When it comes to starting a new business or promoting an established one, can you honestly say you're as good at Sales and Marketing as at creating and delivering your product?
In most cases, the answer is probably a resounding no. Chances are, you will be so busy with your product or service that you overlook the core element of success for your company – attracting customers.
To strengthen and reinforce your brand, develop a strong corporate image and achieve those all-important sales, you need to commission a Creative Agency or Creative Consultancy. Someone who specialises in business to consumer branding and catalogues which create sales for multi-channel retailers.

They will provide you with a corporate branding solution that will take your products and services straight to your target audiences in the most cost effective way. They'll help to define your brand and maximise its impact and therefore the return on your investment. They'll make sure that, once defined; your brand is consistently communicated across your entire marketing portfolio. Giving your company a higher profile and an image that is easily recognisable.
Once you choose your creative team, they will become an extension of the your company. And you will be a vital part of the team. They are there to help you, not take over completely. Together you'll discuss your individual requirements, the look, feel and imagery you're seeking and, perhaps most importantly, your budget.
So how can your creative advisor help?

The first thing they should do is to warn you, their client, of pitfalls you may not be aware of. Sound advice, which of itself can add up to big savings.

One of the first things to be agreed is a clear breakdown of where the budget is best spent. What will yield the best results in terms of sales? Will it be, on models, stylists, hair and make up, photographers, still life versus worn shots, props or locations? Remember, it can be cheaper to fly a team abroad than to shoot in the UK, a fact of which some companies may be unaware.


A Creative Consultant will select a photographer from a range of hand picked portfolios, arrange to meet them, together with the client and ask the right questions. Do they have their own lighting, studio or insurance? Can they work comfortably with the team and the client? Do they understand the brand and are they passionate enough about it? The best choice will be a photographer with experience. One who has a good mix of editorial and catalogue photography. Remember to consider copyright of images. Your advisor will probably want to talk to your legal department, have a contract drawn up and have the photographer sign it. This will effectively give you copyright forever, not just for six months, which is invaluable if you want to use the images for some years or within other publications.

An experienced advisor can save a fortune for a client by asking crucial questions at this stage, to save nasty surprises later on. Does the photographer insure his own equipment on the photo shoot? Who will cover his cost for excess baggage on a location shoot? Does he expect you as the client to cover these costs? In short, who pays for what?

Next comes the choice of models. How do you select models that reflect the brand and that appeal to customers? Your advisor will almost certainly want you, the client present for the casting, to help select models who can move and interact with you and who can take direction from your chosen photographer. Take photographic images of the models, or a short video for reference, this enables you to see if they are self-conscious or not, have been modelling for a short time, or can move well. It’s also a good way of building up a database for the final selection.

Allow yourself to be guided by your Creative Consultant over the most appropriate model for your brand. Remember outsize models do not always sell outsize clothes. Customers don’t see themselves as outsized, just as a 55-year-old customer may prefer to see clothes on a younger model. They want to live the dream, and will aspire to an image that they identify with a particular brand. This is where experienced stylists and hair and make up artists come into their own. Clever use of great accessories and a glamorous look enhances any product-remember the success of the Jackie O look!

Don’t forget, it often makes more sense and is more cost effective to select a model at the location where you are going to shoot. Whether it’s Hamburg, Barcelona or Cape Town, most cities have great model agencies. It may mean more preparation time before the photo shoot but can bring in huge savings, with no flight costs and no hotel rooms to pay for!

Selecting a model is only one of the first steps. Then comes the nitty-gritty, which your chosen expert will guide you through. Is the model available for your photo shoot? How much is she or he per day? Can you afford them? Is their daily fee negotiable for multiple days work? If so, go ahead and negotiate. Are you prepared to sign the model agency’s contract? How tied are you to it?

A word of warning when signing contracts for models. Images that are taken for an agreed publication at an agreed cost with the model agency may not be used for any other area, such as point of sale, marketing or internet. Model agencies have the right to come back and charge more for non-agreed usage-and they will. So agree beforehand.
Remember the agency will also charge you 20% on top for representing the model.

Next you need to select a stylist, and a hair and make up artist that will be right for you and the team. Again it needs to be someone who understands your brand, and will work together to achieve the best results.

Scour the magazines for images that you like. Look for the credits of who has been used on the shoot and request to see their portfolios. Are they versatile? Does the stylist carry his or her own accessories? Have they worked with the photographer before? Agree a props budget, if you sell accessories use the opportunity to showcase them whenever you can. This gives you a double hit on your merchandise and is a great marketing tool, as the customer does not have to look elsewhere in the catalogue for accessories.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But a great copywriter will enhance and sell your product even more. Remember that there are many young and very talented creatives out there, but experience and excellent relationships within the creative industry and a not so little “Black Book”’ count for much more when you know who to use and how much to pay to create tailor-made solutions

Before a photo shoot, it’s vital to agree an itinerary with all concerned, so you know what and where you are shooting day by day. This will save time and money as it avoids paying people to stand around.





If you decide to go abroad for your photo-shoot, consider selecting a production company resident in the country to which you are going. They will know where to go and how much you should be paying for locations.
Look at their client list and get in touch with one of their clients. Were they happy with the results? Would they recommend them or use them again? View the production company’s location files or web site, book your locations before you fly out and build in a day to view your chosen locations. Are you happy with them? If not view others; make sure you select those that fit the brief. On your viewing day, the stylist can be unpacking and prepping the merchandise. Fly the hair and make up artist in the following day. This saves costs on their hotel and daily rate. Remember to build into your schedule a bad weather day - it rains abroad too!

Agree a daily sustenance rate with the team beforehand to cover all eventualities and get it signed for. Remember to keep all receipts; you will require them for tax purposes.

Working with the production company beforehand ensures that best prices for hotels are negotiated, that the hotel understands your needs and they are willing to go that extra mile to help you.

When it comes to filling in a carnet or customs list, your chosen expert can save you time, effort and stress. This is a vital area when entering a foreign country. Trunks have to be packed in page order as listed or as on the carnet, otherwise when custom officers open a selected trunk and find that it’s not correct to the carnet they have the power to impound your merchandise. Which can make a huge hole in your budget.

When booking flights don’t assume that cheapest is best. Paying a bit more for flexible tickets means they can be changed if someone has to leave early or a shoot has to change location because of poor weather. Beforehand check with the production company the availability of lighting equipment, in case of changeable weather conditions. The location company should have knowledge of where and who to go to,
to access the right equipment at the right cost.

If changes have to be made, your expert will ensure that you, the client, are happy and agree to the changes. It's up to them to make sure you still get the imagery you want. It's all about confidence and trust.

If you opt to go abroad for a location, remember to factor in things like excess baggage costs. Many airlines have expensive standard charges, but you may be able to negotiate a reduction. You may have staff that are frequent flyers with a particular airline, whose booking agency may be able to help to secure a reduction or a better baggage allowance.

It's worth considering if a fashion shoot is really necessary for your product. Perhaps model shots may not be your best option.

Many forms of still life can create the right atmosphere for the brand to be different and make it stand out from the opposition. Simple effects like laid out flat, slightly creased, shown on mannequins or draped on a similar background to merge with fashion shots, can dramatically bring down costs and be really effective. Try shooting the merchandise on a colleague rather than on a model. Get them to move, bend their arms, lift their legs, then delete the face, hands and feet, Photo Shop the missing area of garment back into the shot. The results can be stunning and are ideal for a lower budget.

Remember, the customer knows what black and white look like, so there's no need to shoot too many such garments – instead show a broader range of colourways which will entice the customer and give a better visual impact. You'll really see the difference in your sales figures.

Chosen carefully, your Creative Agency or Creative Consultancy can guide and advise you, the client, on how and where to spend your budget to achieve top quality design and photography. This will ensure successful marketing of your brand, make you stand out from the competition, and most importantly, result in better sales.

1. Less model photography in room sets: Models can sometimes distract from selling the product, which is the key point in catalogue photography, different to other mediums.


2. Bundle deals: As home improvement continues to dominate the programmes we watch on TV and features we read in our magazines, customers are getting more and more design savvy and creative. So when customers open a catalogue they no longer expect to see a selection of standalone products, they expect to be given advice and visual clues on how to design and compliment the ranges that are on display, with ideas on paint palettes, on-trend accessories and fabrics. Bundling means that not only can customers see a room set together, they can also buy it together-possibly at a discounted overall price.


3. Less location, more set build: This is a growing trend as we see clients trying to get more out of their photography investment. Brands that have the ability to show complete room sets using their own products should do so. Building a set also means you can factor in the needs specific to web, catalogue, advertising and PR photography.


4. More editorial: This trend is being adopted by those brands that are competing as experts in their field and who wish to gain the edge. Customers are very used to engaging with editorial content, and it’s a more relevant way for brands to talk to their customers. For example, in the fashion world, it’s now quite common to find a photography shoot taking place at the same time as a film crew shooting footage of the models for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the campaign or ad.


5. Value redefined as quality, choice and price: As the economy picks up, we’re seeing less focus on price and a redefinition of “value” emerging. As consumers become more and more savvy and less prepared to compromise, they don’t just want the cheapest, but on-trend, good quality products. They don’t want to feel like they’re buying the cheapest because they have to--it needs to be their choice based on what is important to them.