It used to be that a great business headshot would grab attention. But with more and more brick and mortar stores going out of business every day, and every other woman and her sister starting an online business, a headshot is no longer enough. In order to connect with today’s audience, your social media feed needs regular, image-centric content. People buy from who they know, like, and trust, which means that your potential clients need to see the woman behind your brand. Here are three additional facts about the importance of images:

• Facebook posts with images get 2.3x more engagement than posts without images. (Source)

• On Instagram, posts that show faces get 38% more likes than photos not showing faces (this one is for all of you who have been saturating your Insta feed with memes & quotes). (Source)

• Businesses get 60% more inquiries when images appear in a business’ local search results.

Selfies Cheapen Your Image

Think about that selfie you love. How many hours did it take you to find the right angle, light, and pose? After all that work, does it even increase your know, like, and trust factor? Do you look like a busy, successful entrepreneur? Or, do you look like an amateur with way too much time on her hands? Maybe it’s time to think about up-leveling your brand. Growing your online presence happens by standing out from the thousands of people who do what you do with magazine-quality photography.

Headshots Don’t Tell Your Brand’s Story

While that headshot you’ve been using for everything is beautiful, today’s potential client wants to know even more about you before they buy. To a stranger, that headshot is just a photo of a woman. What if you could get an entire library of images that tell your story? No longer would you be just another face, easily forgotten in a sea of entrepreneurs. Images that tell your story will draw your tribe, leading to increased sales as people begin to know, like, and trust you.

The Solution: Personal Branding Photography

Personal branding photography is the solution to all of these problems. It’s a relatively, barely-heard of niche that uses photography to tell entrepreneurs’ personal stories. Some might think of it as lifestyle photography, but it’s a little more well-rounded than that. Depending on the photographer you choose, your personal branding photography package could include not only headshots and lifestyle photography, but also custom stylized images created in your specific brand colors, like this photo:

In personal branding photography, each image is carefully crafted and is worth a thousand words. Like this photo; you can tell without even a caption that she’s a personal stylist, unlike a business headshot which would need lots of explaining:

And this photo, tells you right away that this entrepreneur works from home:

This photo, on the other hand, tells viewers that this entrepreneur, an author/speaker/publisher loves books:

The good news doesn’t stop here though - some personal branding photographers also offer personal commercials! Personal branding videos allow your potential customers to truly get to know you. They are typically used on “about me” pages of websites as well as social media feeds.

What Does Something Like This Cost?

It may sound too good to be true, but, just like a celebrity, you could have a professional photographer follow you around for a day capturing the storytelling images your brand needs. If you hire the right personal branding photographer, you’ll be able to get an entire quarter’s worth of content shot in just ONE day. Many personal branding photographers also offer annual contracts to lock in pricing for follow-up shoots. On an annual contract, you’re guaranteed to have fresh new images for the entire year.

Where Do I Find These Magical Personal Branding Photographers?

Admittedly, personal branding photography is a fairly new niche so there aren’t many photographers who even know what it is. Unfortunately, it isn’t something that you can hire just any type of photographer to shoot. It takes hours of extensive planning to create a detailed shot list so that your valuable time isn’t wasted. The average portrait photographer doesn’t plan, but simply shows up and wings it the day of. This is impossible with personal branding photography because there are many details to arrange such as booking several different locations and gathering props for various scenes. You should look for a photographer that has several years of corporate marketing, branding, and advertising experience behind them as this expertise will lend itself well to the planning process necessary to get you images that sell.

The good news is that the personal branding photographers that exist aren’t confined to shooting in one city. Many will come to you if you cover travel costs. Others don’t charge travel fees at all if they’re able to get multiple clients booked for the same weekend. Some will also travel with you all over the world in order to show your followers what a “day in the life of a successful online entrepreneur” is like.

With personal branding photography, the sky is truly the limit.

The question is - are you going to settle for just a headshot or mediocre selfies like everyone else? Or are you going to stand out from the crowd with magazine-quality personal branding photography? The choice is yours.

-----------------

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Candace Perry is an eWomenNetwork member and a personal branding photographer & videographer based in Dallas, Texas, and available for worldwide travel. A former model & actress who also spent over 15 years in corporate marketing, branding, & advertising, she loves combining all of these skills to get even the most camera-shy woman to light up in front of the camera. You can find more information about her at www.beautifulyoustudios.com/branding.