5 reasons why every businessperson needs a professional headshot

Professional business headshots are more important in the world of business than many people realize. Your image is one of the key elements to success in any industry, and there are plenty reasons for that. Business headshots are more than getting a quality picture taken. They capture the brand and reflect the character of the person in a single image.

Regardless of the size of your team or business, a professional headshot helps you establish a respectable presence. Due to the increasing popularity of online profiles such as Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter people start putting more effort into crafting their media persona. To stand out from the competition and appear presentable to their readers, followers, and industry leaders, people invest in quality portrait photography.

Create recognizable personal brand

Think about how you want to appear to others and what characteristics and strengths you have built in your career. Do people describe you as competitive and decisive? Maybe your friendly personality helps you build strong relationships? Is your name associated with passion, energy, leadership?  Your character, skills, and values make up your personal brand, and you want it to be recognizable and compelling.

Promoting your qualities that show how unique you are and make you stand out from the competitors will improve your image. Professional headshots help you present yourself in the best light and provide you a unique personal brand that triggers recognition. They help identify your brand or company and put a name to a face – particularly when you use the same photo on all social media platforms.

Someone who already knows you most likely will recognize you by the photo and know who you are. Also, anybody who is looking up your name will find it easier to you on the list of people who have the same name.

The way you present yourself is vital to your prospective customers. The quality and style of your headshot convey a lot about your personality and signal how you conduct business. The mood of your headshots let your future clients know more about your business, so it is important to consider what kind of feeling and message you want to convey in the photograph. you can also get help of agencies like Birdhill Studio to Create photos for branding.

Think about the implications of not having a headshot. Maybe your avatar is a blurry selfie that you took in a car. What kind of impression does that give? How does that characterize the personal brand you are creating?

It helps you build familiarity and trust.

People prefer buying from people that they like, know, and trust. When people land on your website or visit your Linkedin profile and see a professional photo they feel safe knowing that they are dealing with a professional, and not a rookie.

According to a survey conducted by Nielsen in 2015, more than 80% of respondents said that when choosing a product or service they have more confidence in suggestions they get from people they know and trust. Recommendations from friends are the most credible form of advertising, and as a business owner, you should first build familiarity and get your clients to know you. A well-crafted photo implies that you are a qualified professional and makes it easier to relate to you as a person. The more competent and approachable you look in the picture the more your customers like you.

It helps your marketing strategy

The way that businesses interact with their customers has changed. To keep customers engaged, it is now necessary to continually share high-quality content online.

Today every businessperson knows how vital a good portrait is for their website, blog, and social media profiles. A quality headshot projects a strong positive message to the business world thus increasing the perceived value of your business. Reviews and analyses conducted over five years conclude that professional business portraits are essential for websites and blogs and provide an 84% higher click-through rate than sites with low-quality photos or with no pictures at all.

Today social networks are providing brands and business representatives an excellent opportunity to connect with their clients. As a business owner or professional you can use business portrait:

• Company website or blog. Photos of you doing a speech at a conference makes your site more engaging and stimulates visitors to stay for longer. Event, lifestyle and corporate photography empower both your digital marketing strategy and your website’s visual storytelling. Having a photo on your site increases the chances that potential customers will contact you.
• Social Profile picture on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter. Any social profile is more appealing when you can associate a person’s face with it. Listings in LinkedIn search results including a photo are seven times more likely to be clicked than those without a picture. A recruiter looking for someone with a specific job title will probably not open a profile unless there is a photo beside it.
• Posts on social media platforms. According to a study conducted by Buzzsumo, Facebook posts including images receive 2.3 times more engagement compared to those without images. Another study found that tweets with images gain more visibility and are 34% more likely to get retweeted than tweets with no pictures.
• Guest posts on another website
• Email signature. The photo will make your e-mails look more personal and help people remember you. Having your portrait smiling back at the reader will make your message appear positive and friendly thus warming up your cold mail.
• Press releases. Use photos to introduce a new event or offering.

First impression

It is a universally known fact that it takes a few seconds for people to form opinions of others. People make assumptions about the quality of the services that you provide based on the way you represent yourself and your business. One of the first things your potential clients will see when they enter your website, portfolio, or social media profile is your portrait. You want to look your best to make a great first impression on people who might end up working with you.

You are the brand ambassador; the standard your clients will judge by. Having a polished look ensures that your audience will take you and your business more seriously. Conversely, a poor presentation will make you lose customers. That is why you cannot use a selfie or a cropped headshot from another picture to represent yourself as a business owner.

Landing a job

LinkedIn and Twitter provide recruiters and prospects an opportunity to learn about and connect with new people throughout the world. Recruiters, in particular, use social media to discover new talent and learn about their skills, personality, and ambitions.

Let’s study an example. Imagine you are an HR Manager going through applications. Having examined CVs and cover letters, you end up with the best two candidates. To learn more about them and make sure you choose the most competent one, you also examine their social media profiles. Chances are, the recruiter will perceive a candidate with a quality picture that projects confidence and enthusiasm as a person who is serious about his career. Corporate head shots are an asset both for a person looking to gain employment and for companies.

Before meeting with someone for the first time, recruiters will do a quick Internet search to find out more about prospects. Making a special extra effort and having a polished, professional headshot that represents you well ensures that you make a positive impression on anyone visiting your profile.

There are so many opportunities to promote your brand and business. A quality headshot is just one of the ways to build recognition and establish trust. Although, a professional portrait does not guarantee a rushing stream of leads, however, by not having a polished business head shot you are most likely jeopardizing your customer-brand connection.