Will Your DIY Cut It or Kill Your Brand's Image?

Should I hire a professional photographer, stylist and designer or just do it myself? For the business owner or department head, it’s a question you’ve probably asked yourself, if not recently, in the early days of planning launches and creating content for your brand.

Did you know that the average human attention span has decreased over time? And that our brains can process images in as little as 13 milliseconds.

That means your visuals are a powerful tool for capturing attention and conveying messages. But you must capture attention quickly and effectively.

You need to stand out if you’ve got a brand with products, personality, and competition. If your visuals aren’t considered unique and tailored to your brand philosophy, you probably won’t get the attention you’ve worked hard for. Videographers, photographers, and stylists are skilled in this; they live and breathe design aesthetics, creativity and perfection.

I know, I know. I get it. You are time-poor and most likely wearing many ill-fitting hats. You might also be bound by budgets and have no idea how to find trusted professionals to help you create fabulous, ground-breaking content that makes you SWOON. But despite the latest quote doing the rounds, “Done is better than perfect”, can you really afford NOT to have strategically planned, expertly staged and beautifully executed product shots?

While hiring professional photographers, videographers and stylists for your brand and product marketing has its share of pros and cons, compared to doing it yourself, you might find that the risk of dulling your brand’s potential is just not worth it. Let’s break it down and help you decide what’s best for your creative marketing plans:

Pros of hiring a professional photographer and stylist

Quality: A professional photographer and stylist have the skills and experience to create high-quality images to make your brand stand out. They have access to state-of-the-art equipment and techniques to produce images with excellent resolution, composition, and lighting. You won't achieve those studio-vibed shots unless you're experienced in this too. 

Time-saving: Hiring visual content professionals can save you a lot of time and effort that you might otherwise spend researching, practising, and taking photos or styling. If you have a tight deadline or limited resources, then it just. makes. sense.

Consistency: A professional photographer and stylist can help ensure that your images are consistent in style, tone, and quality across your marketing materials. Doing this will enhance your brand's identity and make it more recognisable to your target audience. It creates transparency and makes your mark as a brand. Simple.

Creative input: Besides their practical skills, having a professional onsite, separate from your business, will bring creative input and fresh ideas to your project. The result? More innovative and engaging images. The valuable insights a videographer can bring on energy, a photographer to light, and a stylist to placement will showcase the best of your brand. 

Cons of hiring a professional photographer and stylist

Cost: Hiring professionals can be expensive, and the price can vary depending on the project's complexity and location, plus the reputation and experience of the photographer, videographer or stylist. Do you want to engage a creative agency to handle everything for you? Or hire freelancers individually? All are important considerations and can be a significant investment for small businesses or startups with limited budgets.

Communication: Working with professional content creators can be challenging if you have different ideas or visions for your images. Communication is key to ensuring your expectations are met, and you get the desired results. Also, if you’re not a true ‘creative’, communicating your ideas (getting them out of your head) may seem impossible and set you up for some ‘interesting’ (read: undesirable) results.

Scheduling: If you outsource your styling and visual creation to the pros, you'll have to fit in with their availability. This can be a challenge if you have a tight schedule or limited flexibility and like to do things 'on the fly' (not recommended).

Personalisation: If you want your images to reflect your brand's personality and values, you might prefer to do it yourself. This can give you more control over the creative process and allow you to tailor your images to your specific needs and preferences. However, if you find the right fit with a pro, they'll spend time getting to know you and your brand before the day of the shoot. 

So what is right for me?

It’s a big decision to make and can and will change over time! What is right now may not work as well 6 months to a year down the track. At HER, I’m bridging the gap between the two options with you.

With my ‘Discovery’ meetings we can work out what’s the best direction for you and your business right now. I will create plethora of ideas and actions that you can get in motion immediately. I have so many ways to help you make content faster and with less stress.

From this complimentary meeting you may decide to continue to create on your own, but would like online consultations where I can guide you on a path and create a process specifically for you that makes creating content easier and faster. Allowing for you to work on your business again.

Or if you choose to outsource everything, with my custom quoting process, I guarantee we’ll maximise your budget to still give you the best of both worlds.

Where to start?

I highly suggest to book a complimentary Discovery Call with me, you can do that here. Let’s chat about where you’re at, tell me what is keeping you up at night and sapping all your time. Tell me about your business and what you love about it. Let’s bring the excitement and the calm back!

Being accountable for conceptualising and producing content in-house for international campaigns over the past 20 years, I know how to help you create breathtaking, on-brand content to market successfully. I work with you closely to deliver the high standards expected from luxury content producers but always within budget. 

Again, if you have staff and the capability to do minimal editing and social media management but lack professional guides and templates to get going, I can help. 

Or, suppose you need timeless images to serve your business well into the future. In that case, we can build a high-level continuity strategy to compete with the big guns in your industry while sharing tips to create scroll-stopping images.

Every brand is unique and at various stages.

I pride myself on being creative with my bespoke solutions—I’ll work to you and your team's strengths and base a future-proof marketing plan on your dream goals.

Want to chat some more about hiring professional content producers to bring balance back to your business? Please reach out and let me show you what a creative design agency should be doing for you!

HER at work