Stop Making These 3 Excuses to Avoid Hiring a Photographer

We had the pleasure to launch Arch Dental’s website, and I have to say this by far one of my FAVORITE sites. Why? It’s filled with real patient photos and videos – it’s genuine! Dr. Derek Harnish worked with Roadside Dental Marketing, a photographer, and a videographer to launch a website showing off his UVP and his team’s personality.

Fantastic responsive dental websites show off what the practice is all about with real photography and videos (if you’re feeling adventurous).

In this blog, I’m going to provide three excuses to avoid hiring a photographer I hear from clients and how Dr. Harnish overcame those obstacles.

Excuse #1: It’s hard to coordinate all patients’ schedules.

That’s perfectly understandable. Your patients have busy schedules, and it’s hard to coordinate it all into one day.

Dr. Harnish went through the same issue, especially when getting the perfect after photos for his Smile Gallery. Instead, he consulted his photographer for advice and took the photos himself.

What Dr. Harnish did:

“He (my photographer) helped me find some simple lights and a backdrop. He and the videographer helped me figure out how to best utilize my current SLR camera to get great portrait photos and how to get things set up. Then I took a bunch of portrait photos of my staff to try and figure out how I wanted the lights.”

Dentist-to-dentist advice for setting up your own smile studio:

• “I spent less than $300 on the lights. Then, I set them up in my personal office, the backdrop hangs in the corner, and I got thick black cardboard at an art supply store to block out the windows.”
• “When I figured out what I was going for, I found that setting the lights high up on their supports and have one side at a lower setting would give a nice soft light on the patients’ faces, making them and their smiles look nice.”
• “None of my ‘sessions’ with patients lasted more than five minutes. I tried to get them to smile by asking them about something they thought was funny or tell a funny story. Then, I would quickly take as many pictures as I could!”

Excuse #2: It’s too expensive to hire a photographer.

If you think about it, would patients rather come to an office with real patient photography or stock photography? Your website is all about developing an emotional connection with potential patients to gain their trust and make an appointment with you – Dr. Harnish knew this.

“It was really important to me to have actual photos of my work and my patients. Every time I look at dentists’ website and they use stock photography, I immediately wonder, ‘Why?’ I think patients will do the same thing. It robs the authenticity and integrity that I think people are trying to establish by using photography in the first place.”

Yes, photographers are expensive, but developing an emotional connection with potential patients is worth the investment. It’s very important to sell the website with the personality of the team and patients.

What Dr. Harnish did:

While he hired the photographer and videographer to take the main photos and videos for his website, Dr. Harnish also takes photos to continuously update his website and marketing.

“I did the light and portrait photography set-up work specifically for the new website. It’s what I wanted and learning how to do it seemed like the logical next step. A patient swings by for a quick appointment where we talk about how they’re doing, how they like their new smile, and verify their bite is correct and feeling good. Then, we take a few minutes and grab some fun photos.”

Excuse #3: It takes too long.

If you need a website completed fast and developing that emotional connection isn’t that important to you, that’s perfectly fine. However, real photos drive the success of our websites – complemented by our beautiful responsive designs.

Patience is key here because we want to design your website around the photos and videos. The design will form around the visuals.

What Dr. Harnish did:

“I think the best decision I made was being VERY patient to get the photography and video set up for the site. I talked with the team at Roadside and their suggestion was to get the video and photos done and let those guide the design of the entire site.”

Dr. Harnish knew developing that emotional connection on his website was important, which is why he hired both a photographer AND videographer to get that aspect.

“The three of us met multiple times before doing any actual shooting; we decided we were aiming for a more emotional focus, not technical, and we wanted the videos and photos to reflect that.”

The results? Spectacular! We couldn’t be more in love with Dr. Harnish’s new dental website.

Moral of the story: Photography does make a difference

You can see how genuine and real the Riverview Family Dental family is. Dr. Harnish purchased our Ultimate Custom Website package, so we even got creative with their personalities by creating fun, interactive animations. This just builds on the emotional connection and gets a sense of his community.

What do you love about Arch Dental’s new responsive dental website? Comment below!