If you have products, let’s talk.
Strong brands don’t stop at a simple product photo with a white background. Why? Because they know how important it is to showcase them in use.
Enter: Lifestyle Brand Photography
A clean and clear product photo is a must-have to do business. But a lifestyle product photo goes farther, laying out the red carpet for your ideal customers to purchase.
Why this works
Showing your products in their natural, elevated environment is a powerful tool because it touches on “future pacing.” This is marketing technique where your ideal client can envision their future interaction with your product. By seeing the soap in use, the lotion being squirted on hands, the candle being lit, the drink mix being stirred, our imagination is captured and it’s not a far leap to envision the product in our our own homes or workplace.
For example…
When the team at RFT came to me with a need for lifestyle photos….
They already had plain product photos on a white background. They needed visuals to support a product launch of the new Help Alert badge. Here is how I helped:
- Planned four styled shoots and locations to represent all the possible uses for their product: hotel, classroom, senior living and hospital.
- Secured models for each photoshoot to represent their users: hospitality worker, teacher, students, nurses, doctors and seniors. Oh, and one mom and newborn baby – bonus getting baby snuggles!
- Planned and ordered wardrobe to ensure colors were cohesive and on-brand.
- Brought in a video team to capture b-roll clips as well as create their launch video for YouTube.
Check out their results!
Dreaming of a lifestyle product shoot?
Tips and tricks for planning yours:
- Work backwards. Consider where you will use the media. Trade show displays? Website photos? Social media reels? Knowing this information first will help you plan the photoshoot that will give you the most marketing bang for your buck.
- Pool your resources. Don’t be afraid to get creative when thinking about where to hold your photoshoot and who to include. Do you know somebody with a beautifully lit kitchen? Do you have a really cute neighbor that is the target demographic? You can rent studio space, book an Airbnb or hire models, but you may already have what you need within your network. Most of the time, people are flattered that you asked and excited to be involved in a shoot.
- Sweat the small stuff. Don’t underestimate the details involved when taking on a multi-day, multi-location or multi-people photography project. Each project is unique, but what really helped us was to create a shared Excel sheet to track things like model contact info, addresses and arrival times, wardrobe details, payment expectations, expenses, and finally a handy link to the finished photos!
- Have a realistic timeline. Set yourself up for success by giving yourself time to plan, execute, edit and create media from the product photos. It’s never too early to get your photoshoot on the radar of your team, especially when you have a time sensitive launch or seasonal products.
My favorite part? This product launch was a labor of love, from having my sister by my side during the photoshoots as my assistant, to ironing the scubs the night before our “hospital” shoot. I enjoyed every minute.
But I have to say, this feedback from my client is my favorite part:
“Our Help Alert badge launched yesterday! Your photos made a huge impact on this product launch and I want to thank you again for all the work you did for us!“
and
“Working with Katie Soyka was an absolute pleasure. Our project was extensive, requiring four full shooting days, and Katie handled every detail with expertise and professionalism…
Katie truly understood our vision and brought it to life in a way that will allow us to be able to elevated our branding and marketing. We were able to fully trust her throughout the process, and the results exceeded our expectations. I highly recommend Katie and her team for any brand photography needs.”
Need to capture your brand?
Read what my past clients have to say about working with me here, and I’d be honored to learn about your project!
