1000 Ways to Market Your Business

Storytelling and the Power of Visuals

• Samantha Scott • Season 2 • Episode 6

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On this episode of 1000 Ways to Market Your Business, Samantha Scott, APR, is joined by Brian Tietz, a commercial and editorial photographer based in Fort Myers. 

The two dive into the world of visual storytelling, discussing the power of images in marketing and how to use photos and videos to enhance your brand’s story. 

Have a question or feedback to share? Visit www.getpushing.com or one of our many social media channels. We look forward to hearing from you.

#marketing #business #communication #strategy

Samantha:

Hi, and welcome to another episode of 1000 Ways to Market Your Business. I'm Samantha Scott, APR. And today I am joined by the one and only Brian Tietz. And we're going to talk about visual storytelling and the power of images and marketing. Thanks for coming.

Brian:

Absolutely. Thanks for having me here. I appreciate it.

Samantha:

So I've been fortunate enough to know you for a very, very long time.

Brian:

We have known each other for a long time.

Samantha:

Really cool kind of back story. But also enjoying your work. And for those of you that are in Southwest Florida, you have probably seen Brian's work all over the place. Lots of different magazines and otherwise, or if you go to Downtown House of Pizza, it's there too. Good stuff. Brian, why don't you tell people a little bit about you?

Brian:

So, I'm a commercial and editorial photographer. I'm based here in Fort Myers, but I pretty much cover, you know, from Orlando south in the state. I get work in Tampa and St. Pete and West Palm and Miami and Orlando occasionally. Which is great about being in this market is that I can work in those markets and still make it back, you know, for little league games and dinner with my family and stuff like that.

Samantha:

The important stuff.

Brian:

Exactly, exactly.

Samantha:

So, how long have you been doing this?

Brian:

I started in photography when I was in high school. My first job was at a Eckerd photo lab. Yeah. So I worked at Eckerd's and, and while I was in high school, I was on the newspaper and yearbook staff of my high school. When I graduated from UF in 2001, it was with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism, specializing in photojournalism. Unfortunately, around that time, 9/11 happened, so newspapers had stopped hiring. So pretty much right after graduation I just started freelancing. So I've been a freelance photographer pretty much since day one.

Samantha:

So your background really lends itself to the topic today, which is storytelling and the power of visuals. And I think this term storytelling has kind of been kicked around for a few years, became a buzzword. Oh, I'm a storyteller. But I like to think of it as how you can communicate as a brand. And there's ways to do that with words, but there's also ways to do that with images. The adage of, you know, a photo is worth a thousand words, right? But, what do you think that that means in terms of the power of visuals, both still photography and video and communication for business?

Brian:

Gosh, you know, storytelling and especially using powerful images, video or stills, really helps brands connect with their audience.

Samantha:

I agree.

Brian:

I mean, it really kind of helps humanize those brands. It makes people want to be affiliated with those brands and it helps them feel good about using their products.

Samantha:

And how have you seen that change? I mean, you've been around a little bit,(not calling you old, we're very close in age), but you've seen things change. You know, I joke with some of our younger team members that we were around before social media and before it was really easy to capture some really great videos and photos on your iPhone.

Brian:

Right.

Samantha:

So how have you seen change, and what do you think has been good or bad about that?

Brian:

Well, I think a lot of it has changed in that it's come from the really slick, overly produced videos and content.

Samantha:

Kind of sterile, even, sometimes.

Brian:

Exactly. To more of a everyman's kind of, they'll see something that may have been shot with an iPhone or something a little bit more run and gun production style. And I think they give a little bit more value to that knowing that it's real.

Samantha:

It's genuine. Yes. Authentic. I think that's so powerful. And for those of you that are listening and you're thinking, okay, yeah, great pictures are wonderful how can I do this myself? I think give yourself that grace to know if you don't have huge budgets and you can't hire a professional all the time, do that when you can, but know that creating authentic content is also really valuable.

Brian:

Absolutely.

Samantha:

You know, a slice of life, behind the scenes, and then also just finding ways for people to connect and see themselves in it, and that's real.

Brian:

Absolutely. When I see companies that are using storytelling in an authentic way like that, I have so much appreciation for that. I really, I enjoy watching that. I enjoy seeing that kind of stuff.

Samantha:

Do you have any tips for somebody that might be running marketing for a business or own a business and they're thinking about how they can incorporate visual storytelling into their marketing?

Brian:

Well, now it's so much easier. Really, because social media is free. I mean, you can advertise your content on social media technically for free. You just gotta create the content. And that's the hard part I know for a lot of businesses is staying on top of creating genuine content on a regular basis. And believe me, I am just as guilty as everybody else. I should be doing posts every day, you know, probably a couple of posts every day instead of once every couple of weeks or so. So believe me, I know the struggles in trying to stay on top of that, that, it's hard, but the rewards are there. And I know that every time I do put up a post on social media, within 24 hours, I've got two or three phone calls of people going,"Hey, we need these photos for this," or,"hey, I saw that post you did, it's really cool. You know, is that something you can do for us as well?"

Samantha:

So your strategy would be showcasing your work. And so for those of you listening, you think about how can you showcase your wares or your services in that way. We try to do that, but I can appreciate your position there, right? Because I often say that we are the cobbler's children with no shoes.

Brian:

Or the photographers that don't have any photos of their kids.

Samantha:

So I can relate to that, but I would say my tip would be think strategically about what you're trying put out. You know, it's great to show your team at lunch, but that's just one side of the story. Can you show your team in work? Can you show the results of your work? Can you show how your product works? Can you explain it? Because people are going to connect with these visuals in a different way. I would also add too if you can incorporate video as well as stills, as consumers, you've heard me say this before if you've listened to our podcast, we're lazy. We don't want to read. Everybody just wants to watch a video. Show me how to do it. Don't make me read something how to do it. So if you can use photos or video to explain what you do or how you're different, it's just going to be absorbed that much faster by your audience.

Brian:

I get sucked in the Facebook Reels. I could literally spend an hour and I wouldn't even realize it passed because you just get stuck in watching these things. And a lot of them are storytelling and you know, it's storytelling from companies. There's a couple that I follow, I'm a car guy, so they're a car type kind of posts or whatever, but you know, it could be somebody rebuilding an engine and I'm like, wow, that's fascinating. It's 30 seconds and I'm like, whoa, that's, that's really interesting. Yeah, and you just get sucked into it. So I think if you can do quick, short little videos, telling stories about your customers or about how your products are being used that might be different than what somebody else might assume that that's how you use your product. Those are the things that really kind of capture people's attention.

Samantha:

And we always try to tell people, be consistent. As consistent as you can. So you talked about post scheduling, how often should you use that in your storytelling. But I would say, from the very beginning, start by just really defining, what am I trying to say. And I think sometimes people are well intentioned, and they wanna, you know, they get fired up, they listen to this podcast, they're like, yeah, I'm gonna go do that. But they don't have a plan. So, that's one of the first things we say, is define what your story is. What are you trying to communicate? And maybe there's a couple different things. And keep in mind it's not the you show, it's not just what you're trying to sell, but how can you make it two way and help somebody else who might be looking for information and you can be positioned as a resource. So, starting out with a plan of what are we trying to say, what are we trying to communicate, then go into, okay, now what would show that, either in stills or in video, and making sure you're consistent in how you're putting that content out. And then, you know, just from a technical side, I would say, make sure when you're posting it that you're using your alt text, because, you know, you want to make sure that you get as much bang for your buck with search engine optimization, that you have calls to actions and keywords and things when you're posting. But also consistency in the look. Right? Because to your point, it's so much easier and there's so much social out there now. Filters for days, right? But, I don't think we all need to have like the kitten ears and things on our pictures, let's make sure we're professional and that we're not using a different filter with every single photo.

Brian:

Quality is key, for sure. If you're trying to shoot some good video, turn off mixed lighting. Like if you're in an office setting that has fluorescent lights everywhere and then window light coming in, shut off those fluorescent lights, use some nice natural window light coming in. And that's something easy. You can really get some good results. It's insane the quality that you can get from just like an iPhone or your Android or whatever. You know, so I would say do that. Keep it simple. You don't have to do a bunch of transitions and make it crazy and loud and have loud music or anything like that going on. Keep it simple because a lot of times when I'm watching Reels or content my volume is completely off.

Samantha:

Exactly, that's a great point. A lot of people are just reading the text, so make sure you have that closed captioning on there.

Brian:

Absolutely, that is huge. Because there's lots of times where I can't sit there and listen to it because I'm in a situation where I'm in public and I'm not going to sit in a waiting room and let someone else have to listen to all my social media Reels. The closed captioning is awesome. If somebody doesn't have that on their videos, I'm kind of bummed out because I'm like, well, I guess I'm not going to know what this person's talking about.

Samantha:

So many apps have that built in, where even if you don't know how to do editing, it can do it for you. I would say also, lighting is a great point. There are a number of inexpensive light rings if you're trying to do that. Gimbals are also really handy. So those are those stabilizers if you're filming with an iPhone. Those are also really useful. Can you give me an example of a really solid campaign that just used visuals and relied on that and how that worked and the storytelling?

Brian:

One of my favorite campaigns to work on was for a non-profit. I did a project with Grace Place in Golden Gate, and they help non English speaking people learn skills to be able to work. They address all demographics. So we took people from different age brackets, different racial brackets, different everything, and we just did simple, really clean black and white portraits of them, and then the Grace Place people wrote up their story. The images were impactful enough and the stories were so powerful that they were able to use that in their annual report and then also as a fundraising campaign that really helped their donors be able to connect with the people that they're helping. And that's a huge thing when the donors can see,"Oh my gosh, I'm having an impact on this person." It could be a child. It could be someone who's 80 years old. When they can see where their money is having an impact and how it's having an impact, that's huge.

Samantha:

Yeah, I think you make a really great point, connection, you know, like the faces to names, it makes a difference. I think that's a powerful story when it comes to fundraising and non-profits. We did something similar, but with video for a gym, they were having a hard time getting people to come in and see a trainer. And for any of you who have done that, it can be kind of an intimidating process, uncomfortable. Like I'm already not really happy with myself and now I'm going to go talk to somebody that I don't know about that who's like probably the epitome of fitness. So we did these little short bio videos and it was just like,"Hey, I'm Samantha and here's who I train and here's how long I've been doing it and here's why." And it was a way to kind of interview them before ever going in the door. And it was really, really helpful for them. Kind of a different take on that. Love it.

Brian:

Absolutely. Other campaigns that I've seen as being powerful, honestly, is Publix. I think Publix has some of the best.

Samantha:

Oh, gosh, their holiday stuff.

Brian:

Exactly, their holiday campaign. And then of course, like Budweiser and their Super Bowl commercials. But like, those are storytelling campaigns.

Samantha:

And they often don't use words.

Brian:

Exactly. And that's what's even more powerful about it.

Samantha:

Yeah, really great stuff. I'm sure you guys are familiar with those and if not you can just Google like Publix Christmas just make sure you have tissues. So, for those of you that might be considering visual storytelling, custom photography for their business, are there any other tips, tools, or maybe there's some things to avoid like don't do this.

Brian:

Yes, a thousand percent yes. I think what you want to do is not alienate your audience. So, I always say, stay away from any sort of political commentary.

Samantha:

Very timely advice right now.

Brian:

You might get a lot of people to give you a thumbs up, but you're also going to lose a lot of people. I don't really care what your political affiliation is, it doesn't need to be part of your branding.

Samantha:

That's a great PR tip as well. Putting on my PR hat. Just leave that to the side because you're right, it could be very polarizing. At the end of the day, how does that impact your business? Somebody's not going to necessarily buy from you because you share this opinion.

Brian:

Right. And the other thing is, and I've seen this happen with a company that I am a patron of, that they have a tendency to want to be authentic, but the problem is their way of thinking they're authentic can be a little misogynistic, or inappropriate, or cringeworthy, basically. It just kind of makes you go, ugh, I probably wouldn't have done that, or said that, or used that photo. They need someone to be like, it's okay to be authentic, but at the same point, you don't want to turn off any of your clients because of what you think is authentic. That's probably my best advice.

Samantha:

I like it. The things not to do. Sometimes that's more helpful than the things that you should do.

Brian:

The other thing I would add is keep it simple. Like, don't feel like you have to buy a bunch of gear and do all sorts of stuff. It's about the authenticity and the storytelling, keeping it simple and keeping it short.

Samantha:

Yes, I just talked about that in a TrendTalks Marketing video about keep it simple. Short is best. Attention spans are shorter than ever.

Brian:

For sure.

Samantha:

And social's not making that any better. So short, short, short. Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. Well, any parting thoughts, anything that we didn't discuss you think would be helpful in terms of visuals and storytelling?

Brian:

Gosh if there was ever a time in history where storytelling is important and also so easy now, it's now. There's no excuse to not be doing it. And like I said, I'm guilty of not staying up with it as much as I should. But at the same point, I still try to reach out and be proactive.

Samantha:

I would add one parting thought is to don't feel like you always have to do everything yourself. I mean we talked about some DIY things. There's a lot of opportunities for that and there's a place for that. But I would also say know when you might be out of your depth. Or know when you really need somebody that can come in. Like a Brian who can just do something a little bit different in a better way than you might be able to.

Brian:

If you have a problem with your toilet in your house a lot of people aren't gonna just dig in there, do a YouTube video and start going to town, right, or the electrical panel, or something like that. There's a time and a place to call the professional. You may look at the amount of money you may have to spend and be like,"Ugh, I don't know." But in the long run, that's an investment that will absolutely come back.

Samantha:

I was just going to say that. It is an investment. Because now you're creating a whole plethora, array of images and video content that you can use. I would say be smart if you are going to hire a professional. Ask a lot of questions. Does this include editing? How many finished images am I going to get? Can I have the raw footage from this video? What are the rights to that? Make sure that you are crossing all of your t's and dotting all of your i's so that you get maximum value from it. Because even if it's just b roll clips, you can use that on your website. You can use it as background footage on social posts. But yes, it absolutely is an investment. It's, you know, just like taking care of any other part of your business. Know when you need a professional to help you and then make wise choices. Keep in mind too, when you're setting up those photo and video shoots that it's evergreen, right? So you want to make sure that you're smart about where you're filming or taking photos and what's in them, and you don't have holiday decorations in the background, for example. Well, thank you so much, Brian.

Brian:

Absolutely, no, it was an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for having me out here. This was great.

Samantha:

And thanks for tuning in to 1000 Ways to Market Your Business. See you next time.