How to Create Business Photos & Video to Promote an Event Before It Happens
How can you drive an audience to your inaugural event using brand photos and video, if there’s no photos or video from prior events to do that with?
That’s the conundrum Michelle King of Sole2Soul and Cynthia Abbott Kerr of Wellpay.ai found themselves in.
Excited to launch Revolutionize, a new event for HR professionals in the SF Bay Area, they needed a way to let audiences know what the event was going to be about and why they should come.
Not having prior event footage or photos to work with left us with two options.
☝🏻Use stock photos and assets to create a promotional video.
✌🏻Stage an event to capture footage.
We decided to do a hybrid of both with strategic business photos and video content.
SF Bay Area Business Photos & Video for Event Promotion
Instead of waiting for an event to happen, we created strategic business photos and promotional video content in advance. This SF Bay Area session gave our clients marketing assets they could use immediately to build excitement and visibility.
A brand video for Revolutionize by by SF Bay Area brand photographer Bernadette Marciniak of Solhaus Media
Why Businesses Need Custom Photos & Video Instead of Stock
We could have just used stock media to promote Revolutionize, but we knew that the visuals would fall short. They wouldn’t connect to Michelle and Cynthia’s audience, or get anyone excited about the event.
At Solhaus Media, we pride ourselves on cultivating and nurturing community. Because of this, wrangling together a small group of people that could act as attendees was an easy feat. Between our makeup artists staying late to sit in as bodies, and team members inviting their spouses, we had a good, diverse collection of folks that sat in for the shoot.
A speaker reel for Wellpay.ai Founder Cynthia Abbott Kerr by SF Bay Area brand photographer Bernadette Marciniak of Solhaus Media.
How to Get More Business Content From One Photo & Video Session
Gathering a group of folks together for a quick one-minute video seemed excessive, so we decided to use the opportunity to get more content for Michele and Cynthia.
Being former HR veterans who now run their own businesses, they also have a goal of booking speaking engagements, and they knew they each needed their own speaker reel.
The same conundrum presented itself – without existing footage from any prior speaking engagements, it was impossible to create a reel.
So we used the fact that there was already going to be a group of folks in the room who looked like event attendees, and Michelle and Cynthia would present their keynotes as if they were speaking at an event.
Since the space we were using was also available to us for the whole day, we decided to also grab headshots for them, as well as anyone who came to stand in.
We also recorded interview-style A-Roll of Michelle and Cynthia speaking to the camera about their respective businesses.
We finished off the day with some simple B-Roll for both of them that we knew was needed for their brand videos.
A speaker reel for Sole2Sol Founder Michelle Joy King by SF Bay Area brand photographer Bernadette Marciniak of Solhaus Media.
Business Photos and Video Deliverables for Event Promotion
What started as a simple venture to get a video to promote their inaugural event turned into a media library full of assets that can be used for a multitude of purposes. In addition to the event sizzle reel, both Cynthia and Michelle got full recordings of their keynotes, as well as a brand video for each of their respective businesses.
While this session was staged for promotional content, we also provide event videography in the SF Bay Area for conferences, workshops, and live events.
This project is a great example of the brand photography and video work we offer to Bay Area entrepreneurs and creatives.
Planning Business Photography or Video in the SF Bay Area?
Strategic content sessions like this help businesses create versatile marketing assets they can use long before an event or launch takes place.
If you’re looking for business and corporate photography in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out our services here and book a call to get started!
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MEET BERNADETTE
Hi! I’m Bernadette Marciniak, founder of Solhaus Media, a woman-owned photography and video production company. We work with coaches, healers, podcast hosts, educators and creative business owners to create powerful imagery that converts audiences into clients.
I’m a cat mom of two, who loves good pizza, craft beer and red wine. She’s usually bingeing on the hottest new true crime documentary, or finding solace in the upteenth repeat of Ted Lasso or Friends.
Solhaus Media is based in the SF Bay Area and nationwide.
These Los Angeles corporate headshots were created to honor physicians receiving excellence awards for their contributions beyond clinical work. Designed for live event screens and printed materials, the portraits celebrate leadership, service, and achievement.