Imagery You Need to Power Your CPG Start-Up
Clients come to us all of the time to source pre-launch imagery for their food or beverage brand. We love working with brands at this stage — it’s so much fun to get to dig into a fresh concept with an excited founder. It’s a win-win situation.
Oftentimes, though, there’s tension. As you already know if you’ve been around someone launching a concept of their own, keeping costs low is key for a brand that’s about to launch. Paying for a long shot list worth of photos isn’t a budgetary priority, but the reality is: photos can help make or break your launch. Today, we’re chatting through what to focus on for a pre-launch photo shoot and what can wait until later.
DO:
Get your packaging in as many photos as possible. You’re launching a new product. Get that packaging in front of as many eyeballs as possible to make yourself known to a large audience. Try to incorporate your packaging or logo into most, if not all, of your pre-launch assets. Planning to rebrand down the line? Worry about evergreen photos once you’ve raised the capital to spend on a large scale shoot — then make it worthwhile by hiring a photographer who knows how to style food so your product looks its best on screen.
Think about versatility with the photos you request. Every new founder comes to us with a vision of an Instagram grid full of bright, beautiful images and wants each image on the shot list to be social feed ready. We get it: first impressions are big in a world that lives online! Before you invest on photos that will live and die on the ‘gram, think about other needs you might have during your first few months in business. Are you going to be pitching investors? Meeting with sales reps from Whole Foods? Sending PR pitches to anyone who’ll listen? Take the time to think beyond social and source photos that will make a big impression in documents like these. It’ll pay off when your pitch deck stands out from the rest and gets you the coveted spot on the shelf!
Focus on your goals. Are you raising awareness? Money? Driving web traffic? Encouraging sales in a specific market? Come to your photographer with these goals in mind. If you’ve found the right one, they’ll know how to help you create photos that support your plans and make it easier to message the right way. (PS: haven’t found that photographer yet? Hit us up.)
DON’T:
Worry about quantity over quality. If your mouse is hovering over the tab of a big box, one-size-fits-all photography agency, stop what you’re doing and listen up: there is no world in which 25 photos of your product on solid color sweeps with different angles is going to help you launch a successful brand. You need a high quality photographer who can help you get a wide variety of photos and assets to get your brand out of the gate, even if you get fewer of them for the price. It’s worth it!
Overthink your content strategy. We’re big on planning over here at Four Course Media, but if you’re weeks into a content strategy deck and it’s starting to delay the launch of an otherwise exciting business, it’s time to sit back and let go. There’s no perfect way to roll out a brand on social. These networks are changing the algorithms every day, so what worked yesterday or for that other founder you idolize might not even work for you and your brand. Have a plan. Make it strategic. But don’t overthink it.
Pay for what you don’t need. If you’re paying a photographer for a scope and the shot list includes images or GIFs you don’t feel like you’ll use, push back. Ask for them to help you think of some other assets that might be more worthwhile in the big picture. Get the biggest bang for your buck — and find an agency or photographer that can speak to that experience instead of overcharging for what you don’t need.
