“So what is it that you do?”

This question is what many of your website or social page visitors ask themselves when they scroll through your sites. They don’t understand what services you provide because you use confusing industry language instead of simple explanations with complimentary pictures. 

With pictures you can capture what your company does, capture all of the unique projects, and most importantly, you can show the impact that your work has on your customers.

Recently, I have partnered with CompanyCam to highlight contractors that use the mobile and desktop app at com​pa​ny​cam​.com. What I have found is that the images users capture tell a compelling story. 

In this post, my goal is narrow down five types of photos that you can use as a contractor to better communicate with your potential or existing customers.

Here are the five different types of images:

1. Signs of Failure

For contractors that focus on repairing damaged homes or buildings, there are never enough photos of the spaces you are walking into that are damaged. So whether you are restoring a roof battered by a recent hail storm or walking into a bathroom remodel there should be proper photo documentation. 

With this documentation, it will provide clarity to your potential customers to the problems you can solve.

2. The Process

Before starting my career, I spent a lot of time with my father, a carpenter. I grew up watching houses go from simple framing to family homes. There was something magical about watching the construction of those homes. 

For experienced contractors, it might not seem as magical anymore. Because of this, contractors often arrive at job sites, do the work, and when the job finishes, there isn’t any documentation of the process. I get it! But remember that through photos we can capture this process, and it tells your audience a story of how you build. 

So whether your client is a homeowner, business, or government municipality, having photos of the entire process develops trust and credibility that shows you stand behind your work.

3. Your People

Have you ever been asked what separates your company from others like your own? You likely market your top-notch services, but this alone will not separate you in a meaningful way from your competitors. So what does separate you from the other guys? The work you and your employees are doing.

When the people in our companies deliver an experience that is remarkable, those customers reciprocate by sharing their experience with friends and family. If you are or strive to be a market leader, you should be putting these extraordinary employees on display.

Also, what’s better than posting photos of your employees instead of having to fall back on stock photography. Do any of these contractors look like one of your own?

4. Craftsmanship

Have you ever heard the story about Steve Jobs’ father? He was a mechanic, but a builder at heart. 

His father taught him about the importance of detail. This focus on detail was apparent in many of Steve’s products, and he went as far as sanding the inside of early Apple computers. This attention to detail would be unseen to most future Apple computer owners. 

What does that say about he and his team’s pride and craftsmanship in the work they were doing?

Now, what does craftsmanship look like at your company? Is it a stone finish on the interior of the home? Is it a home transformation? Or could it be as simple as replacing bushes and landscaping to a state that was better than when you arrived?

Document this, please, it will put the pride you have in your work on display and separate you from your competition.

5. The After

The after picture is an obvious one but here are a few reminders when shooting them. 

First, make sure that your shot is in the best condition without any tools or equipment laying around. Nothing distracts from that finished job than the smashed Red Bull can on the ground. 

Second, since you’ve followed the steps above, you’ll have plenty of progress photos from the job. 

Use those images as a reference and then get matching after shots. Or use the CompanyCam Before/​After feature. Third and finally, after capturing the before and after pictures of the completed jobs be sure to inform others in your company. Trust me, they will be pumped to have these images.

Now what? Execute on all of the types of photos above. 

We all need to remember the reason WHY these images are essential to telling our company’s story. Without these photos, we fall into being just another contractor in a busy marketplace. 

Use the power of photography and the camera that sits in your pockets to continue to gain and retain loyal customers.