Why Professional-quality photography is the first investment I’d make in any small business

I have been following Studio Cotton for a while on Instagram. Aime shares so many useful tips about optimising websites and the importance of photography (which naturally, I endorse of course) so I know I have to interview her for my blog. I love her practical and accessible advice for small business owners.

Q. Can you tell me a bit about Studio Cotton and who you help / work with? 

A. Studio Cotton is a web design company based in central Bristol, and right now we’re a few days away from celebrating our seventh birthday. Everything we do is specialised towards small businesses, and we work on the principles that we know small businesses have limited resources - limited budgets, limited time, limited creativity - and need to be really careful when and where they make their investments.

Every website we build, every piece of content we create - and even every nugget of info I share on Instagram or publish on the Studio Cotton has been created with this in mind.

Q. Why is photography important for small businesses?

A. I think I share something along the lines of “Professional-quality photography is the first investment I’d make in any small business” pretty regularly in our small business advice.

It has made the world of difference to my business, but just from our day job - it’s really freakin’ difficult to design a beautiful website with inconsistent and unprofessional photography.

It’s also way harder to create a cohesive and attractive social media presence, and way harder to convince the press to write about who you are and what you sell.

Professional photography can open so many doors to a small business, so my advice is that when you find the right photography who can nail your style within your budget: don’t walk, run towards their booking form ;)

Q. What type of images are essential for small businesses?

A. Ecommerce businesses need their product photography; a combination of simple, lifestyle, and detail shots. 

Every small business will benefit from having a bank of their own brand lifestyle photography. I am always utterly gagging for photos of small businesses just doing what they do. Packing orders, holding meetings, writing notes, making a cup of tea, staring at their monitors - these everyday pics really help audiences for a connection with a business.

I’ll throw in a small warning - make sure to have plenty of photos that DO NOT focus on face. It can just start looking a bit creepy if you’re scrolling through a website or Instagram feed and only seer pairs of eyes staring back at you.

Q. Do you have any tips on optimising images for websites?

A. Format, rename, resize, compress - all before adding the files to your website platform. Start by choosing the best file format for your image - PNG for graphics, JPG for photos, and don’t you dare add any screenshots.

Rename the files from generic DSC5032.jpg to a lovely, SEO-y pink-sofa-studio-cotton.jpg. Chop off all the pixels over 1,920 (or 2,500 for Squarspace/Shopify), and run them through a compressor like our free favourite, TinyPNG.

Q. Any other useful advice you'd like to share?

A. Plan for new photography for each season. Whether that’s shooting festive products in February or thwacking on some sunnies to turn your Winter brand shoot into a summery fiesta. 

Seasonal imagery is massively beneficial to a small business, so try to work this into your budget and/or your photoshoot plans.

See Studio Cotton’s website here: https://studiocotton.co.uk