Where do you want your business to be? That's the question we all ask ourselves throughout the year. We think about the next year, set out our intentions, our goals, and start to plan. You might not really have thought about how your photographs and goals work together before and that's okay. But taking the time to plan out the visual content you need will not only save you time over the year, but your visual content will be more intentional, more impactful, and work harder in getting you closer to achieving your goals.
Your photographs aren't just there to make your Instagram look pretty, they are there to support your messaging and brand values. They are there to help your audience more easily understand your brand and why they need you in their life, so in order for them to do that effectively, they should also reflect your goals and where you want your business to be. Over the last two years, I've pivoted my business from weddings to branding photography. If I only shared wedding photographs I'd have never been able to make that transition. If I didn't have photographs of myself behind the scenes and showing who I am and showing up even when I don't feel the most confident, then I wouldn't be in a position to help others understand why personal brands and stepping in front of the camera can be so important for small businesses. Your photographs impact how far you can go in achieving your goals. Let's look at some examples…
What are your goals?
To make more money… If one of your goals for the year is to make more money how are you going to do it? Are you releasing new products? Are you upping your prices? Are you hoping to sell more of a certain product?
Here's what you might need
・Photos of your new products both individually and in use
・Photos of new services
・Photos of your new product range with your existing products
・High quality photos that reflect a price increase
To pivot and adapt … Maybe you want to change the way you work, you might want to introduce face to face meetings or move all of your offerings online
Here's what you might need
・Photos of you delivering your online content
・Photos of you at face to face meetings with clients
・Photos of a laptop/phone/iPad showing your online offerings
To improve your customer service … Maybe next year is the year you really focus on your customer service. Having photographs of how you interact with customers and your customer touch points helps to emphasize and highlight the positive experience of working with you.
Here's what you might need
・Photos of you interacting with customers
・Photos of customers using your products/services
・Photos of your customer touchpoints eg. your packaging, welcome packs etc.
To connect more with your audience … You might want to find a way to connect more with customers and for a lot of small businesses the best way to do that is to focus on your personal brand
Here's what you might need
・Photos of you - headshots, behind the scenes, relaxed photos that show your personality
To grow your business … This might be the year that you want to expand your business, you might want to grow your team or move to a new location
Here's what you might need
・Photos of your new premises
・Photos of your current team at work
・Photos of new team members
・Photos of all your team together
That's just a few examples of how goals might influence the kinds of photo content you need. Some of which are pretty simple and probably obvious, but breaking down your goals in this way helps you to see what content is going to be useful, where last years content might have had gaps and if you have similar groups of photos that you can batch together and take at the same time - saving you time.
Once you've set your goals for the year break them down and see how they can be represented visually then ask yourself
📸 Do you have groups of similar photographs you need that you can take at the same time eg. multiple products. Batching photos will save you a huge amount of time in the long run 📸 Do you need to source any specific props? Or do you need anyone else to feature in photographs? 📸 Can you take the photographs you need yourself or do you need to outsource?
Now you'll be able to plan content for next year that you know will not only represent your brand, show your offerings and work towards your goals, but you'll be confident that your content is going to be more intentional and work harder for you.