Why Your Shop Needs Professional Photography

Gather around, gang—it’s time to talk about everyone’s favorite subject:

Shop photography.‍

Wait, where are you all going? Is this not exciting? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?‍

Okay, okay, we get it. When you’re busy turning wrenches and keeping a business afloat, getting pretty pictures of your surroundings is probably not high on your list. But hear us out: photography is rapidly becoming an important part of any shop’s digital marketing plan.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: yes, a couple of our plans include photography. But even if you’re not a Dieselmatic customer (why not?!), we hope you’re using a professional photographer to help introduce your shop to the world (wide web). 

Here’s why.

PHOTOGRAPHS BUILD TRUST‍

Your potential customers—some of whom you may be rescuing from the side of the road—have no idea what your shop looks like. Clear, up-to-date photos of your front office and waiting room area—at the very least—show them what they’ll be walking into. 

Going a step further and adding photos of your team (or yourself) puts a face to the shop. Yes, we know you’re running a business, but the warmth and personality of your employees humanizes your operation. Many shops we’ve worked with put a premium on the “family” element of their business. “See,” these pictures say, “we’re people, too.”

PHOTOGRAPHS LOOK WAY COOL‍

Is there anything cooler than a lineup of semis with a chrome grill?

We don’t think so.

Yes, trust is great, but there’s also an “Ooooooh, check that out!” element to good diesel photography. 

“A lot of people in the industry like to see what these shops do,” says Patti Moore, Operations Manager at Dieselmatic. Seeing photos of techs welding, or a bunch of powerful new Peterbilts lined up in the yard, is sure to grab a visitor’s attention and hold it. 

PHOTOGRAPHS MAKE YOU LOOK MORE PROFESSIONAL ‍

Stock photos have their place—but hopefully not in your marketing materials. We’ve all been on the web long enough to spot a likely stock photo. You know what we’re talking about…the grinning mechanic with that picture-perfect smear of grease on their cheek. Yeah. Those ones. 

Your customers are diesel people, too. They’ll spot the difference between a stock photo and a photo of your techs rebuilding a turbo right away. The level of authenticity pictures of your shop provides helps build the trust we talked about earlier.

Oh, yeah, and those stock photos? Your competitors can use them, too.

PHOTOGRAPHS CAN HELP YOU HIRE‍

Photography can tell you a lot about a shop—not just how it looks and what color uniforms it uses, but also its overall culture.

Yes, friends, your digital presence can help you with recruiting.

“Mechanics today can pick where they want to work,” says Tracy Davies, Sales Manager at Dieselmatic. “If I’m a tech looking for work, I’m going to [apply to] a shop that has a better vibe for me than one that has no website, no social media presence, or anything else that tells me what it’s about.”

SOMETIMES THE OLD WAYS ARE BEST‍

So, you’re sold on the idea that great photography can help you sell your shop to customers, technicians, and thousands of adoring fans who just want to know more about diesel. But can you snag those awesome shots on a smartphone?

Eh…‍

We don’t mean to diss smartphones, by the way. The newer models take some pretty gorgeous pictures—but a professional camera is still going to edge out over your S23 or iPhone 14 in terms of quality. Not to get too technical, but some smartphone pictures are also quite compressed; they’ll look fine on a desktop, for instance, but when loading on mobile they can end up looking…well…not great. And they can impact your load time. And guess who doesn’t like that?

Google.‍

And along those lines, a professional photographer is…how can we put this nicely?...they’ve got an artistic eye. Yes, you can grab a picture of that semi reflecting the glow of the sunset so it looks pretty. But the professional photographer is going to make it look like that semi is flying into a star.‍

DIESELMATIC LOVES PHOTOGRAPHERS‍

Professional photographers—especially the ones we work with—are used to shooting in shops and know what to shoot. “They come in with a strategy,”  Patti says. They look for the oil rags, the parts bins, the angle. You and your smartphone may not quite be able to pull that off to the best effect. 

We believe in professional photography so much that we include them in our Grow and Turbo plans. Interested? Want to see what our diesel marketing experts can do for your shop? We’d be happy to chat! Just get in touch today and find out why awesome photography is only the beginning.