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Integrations: The Newest Addition to Your Marketing Ops

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Marketing isn’t just about campaigns, content, and creativity. There’s a whole lot of “getting things done” that needs to happen behind the scenes for campaigns to roll out on time and performance to scale.

This is where marketing operations comes in. Also called marketing ops or MOps, marketing operations is how a marketing team is run. It’s the processes, technology, data, and people that power a marketing strategy.

Of these key pillars of marketing operations, data sounds like the most abstract one. But getting the data right in your marketing ops is crucial.

How do you do this? By cleaning, organizing, and enriching the data in every app as well as integrating data between your apps.

An increasingly important role for any team or Marketing Operation Manager is maintaining data quality and connectedness. This not only includes marketing apps but also bridges to other departments in the organization.

Let’s dig into how to make this happen so you can scale the impact of your marketing ops.

What Are Integrations?

Integration brings different pieces of software together and enables their data to interact.

When done well, integrations enable your marketing team to:

  • Create the most holistic marketing ops strategy across your software ecosystem.
  • Allow data to seamlessly flow between key platforms and enrich each one.
  • Automate more tasks and free up time.
  • Provide stronger customer experiences with more accessible and insightful data.
  • Remove data silos and other barriers to collaboration.
  • Deliver accurate insights, reporting, and decision making.

As an example of a valuable integration, think of your CRM and email marketing app. A good email list is a marketer’s most treasured possession, but for your email marketing to be successful, you need accurate and in-depth insights into each contact’s interests, behavior, and communication preferences. You can solve this by integrating data from your CRM.

The integrations that matter most to your marketing operations depend on your organization and industry.

That said, there are certain integration best practices that businesses with strong marketing operations follow. Let’s explore those.

1. Understand the Ecosystem Your Marketing Data Lives in

A strong marketing stack that your team loves using is a pivotal part of your marketing operations management.

This can include an all-in-one marketing platform or individual systems for:

  • Content management
  • Marketing automation
  • Lead Generation
  • Email marketing
  • Analytics and reporting
  • Project management
  • Communication

One of the first steps to perfect your marketing ops is understanding the ecosystem your marketing data lives in. Some valuable questions to ask are:

  • What data are we collecting in each app?
  • How should data interact with other apps?
  • How can we sync apps to enrich the data in each one?

With answers to these questions in mind, you can decide how best to integrate your apps and allow data to flow between them.

2. Ensure Clean, Up-to-date Data in Every App

To get the best results from integrations, you need high-quality data in every app. Dirty data in one app is bad, but the negative impact is multiplied for every new app it enters.

To prevent this, clean up the data in every app before adding new integrations. This includes:

  • Duplicate contacts
  • Inaccurate contact data
  • Unsubscribes
  • Bounced email addresses

With clean data in every app, you can seamlessly integrate your marketing platforms and create the most streamlined and effective marketing ops.

3. Make Your CRM the Heart of Your Marketing Ops

There’s a high chance your sales team is already using a CRM to store all of the key insights about your customers and their interactions with your business. That’s because centralizing your data in your CRM is one of the best things you can do for strong contact management.

One way to test the strength of your CRM is by checking if anyone in your business can answer questions about a contact and their interactions with your business – whether in sales, support, marketing, or billing – just by glancing at their contact record.

To make this happen, you can use integration to bring data from other apps into your CRM. The inverse is also valuable: syncing your CRM data with your marketing apps to enrich the data in those places.

Alongside syncing names and emails, you can choose which other information makes sense to have available in your other marketing apps. This could include:

  • Lead status/stage
  • Location
  • Industry
  • Customer Success Owner
  • Business size
  • Communication preferences

4. Use Contact Segmentation

Segmenting your contacts using lists, tags, and properties is a fantastic way to deliver the most personalized customer experience. But it’s also a key ingredient for effective integrations.

With an iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) solution like PieSync, you can create customized workflows and sync data based on specific conditions. That way, you maintain the segmentation of your database across tools. These specific conditions could be configured according to If-this-then-that rules. For instance:

  • IF a contact’s Lifecycle Stage is ‘Lead’
  • THEN sync the contact to your email marketing tool and add to the list ‘List of leads’

If the contact stops being a customer, you can automatically reflect that in your email marketing app, remove the ‘Customer’ tag, and no longer send relevant communications.

To create powerful if-this-then-that rules, first segment data in individual apps, and then create connections across your ecosystem.

5. Create Strong Alignment With Sales Via Integrations

Your marketing operations strategy isn’t just about marketing. It’s essential to look at the other teams in your organization and understand how to create the strongest alignment.

The most important bridge for marketers to maintain is with sales. By working collaboratively instead of in silos, marketers can deliver the perfect leads for sales and both teams can share what’s working as well as opportunities.

To optimize your bridge with sales, you can integrate your marketing software with sales apps such as:

  • Sales CRM
  • Contact Management
  • Live chat software
  • Sales automation software
  • Integrations between your marketing apps and customer support software

With your marketing and sales apps in sync, both teams are in the best position to exchange data, deliver unified reporting, and do their best work both independently and together.

6. Integrate Customer Data with Your Marketing Apps

Although marketing usually has the strongest alignment with sales, make sure not to forget about your service team.

If your data is siloed, you run the risk of the nightmare scenario of sending a promotion offer to a customer who subscribed a week ago at full price.

With integrated apps and data, you can keep your customers in mind for every marketing campaign and create personalizations based on the products, services, and upgrades that are most relevant to them.

You can align your Marketing and Service team with either:

A good starting point is to make sure that all customer interactions and support requests are synced with your CRM. Marketers can then easily use this information to personalize campaigns and workflows.

How to Measure the Effectiveness of Your Integrations

You can measure the impact of integrations in your marketing operations strategy by asking if:

  • Your data is accurate, enriched, and reliable in every app.
  • You have a centralized contact database that quickly gives you a 360-degree view of each contact.
  • Your marketing team is aligned with sales and can quickly collaborate.
  • You have removed all data silos.
  • You can personalize marketing campaigns for customers or exclude them from certain messaging.
  • You have clear marketing reporting that brings together data from all channels and apps and highlights key areas for optimization.

As you optimize your marketing operations, remember to look at the holistic view of your marketing stack and the individual pieces of the puzzle. By paying attention to the two in tandem, you can understand where to connect the dots for the best overall outcomes in your marketing team and throughout your organization.





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Benefits of digital marketing virtual peer groups, roundtables, and masterminds

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What’s in a label, right?

I’m not too fond of labels because they can be confining and, in some cases, discriminating. However, at the same time, they do serve a helpful purpose.  

We use labels for different things and situations.  

They can identify the dress size or a particular category of goods or services and allow us to find what we need quickly. 

There are labels to categorize people by age, gender, race, religion, income, intelligence, interests, sexual orientation, weight, or fashion choices to group those with something in common. 

Overall, labels are signals to those who identify or relate to them that where they are is a welcoming place or that an item is the right match for them.

If one sees the Muslim Mommies Virtual Peer Group, for example, but you don’t share the same religious “label” and you are not a mommy, you know that group is probably not for you.

Especially now, during COVID-19, group labels that help us quickly identify those who share a similar mindset, industry background, and profession to find common ground and support — that includes digital marketing and sales professionals

While labels can sometimes come with different judgments, I know they can also bring people together.

I guess I am okay with them after all. 

So, let’s dive into the role they play in marketing and how you can benefit. 

The role of peer groups in marketing

The Lumen group defines the term group as any collection of at least two people who interact with some frequency and who share a sense that their identities align.

Throughout my marketing career, I have always been part of a peer group of some sort, whether in-person or virtual. 

Although some may think these are a waste of time, they have helped me grow by leaps and bounds. 

In some of the groups, I was able to lead and teach without having to second guess myself and, in turn, help me become knowledgeable, willing to try new things, and lose my insecurities. 

When you find a professional group, you can also give you a sense of clarity and belonging as you connect over shared knowledge, language, and understanding of the circumstances and issues the others face. 

You can talk through problems you’re having and most likely find someone who can easily relate or has a solution. 

Plus, in the traditional networking sense, professional groups can present new job, hire, or partnership opportunities.  

Not all groups are created equal, however, and each type of group has its purpose and ability to match your own.

In this article, we’re going to be focusing on three types of peers groups for digital marketers: 

  1. Virtual peer groups
  2. Roundtables
  3. Masterminds

What is a digital marketing virtual peer group?

A peer group is a group that shares similar backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, and in this article, a group of digital marketers whose experience, knowledge, and journey are shared. 

The people also probably share the same title and are in a similar place in their digital marketing career.  

An example of a digital marketing virtual peer group is the Social Media Today group found on LinkedIn that has over 264,000 members. 

Here digital marketers unite looking to share tips and techniques about social media marketing

It also attracts those who may be either early or middle in their social media career and want to learn from those who are on the same journey and those who just maybe a few steps ahead.

High-growth groups typically include people who are slightly ahead of you and some behind you—creating opportunities to learn and teach at the same time. 

If you find this synergy, you can grow your knowledge and skills exponentially faster than even going to school.   

If you are looking for a peer group where inbound marketers who are passionate about educating their customers then IMPACT+’s virtual peer groups are the place to be.  

IMPACT+ is our new online learning platform. While available for free, our Pro users get access to our virtual peer groups where they can connect with fellow users over common pain points or the courses they’re taking on the platform. 

🔎Related: HubSpot Academy vs IMPACT+: a head-to-head digital marketing training comparison

Benefits of digital marketing virtual peer groups 

The biggest benefit of virtual peer groups is that you can gain a fresh perspective. 

By seeing how others in your field perform their jobs and how they conquer common problems, you learn how you may be able to improve in your own situation. 

With shared knowledge and understanding, you have a group in which to share ideas, ask and answer questions, or even just vent. 

Also, digital marketing changes daily. It’s almost impossible to keep up. A digital marketing virtual peer group gives you sources to keep up to date through. 

Last, but not least, especially in this COVID-19 time, virtual peer groups can provide support, perspective, and information in a safe environment. They create a feeling of camaraderie and inclusion in a time that can often feel very isolating. 

 

What is a digital marketing roundtable?

A roundtable is a closed discussion designed to dive deep into a specific topic or issue. It is typically by invitation only and is often between individuals from industries or job functions. 

This is what makes a roundtable unique. Everyone is speaking to the same topic, but from different perspectives and contexts. 

It’s almost like a little United Nations. 

Before attending the event, participants typically thoroughly prepare their point of view and are ready to have a lively discussion and debate at the meeting. 

While disagreements are expected, the purpose of roundtables is to create a safe space for these to happen to hopefully come up with a solution or perspective that takes them all into account. 

A great example of a digital marketing roundtable can be seen from TopFloor. 

TopFloor is a Milwaukee-based digital marketing and website company that holds a quarterly event for marketing executives and business leaders to gather and learn how others are leveraging the latest digital marketing tactics.  

As they explain, “This event has been designed to address the challenges and interests of professionals who have the responsibility of crafting a marketing strategy, allocating budgets, overseeing the execution, and reporting on the results.”

Benefits of digital marketing round tables 

One of the biggest benefits of a digital marketing roundtable is its intimacy.

With a small, closed group, roundtable panelists are usually more freely engaged and open to sharing, creating a safe space to share opinions.

Roundtables are a forum that promotes deep thinking and open collaboration between different departments and industries. Unlike virtual peer groups where people usually come from the same background, roundtables are designed to bring together people who are different. 

Participants are not to judge but listen to opposing arguments, which allow for true collaboration and problem-solving that considers different angles to solve the burning issue, matter, or situation.

Plus, now that roundtables are primarily virtual due to COVID-19, people can reap these benefits from the comfort of their own homes. 

Related: 8 best virtual digital sales and marketing events in 2020

 

What is a digital marketing mastermind?

A digital marketing mastermind group is a type of peer learning group that offers a mix of brainstorming, education, accountability, and support while working towards a specific milestone. 

The mission of a mastermind is to see success. Therefore, each member creates a personal goal, holds each other accountable to it, and helps each other work towards achieving it. 

In other words, it has a beginning and endpoint. 

The group usually consists of 4-8 people, so everyone has substantial time to speak and a facilitator can give every participant feedback during a single meeting.  

In each meeting, the facilitator will conduct a round-robin of updates from all members followed by challenges and may ask pointed questions to get members to self-discover how they may counter that challenge. 

A prescribed solution isn’t the goal, but rather to give members the chance to share different solutions they have tried.

Unlike other groups in this article, a mastermind isn’t a one-way learning street and the experience is rarely the same for everyone. 

The stretch goal each member creates is specific to their aspirations for their digital marketing success and the impact it has on their business. These are individual goals, not a collective one.

Throughout the mastermind, members will naturally get to know one another and may connect outside the group, but they are working towards their own individual finish lines.

Although there are instances where a digital mastermind may vote to bring in guest speakers or teachers, the mastermind group’s primary focus is brainstorming and accountability support among the group members.

A digital marketing mastermind functions very similarly to group coaching in this way.  

Benefits of digital marketing masterminds 

The benefits of joining a mastermind are numerous, both personal and for your business or work. 

For starters, masterminds usually cost a pretty penny, and if you are fortunate to join one, it means you are likely surrounded by elite leaders in your field. 

By joining, you gain an instant and valuable support network that could lead to new job opportunities or partnerships, as well as a place to collaborate and brainstorm ideas.

It also adds a new layer of accountability when it comes to achieving your goals.

Under pressure, it’s so easy to procrastinate or give up, but in a mastermind, you will receive encouragement, feedback, and support to keep at it even with the going gets tough.  

Furthermore, joining a digital marketing mastermind doesn’t distract you from doing your daily work. Rather, it should become part of your daily activity since the goals you set within the genius are directly related to your work or business. 

 

Which group is right for you?

Virtual peer groups, roundtables, and masterminds all have a positive impact. 

Just by going at anything as a group is empowering and liberating and makes anyone less stressed. Being alone and tackling big goals without support doesn’t help with the mental and spiritual health.

But when should you use a virtual peer group versus roundtables or mastermind?

To help you choose, consider this question: What problem am I trying to solve? 

If it is emotional, friendly, and non-committal support you are looking for, then a virtual peer group that you can find on Linkedin or social media may be a good fit.

If you have a burning or unexpected issue that you need to solve, then a roundtable may be a good option for you. 

For instance, let’s say a consumer data security regulation is going into effect in one month.

Joining a roundtable may give you the chance to get in front of data protection officers, web and data technologists, marketers, senior leaders, and legal teams to help you troubleshoot your solution.

Lastly, if you’d like to see tangible results for your digital marketing efforts in a given period and don’t have the support you need in your current environment, then the digital marketing mastermind may help.

 

How to find a peer group?

Now that you know what kind of group you need, how do you find one?

Although we have Google at our fingertips, it still is a bit tricky in finding the best peer groups for you. So aside from doing a keyword search here is where I would start:

  • Check out the Breaking The One Percent. This is a website that lists top Facebook marketing groups to join.
  • Look to your favorite people, authors, and public figures. Dive into their content, their websites, and research to see if they have open groups to join. Typically public figures have groups on social media platforms such as Linkedin or Facebook, like one I am in on Akimbo around Seth Godin’s thought leadership.
  • Look at the publications you read regularly. Many times there are groups that are exclusively for die-hard followers. An example is the Fast Company Impact Council that brings together founders, CEO, and some of the most creative people in the business.
  • Look at your Linkedin feed. Look at those figures or articles that pop up continuously and go and check them out. The algorithms sometimes know more than you. 

If all fails, check out this list on the 17 Facebook Marketing Groups to join now from INC,  the 7 Best Facebook Groups for Inbound Marketers from IMPACT, or the 20 Linkedin Groups Every Marketer Should Join from HubSpot.  

You can also connect with others in the IMPACT community in the virtual peer groups of IMPACT+!





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The 24 Modern Marketing Commandments

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There’s something brand-new marketers need to know.

There’s a foundation for marketing—that when followed, it will lead to success. It’s a foundation that has transcended from traditional marketing to digital marketing and whatever comes after.

We call these the Modern Marketing Commandments. They’re the 24 pillars of marketing that you can base any successful strategy off of, like the necessity of inspiring action and the importance of talking to customers.

These commandments couldn’t come from just anyone. They’d have to come from someone with experience who has lived in the marketing world for a long time—and even helped shape it. Someone who’s spoken on hundreds of stages to the best marketers in the world, built his own company to teach marketers, and spent the majority of his career marketing to… marketers.

You guessed it—the only person we could think of that could lay out the Modern Marketing Commandments is our CEO, Ryan Deiss.

Time to give him the stage…

Here are Ryan’s 24 Modern Marketing Commandments.

#1: Thou shalt build revenue FIRST and brand SECOND. Brand matters, but the primary goal must be sales. It’s possible to sacrifice brand at the altar of sales and still recover, but you cannot sacrifice sales at the altar of brand and hope to survive.

#2: Thou shalt write offers… not slogans. Slogans might win awards, but they don’t make sales. Great marketing inspires ACTION! It does not merely inform or entertain. Also, there’s a special place in marketing hell for advertisers and marketers who stack up awards for their “creativity” but who have never owned or influenced a sales number. They would do us all a favor if they stuck to finger painting.

#3: Thou shalt balance data with gut. Data should rule the day 9 times out of 10, but sometimes you need to trust your instincts and do the things that can’t be tracked.

#4: Thou shalt be willing to pay for attention and awareness. Paid vs. organic… inbound vs. outbound. This is not a debate. This is choosing dessert at a buffet. The answer is, “YES!”

#5: Thou shalt endeavor to piss at least a few people off. The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s apathy. If your brand doesn’t have any haters, it almost certainly doesn’t have any raving fanatics, either. Great marketing DIVIDES!

#6: Thou shalt be specific. Make specific in claims and deliver specific in content. If you want your brand to be respected, start taking stands and speaking in absolutes!!! (Like, for example, posting a self-aggrandizing list of “marketing commandments” on Twitter.)

#7: Thou shalt not stop marketing just because a lead is generated or a sale is made. Marketing shouldn’t stop at the order just like date nights shouldn’t stop after you get married. Never let the romance die.

#8: Thou shalt deliver BIG ideas using as few words as possible (F = ma)—“When you have nothing to say, for the love of God don’t let someone convince you that you need to say it.”—Roy H. Williams

#9: Thou shalt use as many words as needed… there’s no such thing as too long… just too boring.

#10: Thou shalt deliver at least 2X what thou hast promised. Under-promise and over-deliver… don’t let your marketing write a check that your product can’t cash. (NOTE: It’s in the spirit of over-delivering that I give you more than 10 commandments…)

#11: Thou shalt not chase shiny objects. Stop talking to marketers about what’s new and what’s hot, and start talking to and watching what your customers are doing.

#12: Thou shalt choose clarity over cleverness - see Commandment #2.

#13: Thou shalt talk to your customers. How can you know what your customers want if you don’t talk to them? Marketing isn’t “guess and test.” Marketing is research, research, test, research, research, test, research,  test, then scale. You can’t call yourself a marketer if you haven’t talked to at least 25 customers.

#14: Thou shalt not confuse the reason people buy with the reason people stay. Customers quickly forget the real reason they purchased the moment you scratch that first itch. That’s why it’s essential that you speak with BOTH prospects and customers when writing copy.

#15: Thou shalt not propose marriage on a first date. Focus 70% of your time on the message, 25% of your time on determining the sequence of messages, and 5% of your time on targeting. Targeting is overrated. With the right message, the best targeting is always the untargeted target that is filtered by truly compelling, well-timed messaging.

#16: Thou shalt not pour water into a leaky bucket—OR—Thou shalt not amplify a turd. Optimize the offer FIRST… then amplify it.

#17: Thou shalt tell stories. Tell stories of transformation… stories of identity… stories of triumph over a common enemy. Humans do not take action until they have first imagined themselves taking that action, so paint a story of a more glorious future and then paint them into it. Do this, and they will ask you to take them there.

#18: Thou shalt remember that humans only ever buy one of two things: 1) transformation or 2) identity reinforcement. Know which thou art selling.

#19: Thou shalt be authentic. Speak like a human, don’t pretend to be something you aren’t, and above all else… tell the truth! (NOTE: Write in the King James version only when being ironical.)

#20: Thou shalt create movements. Don’t you know that movements are made when marketers stop talking about “drill bits” and “holes” entirely, and, instead, start talking about the evil bastard that created the need for the 1-inch hole in the first place?

#21: Thou shalt entertain. While information may capture someone’s attention for a moment, the only mechanism available to HOLD that attention is entertainment. As my friend Roy (see Commandment #8) likes to say, “Entertainment is the only currency available today that can purchase the attention of a too-distracted public.”

#22: Thou shalt make people laugh from time to time. The best marketers are able to pull off a joke at a funeral.

#23: Thou shalt make people cry, and yearn for things they do not yet have. It’s ok… it’s our yearnings that let us know we’re still alive. And most importantly…

#24: Thou shalt love thy customer and sincerely yearn for their happiness and success. Empathy is the most valuable skill in marketing, and the only one that can’t be taught).

These commandments are the foundation of marketing—they’re what you build the rest of the house on with the confidence that no matter how big you make it, your foundation will never break.

Come back to them whenever you feel yourself getting distracted by the latest and greatest marketing tech stack or the new social media app everyone is claiming will knock Facebook off its pedestal.

Because it doesn’t matter what the tech or platforms are. All that matters is delivering the right message, to the right person, at the right time.

And that’s all that will ever matter, today and beyond.

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The Best Tips for Setting Up a Photoshoot

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How do you take high-quality photos of your, or another businesses’, products or services? It’s more than an expensive camera. In this article, I will cover the equipment, materials, content and planning that goes into planning a photoshoot that results in the perfect photos.

Cameras for Photoshoots

Camera equipment varies dramatically from price to purpose.

As we have discussed before, camera equipment varies dramatically from price to purpose. You could easily spend thousands of dollars on the wrong product and end up with a tool you can’t use properly. If you need some suggestions on which camera is right for you, check out this list from Tech Radar. I personally recommend using the Canon EOS Rebel T7i. I use this camera for photoshoots and taking video, and it has served me incredibly well.

That being said, many modern smartphones are perfectly acceptable as an alternative. Most have high-quality cameras and are more than capable of taking the photos you need, especially for those that are unfamiliar with more sophisticated equipment.

Tripod

Regardless of whether you choose a DSLR camera or the camera on your phone, you need a tripod. Tripods allow you to set up shots with consistency and mean you don’t have to worry about taking a shaky photo. As HubSpot states in their article, “Don’t prop your phone against something sturdy to aim your lens toward the subject. It’s just too easy for this makeshift setup to slide around during the shoot and cause inconsistencies in your photos’ appearance.” Instead, invest in a small tripod, which are relatively cheap and easy to use in any photoshoot scenario.

Lighting Options for A Photoshoot

Natural Light Cons

To me, lighting is the most important aspect of any shoot. You can either decide to use natural light or artificial light. While it may seem more appealing to shoot in natural light, you are also leaving yourself vulnerable to the elements. The Digital Photography School agrees. In their words,

“While natural lighting is abundant and easy to incorporate into photography, it can be challenging for the simple fact that sunlight varies greatly. Depending on location, season, weather, and time of the day, natural lighting can produce differing colors and contrast in your images. For example, midday sun tends to produce neutral white colors and extremely high contrast, while golden hours of sunrise and sunset have very warm colors and medium contrast. Thus, the look you’re going for will determine the time and location of your photoshoot, unless you harness additional tools such as reflectors, diffusers, and lens filters.”

Natural Light Pros

Natural Light vs Artificial Light

Natural light makes the products look, well natural, but getting the right shot will depend more on luck than skill. However, there are benefits to using natural lighting. When you use natural lighting, you have a lot less equipment to lug around. This makes tearing down and packing up easier. If you decide to shoot using natural light it will also cost you a lot less, since you won’t have to invest in a lighting kit.

Cons of Artificial Light

As someone who has had several photoshoots ruined by poor weather, I prefer using artificial light. However, that’s not to say that’s it’s a perfect solution.

There’s a lot of gear associated with artificial lighting. I recommend using a lighting kit that has three sources of lighting, that way you can more easily manipulate shadows and where the light comes from. This will include a bevy of instruments that you will need to use.

Pros of Artificial Light

Artificial light gives you complete control over how your shoot looks. While using natural light is cheaper, there is almost no control. Using artificial lighting you can set up set in different ways and get the most bang for your buck.

Photoshoot Location

In addition to your equipment and lighting, figuring out where you are going to be shooting is equally important. Will it be in a studio where everything is under your control, the outdoors or at a specific location? This will largely decide how your shoot goes. If you are in a studio, you’ll need to plan accordingly and maximize your time. Unless you have your own space for a studio, you will probably need to rent a space for a period of time. If you don’t plan well, you may end up needing more time and this will end up costing you a lot more money.

If you are shooting outside, check the weather in advance of the photoshoot. As stated before, weather can ruin a shoot on short notice. Bring plenty of supplies and consider if you will have access to power if you need it. Shooting outside will give your pictures a lovely natural feeling to them, but there may be some variables you can’t plan for.

If you plan to shoot on location, make sure you and your team have open communication with the business you are doing the shoot for. Many times, you will be doing a photoshoot for a business when they are in normal operating hours which means there will be customers and workers around. When you get to the location, find a spot in the back room, or in a corner, where you can place all your equipment and start setting up for the shoot. If you plan on getting action shots of customers or of the staff working, make sure you get their permission first.

Using A Background

How do you use a background in a photoshoot?

If you are doing a product photoshoot, where you will be focusing on either your, or a another company’s, products, you may want to invest in various backgrounds to use. You can use pretty much any color you want, but I would suggest either black, white or a green screen background. Black and white backgrounds will help focus attention on the product, while a green screen allows you to change the background when editing the photos after the shoot.

Another important thing to know when using a background is how to make use of a “sweep.” According to HubSpot, “A sweep is a large bendable sheet of paper, whose bottom acts as the surface beneath your product and then curves up into the same color wall behind the product. On camera, the sweep’s curve is invisible, emphasizing key product details and allowing the item to own all of a website visitor’s attention.

Reflector Card

A reflector card is simply a white card that helps bounce light around your photoshoot. Shopify offers this helpful tip regarding reflector cards during photoshoots: “This simple white card is the single most important light modifier we have in our studio and I use it for every shoot. The light will bounce off the card and fill in all the shadows. How you position this card is a matter of taste, so try it at different angles to the product.”

Take More Photos Then You Think You Need

If you think you need 100 photos, take 200. You never know how one photo is going to turn out. Taking plenty of photos allows you to choose from the best when you are done. HubSpot also shares this opinion saying,

“My last ecommerce photography tip to you is to not stop at one photo per product. Just as your customers look, hold, use, and even try on merchandise in a store, your website should shoot a variety of images to simulate this very experience.

If you’re shooting clothing, for instance, capture the garment of clothing alone — that is, spread out on a white surface — as well as on a mannequin whose color contrasts the color of the product. Then, for additional photos, have the clothing modeled on a person, allowing you to take pictures of the product from the person’s different poses and angles.”

Touch It Up

Your job is not done when you finish the photoshoot.

Your job is not done when you finish the photoshoot. When you are back in your office, upload your photos and back them up. Losing all the photos from the photoshoot from a glitch or accidental deletion is more of a headache then any photographer wants to imagine. After you’re done uploading and saving a backup, it’s time to go through all the images and select the best ones. Use a critical eye and looks for things like shadows, people in the background, blemishes on products and other issues with any image. Once you select all the photos you want to use, touch them up using Adobe Photoshop, or another photo editing software. If you do not have experience using these types of products, you should consider outsourcing.

Posting Images On Social Media

Once you are done touching up your photos, you are ready to post them on websites and social media pages alike! Just make sure you grab the correct dimensions for each social media platform so the image looks the best it possibly can.



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