| OK, so it's another cliche, but cliches come
from somewhere! When it's time to promote your message to your best potential customers, it sometimes takes more than words to get their attention - it takes pictures. In some cases, words are all but ineffective. Will reading about the hops and barley really get anybody to buy a Budweiser? Or are people driven by the image of an ice cold bottle, sweating in the hot afternoon sun and waiting to be consumed by some lucky, lucky person as they wish that person was them? OK, I think we've established the importance of images to your message. Now lets talk about where those images come from. Photography used in ads generally falls into one of two categories: Stock Images: These are images that have been made for general use. They may be of a perfect pepperoni pizza, but it's not your pizza - it's a generic image, with no connection to your specific restaurant or pizza maker. These images are rented (known in the trade as "licensed") by the photographer or his/her agency for use in ads and other mediums. Sometimes the more common or lesser caliber of these images end up on "Stock" CDs or Royalty Free Image CDs" or they are included in software packages of clip-art. |
Custom Commercial Photography: These images are made to order - you and your
photographer decided who in them, what and
where they show. They are generally more
expensive, but they are yours and nobody
else can legally use them. Putting any kind of image to work for you. In some cases, either stock imagery or royalty free can be a cost effective way to grab your reader's attention. Lets say you have an "Independence Day Sale" and you want to display a majestic eagle in your ad. Finding an eagle in wild and getting him (or her) to pose for your ad will be expensive at best and impossible a worst. For this kind of use, stock or royalty free is the way to go. It's a one shot deal with a specific need that is way too expensive to get on your own. On the other hand, let's say you've just spent two weeks and ten's of thousands of dollars to renovate your new dinning room and your restaurant has never looked better. Is this the time to show a generic image in you ad? No way! Take advantage of all that hard work and money an put a custom picture of you, your dedicated staff and your new dinning room in you ad. And while you're at it, show a picture of the outside of your restaurant, too. That way people who drive by and see the outside will start to associate it with the nice inside they see in your pictures. This way, your message is specifically associated with you, and only you! |
| Stock images won't be of your business specifically,
so use them to create a mood that you want associate with your message. |
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| Why it's better to be bigger... | Best quality care.... | An important decision | We can't make it without you... |
| Advertisements in Newspapers Magazines Websites |
Displayed in a portfolio of your best work Shown in a newsletter that demonstrates your expertise in your field |
As part of your direct mail effort On point-of-purchase displays and signs in your store or place of business |
Selecting or creating the right image for your marketing project can go a long
way towards grabbing your potential customer's attention - what do you want your
thousand words worth of picture to say for you?
Stock or custom, let Kamena & Associates create images that speak for you! Contact us now!