5 Reasons to Hire a Personal Brand Photographer. You Need One!
If you are a business owner or a working professional, the odds are you have some kind of online presence. Let's face it, in this virtual world, often times we are meeting our customers and leads for the first time online. Especially since 2020, businesses are having to get themselves more online than ever before. That's why your virtual first impression is so important and why you need scroll stopping brand photos that represent you and your business.
Your business needs imagery that shows off what makes you UNIQUE. Imagery that shows your personality, your services, as well as your team, your location or products (if you have them). If you want to show clients that you are a trusted professional doing industry leading work, you should NOT be representing yourself with corny and generic stock photography— or worse— a stilted, dated and unflattering headshot.
That's where Personal Brand Photographers (like me) come into play! I specialize in working with powerful entrepreneurs and professionals (such as yourself) to get beautiful images for their marketing, website and social media presence.
Not only do I have incredible skills as portrait photographer and know how to pose, light, style and direct you so that you look and feel confident on camera, I also am an expert in branding and marketing. I know exactly the types of images that attract customers, make social media users stop scrolling, and grab the attention of the internet!
I have worked with coaches, therapists, realtors, brokers, entertainers, authors, speakers, healers, esthesticians, designers and event planners, lawyers, corporate offices, and more when it comes to brand photography. While those may seem like vastly different fields, I am always able to custom design a shoot that is appropriate for each unique business. I can create different backdrops, sets, lighting styles and poses that always feel modern and yet appropriate for these various professions. We can do the shoot in my studio but also go on location as well to create a portfolio of images that truly represent your unique business.
Now you may be wondering do I REALLY need to hire a personal brand photographer? Let me break down the 5 reasons why you absolutely do need to hire a brand photographer if you have a business with any type of online presence!
1) Brand Photos Help Create Know-Like Trust Factor Online.
When someone lands on your social media profile for the first time, or visits your website, you want them to feel connected to you. Hopefully, they get a sense of your personality and have a positive first impression. Basically, you want them to like you and— more importantly— you want them to trust you.
Images that capture your personality and presence are the ultimate way to create connection with your potential clients. We can even create images that show you in action and performing your services so that clients get a sense of what it’s like to work with you. These images are a powerful way to not just get leads interested in what you do, but also help convert those leads into clients.
For example, this study found that having great images on a website improved sales by 40.18%.
Bottom line: Brand photography helps people feel connected to you and makes them more likely to hire you.
2) Brand Photos Can Be Used for All Your Content Needs
Images are key to capturing attention on your content. Let’s look at some statistics shall we?
Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without images and articles with an image once every 75-100 words received double the social media shares as articles with fewer images.
So it’s clear that you need images for your online and social media content. But why not use stock imagery?
Stock imagery is just that— stock. It’s usually quite obvious it’s a stock image. It’s generic and frankly it’s boring, and as this Forbes article states stock imagery should be avoided if you want to stand out from your competition.
If you want to shine, it’s so much more impactful to have your own brand images. Having your own custom and professionally done brand photos to use in your posts will make them pop and ultimately deliver the polished look that you desire.
But wait — isn’t video the king of content? Why do you need photos if the most popular social media posts are video?
You’re right that video is one of the most powerful pieces of marketing to have but don’t forget that you need to have an eye catching thumbnail or cover photo for your video. Your brand photos can be used as the featured image for your video posts, and can be used as a branded cover photo on a Reel on Instagram or Youtube video.
3) Brand Photos Give your Website More Wow Factor
Fact: Web designers say that the number one thing they wish their clients had more of is great photos. As we’ve established, stock photography is generic and does nothing to help your business distinguish itself from the competition. How can a web designer create a dynamic, professional, and personable website without great photos of YOU?
A brand photoshoot allows us to get stunning shots of you that show off your personality and work style. We can also show you in action and give customers a glimpse of the experience you offer. Additionally, if you have a team it's important to show them off on your website as well. A brand shoot allows you to get all the photos you need to create an impactful website.
4) Brand Photos Help You Attract Your Ideal Client
The images you use on your website, social media profiles and marketing materials are what drive people to take action. So this is one of the most important reasons why you need a professional photography session for yourself or your team!
When a client sees your photos they will instantly get a feel for your brand's vibe, personality and services. This will make them more attracted to you. We can communicate a lot about your brand through your photos— in fact the average person will only read 20% of your web page but will view every image. By having more images in your marketing you are much more likely to attract your ideal client than just by having well written copy.
5) Brand Photos Can Communicate Your Value & Professionalism
Did you know studies show it only takes 50 milliseconds for consumers to judge the visual appeal of your brand? Don’t make the wrong first impression by having photos that are DIY or shot on your phone, photos that are not high quality, photos that are out of date or photographs that aren’t visually appealing.
It's important to point out as well that if you are looking to attract high end clientele it's important to visually communicate that you are a leader in your field. Having high quality, beautiful and on brand photos goes a long way towards communicating your price point and value to your clients. After all, f you aren’t willing to invest in the online presence of your business, why should your clients invest in you?
To recap, a brand photoshoot will help your business stand out by creating more know like and trust factor, by giving you scroll stopping content for social media, by giving you great photographs to use on your website, by helping you attract your ideal client AND.
If you have been on the fence about investing in brand photography, now is the time to act!