Professional headshots, Indispensable In Establishing Brand Identity

 

                              Professional headshots, Indispensable in Establishing Brand Identity

While many individuals today settle for a nicely composed headshot taking with the latest version of the Apple iPhone, serious entrepreneurs and business people who are serious about establishing an online presence understand the importance of investing professional headshots. Those who have taking the time out to do the research, lay the foundation, and invest in growing their personal and business brands know and understand how important it is that their companies are perceived as high value and legitimate the very first time a potential customer becomes aware of the brand.

Every aspect of business whether personal or otherwise needs to be well thought out and crafted to a certain standard. In my opinion it’s counterproductive to invest large sums of money into a location, website, logo, and products or services only to pinch pennies on probably the most important aspect of the business, which is marketing.

Based on my personal experience as a professional both in front of and behind the camera, here are a few extremely valuable benefits of having professional headshots taken for the purpose of elevating your brand online as well as in person.

 Professional Appearance

What you wear and how you look matters, appearance is the first thing that people will judge you on. Remember, your online image is as important as your in-person image. So important that appearance is the very first element of a professional image. When a stranger comes across your picture online to them that image speak as to who you are, whether good or bad. So, it only makes sense that you present yourself in a manner that will leave a lasting impression on those you are looking to work with and one of the easiest ways to accomplish this is a professional headshot.

This is why up and coming entrepreneurs and high level executives alike are so willing to spend hundreds and some times thousands of dollars on brand images and professional heads to ensure that the organization is represented properly in the eyes of the public and brand integrity is maintained across the board.

Rapport

Believe it or not one of the easiest ways to build rapport with a potential client or employer is to have a well-polished and professional headshot displayed on your online social media profile as well as your email signature. I can personally attest to the power of this fact and have seen amazing results from something as simple as swapping out the profile images on the marketing channels I frequently use to find potential clients. Its actually been scientifically proven that “people draw automatic social inferences from photos of unfamiliar faces and these first impressions are associated with important real-world outcomes.”

Increased Sales

Last but not least, one of the most important aspects of investing in professional headshots and brand identity as a whole is the significant increase in sales derived from the impact well-crafted images have on your marketing and ultimate success of your business…

What does it all mean?  In a nutshell, professional photography is more crucial to the promotion of business than it has ever been. The power of the internet and visual communication has exploded with the rise of the digital age and social media.