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." continue reading...