Marketing a weight loss program - The best Before/After photo method?

Often wondered about this, only want opinions.

Take a guy who lost a significant amount of weight over a 18 months period in addition to adding a lot of muscle.

In your opinion which would be the best approach when showing his own Before/After photos & videos to support his weight loss program.

1. Natural/Random photos and videos taking before he lost the weight i.e. from his webcam, maybe a video with the kids at the beach or with his shirt off on a sunny day etc. Then more pics/videos like this throughout the period on the program leading right up to today where he is in great shape.


2. Intended/Documented photos and videos taking deliberately before starting the program where he clearly explained what he was about to do while showing his physique, then throughout the program clearly/deliberately documenting the progress.


The reason I ask this is because lets say someone makes it very professional i.e. clearly and coherently documenting it from the beginning, would people not be sceptical that this is someone who knew exactly what they were doing (trying to SELL the program) and may be ether using pills or video manipulation etc. to modify the outcome?

The more natural way may not evoke scepticism, but it may not be as "professional" etc.

Thanks.

 

This is something that you would need to test yourself, the conversion of a given marketing ploy which is what it is. My advice is to test, test, test...and once your finished...start it all over again. The norm for this type of market is to create photoshoped photos that pretty much anger people who see these posts, i see an awful lot of this on facebook, i would also say that this market seems to be slightly crowded. Though that's imho.

 

I would say that natural photos are more effective because I feel it is a scam when I see weight loss with professional and intended photos. It is much more convincing when you put natural photos and videos and it is more appealing for the audience and at the end of the day your aim is to sell the product to more people and your aim is not making the most professional advertisement out there.

 

That's my point, that is why i stated that this angers many people, myself included, then i went on to say that i believe from what i see that perhaps this market is quite crowded/competitive/saturated and then further stated that is my opinion

 

While natural photos might seem less scammy, it would be hard to show the difference (weight loss/muscle gain) in the before and after pictures unless they were taken in the same pose and in beach wear. When you see the two pics with the same person in the same pose, the weight loss/muscle gain looks really impressive.

What you could do is take the best of both the worlds, have the before and after picture of the person in a similar natural pose (but not exactly the same) in an outdoor location. You can keep the location different in both snaps, to amplify the difference and make it look more natural.

And finally, always AB test such pics. You never know which one will work. Only real data can tell the truth.

hope this helps
Niki