Take yourself back to the job-hunting process? What type of advice did you receive? We are willing to bet that at least one of the phrases that came to mind was to look professional, dress to make a great first impression, and put your best foot forward.
Your brand speaks first. Personal Brand photography for your small business, start-up, or yourself acts as that first impression to your consumers. Done right, it can increase your sales, build your brand, and strengthen your brand's image in the minds of your target. Done poorly, your services, product, and brand image might not be memorable.
Personal Branding When it comes to branding, an image of a company's name, logo, design, or slogan probably comes to mind. Personal branding goes a little deeper than those listed elements by diving into a company's values, personality, and overall tone throughout all marketing material. These elements help a brand build a positive association in a consumer or client's mind.
What is Personal Branding Photography?
Personal Brand Photography is a visual way to identify yourself and your personality and solidify your image to potential new customers and clients as a small business. Having a strong and memorable brand image is imperative to a successful company. It can also help you to reach your goals. Brand photography is a great way to update and build that image consistently. Personal brand photography is effective for entrepreneurs, small businesses, and start-ups. Having clear images and consistent messaging will lead to sales by putting faces to a business. This helps the messaging to resonate more with potential clients. Allowing for better recall by presenting consumers with the identifying characteristics of your brand using a prop, color, style, and tone of voice in captions and posts surrounding the image.
Personal branding photography is more than just headshots. While it is essential to have updated headshots and are typically part of a personal branding shoot, most personal branding shoots aim to add context and a closer look into the company. These shoots produce many images that you can use throughout all marketing material that provides a fuller picture of your business. Think of headshots as a professional handshake and a personal brand shoot as more of an interview, allowing you to showcase more of your brand's personality.
Where can Personal Brand Photography be used?
Images from your personal branding photography session can often be the first thing consumers see online when discovering your brand—making it the first impression and one of the essential parts of the buying process. You want your photos to represent you as a brand and specifically how you want your brand to present itself. These photos will act as figuratively putting your best foot forward. The images taken can also be used to inspire your following and become part of a cohesive feed on your social media platforms. The photos will help you connect with your audience and stand out by showcasing your skills, personality, and expertise on marketing material, social media, websites, and other business material.
Is this a once-and-done process?
No, but it doesn't have to be a stressful one. Creating effective personal branding and utilizing personal branding photography can be streamlined and updated quarterly by following a few steps. Consistency is key and so is staying up to date. Quarterly sessions ensure that you as a company will not run out of content and appear active online by updating websites and social media posts regularly. An image is worth 1000 words; as your brand and business grow, continuing to update your personal brand photography collection allows you to tell your story convincingly and interestingly and create positive brand equity.
To get started and be properly prepared for your photoshoot, organize the following:
1. Brand Guidelines
Define your brand and write down brand guidelines. As a small business or start-up owner, you have been with your brand since its inception. No one can know it better. When it comes to personal brand photography, having your brand guidelines in a place ready to share can make the process easier.
2. Marketing Strategy
A personal brand photoshoot allows you to gather images that can be used for your upcoming marketing materials. This also ensures that the photos will stay on your brand's strategy during the planning process.
3. Come with Ideas
As your marketing strategies change throughout the year, it is important to come into a personal brand photoshoot with basic ideas of marketing materials you plan to produce throughout the next quarter.
If you have a lot on your plate and find the processes of building your brand daunting, Evoke Creative is here to help. At Evoke, we specialize in working to ease the development of your brand and small business. Reach out to us on our website for all your brand development and marketing needs.
Do you need help aligning all aspects of your business, so your message is clear, concise, creative, and speaks to your ideal customer? If you answered YES, book an introductory consultation to learn how we can help you! We will speak with you to learn about your business goals and needs during this free call. Should you choose to work with us, we promise to save you time and any frustration that can come along with having a business.
Some of our services include:
Strategizing
Brand Messaging
Copy & Content Writing
Logo & Web Design
Digital Marketing
Social Media
Your success is our passion, Evoke your brand.