Promoting Your Business

Blonde model in short skirt looking at a pottery container planted with flowers and a cordyline.

Here Roxy poses as a shopper admiring a container planting.

Promoting your business is a priority for every business owner. We must develop advertising and a feel for the culture of the business. If we convey our mission and our services, then we succeed. Commercial photography can help with promoting your business, too.

I own a nursery as well as a photo studio. I promote that business by posting an image every day on Facebook, as well periodic bulk emails and so on. My camera has to stay busy to have a new image every day. Mostly, I shoot photos of flowers, plants, gardens and the like. I shoot pictures of our staff doing the tasks of growing plants. I shoot photos of landscapes we install and often show before and after shots.

Blonde model in yellow dress holding a flat of Night Sky petunias

Roxy holding a flat of petunias. Even though it is early season and the flowers are just starting to bloom, the happy mood of finding your plant is clearly shown.

Every so often, I do a promotional shoot with a model. It is not news that pairing photos of attractive people with your product can help sell the thing or service you provide. I was fortunate to work with Roxy Webster on a recent shoot where we got photos with plants, pottery and other products. Some posed her as a Vanna White style model, others were posing as a shopper. She brought a nice variety of outfits appropriate to a nursery or garden. We choose a look and took a wide range of product shots.

Blonde model in short dress shopping for pottery, looking at 2 large pots.

Here Roxy is looking at some pieces of pottery at the nursery. Another “shopper pose”.

If you watch any television, you will also be aware that many companies believe that promoting your business has as much to do with mood or feeling as it does to showcase products. An actor falling backwards into water (Mathew) is not going to have anything to do with the engineering of a Cadillac, but they spent big money on the ad. So, in that vein I also took some fun shots of Roxy that did not relate directly to a plant. The pictures of her in a kayak on our little creek are fun. Humorous. And they create a mood. I don’t sell kayaks or adventure rides on the creek at the nursery, but the nursery is a fun place to visit.

I’ve had lots of practice with shooting for a range of applications. It is good to have shots in the can that don’t have immediate known application. The time will come for those. In a 2-3 hour shoot a great deal of ground can be covered and hundreds of images captured. Though I don’t have an immediate application at the nursery for the shot of Roxy with the bubble gum, I will save the shot for future use. It is cute and fun.