Athleisure Apparel, professional photos are crucial for showcasing the quality and uniqueness of our products. We focus on high-resolution images that highlight the texture and detail of our custom apparel, often showing them in real-world settings like gyms or outdoor activities.
For example, we ran a social media campaign featuring athletes wearing our custom gear while performing. We saw a 20% increase in engagement and a 15% uptick in conversion rates compared to previous campaigns. Quality visuals not only enhance brand perception but also drive tangible results, reinforcing customer trust and loyalty.
Nicolas Krauss, Founder and CEO, dasFlow Custom Polo Shirts
Services
Capturing Tech Solutions in Photos Boosts Engagement
Professional photos are now being used more than ever! In an era where endless scrolling is the norm, a high-quality photo can capture attention in a way that long-form copywriting cannot. At RoomReady, the design, installation, and support of video collaboration solutions for enterprise clients is our focus. There’s a lot of technology and engineering behind our solutions, but the average end user wants to SEE what these collaboration solutions look like and learn what they can do. A high-quality set of photos can make something very technical, relatable, and easy for people to understand.
Every Tuesday, our RoomReady social media channels feature a set of high-quality photos, paired with a few sentences on the solutions’ functionality. Impressions and engagement on these posts are always 10x higher than our other posts.
Izzi Demara, Marketing Manager, RoomReady
Authenticity Through Destination and Customer Photos
Professional photos can engage your target audience by showcasing the authenticity of your brand, generating trust and credibility. For example, we use professional photos of the destinations where we offer free walking tours. In addition, we look for inspirational photos to attract people who want to travel there. This helps us establish ourselves as a reliable and customer-centric brand.
Furthermore, we incorporate images of real people enjoying our tours around the world, demonstrating the lifestyle associated with the brand. This attracts potential customers who aspire to that traveling lifestyle.
By using professional photos in social media and marketing campaigns, we have increased our reach and brand recognition, both from users who want to use our services and from influencers and travel bloggers who want to collaborate with us.
Marta Garcia, Head of Marketing and Social Media, GuruWalk
Before-and-After Photos Validate Medical Procedures
Before-and-after photos are something we use to show potential clients the results of successful hair transplants. Not everyone loses hair on their head in the same way, so I think it helps to show the results to help someone visualize themselves who might have similar loss.
Pictures are worth a thousand words when it comes to the results of medical procedures, which is why I find before-and-after pictures to be a powerful tool. Most consumers won’t even consider an operation like this without picture proof of the results. Showing real people with the results and their review helps to increase potential clients as well as build a positive reputation for your brand.
Dr. Roshan Vara, Hair Transplant Surgeon and Co-Founder, The Treatment Rooms London
How we at Robert Lowdon Photography Utilize Professional Photography to Attract our Target Audience
As a photography company, we are in a unique position, as all of the images we share are professional images. The images we do share are images that have been curated for other clients, telling the story of their businesses. So our strategy differs quite a bit from the norm. By telling the story of our clients, we are also telling the story of our business.
Who is our Target Audience?
Our target audience consists of marketing professionals, marketing managers, business owners, CEOs, creative directors, marketing agencies etc. So we want our audience to see images that showcase our expertise, skill, and style within the niche markets that we serve. Our target audience doesn’t need to see images of us taking images of other people to convey the message that we are a photography company, they already know what we do. They need to see images of what we can deliver. Ultimately conveying through our portfolio why we are the best company to work with.
How we Attract our Target Audience
We leverage our professional photography skills to attract our target audience by focusing on sharing unique, compelling, and high-quality photos. We have an expert understanding of the power of visual storytelling and its ability to connect on a deeper level with an audience. We also have a rigorous selection processes for what we share and always ensure it relates back to who it’s intended for.
We share our images with our target audience in a multitude of ways. Check out some of our strategies below:
Portfolio
Our portfolio is strategically organized, showcasing a diverse range of styles and subjects within our niche markets. Our niche markets include; architectural photography, industrial photography, lifestyle photography, corporate photography, and landscape photography.
This diversity caters to a broad audience and demonstrates our ability to adapt and deliver to various client needs, while being clear about where our specialties lie. Our portfolio is a great way to bring in new customers.
Case Studies
Case studies allow us to showcase our proficiency and versatility in real-world settings. In our case studies, we detail who our clients are and their goals, as well as how we approach each project. We also share a larger gallery of the resulting images from the shoot, to really show our potential clients what they could receive if they book with us.
This transparency not only underscores our technical competence but also demonstrates how we work, which resonates with our target audience. Case studies are a great way to target your ideal customer, as they are more invested at this point of purchase.
Blogs
Our blogs, on the other hand, serve as educational content for a wide audience. Our potential customers are not other photographers, so we don’t spend any time writing tips, tricks, or skill-based pieces that wouldn’t resonate with our target audience. Instead, we write articles on various marketing topics, specifically around the usage of images in advertising a product or service.
At Robert Lowdon Photography, we are also marketing professionals and want to convey to our customer base that through our partnership with our clients, they will receive more than just photos with each project we collaborate on.
In each piece that we write for our website, we are sharing images that specifically relate to the topic from a variety of past projects. Giving the potential client another touch point of what we sell, while offering value, creative ideas and statistics.
Social Media Platforms
We engage with our audience on social media platforms, sharing behind-the-scenes content to our stories, and offering glimpses into our creative process. This is the only place where we offer a look into our lives on a shoot, which makes it an exclusive place to follow along and learn more about us.
This transparency helps us build a relationship with our audience, reinforcing their trust in our brand. Photoshoots are fun to be on and by sharing little snippets we create content that our target audience is excited about.
Targeted Ads
We also use our photos in targeted online advertising campaigns, ensuring that they reach our different target audiences. We firmly believe in our work’s capacity to communicate and resonate, and strategically select images to attract our niche clientele.
Related: How to Choose the Best Images for a Business Website
Conclusion
The power of professional photography in modern marketing cannot be underestimated. It serves as an incredibly effective tool in capturing attention, conveying authenticity, and fostering deeper connections with a target audience. Whether it’s showcasing a product, illustrating a service, or humanizing a brand, high-quality imagery can elevate the overall perception of a business and significantly impact its bottom line.
In today’s highly visual and fast-paced digital landscape, investing in professional photography is no longer an option but a necessity for businesses aiming to stand out and succeed.
Use photos that capture your brand’s unique selling point, reflect your target audience’s interests and preferences, connect with your audience’s emotions, and are consistent with your brand’s overall theme. By following these effective ways, you can use professional photos to enhance your marketing campaigns and ultimately increase your brand’s reputation and revenue.
If you want to chat more about how we can help curate the right images for your target audience, feel free to reach out! We’d love to discuss your project, ideals and goals, as well as how we can help achieve them.
I love the article and the pictures. Lots of great advices.