What’s a more important marketing tool - video or photos?
What’s a more important marketing tool - video or photos?
Read on to get the answer - it may surprise you :)
It seems everywhere speakers congregate online and in person, I often hear them debating where to invest their marketing budgets.
Am I spending money on video content - speaker reels, weekly video blogs, B-T-S videos, etc.?
Or, do I dive in and invest time and money into an image content portfolio?
Now, I’m a branded lifestyle portrait photographer so perhaps you might assume that my suggestion would gravitate towards focusing solely on the photos.
But you would be incorrect in that assumption.
The answer is you need both to truly create a memorable and referable online presence.
I realize that leveraging both avenues is a complicated, and potentially expensive endeavor, but, it’s the combination of the two that can create an irresistible and compelling pitch to help those in need of your specialized attention.
But when thinking about how to effectively leverage photo and video content, it’s important to enact an overall strategy to ensure that these two gigantic marketing assets play nice together.
In order to simplify this strategy, think of it in terms of a race:
Your photography assets are your entry fee into the race and keep you on the course. Your video assets help get you to the finish line.
What do I mean by this?
When it comes to the photography assets, these images serve as your digital introduction to those you serve.
They visually punctuate the sentiments of the stories that you share in the caption. These stories reveal to your audience a combination of your personality and the way you deliver your expertise.
These posts provide your potential clients an opportunity to qualify not only whether or not they want to work with you based off of the impression they get of you through the emotional sentiment of the image, but also if the way in which you describe how you help resonates with how they want to be served.
If they’re picking up what you’re throwing down, you’re now in the race.
They will further qualify you by reading more of your posts and articles and head over to your website to see what you have to offer.
They may sign up for your list so that you can continue to nurture them with valuable information as they continue to vet other options.
They may also engage your content to let you know that they’re paying attention and perhaps elevate the conversation with an email to let you know that your work is amazing.
Now throughout this nurturing/get-to-know-you process, they may come to a point where they are looking to make a decision as to whether or not they want to pull the trigger and hire you for your specialized services.
For those audience members at this point in their buying journey, a compelling video may do wonders to help sway them in your direction.
Whereas the written word and image combination is a wonderful way to get people under your tent, video can help drive home the point in a powerfully compelling way.
Rather than simply reading your words, you’re now having an actual conversation with your audience, making direct eye contact with them through the video. They can see the passion you have for the work that you do, and that creates a strong emotional connection with the viewer.
As a professional speaker, you know how to leverage body language, pacing, tonation and storytelling in a way that deeply resonates with your audience.
If you leverage that unique superpower in a purposeful way, that can help make the decision for your clients right then and there.
Rather than simply dumping a ton of image and video content online and hoping for the best, think about how you can strategically leverage both assets.
Take a high-level approach to your nurturing funnel.
In order to get people warmed up to you and open to doing business, hit them with image content that introduces you, your expertise and personality.
To ask people to invest 4-6 minutes of their time to watch a video when they have no idea who the hell you are is a tall order. But a quick post that takes less than 30 seconds to consume is a much more palatable option.
For those who have been following you for a while, they are invested, which means they would be more than happy to spend a couple minutes listening to you share some insights and inspiration in a video.
And since they’ve been properly primed, they are much more receptive to not only what you say, but how you say it. And if you say it in a way that’s compelling, their next step will involve setting up a call with you to figure out the next steps.
Keep these subsections of your audience in mind as you devise your online marketing strategy.
But just know that the conversation with yourself begins with investing in BOTH photography and video content.
Ultimately, this killer combo will serve to get more eyeballs on your website and more money in your bank account.
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PS - If you’d like to read more strategies, insights and advice related to branded lifestyle portraits, I invite you to join my email list so that you save yourself from commuting to my blog every time I post something new, :)