How to Take Brand Photos That Attract Your Ideal Clients
Whether we realize it or not, photos communicate A LOT about our businesses to potential clients. Photos can communicate the level of quality of your services, how experienced you are, and what type of personality you have. Therefore, it’s crucial that you have brand photos that communicate the right message about you.
As an experienced coach or consultant, you want photos that communicate that you offer a premium service, that show that you’re an expert in your field, and that allow your personality to shine, so you can connect with your target clients.
When your brand photos are communicating the wrong message, because they’re done poorly or in the wrong style, you could find yourself being perceived as a business with low quality services and being viewed an amateur, instead of a seasoned expert—which will result in you repelling the clients you’d most want to work with.
Below, I share five tips for taking brand photos that will actually serve your business by attracting more of your ideal 4 and 5 figure clients!
Tip #1: Know who your ideal clients are and define the photography style that would appeal to them.
Knowing who your ideals clients are is the critical first step to deciding on the look for your brand photos. Certain photography styles will appeal to certain groups of people. So you must first define the type of client you’d most want to attract. Do you want to attract corporate women? High achievers? Young millennials? Be specific about the type of person you’d want to attract and what their life stage is that would cause them to need your services.
Next, think about how that person would need to perceive you to be intrigued enough to learn more about your services. Do they need to see you as serious and buttoned up? Should they see you as fun, yet knowledgeable. Really, think about the message you want to communicate with your brand.
Finally, consider how you want your brand to be positioned. If you want to appear as a premium brand, certain settings and clothing choices can help back that up. When your photos look polished and elevated, from the setting to the clothing to the poses, that will further solidify your place as a premium brand. It seems trivial but subconsciously we all make these judgments when looking at someone’s brand photos, oftentimes before we even read what they write.
Once you’re clear on this, creating a board on Pinterest with photo styles that match the look you’re going for will be super helpful to provide to your photographer. And by working with a brand strategy expert like me, you’ll actually get a brand photography guide done for you that’s customized to fit your unique look that you can present to your photographer, relieving you from doing it yourself. It’s one thing to describe what you want, but to really make sure your vision is brought to life, it’s always best to provide concrete examples.
Tip #2: Choose a photographer whose style matches your desired look.
Once you are certain of the look that you need to attract your ideal clients and to communicate the right message about your brand, it’s time to choose a photographer! Be sure to check out the portfolios and work on Instagram for the photographers you’re considering. And compare it to what you have on your Pinterest board or photography guide. It’s super easy to find a ton of photographers by searching on Instagram with your city name and the word photographer. Like for Atlanta, you can search the hashtag: #atlantaphotographer.
Once you find a few options, contact them well in advance to schedule your shoot. Many photographers are oftentimes booked weeks in advance and editing can take a couple of weeks, so lock in your spot well before you actually need the photos.
Before your shoot, be sure to talk about your vision ahead of time with your photographer and make sure they select great location that matches your desired look.
Tip #3: Create a shots list to make sure you have variety and all the shots you need.
You’ll need photos that can be used for various space shapes and sizes and in different scenarios. Since this is a brand shoot, these photos could represent your brand on your online home, your website, on brochures, workbooks, PDFs, PowerPoint slides, promotional graphics, everywhere. So having photos that are both vertical and horizontal and that have white space or clean space to the left or right of you where words could be placed is crucial.
Making a list of the shots and angles you need before the shoot gives you a list to check off, so you’re not leaving the shoot feeling like you missed something. I also provide this as part of the brand photography guide for my clients.
Tip #4: Gather outfits and props.
Next, you need to carefully select your outfits and any props that compliment your brand. Since this is a brand shoot, your outfits should match your brand colors. This makes for much stronger design on your graphics. Your outfits should also be chosen with your ideal clients and the brand message you want to communicate in mind.
Props could be used for accessories photos that could be used as decorative images on your online home, your website, and on other graphics. And you could even hold some of them in certain photos to mix things up. Some props could be notebooks, a laptop, pens, pencils, etc.
Tip #5: Get your makeup done.
And last but not least, again, since this is a brand shoot, these photos will represent you everywhere, so the last finishing touch to make sure they look great is getting your makeup done! Professional makeup instantly elevates a polished and pulled together look. Plus, it’ll be a relief to not have to do it yourself the day of the shoot and a professional always does an amazing job at it! If you’re a guy, getting a fresh, professional line up is crucial for you!
I even had my makeup done for my brand photos and it made them look 10x better and I was relieved to have one less task on my to do list that day!
Hope these tips help you have a great brand shoot! For more on elevating your brand, check out my free training on How Six Figure Coaches & Consultants are Creating Premium Positioning and Attracting 4 and 5 Figure Clients Consistently here: http://workwithkeshia.com/freegift.
