I received a call from a potential customer inquiring about getting photos of his manufacturing facility and the products that were made there (they produce large construction machinery.) He said his marketing department needed the photos for a new catalog and he was shopping for someone who could do the job. I asked him a few specifics about what his marketing department needed. It boiled down to several hours in their manufacturing facility and five location shoots with the equipment they produced. Here was the rub: it all had to be done in one day because the largest piece of equipment needed to be shipped out as soon as we were finished with the photographs. This was a good fit for us and we were awarded the contract.

However, things don’t always go as planned. When the day of the photo shoot arrived, there was a chance of rain. We took care of getting photos of the factory floor and all of the manufacturing process that morning. While we were inside, there had been a downpour and the streets were wet. This was going to be a challenge, but we devised a plan to get the job completed between raindrops. We made arrangements to get the equipment washed between locations. The next challenge came when the largest piece did not come back from the detailing shop on time. In fact, we waited for over three hours for it to get there. When it did, the union driver let us know that he would be clocking out and leaving for the weekend in two hours! We had location shoots of large equipment that had to be moved, washed, set up, photographed, and then the process had to be done over again five different times! We thought we would have six hours - which was hustling to get it done - but now we had only two hours!

At this point, you may be thinking, what is the big deal? Roll the equipment into place, snap a couple of photos and drive to the next location. Isn’t it that simple? Not if you are expecting really good photography. We are inundated with images all the time. Phones take more photos than they take phone calls these days. It is easy to think that one photo is just like another. There is a temptation to take the easy way out when it comes to creative resources, but in marketing, the creativity is the thing that first draws the attention of the customer. If you skimp on the creative, you run the risk of not standing out from your competition. That is death to a marketing campaign.

I knew I had the right photographer with me, with both the expertise and the professional equipment to capture images quickly. With the overcast skies, I knew we would have some retouching to do, so I needed nice, crisp photos that we could work with when it came time for Photoshop. Take a look at the results. And we did finish the photos that day.

Don’t skimp on creative services when it comes to marketing. Without it, your best laid plans will fall flat. We live in a visual society. Make sure the images you use in marketing are grabbing your customer’s attention.