Why You Need Professional Photos For Your Business

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Your website is your online 24/7 marketing tool. It’s doing the promoting even while you’re not. If you have an online business, you want to be seen as a professional. People want to see the real you. Whenever I visit a site, I often go to the About page/ Meet the Team to see if there are actual photos of the people who work there.

During my first few years of blogging, I was anonymous. I didn’t have ANY pictures of myself. Instead, my profile picture was a picture of a little pig in red rubber boots. Funny enough my rain boots are also red. When I revealed my identity, I eventually changed it to a photo of myself. A couple of years ago, my husband was kind enough to shoot a whole bunch for me to use on my site and social media until I was ready to have professional photos done. The photos taken weren’t too bad. They did the job for the time being. However, I knew that in order to be seen as a professional, I had to have professional photos taken. Not only that, I wanted a style that was unique and showed off my fun, think outside the box personality.

When it comes to certain things for your business, sometimes you just have to leave it to the professionals. And I had an amazing team of ladies to help me for the big day.

Photography

Enter Laura Benn of Gooseberry Studios. She was recommended to me by someone I had met through Instagram.

Styling of Looks For the Photo Shoot

I definitely don’t have a passion for fashion and am pretty clueless when it comes to these types of things. I’m usually more about comfort over style. So I asked for the help of my friend Shannon Leeper, creator of stylebyshannonk for some fashion advice. She went above and beyond the request by providing me with a well thought out presentation filled with customized looks that were complementary to my brand. I actually ended up having to do a bit of shopping for the photoshoot since I hadn’t worked in a formal business environment since 2009 (!).

Hair and Makeup

Since I am not very good in the areas of hair and makeup either, I had those done by Nikki B of So.Chiq. She was able to create a subtle, natural look that enhanced my features.

All of these ladies played a crucial role in the photo shoot and each was fantastic in their respective expertise. I would definitely work with them again if I had to do another photo session.

Behind The Scenes and The Day of The Photo Shoot

Up until my photo shoot, I never realized how much time, effort and prep work was involved for this kind of thing. With Laura, I had an initial consultation as to what my ideas were for the photo shoot. I also set up a Pinterest board filled with images of scenes that I liked. Laura researched possible shoot locations. It was a long, tiring but still very fun day. I never thought smiling all the time would be so much work. Or maybe it was just me since I’m not exactly the most naturally happy person. Laura was so great about it. She was incredibly patient with me and told cheesy jokes to get the classic laughing shots.

What pleasantly surprised me was how nice people were about it. They apologized for being in the way and walking through. Some people even went on the street and walked around us to avoid getting in the way, when in fact I felt like we were the ones in the way. The owners of local businesses, such as La Cubana were nice enough to let me use their washroom to do an outfit change. The guys at Sage Real Estate took it one step further and allowed us to use their office as a background.

I am extremely pleased with the photos and couldn’t stop looking at them for awhile. If you’ve been thinking about getting them done, I say go for it. Do your research, find a photographer whose style you like and who fits your budget.

If you’re on the fence about it, here are some reasons why you need professional photos for your business:

Aside from your logo, they can give provide the visual imagery needed for your brand online.
You can use them on your social media profiles. It makes sense to have the same profile picture on all social media accounts, so people will know that it’s the same person.
You can use them in things such as Facebook and Instagram Ads and email opt-in forms.
They can be used to help promote your webinar, product or online course.
The photographer is a professional. They know how to capture you in the best way possible. What seems more credible? A professional headshot of you or a cut off photo of yourself- ie you but part of someone’s arm around you?
The photos can showcase you as an industry expert. They can help create a connection with you and your audience. People want to know who they are working with.
The photos can help build on the know, like and trust factor.
These same photos can be used as content for your social media accounts – especially for the more visual platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram. You can use the photos to create a Pinnable image to promote your blog post on Pinterest, just like I did in this post.
The professional photos can be used for your bios if you are speaking at an event or a conference. Or if you are a guest on a podcast.
Essentially you want photos of yourself that look impressive and that you can be proud of.