Let’s face it, we’ve all heard that branding yourself is a key part to attracting the right clients and getting the exposure your business deserves. It’s ingrained in our minds as to why personal branding photography is important, but it usually gets forgotten about.
We get so busy and sometimes never get around to it, yet not having them could be driving a lot of customers AWAY if you’re in certain industries. Your potential buyers may be looking at you and several of your competitors at the same time.
Why is personal branding photography important for business owners? How can you use it the right way to get more enquiries, leads and sales?
I’m here to tell you 3 reasons why personal branding photography is important from my own experience. You’ll soon see what you can gain from using it too.
1 – It can show you in action, doing what you do best.
When I launched my book Social Marketing Success that became a bestseller, I took the opportunity to include the book in some of my photos.
Getting pictures of you in action can work well for so many business owners. Your potential buyers might be wondering what working with you is like, and the right personal branding photos can draw people to you.
Not having these could make it hard for people to paint a picture of how your business is different. Sure, in some cases your profession is quite clear to your audience, but having personally branded photos gives your audience the image you want them to see. Not the image that they already think of.
2 – You have the opportunity to showcase your personality.
People don’t buy from businesses, they buy from the people behind the business. This is a great opportunity to show your audience that you aren’t just another uptight, moody business owner (being an entrepreneur has its crazy days!)
A great tip I can give you is to not be too serious in your personal branding photos. Why not get some light hearted photos as well as professional ones.
People will like you if you can make them laugh. If they like you they will begin to trust you, and they won’t buy from you until they know, like and trust you.
3 – Standing out from your competition is made very simple.
As said before, many business owners won’t take the time out to have personal branding photos done. That means if you do have them (and use them) you’re already doing what most aren’t.
Taking your own photos with a smartphone is great, but having professional-style personal branding photos is a very different approach.
Plus if you take the photos with purpose, you aren’t just taking random photos to get engagement on social media. You’re able to do more than share a picture of you smiling.
Here’s one example of a photo where I’m holding up 4 fingers to signify my 4 step system inside my book, Social Marketing Success.
You will need to get creative and come up with ways you can use personal branding photography to your advantage.
Bonus Tips: Before having your personal branding photography done, spend some time thinking of what exactly you want from it. Draw up a list of what should be included, and get more photos done than you need.
Dress in your branding colours if you already have these set, otherwise wear what you feel most comfortable in that makes you look great. Smart casual is often a good choice, although it depends on who you want to appeal to.
Invest the extra budget to get additional images even if you’re not sure you need them right now. It saves needing another photoshoot in the near future. Over time you will likely think of ways you can use the extra photos. Trust me, it is well worth it!
Thank you for reading and I hope these 3 reasons why personal branding photography is important really help! If you got some great value, please leave a comment and share this post with a friend.
Also a huge shout out to John Ferguson who took the above photo and lots of other great ones – you can find many of them on my Facebook Page.
If you are interested in working with John and are local to Suffolk/London visit his website – John Ferguson Photography to get in touch.
Hey Seb Brantigan,
Your statement is right branding our self is a key part to attracting the right clients and getting the exposure our business deserves. You have mention the nice reason for personal branding photography.
I think the important thing is that by personal photography it will give us a opportunity to showcase our personality and it is also useful that it can show us in action doing what we can do best.Thank you for sharing awesome post which is very helpful to other readers and for me also.
thank you,
-sweety
Thanks for your thoughts! Important to show your personality and the right branding pictures are a great way to do that. Appreciate you stopping by Sweety.