How to Plan a Business Photoshoot
To make an impact on social media there’s no question that you need excellent, professional-quality visuals. People will engage with your brand based on what they see first. Which means a photoshoot is pretty much a non-negotiable if you’re a small business or an independent entrepreneur. But for a lot of folks, this is new territory. How does it work? Once you’ve scheduled with a photographer, how should you plan your first professional business photoshoot?
Determine the purpose
First, determine the overall purpose of the shoot. What is it for? A shoot for a website will look quite a bit different than a quarterly shoot for a social media platform. And a shoot for a retail business will look different than a shoot for a service-based business. E-commerce, brick and mortar, or both? Figure out what you hope to get out of the shoot first.
Figure out the ideal location
Now that you have your goals in place, find a location that will help you achieve your purpose. If you have a physical location, you’ll likely do at least a portion of the shoot in your space. If you’re a maker, you may want to give your online visitors a peek at your studio. If you offer services, you may decided to forego your kitchen table office and rent a studio—or not. If you work outdoors, what are the locations that, visually, represent what you do? Whatever reflects you and your work is what will resonate most.
If you’re going to split your time with your photographer, spreading out the shoot between an indoor and outdoor space, first be sure they’re OK with it and then be certain you can make it to each site and have time to shoot within the parameters of your contract.
Create a shot list
The shot list is the most important part of your shoot, hands down. Showing up without any plan will lead to random or repetitive shots that you won’t be able to use as effectively.
To create a shot list, think about what images you want to have at the end. Do you need product shots? How would you like them photographed? With a plain studio backdrop, surrounded by styled props, or with people interacting with them? Do you need pictures of you interacting with people? If so, how would you like to be portrayed? What are the things you do in your work that are visually compelling.
What about seasonal or holiday promotions? If you know you’ll be plugging a particular product or trying to encourage summer or holiday shopping, for instance, be sure to include those shots in your lineup.
Logistics, logistics, logistics
Once you have your shot list done, it’s time to plan for the logistics. Figure out how you’ll transport your products to the location, if you need to. Need props? Make a list and gather them. Bringing along a team or models? You’ll need to coordinate their schedules. Are you hiring a prop stylist, makeup artist, hair stylist or other professional? Get them all coordinated and find out what they’ll need the day of the shoot so it can go off without a hitch.
Dial in your timing
Once you have it set up, make sure you know how the shoot fits into your business planning. Is this a one-time shoot for a website or promotional materials? Then you’ll know that every shot needs to count. Make sure the shots are evergreen and very high quality. You’ll be using them for a long time.
Is it a yearly shoot? Or quarterly? The more often you shoot, the more room you’ll have to get creative.
How we plan our photoshoots at FFM
Need a case study? Here’s what we do!
First, we map out our blog posts for the quarter, decide what shots we’d like for each one and add these to our shot list.
We decide which holidays, awareness campaigns, and special occasions we’re going to recognize in our social media feed. Then we brainstorm shots for each of them, plan props, and add these shots to the list.
We plan out our quote graphics and the statistics we’d like to highlight each quarter and plan shots for each, if needed.
Finally, we plan and coordinate our looks. What will we wear? You want at least 3 or 4 looks per ~2 hour shoot. Once you have your shot list and your wardrobe and props figured out, you can sort out the shots under each look, for the most efficient shoot possible.
Planning a professional business photography shoot is a lot of work. But once you get your amazing photos back, you’ll find that the time is completely worth it.
Not sure you need a photographer yet? Check out this blog post!
