IMAGERY: Where Are You and What Do You See?

by Dustin Bass

What is it most people like on social media? Two things: photos and videos.

Well, guess what? They like great visuals everywhere else. Think of your website. (If you’re a business owner, then you better have one.) What does it look like? There’s a really good chance that whatever images you have on there are stock images? (Now where is that barf emoji?)

Stock images may look good (and the operative word is “may”), but they don’t represent you. They are not your brand. In fact, as easy as they have become to use, they have also become equivalent to digital imposters. “Who are these people?” “That’s not the dentist!” “That’s not the barista!” “That’s not even the restaurant!”

That’s what people are thinking, if not saying out loud while on your site.

When It Comes to Video and Photography...

So when it comes to video and photography, it needs to be original content. Everything needs to be original content. Provide the visuals that will catch your customer’s eye. Not the visual that leaves them saying, “Hey, I’ve seen that face before...on a completely different website.”

At BassTrapp Media, we believe in the story. Your story. Your ORIGINAL story. And what is the best way to tell that story? Well, they say that “a picture paints a thousand words”, so you need to make sure you’re getting that story painted well.

Imagery Provides the Setting

It’s obvious that we love movies over here (we even used a shot from David Lean's 1962 Lawrence of Arabia as our main image). Hence the reason we always utilize some cinematic example to get our point across. Without imagery, you can’t provide a setting. If you have false imagery, then you provide your customers with a false setting. This means their expectations will be incorrectly raised.

Just think if a movie poster had a western themed image, but the movie was a modern day comedy or technological thriller. That wouldn’t make much sense, would it?

One of my favorite westerns displays an expectation and then delivers on it. Look at this movie poster from Once Upon a Time in the West

and now watch this clip:

and now watch this clip:

It’s all about delivering on expectations. Expectations that you set. Don’t set the wrong expectations. Set them right, and make sure those expectations are worth anticipating.