Do what you love. Love what you do…

 *Do what you love. Love what you do…*

 This is my mantra. I’ve been lucky enough to be doing this for over 20 years now.

Sounds perfect right? The ideal. Going to work and it not feeling like work.

It is the reason that many of us set up our own businesses: to be successful at what we love to do. But for our business ventures to grow and prosper we all need customers. So how do we attract people to be interested in what we do, convert those people into customers, and customers into repeat buyers? We all know that people buy from people. So why should people buy from you? Here are some things to consider:

*Online presence*

As more of our shopping is done online than ever before, websites have become an essential part of any reputable business. The first things we often see when we get to a website are images and photographs. The only way many of us will ever get an idea of what we are buying and who we are dealing with is through these images. On your business website, an integral part of who you are and what you do is your ‘about us’ page, your ‘meet the team’ shot or featured info about your product and services. How do you give a sense of who you are and what you do?

*Showing off your wares*

Think Trip Advisor: you choose your holiday destination, then you look to stay at a particular hotel. The website might show you some fab photos of the resort, the rooms, the decor, the facilities at the hotel, spa, bar, restaurant etc. This helps you to like their product or service and go ahead and buy it. Unless the only photos you get to see are the ones taken by visitors using only their phone cameras. Should you leave the making of the images professionally representing your business to people who have no understanding of what you want to do (and maybe no true understanding of the camera they have in their hand)?

*Content Marketing*

This is where you create and freely share valuable information that is closely related to what you do or sell. This means informing people so that they know, like, and trust you enough to do business with you. This might be on social media or on your website. How do you make it interesting?

*A Picture Paints a 1000 Words*

Professionally created images can help do this. They can grab people’s attention. They can give an implicit sense of who you are and sell it for you. They back up what you are saying about your product or service, your staff, your premises- any aspect of your business- and they can illustrate it. It’s much easier to offer beautiful luxury salon treatments with images of your salon looking luxurious and beautiful.

So why should we buy from you? If you look professional, approachable and confident in your environment then you have become the person we want to do business with.