I’ve written a lot of posts recently about the importance of effective personal branding photography. It’s an area I have found myself increasing involved in over the past 12 months and I have learnt a lot along the way about its benefits.
I also know that there can still be hesitancy amongst business owners to commit to the investment. So whether you are a large or small business, full-time or part-time, employed or self-employed, here are my four reasons as to why you should consider personal branding photography to be a necessary part of your marketing strategy.
#1. Content
Whether your personal brand revolves around your website, print marketing, social media, blogging or anything in between, the simple fact is you need to have content. And of all the available options, visual content remains king. Branding photography is at the heart of this: providing imagery that enables you to post frequently and remind customers – current and prospective – about who you are and what you do.
#2. Trust
Having a consistent message running through your imagery is key to developing trust. It ensures that there is clarity to your message which in turn helps create trust. Stock imagery just doesn’t cut it anymore. It isn’t sincere, it is very easy to identify, and ultimately it just looks lazy. People respond to genuine, meaningful content that they can trust – something that is personal, imperfect, and relatable.
#3. Audience
Not everyone will like your content. That’s just reality. But that’s OK. The fact is that finding your niche – your audience – is just as much about weeding out who isn’t in your target market. By investing in branding photography you will have images that underpin the ethos and particular values of your brand which will help your ideal clients find you. They will also be the ones most likely to engage with that content.
#4. Competition
I’m wary about advocating an action just because other people are doing it but take a look at the social media feeds of your competitors. What do you see? Put yourself in your client’s shoes and consider if that is content you can relate to. If your competitors are utilising personal branding images and you are not, ask yourself if that could potentially be putting you at a disadvantage.
Personal branding photography is a broad, creative field. Crucially, it is also extremely subjective and so it is important to get it right. If you have any questions or would like to know more then get in touch.