We Have A New Studio Because Videos and Photos Are The Future

For the better part of two decades, you could boil all online marketing tips, advice, and best practices down to one mantra: Content is king.

And as tired as this mantra is, it’s still absolutely correct in 2020. Content is the heart of the online experience. “Content is king,” now and forever. Content is the reason the internet exists.

But content is changing. Looking ahead, we see video overtaking written content in most respects, and we see a huge blind spot in auto parts and accessories photography. As a result, we’ve made a big studio investment .

A Blog Used To Be Enough

Back when Spork started in 2006, an informative and easy to read article was all you needed. Integrate some search terms into each article, post regularly, and watch rankings grow.

While written content is still very useful in 2020 (we’re still using it to rank our client websites), it’s starting to fade. Consumers are gradually replacing written content with video content:

• Written content production and promotion is at an all-time high, and consumers are “content fatigued” as a result. How many blog posts can consumers really read?
• Written content doesn’t always excel at helping consumers with whatever they want help with. A “how to” article, for example, is rarely as helpful as a “how to” video.
• Video is easier to find and consume than ever before: Smartphones can stream, and many people own televisions that connect directly to YouTube.

For these reasons (and more) video content is rapidly overtaking written content as the go-to source of information for all sorts of search queries. Many consumers – particularly younger consumers – seem particularly drawn to video. Video is the future of online marketing.

You Can’t Make Good Video With A Bad Setup

We’ve known for a few years now that written content is fading in terms of importance. However, we’ve hesitated to make a big push into video production for a couple reasons:

1. Expensive equipment. Cameras, lighting, audio equipment, and editing software is cheaper now than it’s ever been before – but it’s still thousands of dollars.
2. A vehicle-sized video production space. Because of our focus on the auto parts and accessories industry, we need a space that’s large enough to accommodate a vehicle, and that also has a garage door.

As of today, both of these problems are solved. We now have a large studio space that can accommodate vehicles up to a full-size crew cab pickup, with all the equipment you’d find in a modern video studio.

And we’re already producing video too, despite the fact that our studio just opened.

Our Industry Is Behind When It Comes To Ecommerce Photography

Consumers have high expectations for product photography. If you look outside of auto parts and accessories, you’ll see that electronics, clothing, and other consumer products have great photography:

• Photos showcase product features and highlight benefits
• Photos illustrate the uses of the product, helping consumers visualize ownership
• Photos can even address objections by focusing on specific features and aspects of products

Many auto parts and accessories manufacturers are a decade behind when it comes to photography. Many products are marketed with boring “part and a box” photos, or even just schematics. This obviously won’t be enough long term.

As a result, our video studio doubles as a photo studio: If you want to show before and after install photos for your accessory, or highlight the products you sell with professional photos, we can help you.

Our Studio Is Open For Business

There’s one constant in online marketing: It’s always changing. As we look ahead, we know that our clients will need great video and great photos to be successful. We’ve created a vehicle sized studio as a result, and we’re already booking slots and scheduling shoots. If you’d like to learn more about our product photography and video production services, please contact us.