Building an Image Library for your A/E/C Business

by Christian Scully

Let's take a minute and think about the number of different spaces in which a company is represented today:

• the company website and its many respective pages 
• various social media outlets including Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ 
• the company email newsletter perhaps monthly or quarterly 
• printed brochures, postcards and other materials
• printed or online advertising 

That is an intimidating amount of space to fill with appealing and informative content. When social media for businesses really took off, along with the SEO craze, there was a mad rush to fill every inch of company space online with stuff - empty, meaningless, stuff that took up screen space and assaulted viewers. Text with no real purpose other than to be read and indexed by Google. Pictures that were either from a cheap stock library or simply swiped from an image search. But search engines and people alike have matured to the point where both want to see quality content, not just quantity. 

So what is quality content? Simple: text that accurately describes services and products, a company's history and experience, and perhaps even offers helpful information to the reader, and media that accurately depicts the work and workers of a company. 

Enter the "image library". A company's image library is a collection of images that serves as the supply of photos for any visual need that arises. It can consist of completed exterior and interior project photographs, product images, before and after images, work-in-progress images, on site images of workers in action, employee portraits, images of employees at work in the office or studio, images of a manufacturing facility... basically everything and anything that shows what a company does and who does it. 

The benefit to having a wide image library is also simple. It allows a company to fill the above mentioned space with images that accurately depict the company, sell the quality of services or products offered, and provide a glimpse at the people behind the scenes in order to connect with potential customers. An image library is grown over time and keeps a company's marketing materials current, fresh and well-rounded. 

Below is a selection of images we created for Homescapes of New England, a wonderful family business based out of Nottingham, New Hampshire, to help build their image library. Notice the variety, allowing them to have options when incorporating images into header images, brochures, ads, etc.

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