In this third part of my four part series about possible unintended consequences of the images you use, I’m going to talk about assumptions and misconceptions that people can make about your business.
Do you find that people have all these assumptions and preconceptions about what you do that just aren’t true? And because of this you are losing potential clients?
One of the reasons this might be happening is that the images you are using aren’t representing your business in the right way. We assume that people automatically understand what we do, but that’s not the case.
People don’t always get it. They don’t know anything about the type of service you carry out for clients, they don’t appreciate how you do it differently from other providers. It might be that you do something that a lot of people haven’t heard of, so don’t understand how you can help them.
As a photographer, I’ve had similar issues, people don’t understand or take for granted the importance of getting things like lighting or positioning right for a shot, so I’ve had to find ways to show this, so that people can see the dramatic difference it makes to have a professional shot taken over a quick snap on a mobile phone.

Before and After
This is my lovely client Anna Brooker, who is a health coach and is extremely passionate about helping her clients bring about positive change in their lives.
On the left is the selfie she originally used on her website, which I feel doesn’t do her justice and show how full of life and energy she is. On the right is one of photos I took during her Business Photography photoshoot.
Sometimes it’s really difficult to get across exactly what it is you do and the value that you bring to clients using just words, especially when they’re open to individual interpretation, or they refer to a technique you use that needs to be experienced to be understood (This is on top of the challenges of getting their attention in the first place.)
Unless we can find a way to communicate the experience and benefits of working with us to potential clients then we will struggle to get sales, and reach the people we know we can help. Wouldn’t it be good if there was a way of getting that across to people?
This is a short clip from a Photofilm I created for Janet Dowling. In the full version she describes the type of conditions she can help her clients with and the process of working with her. So without even meeting her they can understand what she does and to get to know her a bit, so they know whether they would feel comfortable working with her.
What are the common misconceptions about what you do?
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