Does the cost of photography stop you from using it in sustainability comms?
Research has revealed that the two main barriers to using original photography for corporate responsibility communication, or sustainability comms, or ESG comms are concerns about cost and whether a photographer will understand the subject matter sufficiently to deliver a coherent visual story.
It is for these reasons, and many others, that I specialise and work with clients who want to tell better, more visual stories, about their sustainability journey and how they are delivering against sustainability plans and corporate social responsibility commitments. I even have qualifications in sustainability.
Is photography expensive?
Any costs and fees will seem like overheads until they are measured against impact and Return On Investment.
If we take sustainability comms as an example, we know that the cost of not delivering against sustainability goals can be loss of trust, customer attrition, shareholder withdrawal, and difficulty employing and retaining talent. There are others but these are key considerations for most businesses.
The CIPD estimates the cost of filling a vacancy as £6,000 for non-management, £19,000 for a management role, and significantly more for a senior management role. A Forbes article states ‘Employees are demanding more than just a paycheck; they want to work somewhere that aligns with their beliefs and values. As a result, companies must demonstrate a clear set of values to stand out from the competition and create an attractive atmosphere for workers.’
Research from McKinsey states that 85% of Chief Investment Officers consider ESG to be an important factor when deciding what shares to buy. They also recognise that companies need to get better at ESG communications ‘..if ESG communications were that easy, one would expect that more companies would do it well. They don’t.’
So, if your business has a market capitalisation of £100m and shareholder jitters mean a drop in share price by just 1%, that’s £1,000,000 lost.
Loss of customers could be worth thousands, tens of thousands or even millions of pounds, and take years to win back at even further cost to the business.
Then there is the financial gain, if one can be measured. Last year I worked on an engagement project for a British food retailer who wanted original photography to help drive new behaviours that would reduce energy costs. We devised a photography and poster campaign for less than £24,000 that delivered circa £1.2 million in savings through behavioural change.
Similarly, in 2024 we produced a series of photo stories about waste and recycling that became a central point of difference in a tendering process, winning our client a £3.4 million contract. The cost – just £3,400 – an ROI of 1000%
Like any communication, sustainability comms should have an objective. It might be to build trust, change behaviour, win new business, attract new investors, or be a great place to work, but there will be a value, direct or indirect, which means that the communication is worth investing in, and doing well.
How I charge for sustainability comms photography
There are three elements to every project:
- Pre-production planning – the least expensive bit but the most important because it is here that I understand your obejctives, we talk about what success looks like, we agree timeframes and ways of working together.
- Production – this is where we get the cameras out and do what we agreed during pre-production. At its most basic this is me, a couple of cameras, and some travel expenses. More complex shoots might require international travel, assistants, accommodation and the like.
- Post-production – this is where the images are edited, sorted and exported. However, it might also be that there is a continuation of the production phase if at this point we turn still images into videos or posters.
Every sustainability comms project is different, which means every project has to be costed individually but to give you an idea:
- I recently spent two days photographing to tell the story of how one company is delivering social value in the community.
- I then edited the photographs into four photo-stories of 6-8 images with captions ready to share on their intranet with 4,500 employees.
- The photo-stories were part of the employee value proposition and demonstrates the values lived by the company.
- The total cost to the client was £2,250, which was an ‘investment’ of £2 per employee, which they felt was value for money.
Get in touch, it costs nothing to have a conversation and get a quote, and you might be pleasantly surprised by how affordable original photography can be in supporting sustainability comms projects.
Read about my four great reasons to use photography for Sustainability Reporting here
