How to prepare for a remote photoshoot for your food brand
Promoting your food brand with beautiful images and videos doesn’t have to be difficult and you can take a few steps to have a successful remote shoot of your food product.
A successful food brand photoshoot comes down to hiring the right person or team for the job, so you have a few options to make that happen. You can hire a team and a studio that will photograph your product, and maybe do some video recordings for you too. You can hire a food or product photographer to get the images and recordings you need as well and only hire one person for the job.
Both options will work mostly the same from your perspective, the difference will be the budget you need to have ready and how you want to go about it. Usually, for a remote shoot, you will need to send your product in advance so it is well researched and ready for the styling and set up correctly.
Finding the Right Fit For Your Food Brand
The most important piece to having a successful food brand remote photoshoot is getting a photographer or photography team that will execute your expectations and communicate your brand well.
This means you need to look at portfolios and social media accounts in detail and find a few options to pick from that match your style (or vision for your style) and have the quality you’re looking for. I’ve said it once and I will say it as often as needed, “you get what you pay for”, so look at price last.
When you look at the work that they have to offer, you need to make sure they can also represent your food product accurately, the way it is used or prepared, and the story it would tell in the photos and videos is important. You don’t want your audience to be confused by having odd pairings or a setting that doesn’t line up with how they would be using your food product.
Setting Up The Agreement
Once you find the photographer or photography team that you want to use you need to make sure your food brand can come to an agreement that works well for all parties involved to get your images and videos.
This is when you make sure you have the budget fulfilled and that you can pay according to the outlined terms in the agreement you come to. Some people will require full or half payment upfront, you need to be prepared for that with no issues. Some will require the entire fee to be put into an escrow account so they have proof that the payment is set aside and ready when they complete the job.
Agreement terms need to be realistic and fair to all parties and stated at the beginning, and upheld throughout the project. This means that communication needs to fluid from all parties from start to finish so that if questions or issues come up they can be addressed properly and smoothly. This would include the number of images or videos that are going to be delivered, what items will be sent by the food brand, any and all expectations that the food brand has for the project, and detailed explanations of the food brand principles and a brand guide to be provided to the content team from the food brand.
After the Remote Photoshoot is Completed
The terms for the project will include how the images and videos can be used per the licensing agreement and copyright that comes from the photographer or team. The food brand will need to make sure they reference the agreement before using the content and follow these guidelines carefully.
Following up with the content team or photographer is important so that they know if expectations were met and if they can ask for a review or testimonial to promote their own business. They may ask to use some of the images and video in their own portfolio or social media, and you need to make sure to outline how they can use the content.
Keep a database of the people you work with for your food brand so that when you have needs in the future you have already vetted people and have a set of priority choices and backups if they aren’t available. This will save you time in the future, but it also builds relationships that benefit both your food brand and the teams you work with for content creation.
Some Tips To Keep In Mind:
Ship your product quickly and carefully
Double-check the requests of the photographer or team
Be detailed in your expectations and brand guide
Stay in contact with the team frequently
Maintain realistic expectations
Plan ahead for the project and build in some wiggle room in your timeline, sometimes shipping times can cause delays that no one can correct
Always remain professional and courteous, but make sure your food brand is not taken advantage of either
Have at least three prospects that you like, schedules can be tight and you may need to wait or use a backup to get your project done on time
Don’t wait until the last minute to hire and start a marketing project
