Ken Cox Photography

Commercial Photography Tailored To Fit Your Business Needs

Photography For Business

Engage Your Customers With Content

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PICTURES & VIDEO ENGAGE YOUR CUSTOMERS FASTER

Engaging customers online has become a big deal for every type of business.  Why?  How do we find what we need fast?  “We Google It!”  Yeah….”Google It!” …that’s the action of finding or searching to find what we need with our phone, pad or desktop.  That’s how most people find your business as well.

Images play a huge role in connecting people to goods, services and information today.  That’s why Google encourages businesses, small or large, to upload fresh images on a regular basis.  Why, Picture can tell your story faster than words.  Via your Google Business Profile you have likely already connected your business with Google Maps and Google Searches.  This is a free way to promote your business online and control the information customers find 90% of the time or more.  You may have connected with Face Book and other Social Media sites as well.  Pictures, Video and Content drive this stuff!

Here’s another idea that you may be able to adapt to your online activity.  …Just another way to help clients relate to your business.  Maybe you have already installed a Google Maps Street View Trusted Tour of your locations online. These can easily be embedded right into your web pages. Here’s a sample. You can expand to full page and shrink it back again. Just click thru like Google Street View! ( Oh yeah…. that’s what it is!)

Maybe you want to draw attention to a specific product, location, feature or service rendered by your business. You can easily connect products, services and posts for events and updates! Get Connected! You will be glad you did!

DID I MENTION IT’S FREEEEE!!!

Contact (just click here) me if you need more information or help!

Enjoy!

KC

Promote Your SMB Locally

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SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS MUST PROMOTE THEIR BUSINESS

Black Forest Lodge Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 909-866-2166

I am amazed every day at the creative efforts of Small Business People/Owners everywhere. I work with small businesses all over Southern California. Keeping a Small Business a float, now a days, is no little task. Despite the claims of robust economics in the media, myself and many others, are seeing many SMB’s in a struggle for survival. There is no one shot answer for this, except just keep trying!

Here’s a good place to start for free!!! Set up a Google Account and a Google Business Profile for your location. Why? …because this will control 90% or more of the clients coming thru your front door. How? Customers will “Google IT!” ….that’s the act of finding what they are looking for, usually with their phone.

IT’S FREE! Really, if you don’t believe me Google It!!

Make time to promote your business…if you don’t no one else will! By effectively scheduling time critical issues can be conquered one at a time. Take a few minutes every day/week/month to evaluate and set priorities. Set a few minutes every week to promote your business. Do it in a way that say, “Thanks!” to your loyal clientele and effectively appeals to prospective new local customers as well. Just a heartfelt, “Thanks for your business!” can go a long way.

What else might you do? Help customers find your business. Make time to plug into free and low cost assets that will speak to new local customers and potential customers downstream. Oh, you already have a website, you say! …or maybe you don’t? Local Searches are not dependent on a business having a website. They depend on solid “verified” listings that business owners put online. Don’t get me wrong a website can serve to deliver a lot of details. But how will that potential customer find it? Please let me explain.

Promoting a SMB has changed radically over the last few years. For more than 20 years I ran a small service oriented business (back in the day) and I promoted the shop/ service with phone book ads. Every month $500 to $1000, why? …because in the old days that’s where people looked for local goods and services. It Worked! The vast majority of SMBs tell me they don’t do any Phone Book Advertising anymore outside of a simple listing. Why? Almost nobody looks at a phone book anymore. “Where should I advertise?”, some may ask? Think about it for a minute, “Where do you look for local goods and services?” Nearly every person will reply, “Oh I just Google it!” OK here’s the no brainer, where do you promote your business? Did you know that there’s a lot you can do online without spending any money at all. Local Searches depend on solid Google Maps Listings to a large degree. There are other factors but this is the elephant in the room.  Great a Google Account for free and a Google Business Listing for free and get STARTED!

Google My Business is a good place to start for free. Free meaning NO COST!  Nada!!
Reach out to me by clicking this link if I be of further assistance.

I am a photographer/media manager and I have worked with Google Maps for several years.
These short videos that might help you get started.
https://goo.gl/ZAnvr2
https://goo.gl/op5LLU

I hope this helps you a little! 

Thanks for reading KC, Enjoy!

Why Are Quality Images Important For Your Business?

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You Need Good Pictures and Video – High Quality Content

Black Forest Lodge Big Bear Lake, CA 92315 909-866-2166

Why are quality pictures important in every business?  ….even small business?  In a word, “Image”!  Quality pictures of your business, online and in every form of advertising, are what separates your business form everyone else.  Pricing, customer service, products, availability, location…..all of these factors contribute to the image of your business.  If you are a franchise you have it even tougher, why?  How do you brand your business as different, better, more desirable than others in the same franchise?  Your branding, the elements that separates you from everyone else, is the image you create for your business in the eyes of others, your customers.

The Oaks Dental Center, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320 (805) 499-1111

As a society we have become so visually oriented that the quest for Super High Definition-TV never ends.  Why?  It’s all about the picture the image we want to see!  We are attracted to quality pictures that show us what we want to see, the way we want to see it!  We quickly move away when pictures don’t appeal to us.  Your advertising whether online, in print or signage becomes exponentially more power when you add high quality pictures.  Video, done well, has even a greater impact!  Why is this so?  Sharp pictures appeal to the eyes but video appeals to the eyes and ears at the same time.  Video combines two senses to capture and hold our audience.  We are trained in this day and age to lock-on to a movie and follow it to it’s end!    With video we are delivering a stream of many images (30 to 60 per second) along with music and words leading the viewer to a conclusion in their mind….Come Do Business With Us!

The Pines Tavern On The Lake , Big Bear Lake 92315 909-878-0506

I have a friend and client that runs a small business that caters to high end clientele in a very competitive field.  They do an amazing job and have some great employees that know their stuff.  His son came to me a while back and explained that he had taken a quality image with his phone and planned to use it to advertise his family’s business. The image was going to print in a classy high end magazine with sharp high gloss pages through out. Not a cheap form of advertising.  When I looked at the image I was a little surprised!  The content was OK, but it was a little out of focus.  The color was not right and the exposure was off as well.  He asked what I thought about the image.  I mentioned it was a little soft and asked how was he planning to fix it?   He was content with the image right out of his phone.  He said, “It’s good enough!”  He planned to send it directly to the publisher without any further effort.

I ran my own shop for more than 20 years.  While we go out of our way to design, shape, clean and manicure our business location to cater to our client, it is not uncommon to look at our advertising material and say, “That’s good enough!”   What are you saying to your customers about your business, your brand, your image?

Oasis of Mara, 29 Palms Inn, Twenty-nine Palms, CA 92277 | (760) 367-3505

Are quality professional pictures important for business?  Absolutely!  These are the images you want to project to customers about your business!  Quality professional pictures equate to a quality professional business in our customer’s mind.  Are the pictures you use in advertising just “good enough”?  No,  So produce images, pictures, video as good as can reasonably be produced, given the business you are in and the budget you have to work with.  The return on your investment will be obvious.

Today everyone has a camera in their pocket.  Usually phone pictures look like phone pictures.  Out of the millions of images shot on phones occasionally you see a pretty good one.  Even a blind squirrel gets a nut once in a while!  Most of the time they are not “good enough” to promote your business.  Crisp, sharp images jump off the page capturing your audience’s attention.   There is a reason photographers spend a small fortune on equipment, software and education.  Good quality material will serve you for years to come.  Some high quality pictures I shot 20 years ago are still being used by those clients to promote their businesses today.  To serve a client well, we have to spend time talking about who their customers are and how to make images appeal to them based on the experience of you, the business owner.

How much time and money have you put into creating your business?  Do customers see you as the best in your field?  Is that what your advertising says?  

Reach out to me if you have questions or need help. Click Here for a link to connect.

Thanks, KC