07 Oct The Face of Your Personal Brand: Creating an Engaging Headshot to Represent Your Image
Building and maintaining a consistent brand is critical when it comes to business marketing and client engagement. But not all brands are created equal; a brand that relies on a tagline will not see nearly the recognition as one with visual appeal.
The reason for this is that humans tend to associate images with importance. For example, an article with an engaging photo at the top will be viewed significantly more times than one without – regardless of the topic. A website that pulls in appealing imagery will be viewed for a much longer period than one that relies on text.
This is why your personal brand must be visually dominant.
At the core of every visually engaging brand is a headshot. Prospective clients/customers want to see an image of a person that they can associate with the service or company. Whether it is an image of the service provider, owner of the company, CEO, or a pre-determined company representative, this simple offering is paramount to building a successful visual brand.
Although you should hire an experienced headshot photographer to deal with the details of your image production process, you need to ensure that it is in line with your brand. Here are some of the most important things to keep in mind when utilizing a headshot to create your personal brand.
Be consistent with your color schemes.
A color scheme that is associated with your branding will enhance your image. Your brand colors should be consistent throughout every avenue by which you market yourself; your website, logo, marketing material, and images. These colors will help to create a familiarity with your business and your customers that will subconsciously endear you to them.
If you already have colors by which you brand yourself, let your photographer and image professionals know this beforehand and wear a color that accents or aligns with your scheme. Your photographer should be able to create an image that either accentuates your brand colors or allows the color you are wearing to be the focus.
Positioning is important in every image.
Although you should defer to your visual professional when it comes to the smaller details, you should also be able to tell your team what you want to draw attention to in general. If you have features that you love or a particular expression that you feel defines you, express those preferences to your photographer so he can help those things stand out. There are things the photographer can do to accomplish this, but only if he knows what you are trying to achieve.
Showcase the best of your personality.
Do not try to drown your authenticity in the latest, most modern visual production. Although your photographer will likely have ideas to suggest, be prepared to explain to them what things make you and your brand unique. People are looking for the real you, not how complex your visual artist can get. Once you learn to strip away as much as possible instead of stacking everything on top of your authentic self, you will be well on the way to creating an incredible personal brand.
Cater to your Internet-savvy audience.
People are used to doing day-to-day business online, which means that they are locating or investigating almost every vendor or service provider before seeing inside an office, walking into a storefront, or meeting a human being. And, like articles, an online brand with images is going to be engaged with significantly more than one without – regardless of the level of quality the person/brand provides.
Take the time to be sure the visual brand you build is easily visible on the web, and that the headshot you choose to represent you remains the same across all platforms.
Hire the right person.
At NYC Headshot, our entire goal is to help you create an image that appropriately represents you and your brand in the most visually appealing way. Our equipment is top-of-the-line, which allows us to capture perfect images during production, rather than to rely on post-production processes that may compromise the brand we created during the shoot.
We would love to talk to you about how you can create a striking visual presence that will enhance your brand and attract new clientele. Call or schedule a visit with us, today.