A headshot tells a story
The human brain seeks to connect with human faces rather than company logos. Building a personal brand is imperative when networking, gaining trust, acquiring influence, and ultimately advancing your career. This is evident when you see Richard Branson with 19 million followers on Linkedin, while Virgin has 253K followers. On a different scale, two creatives whom I truly admire, Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry each have more followers than the Colin and Samir page on Linkedin. Colin has 2K followers, Samir has 6.5K followers and the company they run together has 1,063 followers. People will always seek to connect with other people.
With the intent to enhance your personal brand, a photo serves as a reflection of your identity and contributes to your narrative. It is beyond a simple headshot in the studio, it involves personality, culture, community, and environment. It is a snapshot of who you are at a particular time and place. It signifies your aspirations and showcases what you bring to the table.
Capturing all of this is a collaborative effort between you and your photographer. Hopefully, after establishing a brand guideline, you can share the document with a photographer and they should be able to visually understand the parameters in which your brand lives.
A good photographer by nature should suggest ideas and seek to collaborate.
So, what’s your story? Tell us about yourself.
This question can be overwhelming, especially if you are an introvert like me. How do you even begin to answer such an ambiguous question like that? A photo can help tell a story and shape a narrative for you. It can literally speak for you. Although it may be the first impression someone may get of you, it's helpful to keep in mind what you can control and the feeling you would like them to walk away with.
A warm, cheerful, and friendly expression might be what you are aiming to capture. A good photographer should spend time with you and have a desire to bring out your personality and uniqueness. A good photo should also keep in mind the use of tone, colors, props, style, etcetera.
Brand photography makes your brand more relatable and human.
Yanira Guzmán - Founder of The Career Gem, a full-service career coaching business that has over 15 years of guiding others to achieve their career aspirations.
Erika Howell - A floral artist. She resigned from her job to start a floral arrangement service in San Benito County in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Juan Guevarra - An educated police officer for the City of Gilroy with 10 years of experience in law enforcement who ran for Sheriff-Coroner of San Benito County this year.
The next time you look at your Linkedin profile, website, or social media ask yourself, how is this photo helping to convey a message? More importantly, how does it help tell your story? It is another piece of the puzzle when you look at your brand as a whole. One that is, in my opinion, needed to stay competitive in an ever-changing market.
If this topic resonates with you, leave a comment below. If you have a suggestion for a topic you’d like to learn more about, let me know. A special thank you to those who personally reach out and share kind words with me. It means a lot.
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