Latest / The Clinic Marketing Podcast | Local SEO & Healthcare Online Marketing Tips for Clinic Owners & Wellness Providers / How to Plan a Picture-Perfect Photo Shoot for Your Clinic [replay], website marketing, SEO 101, clinic website tips, content marketing | Ep. 54

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How to Plan a Picture-Perfect Photo Shoot for Your Clinic [replay], website marketing, SEO 101, clinic website tips, content marketing | Ep. 54 · The Clinic Marketing Podcast | Local SEO & Healthcare Online Marketing Tips for Clinic Owners & Wellness Providers

• 0:26
  Speaker 1: How to plan a picture-perfect photo shoot for your company.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: That's what we're talking about on today's episode of Propel your Practice.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Propel your Practice podcast.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, darci Sullivan, with Propel Marketing and Design.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: In today's episode of Propel your Practice, I'm sitting down with one of my favorite photographers, chelsea Irwin-Burnss, to chat about how you can plan your next or first picture-perfect photo shoot Today.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I am thrilled to be joined by Chelsea.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Chelsea is the woman behind the lens of Marist Lifestyle Photography.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: She's worked with brands such as Lilly Pulitzer.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: She's worked with brands such as Lilly Pulitzer, teletize, sandals Resort and created imagery for cities in South Florida.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: In fact, you can see some of her work standing tall on billboards in New York and Canada, shots commercial lifestyle photography and enjoys working with local businesses to help them build their clientele through targeted images created specifically for them.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited to have Chelsea here with us today to talk about how you can be better prepared for your next or first photo shoot.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Hi Chelsea, hi Darcy, how are you?
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: I'm good.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited to have you here.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: I still have PTSD from elementary middle school pictures, as I feel like most people listening do, and I remember when I first started the company.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: I knew that we needed company pictures and I had a friend who is not a professional or semi-professional come over to my house.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I put on a suit and I paid her in wine and had her take pictures of me because I thought that was going to be a good representation of the company.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Then I met a semi-professional photographer and she rigged up some crazy lighting system and took some decent or much better pictures, but they still weren't the caliber of a professional photographer, I think in 2015.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was 2015, I believe 2015,.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: You did the first set of pictures for Propel and you've done a couple of those sets and the difference in having somebody professional do your take care of your company photos is just such a difference in the way your brand is represented.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: So I wanted to have you on today because I know that there are tons of people out there that are wondering if they should have a branded photo shoot, if they really need a professional to come out to their clinic to take photos, and just wanted you to give some tips.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: So we both know that when you have professional photos, you can use them for a world of things.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: You can use them for social media, for your website, for email blast, for promotional materials.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: You know the list goes on and on, but some people have a difficult time picking out the right photographer.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Do you have any tips on how you can pick out the best local photographer?
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: There's a couple ways that you can pick the best photographer for your photo shoot.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: The first thing is obviously take recommendations from other people that you know that have used a certain photographer.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: You should still definitely research that photographer, make sure their style fits into what you're looking for, because there are all kinds of different types of styles when it comes to headshots, lifestyle photography for your business, social media photography.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: So you need to make sure that your photographer fit with your brand in what you're trying to achieve during your photo shoot.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: I think those are some really good points.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: And do you find when people come to you for company photography that they've either already pulled examples or do they base it off of what they've seen you do before?
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Then they're like oh, we want that style, that feel.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: I believe it's a combination of both, because I work with a lot of local businesses, some of them up and coming.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Most of the time, it is their first photo shoot ever or they've had bad experiences with other photographers and they're trying to get a certain look and it just didn't work out the way that they like it.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Sometimes they like a certain shoot that I did.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Sometimes they'll have a Pinterest board, which I know.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Sometimes everyone's like, oh gosh, like Pinterest boards, but honestly, I love them because it gives me a sense of what the client wants.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: So don't be afraid to do those vision boards examples of anything and everything that you're looking for, so that the photographer knows exactly what you want.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: And that way you can make sure you're on the same page as the photographer, because you don't want to show up at the photo shoot without them knowing exactly what your vision is.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I think it's also important to show them or let them know how you plan to use the photos.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: So if there's a specific area on your website where you want to use those photos, you want to make sure that they're taking images that are going to fit those dimensions as well.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's absolutely correct.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Whenever I'm initially meeting with a client, I initially ask them for their website.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: If they're doing a brand new website, I ask them if they have the layout, if they want a mix of vertical and horizontal images.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: You know, some websites are going to be square photos, so you need to make sure you're shooting accordingly and giving enough space to crop.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: You know, obviously, social media, instagram all of those things are sized differently than website and crop differently, so it's really important to lay out exactly what you're going to use them for, whether it's social media, ads, website email blasts.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Any of those things are super important for your photographer to know.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: So it's important to know how you're going to use the photos.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: It's also important to know how many you need, because obviously it's going to be a different price if you feel like you're only going to need five photos versus 25 photos.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: And you also need to ask about rights.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Do people, do photographers, still request rights, like I know it used to be on some websites where it was down in the corner where it was like photos by name of studio?
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: That is something that is all over the board, dependent on the photographer.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: For me, personally, say, I'm doing something where they want unlimited rights to the images.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: That means the photography package is going to be more because they're wanting lifetime rights to the images.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: But sometimes somebody will be like I just want like a year, this is just what.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: We're going to use the photos for a year.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: We don't need them for unlimited use, so then that's going to be a different price.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: It's just dependent on what the client wants, but you're going to want to examine the contract and make sure that you know how many photos you're getting and if touch-ups or retouching is included in that.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: So those are all very important things to look for when you're first starting to scope out what photographer you want to work with.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Since you mentioned contract, that's something that I've learned over the years is that people don't read their contracts, and that is shocking to me because that just opens a whole can of worms later.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: That should be number one on your list that everything that you discuss with the photographer whether it's rights, usage, location, how many images you're going to use, doesn't matter, that everything is laid out in that contract and that you read it, because that is something that you could get kind of stuck down the road biting you in the butt later if you don't do that.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I can imagine, so I can imagine.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: So Now, how long should a company budget time-wise for a photo shoot?
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Is there, and I know different photographers are going to take different amounts of time, different number of photos, if you're doing individual.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: On top of that, you know, if you're doing multiple locations outside, inside, but is it something that they can get done in 30 minutes?
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Should they budget two hours, four hours, a whole day?
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so for me, I offer half day and full day rates.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: One, because that way you're not rushed, you can do multiple locations and you're going to get the most out of your photo shoot.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: You don't want to be stuck trying to do multiple photo shoots over extended periods of time because you don't have enough content to get you through.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: You know six months, eight months, however long it is.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: You know six months, eight months, however long it is.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: So for me, I personally feel that half day and full day shoots are what you should shoot for, so that you can get the most out of your money and not have to be doing photo shoots all the time.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I think that's a great idea and when you are putting together you know your plan.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: You want to make sure that you've got like a shot list, a photo absolutely that's what they call it a shot list, right, absolutely A list that has every single type of photo that you want included.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: And I wanted to go through kind of a list of some that I suggest or where you would use these to make sure that you get them.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to just kind of give the example Yesterday, I believe, I was speaking with a chiropractor actually it was their office manager and they had just had a photo shoot and I'm like oh, did you remember to ask the photographer to get a picture of the outside of the building?
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: And she's like, well, we would have, but there was two feet of snow, so it's going to have to wait.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: But you want to make sure that you're taking advantage of getting every photo that you want when you schedule a photographer.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: So this can include the outside of the building, the inside of the building, the lobby, if you offer specific techniques, you want to make sure that you're getting photos of you either stage doing those techniques or, you know, adjusting somebody if you're a chiropractor.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: And ideally, like I get it that you're not going to have 12 different people that are going to come in that you're going to be able to work on or use, as though they're pretending to be patients.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: But you do want to make sure that you've got a variety of people that you're using for that and also that they look like your target audience.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: I would absolutely, yeah, absolutely, and that they're usually wearing solid colors, because right isn't it that patterns can kind of be a little Well, in this specific case, yes, patterns are going to be very distracting.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Obviously, you want everything to be clean and not crazy, but you know generally, if you can keep it to like solids, no, like bright colors, things like that.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: You want to avoid logos things like that.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's a really good point, because one of the problems that I see is a lot of people have they like to wear their company logo, their shirt with the company logo on it, which is okay, but it ends up with the logos either hard to read or, if a web designer goes to try to flip the image, then the logo is backwards.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: So if you can do solid colors and, like you said, nothing crazy when it comes to the colors, I think that that's a good idea.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: And if you don't have people that are coming in that are posing as your patients, you know you can have other practitioners, other team members pose as them.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Just make sure that you maybe don't get their direct headshot.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: So it could be you are performing a specific technique, they're there, but their face isn't shown, so that it could be really generally anyone.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: You just want to make sure that it really aligns with your target audience.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: You just want to make sure that it really aligns with your target audience.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: I remember a couple months ago I was looking through a website of a chiropractor and I was like, oh, so your target demographic is a 25-year-old male who's in shape, and he's like, no, not at all, and I'm like well, that's all you have pictures of throughout the website.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: So you want to make sure that your photos of who you have staged as coming to visit your clinic directly correlates with the audience that you're trying to attract.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's where you know really looking at your audience, then you know what you need.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: As far as models, if that's what you're bringing in for the shoot, if you have the budget for models, if that's what you're bringing in for the shoot, if you have the budget for models, that's always great.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: If you can finagle your, your employees, to model, sometimes that can work too, depending on the photographer, and you know that cut not to jump back, but that's another thing that you can discuss with your photographer too is if they're comfortable working with non-models and if they're able to do that, because that's something that I have to do all the time and honestly, I love it, because then it creates a real vibe for the shoot and I think it helps your clients connect because these are real people.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and that's one of the reasons that having a branded photo shoot is going to help you, because you're not using those generic stock photos Exactly.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: But you do want to make that shot list before you know, listing out where you plan to use it, even if it's just like pointing to an empty area because you think you're going to use that later in Instagram with like a tip or a bubble or something.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: But go ahead and make that shot list and then send it to your photographer ahead of time and make sure that that those, all that they'll work, that they're included in the budget that they've quoted you, that it that everything kind of fits together.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Some photographers again like get a little weird about shot lists, but for me, shot lists help me get a vision of exactly what they want.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Now that doesn't mean we have to shoot it exactly a certain way like that still leaves creativity open to those images, but it's always good to give your photographer a sense of certain shots that you need.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then you should feel comfortable.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: If the photographer is a professional and they're like, hey, move your arm like this or just like that, the direction will still be in there.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let them kind of direct you with that.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Now a couple other things that I wanted to mention, kind of my pet peeves.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: One we mentioned that the logo on the shirt can sometimes be awkward.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Wearing bright colors can sometimes be a distraction.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Also, just take your cell phone out of your pockets and gosh cell phones wallets, glasses, and just because I do weddings too, like I'm literally like a hawk when it comes to wallets, armbands like, hairbands on wrists, keys like I will spot them from a mile away.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: So you know, that's another thing.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Just to be mindful, you know things in the background of images and, again, this is something that your photographer if they have good experience, they will be the ones that will be moving things and making sure stuff's not in the shot Trash cans, coke cans, food.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: They will be kind of styling the scene when they're there, putting computers where they want them or where they don't want them If they want to.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: You know, have you?
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly Like pretty much setting the scene and tone for each spot that you're shooting.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: So you know, that's something that's super important because you don't want to get your photos back and be like oh man, there's the trash.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Can we forgot to move that?
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and always remember, like what's in the shot is what people are going to see.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: So if you need to move stuff out of that shot just for a minute and maybe move some plants from the lobby in so that it looks softer, or move things around, that you can easily do that.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: But yeah, you definitely want to take a look around the surroundings because I've seen professional photography not yours but others come back and it have like bottles of water or trash and just it leaves you wondering why.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: But again, you just want to plan ahead for that.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: But that goes back to giving yourself enough time on the shoots too, because it's happened to me like if I'm rushing and I'm really really like on a tight deadline, like things do get overlooked, it's just it can happen.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: So that just goes back to planning enough time for your shoot too, so you're not rushing.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Now one more thing that I think we forgot to kind of talk about and goodness knows, I am no photographer, so I would love your opinion on this but the different time of day when you take pictures.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Obviously, if you have natural sunlight it's going to be different, right, and when you're taking pictures of people inside, does that still come into play?
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: So it's very dependent on the building, obviously, how much natural light you have in each room, in each room.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: And if you're shooting on location outside somewhere, you obviously have to take into fact that, like there could be really harsh light and all of these things.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: There's so many factors.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: So how to plan that out?
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: A you can have your photographer come to your location and say, okay, this time of day is when this room gets the best kind of light.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: If we're moving to a different location outdoors, this is the best time kind of light.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: If we're moving to a different location outdoors, this is the best time to do this.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: So it's really dependent on where you're shooting and what time of day.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: For me, say, it's an office building that has a lot of windows.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Usually morning time or midday could be good, depending on which way the windows are facing.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: It's just there's a lot of different factors that kind of go into that.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: But also, if you're going to hire a photographer for this, you need to make sure that they're well-versed in lighting anyway and have lighting that they can bring in.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: That way, it doesn't really matter what the lighting looks like in there, they can kind of create the light.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: So that's something that you should do during your research time on photographer.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: I think that's a really good point.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Also, one thing that I like to suggest is, as long as you're having somebody come out and take pictures and if you're planning to use them for months and months ahead of time on social media and throughout your other marketing efforts, you might want to have a couple of changes of clothes, just so you've got again just a mix, so it's not just the same shirt over and over again and you can try to stay within your company colors.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Just make sure if you know, if your company colors are lime green, you probably don't want to wear a lime green shirt.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: You want something a little bit calmer, so take that into consideration.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: And then, Chelsea, do you have any tips?
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Like, I know that most people are not comfortable and can be very awkward when they're getting their picture taken.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Do you have any tips at all to help somebody loosen up other than tequila?
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Well, tequila was going to be my main.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: No, I mean again, that's going to go back to the photographer.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: When I come in and I'm shooting for a business and it's their employees, I really like to, as soon as I arrive on location with them, I start talking with them, get comfortable with them, joke around with them.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Like I don't just like roll up and be like all right, let's do this, let's shoot.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: You know, like I feel like everyone's got to get comfortable.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: No matter what type of photo shoot I'm doing whether it's weddings or a commercial shoot or whatever the first thing everyone always says is Chelsea, I'm so awkward in front of the camera and I'm like amazing, Me too, Like we're in this together, you know.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: And so I think it's really about making it fun, no matter what it is, and getting people comfortable.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: If you need to take a tequila shot, I'm not going to judge Fair enough, but yeah, it's really just creating a little bit of a relationship.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: You know, when I get there and, you know, just kind of taking the edge off for people.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: So I think that's great.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: I have a few extra tips after you've received the photos from the photographer.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: One is make sure that you save all of the raw images to the cloud.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: You can use either Dropbox or Google Drive for this.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Then make sure they're organized so if there are a few that you don't like, you can have those in a specific folder so that your team doesn't use them.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: And then keep in mind that if you're going to be using the photos for your website or for social media, that they need to be sized appropriately, so you can create other folders and go ahead and have them either sized by your photographer or, if you need to, in a quick matter of time you can go to Canva and use them, you know, get them sized for social media or any of your other needs, and then just go ahead and save them in organized folders on the cloud so that any of your team members can go back and grab them whenever they need to.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Well, chelsea, I want to thank you so much for coming on this episode, and can you share with everybody how they can get a hold of you your website, if they're interested in learning more about your services, especially if they're located down in sunny South Florida.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Yes, so I am located in Mullington.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: I have a studio there.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: You can check me out at marislifestylecom that's M-A-R-I-S lifestylecom.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: You can reach out for any of your headshots, commercial shoots.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: You can come hang with me at my studio and we'll have a lot of fun.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: But yeah, that's where you can check out all my work.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Sounds good.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: All right, you can find out more about Chelsea Irwin Burns by checking the show notes in this episode.