Tell Your Story with Photos

It’s true: A picture really is worth a thousand words, especially on your Web site. Your customers can’t touch, taste, smell or test drive your product. The words and the imagery become crucial selling tools as a result.

Now, as a Web writer, I confess that I’m partial to the words. But even I can spot glaring examples of sites either misusing or neglecting photography. I recently worked on a Web site for a recruiting company that didn’t have a single picture of a person…even though they are essentially in the people business.

Alternatively, there’s the law firm that wanted to come across as personable and approachable. Their story is about being a small firm that delivers one-on-one service with its partners, not some junior lawyer. The text is written to tell this story, but the photos clinch it: Each of the partners’ photos that accompany their bios is a casual, black and white shot, with shirt collars open, hair tossed back, postures relaxed. They are informal and real and warm. These photos add credibility to the marketing message the law firm wants to deliver. (In contrast, imagine the typical law partner photo: stiff, formal, with suits and ties, and everyone shot in the same position. Those photos would not communicate the idea of warmth and personal service at all.)

So let’s consider a (somewhat) hypothetical example for practice with this concept: the Web site of a personal chef. What is the story we want to tell for this chef via her Web site? We want people to know that she makes tasty food that’s pretty to look at, that will jazz up their parties and impress their friends. Ultimately we want people to hire this chef because they’ve been to her Web site.

Obviously, just words and boring photos of produce won’t tell his story or convince anyone to hire her. Think about what pictures will tell the story, like a child’s book with only a few words and plenty of colorful illustrations… Most importantly, we show photos of the food she has prepared, quality photos ideally staged by a food stylist that make these dishes so visually appealing with texture and color that the site visitor can practically smell the garlic. That’s because we are selling the food.

Next, we show the chef. We show her in her element, cooking the food, because that is also part of the story we are telling: the food is prepared by this capable professional in this commercial kitchen. We also use photos of happy clientele enjoying her appetizers at a party or toasting with wine glasses at a sit-down dinner. All are smiling and obviously enjoying their dishes. That’s the clincher: Our story is about great food that’s well-prepared and bound to be a hit with the customer’s guests.

Should a chocolate company’s Web site show a picture of a truffle or should it show someone eating the truffle, or even the making of the truffle? Should a grass seed Web site show pictures of the seeds, or photos of croquet being played on lush green lawns? Should a coffee roaster’s Web site show the beans or the bags filled with beans? Or the roaster? It all depends on the story you want to tell.

Your Web site has to speak for itself. Using the right pictures will help you say more.

And if a picture’s worth a thousand words, a great Web site is worth a million. Don’t leave your pictures—or your Web site—up to chance. Work with professionals for professional results.

Sharon Long Bearny of We Know Words

DesignWise & MarketSmart is a joint publication of Acadia Creative and We Know Words.

Whether a Web site or a whitepaper, We Know Words writes content that speaks to your customers, not at them. We know words, and we know what to do with them. Messaging for business growth.

Harper Studios

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How’d They Do That? E-Newsletters Demystified!

I’m staring out the window at the gas station across the street  – half daydreaming about what it would be like to start riding my bike to work because I can’t afford to put gas into my less than eco-friendly pick-up truck – and half thinking about what the next E-newsletter from acadia creative is going to be about.

And then it hits me. How many of you actually KNOW how to create an E-newsletter? I mean – you probably get them all the time, but haven’t you ever wondered how they are created and how you email them to everyone you know on the earth without crashing your Outlook Express? Would you believe me if I told you it didn’t cost a fortune and you didn’t have to be a computer genius to do it? It doesn’t, and you don’t.

First, you need to compile your email list. You can easily export your contact list from your Outlook program into an excel spreadsheet. Quite often, this same file can be imported into an email management program with little or no tweaking. You can also buy lists, however I recommend thoroughly checking out the source of those lists before purchasing them.

Next, you need to identify a good online list management program. Sounds expensive. Well it can be. I’ve done the research and I’m very happy with the system that acadia creative uses to build and maintain the list for this newsletter. For a nominal monthly fee, Constant Contact allows me to place a sign-up box on my website for the newsletter.  The information entered gets added to my list of email contacts in the list management program. The management software also works as a cleaning company. If a message gets sent to a bad address, the system automatically removes it from the master list. Now that’s genius.

Well, you ask, how do I send my message? Good question. Along with the list management, programs like Topica also offers pre-designed templates that send a very nice, structured HTML e-newsletter. You don’t have to worry about HTML code. Simply write your content and plug it into the template. It’s that easy. The downside is that while you may be able to upload your logo and a photo or two, the template choices are limited and it may be hard to reflect your company brand. Hiring a designer who’s familiar with HTML and marketing will get you the best results if you’re trying to stay true to your brand. It will also give you an edge over the rest of the template users out there by creating something that is uniquely yours.

Once you’ve created your template with your content, select the email list you would like to send it to, and hit SEND! You can also schedule your mailing for a certain date and time. This works great if you’re lounging on the beach and you’d like everyone to think you’re hard at work. Eh hem.

So – what about results? Everything we do when marketing our business should be trackable, and with a list management system it is. Right down to who opened the email and how many people clicked on the links within it. This is valuable information and should be used as a tool for fine-tuning the content of your next newsletter.

I’m watching you!

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