As a small business owner, personal branding photography is a key component to building your brand. But objectively, is branding really that important? Well, yes!
People spend £4 a day on their morning Starbucks. iPhone owners are tribal about their choice of phone. Range Rovers are statistically the least reliable SUV on the road, yet people are still queuing up to buy them. Why? Because their brand is unshakable.
A strong brand elevates your service or product by allowing customers to identify with you. To see your brand as an extension of themselves. And since 57% of customers spend more money on brands they’re loyal to, building a strong brand is irrefutably good for business.
And there’s no getting away from it. As a small business owner, you are your brand. It’s your personality, your face that customers will identify with. And that’s why personal branding photography is so important. Because it cements your brand’s visual identity. It gives customers a professional, relatable image of your brand in their minds. And above all, it shows them a face they can know, like and trust.
When you think of ‘a brand’, you think of big companies like Nike or Google. But whether you’re aware of it or not, your company has a brand too. And it’s more than just your logo and slogan. It’s how your company is experienced and perceived by the outside world.
And as soon as customers go onto your website or social media, their experience of your brand has begun.
As a small business owner you are the face of the company, the personality. So if they go onto your website or social media and are greeted by your smiling face, they’ll immediately feel a personal connection. They’ll then scroll through your site and decide whether or not they feel comfortable and safe to do business with you. Are they going to be scrolling through a bland site filled with generic stock images? Or a slick site filled with professional photos and glowing reviews from happy customers?
Your brand isn’t just how your company looks. It’s how you make your customers feel.
Branding photography is the art of telling the story of your brand through photography.
Whether it’s capturing you as the business owner, smiling openly at the camera. Beautiful shots of you and your products as they’re ready to be sent. Or slick photos of you and your colleagues in your cool, efficient workplace. A branding photoshoot gives you images for your website and social media that can portray your brand at a glance to potential customers.
But above all, personal branding photography breaks down the wall between your company and your customer. It gives your company a face. Your beautiful face! It creates an immediate personal connection between you and your customers. And it draws back the curtain to show the person behind the product.
I’m sure you’ve heard of this as an idea. But it really is key to building a strong foundation of loyal customers.
In the Gustavon 2021 Trust index, they say that, “consumers tend to gravitate to “familiar” brands in 2021 because of the peace of mind they provide”.
And that’s an incredibly powerful idea. Because personal branding photography doesn’t just give you a clearly defined brand image. It breaks down the walls between you and your customers so that they feel comfortable and safe doing business with you.
And not to make too fine a point on it. But when they feel safe, they spend more money.
We’re all pretty savvy with the internet nowadays, and we can spot stock images a mile off. I hate to say it, but ‘stock’ says, ‘just starting out’.
And stock images can be used by anyone. So god forbid your customer sees the same image on your site as they’ve seen on a competitor’s (it can, and does happen!) Personal branding photography guarantees your images will be unique. It gives your branding a clear-cut, defined image that cannot be replicated or copied by anyone else. Because there’s only one you.
But more importantly, stock photos are intentionally generic. There’s no personality, no individuality, nothing about them that’ll make your company stand out from the crowd. And they won’t create that immediate personal connection with your customers that personal branding photography will.
If you want to take your business to the next level, stock images just aren’t going to cut it.
Your experience with me starts with an initial discovery call. We’ll meet on zoom, have a good natter and see how I might be able to help.
When you’re ready to move forward, we’ll book in your planning session where we’ll work through my brand workbook. We’ll meet in person, usually over brunch or lunch (or cake!) and we’ll work through the workbook together - having a deep dig into the heart of your brand. Who your ideal client is, your content marketing strategy and the kind of visual elements you need for your business are all key elements of this discussion. All of my clients say that this meeting, and the brand workbook are incredibly helpful, even without the photographs!
I’ll then go away and spend time crafting all you need into a photography session plan. We’ll then have a follow-up call (usually over Zoom) to go over the plan, smooth out any bumps and fill in any gaps, creating a clear and detailed plan for your session. Outfits, locations, props, any other people needed and much more! And don't worry if you don't have a clue about this stuff. I'll keep us on the right track.
The day of the shoot will always be fun and relaxed. I want you to feel totally comfortable with me. So you can let your guard down, be yourself and let that wonderful personality of yours shine through in the photos! And don’t worry if you’re camera-shy, I’m a recovering camera-avoider myself and I pride myself in my ability to make the whole experience as light-hearted and fun as possible.
The next day I’ll send you a sneak peek preview for you to share on social media and get the wheels rolling on your shiny new branding! Over the next two weeks, I’ll edit your images and deliver them to you in an online gallery. The images will all be downloadable at full resolution (for print) as well as web resolution (for online use).
We’ll have a follow up support call where we’ll go through the images and I’ll give you some ideas of how and where to use them. I'll help you with anything from resizing to scheduling to placement. I want you to enjoy using the images we worked so hard to create! No more stock images for you, this is a whole new world of branding excellence!
But that won’t be the last you see of me! Anytime you need help or support, I’ll be just a phone call away. And if you think you’ll miss me too much to let me go, you can always keep me on as a business mentor. More about that here.
I want to help you build a brand you can be truly proud of. A website you can’t wait to send customers the link to. A social media buzzing with amazing feedback, slick, cohesively-themed professional photos and satisfied, loyal customers.
That’s why I work so hard with you before your shoot to truly understand your brand. Because for me it’s not just about taking a few photos. It’s about the joy of helping you grow your business and seeing your brand bloom. Flourishing out of the ‘stock image’ phase and into that stratospheric, ‘oh wow, look at their website’ phase.
If you’d like to work together on your personal branding photography, I’d be delighted to hear from you. Please get in touch today to book yourself in for our initial call.