Use Photos as Part of your Marketing Arsenal

Photos should be important parts of your marketing. The photosare useful

- to document your offers

- to achieve positive acceptance of what you are displaying

- to function as eye catchers

- to bring the buyers in a general positive mood

- to create identification with the use of your product.

In such a way photographic pictures have other functionsthan creative art and illustrations that aren'tphotographic pictures.

At the same time it is important to acknowledge, thatpictures are not selling your offers isolated. It is yourcopy that sells your service or goods.

In many cases you will need professional looking photos of your products. If possible go for a professional photographer. These photos will enhance your product much better than your own photos.

If you have to do your own photography, use a good digital camera and take plenty of pictures with a simple background. White or blue is often the best background with smaller items. Only use the very best photo of each item, and keep a unifying style of photos displayed at the same webpage.

In between these options you might know a friend or a young person who is much occupied with photography. Such a person might be able to do the job for you with a better result than yourself and at a much lesser expense than the professional photographer.

If you can get good looking models to show the use of your product, include such photos.If you can't get such persons avoid such pictures.

Your marketing will often benefit from other photos than the product photos, too.

In some cases the so-called free clip art will do the work for you.Especially with small print runs and local distribution ofyour advertisement. But in larger professional work youshould definitely go for stock photos from pro pictureagencies and photo libraries.

There are many advantages of the photo libraries:
- The pictures in a photo library are not used by 'every'business, so the money spend on each photo give your worksome image of exclusivity.
- You will have access to huge quantities of high qualityphotos.
- You will have professional support for your requests andideas of the images in mind.
- You will have the possibility to contact specialistpicture agencies when an expertise in the field of your products is needed.

Nowadays many stock agencies have online picture galleries. Some offer licensed stock photos, other offer royalty-free photos, and some stock photo agencies offer both.

Be aware of that the typical picture agency only has alimited selection of the pictures online accessible foryour search. So supplement your picture research by askingthe picture editors of the photo agency to help expand yourchoices.

In conclusion, be critical aware of the function of your copy, your product photos and the other photos at your website and try to make the best interaction between these tools in your marketing arsenal.

Get help from Soren Breiting to find ideas for your online marketing at http://www.ALLeMarketingTips.com and receive the latest really useful tips at http://www.StockPhotoNews.com (about pictures and marketing). Soren has written more than 20 printed books, and countless articles in journals and magazines about his special fields of interest. He is widely published on the web, too. Enjoy Soren's wonderful stock photos at: http://www.azFOTOS.com