You are never too ugly

I have a lot of conversations with clients and prospective clients about pictures. They want great looking pictures on their website and in their marketing materials.

I can understand that.

What I find that can be a little annoying is the over use of stock photography. Stock photos are great. You can get some pretty amazing photos that can capture your intent quite well... it is often that the same photography that you choose is also the photography that someone else will put on their website or in their marketing materials.

I am a firm believer in transparency. I believe in letting everyone know the real you. I believe that from a process perspective to a problem perspective and what you are doing to fix those problems.

One thing that really fosters trust from your clients is when you can show them the real you. Or even better, the real client / customer referral.

I have recommended to many clients that in order for the customer reference to be as effective as possible, we really need to see actual pictures of that reference. we need to be able to see who the person is... not a fake face double.

The most common response I get is, "Well, our customers (or sales people or staff) are great people and we love them, but they really aren't the most photogenic people around."

In my opinion, that is why you don't want to use stock photography... they aren't real people. I think Jerry Seinfeld said it best when he was asked what percentage of the population was good looking. He said, "5% - 10% tops... have you been to the DMV?"

The fact is, nobody fits the ideal and your customers understand that. They understand that far better than you trying to fool them into thinking that your staff or current customer list is full of beautiful people.

So, get off your high-horse, pay a few dollars for a professional photographer and get some pics of your people on your site.