Questions To Help You Prepare For A Personal Branding Photoshoot
If you’re planning a personal branding photo session for your small business, you know the importance of online marketing and building a brand. There are many benefits of personal branding photography… Including increasing social media engagement and easier content creation for Instagram and Pinterest.
As a personal brand photographer, I work with female business owners that are ready to grow their brand and improve their online marketing. While business owners understand the benefits of personal branding photography, it’s also important to know when is the right time to plan a personal branding photoshoot.
Here are 6 questions you should consider before you plan a personal brand photo session!
HOW DO YOU WANT TO USE YOUR PERSONAL BRAND PHOTOS TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS?
I’ve seen clients excitedly plan a branding photoshoot, but turn around and fail to use their new images.
Before you book a brand photographer, you should audit your current online presence and take note of what you could improve.
Popular ways to use your Personal branding images are to update websites and to create content for social media. But your business lifestyle photography serves you better than that!
Branding photos can help you communicate a new product or service, attract your ideal clients through ads in Facebook , Instagram and other platforms, and can be a part of your printed marketing collateral ( banners, brochures, flyers, etc).
Before you create a shot list for your lifestyle headshots, be sure to brainstorm unique ways to implement your pictures!
DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW PRODUCT OR SERVICE LAUNCHES PLANNED FOR YOUR BUSINESS?
A well-planned branding photoshoot will equip you with the visual elements you need to market your business. When you’re ready to schedule personal branding photos, I encourage you to look ahead at your marketing plan to see what images you might need for future launches. This can be for social posts, blog posts, ads and website landing pages.
WHAT KIND OF PICTURES DO YOU NEED FOR YOUR WEBSITE?
Always keep in mind where you plan on using these photos.For some shots, you may only have one platform in mind. Maybe you want the shots just for the purposes of using it on Instagram, so getting some portrait orientation shots are great because they fit perfectly into Stories and crop well for 4:5 photos on the feed.
Need images for website? Aim for landscape since you want them to fill the screen on desktop. If you have a specific usage in mind, you’ll want to make sure to communicate this to your photographer ahead of time and think through what location would be best to get them.
An example of this is: your website layout has a banner image that needs white space on the left side to add Header text. When you plan your personal branding photos accordingly, you can add that image requirement to your shot list and receive a picture that is the perfect fit in your final gallery!
WHAT’S YOUR MARKETING PLAN?
Personal branding photos are perfect for online marketing… but you need a marketing plan first! Before you invest in brand photos, you should have a marketing strategy for your small business. I’ve seen many business owners receive a gallery full of commercial photos, and then not use them.
To avoid receiving content that doesn’t build your brand or generate leads, figure out how you want to market your business first. Coming up with your content and marketing strategy will help you realize what type of photos you need to grow your brand.
WHAT IS THE OVERALL MESSAGE YOU WANT TO PORTRAY WITH YOUR BRAND AND CONTENT?
It’s important to be able to answer this question before your Studio Venera personal branding photoshoot because it dictates what type of content will be created during a brand photo session.
Is your brand really colorful and bold? Your brand imagery and the locations, props and outfits should match that vibe. If you’re a team management consultant, you definitely need to get shots of you with a group of people. Are you a personal life coach? Shoot you and a client talking intimately. On and on the ideas can go!
WHAT KIND OF CONTENT DO YOU POST ON INSTAGRAM?
The easiest way to increase your social media engagement is by creating great content and being consistent. Personal branding photoshoots are the perfect way to create custom content for Instagram.
When you what your content themes are you’re able to batch create photos that allow you to easily talk about that theme. Consistency will set you apart as the expert and will remind your followers what you’re known for.
HOW SHOULD I POSE?
Go back to your personal brand qualities and general aesthetic. Is it contemplative, bubbly, moody, edgy? This vibe should come across in your photos.
As your photographer I will give you lots of guidance on posing and make you feel comfortable and at ease.
I'm here to capture your story!