Why photography is central to building brand identity

Committed to creating a brand identity that embodies all your company’s values? Among the most effective ways to do this is through striking and purposeful photography.

A visual media that instantly attracts attention, fosters trust, and allows a large amount of information to be processed in mere moments, commercial photography is an essential cornerstone of good branding.

Discover the different types of photography that can turn heads and educate audiences, and find out how you can strengthen your brand identity by putting photography at the centre of your branding strategy.

Types of photography that build brands

Team imagery and headshots

Everyone wants to see the face behind the screen – the genuine, human side of the business.

Instead of using stock imagery of smiling groups, showcasing the real people that will be answering the phone, responding to enquiries, and supporting customers in the event something goes wrong can go a long way to building trust and credibility.

These professional images are a fantastic addition to ‘About Us’ pages, author biographies, and LinkedIn profiles, but can also be used in a wide range of printed promotional materials, too.

Lifestyle photography

Lifestyle photography showcases your products and services in a real-world setting, helping potential customers to see how working with your brand would look.

For example, seeing a quantity surveyor sat behind a desk in their office is undoubtedly smart and professional, but seeing them on-site, reviewing project requirements and speaking with a contractor can bring a prospective customer’s vision to life.

The result? Your target audience is more likely to be able to visualise your brand in everyday scenarios and how it could fit into their own lives or upcoming projects.

Behind-the-scenes shots

With so much AI (Artificial Intelligence) content published online, many individuals and companies are looking for ways to shout about their authenticity, which is where behind-the-scenes (BTS) photography comes in.

These shots are carefully curated to highlight the people and processes behind the surface-level services and products an organisation offers. In short, BTS photography is all about those candid shots that highlight the potentially messy, but very much human side of your brand and how your business operates.

Whether your homepage needs a touch of authenticity or your ‘Our Team’ page is a little lack-lustre, these BTS shots are vital for fostering relatability and building real relationships.

Campaign photography

Keen to capture the essence of your brand? Campaign photography does exactly that by focusing on vibrant visuals, storytelling, and brand identity to create a series of shots that can be used on social media, billboards, and digital advertisements.

To deliver these, professional commercial photographers will consider a variety of elements, including brand values, styling, lighting, and colour, to create a strong visual brand identify that encourages instant recognition and a visceral emotional reaction.

Big and bold? Gentle and eco-friendly? Whatever your brand stands for, campaign photography will highlight those core aspects of your brand identity so they can be seen in all the right places.

Environmental shots

Yes, your potential customers are keen to see the people and process behind the business, but another key aspect of your brand identify is the environment you work in.

Whether that’s an office, studio, or retail space, showcasing your environment with high-quality photography can be an effective way to communicate your company culture and encourage your audience to pay you a visit.

Stock photos of your workplace or interior may also feel misleading when carrying out initial customer consultations, damaging trust and credibility – potentially well before work has even started!

As so many different types of photography can be used to communicate your brand identity, ignoring this powerful medium entirely can have a detrimental impact on the way your organisation is viewed.

Why photography should be a core component of every branding strategy

According to research conducted by 3M Corporation, we process visuals 60,000 times faster than text!

That means if your website, email campaigns, social media, and printed promotional materials either don’t include any imagery at all or use stock photos, you could be missing out on countless opportunities to effectively communicate your brand to both existing and prospective customers.

Whether you’re getting plenty of traffic to your site, but are failing to convert them or want to establish your brand as a trusted business within your industry, professional commercial photography could be the missing piece to your branding puzzle.

Do you need a professional photographer to build your brand?

Feel like your iPhone can handle taking some high-quality shots of your team, workplace, and products?

While there’s no denying that these devices have the capability to produce a decent image, what they don’t possess is the human insight, experience, and creativity required to capture the essence of your brand.

With a professional commercial photography team, like Eight Engines, on your side, you can rest assured that the person behind the camera has a strong grasp of lighting, colour, styling, and technique – all the elements that are essential to accurately communicating your brand identify.

We also take care of every aspect of the project – from the initial consultation where we take the time to understand your goals through to brainstorming ideas, adding our creative touch, scheduling the shoot, and taking care of the post-production finishing touches.

Showcase your brilliant brand with Eight Engines

Known as one of the UK’s leading brand video production companies, our team specialises in all aspects of storytelling and branding – including commercial photography.

With the rights shots, creative input, and production techniques, we can shine the spotlight on the values and personalities that make your organisation a brand people want to work with.

To learn more about working with our trusted network of talented photographers, simply get in touch with the Eight Engines team today.