Headshot - Personal branding and why you need a headshot done by a professional.
What is personal branding?
Personal branding is a way to connect you with your clients. Your personal brand shares about who you are, what you stand for, and can tell your story. It’s about where you come from, what you are currently doing, and where and how you aim to serve. No matter if you are working as a company employee or are a business owner, a headshot is an excellent place to start establishing and communicating your personal brand.
Why You Need A Professional Headshot?
A professional headshot is the best way to represent your personal brand for 3 main reasons.
Builds Trust
Lasting and productive relationships are built on trust. Most likely, the people that you need to connect with and influence will not always be directly in front of you. You most likely will need to cast a wider net beyond local networking functions and events into the virtual spaces of the Internet.
A professional headshot can help you reach the right audience. The headshot is part of a consistent message, no matter if you are networking online, in-person, or a combination of both. To do this, you and the professional can plan out your necessary looks and locations via a “shot sheet.”
Adds Credibility
A headshot says a lot of your investment into your personal brand. It means you care. Professional headshots make a great first impression when done well. No matter if you are in a job search or are launching a new business, having a headshot with a professional look builds and grows credibility in a competitive marketplace.
Increases Engagement
Think about it for yourself. Are you more likely to accept friends, follow, and connection opportunities when a profile picture accompanies the requests? Most do.
Research conducted by LinkedIn Talent Blog shows that just having a picture makes your profile 14x more likely to be viewed by others.
Take that up a notch and read the following research finding for people’s LinkedIn profiles when they include a smile.
One study of 800 profile pictures found that people view you as more likable, competent, and influential if you smile in your pic. And smiles that show teeth were rated twice as attractive as closed-mouth smiles.
Your Financial Investment
You can use your smartphone camera; however, a professional will help with lighting, edits, and file sizing depending on how you will use the photos. For a private and professional photoshoot, you can expect to pay $200-$400 depending on the breadth and depth of what you need. If this does not fit into your budget and need something immediately, check out local career ministries or resource centers. They may have services available at a low or no cost.
Nine Nifty Steps to Setup Your Professional Photo Shoot
As you take steps in setting up your professional photoshoot, consider these nine suggestions from Michael Hyatt, author of the best-selling book, “Platform: How to Get Noticed in a Noisy World.”
Hire a Professional Photographer
I can’t emphasize this enough. It’s an investment
Negotiate for All Rights to your photos
So you can use the shots freely
Don’t shoot in a studio
You want natural, comfortable and welcoming
Wear something appropriate
Think of your audience you want to reach and the job/opportunity you are pursuing
Take lots of photos
Variety is the spice of life, and you are many not be using them all for what you originally intended
Look into the lens
See the person you would be interacting within the camera lens. Yes, get some more candid photos, too, but make sure you get one straight-on.
Smile – with your whole face and mean it!
No matter what your confidence level, a small with your entire face connects with people
Crisp the photo tightly
Also, try the bokeh (blur) method for the background allowing for the emphasis to be on you
Pick one main photo
This main photo is the “horse” you are riding for a consistent message throughout your personal branding efforts.
Remember this:
Not having a photo is a bad strategy
You may say things like, “I don’t like having my picture taken!” or “I got these done ten years ago, I think those can still work.” Ok, I get it. However, if you want to connect at a higher level, the stats show that having a professional and appropriate photo will increase profile clicks and networking opportunities. So, include this new headshot in your new year strategy!
Contact Vision Strides to set up an office shoot.
We will come to you, set up in an office or conference room and take individual photos for a pre-specified time.
Arrange this during an office meeting where many of the agents will be there.
It takes 10-15 minutes per agent once everything is set up.
Agents choose the photo they like right there and the photo is sent the next day as a jpeg with all rights to use as they want.
By Brian Horvath, Speaker, Consultant, Coach