Your Headshot is Important. Do You Know Why?

A lot has changed in even five short years when it comes to branding. What was once a simple standard corporate headshot has now taken on an even more important role in business. In today’s society, we are presented with social websites that allow us to make a quick judgment of a person based on a profile image. Swipe the image left and you make that person disappear from your connections. Swipe that same image to the right and open the lines of communication to a possible new relationship.

When it comes to business, our profile headshot is no different.

According to the Association for Psychological Science, “A series of experiments by Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov reveal that all it takes is a tenth of a second to form an impression of a stranger from their face, and that longer exposures don’t significantly alter those impressions (although they might boost your confidence in your judgments). Their research is presented in their article “First Impressions,” in the July issue of  Psychological Science.”

A tenth of a second?! That’s all it takes for that first impression to occur. Your future client has just decided if they are going to swipe right and reach out to you or if they are going to swipe left and move on to the next professional in your industry.

So why is your headshot so important?

Think of it as your tenth of a second elevator pitch. It’s your personal logo. Your brand. It’s your first interview before being hired by your next big client. It has to tell that client everything they need to know before hiring you. Are you trustworthy? Professional? Or are you the lazy agent sitting back at the beach expecting the client to do all the legwork?

At this point, you may be thinking, “No problem! I’ll get dressed up and have my best friend Joe take a quick pic on his cool new smart phone. That’ll do the trick.”

Um… no. It may be a trick but not the kind you want future clients looking at. Think of it like this. Would you go to your pharmacists to order a custom birthday cake? No? How about going to your mechanic for heart surgery?

I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll leave the heart surgery to the professional cardiac surgeon and the birthday cake to a professional pastry chef.

There’s that word… Professional. The truth is a professional photographer knows what lighting and angles will make you look your best. Don’t cut corners. Go pro. You won’t regret it.

Why is it important for your team members headshots to match?

A recent study completed by eMarketer shows that consumers are 82% more likely to choose the professional or team of professionals whose headshot and branding images match their brand across all marketing material.

We’ve already established that an individual only needs a tenth of a second to make a conclusion about whether or not to reach out to you. So what happens if they see your profile on a company website with all of your team members?

You’ve done your research. You planned your wardrobe and worked with your photographer to make sure your personal headshot image matches your brand to a T. You are so proud of that new image and can’t wait to get it on all of your marketing material including your company website. Then it happens.

Sally Smith pulls up your company website doing her research on you before she picks up the phone to call and she notices your beautiful headshot. It’s right next to you assistant, Jane’s, selfie with the t-shirt she purchased at that recent rock concert. On the other side she finds the image of your team-mate Sam on that awkward orange background. (Where did he even get that orange background? Doesn’t he know your team colors are blue and silver?). Let’s not forget the 2 team members missing a headshot image all together. So now, Sally is staring at what appears to be a disorganized group of people who can’t seem to figure out of what team they are on, if they are at work or a concert, or skipped picture day all together. If the team is this disorganized and unprofessional, maybe you are too?

She quickly finds her way over to a competitors page where Sally finds each team member dressed in appropriate professional wardrobe and each image was taken with the same background depicting the luxurious and professional business that they run. Who do you think Sally hires?

What does your headshot and personal branding say about you?

I’ll leave you with these questions. What does your personal branding say about you? What does it say about your team? Would you hire you based on your headshot image? Or would you swipe left and run in another direction?

 

Ready to build your personal brand? M3 Creative offers custom Personal Branding Photography to meet every business owners needs.

 

Photo Credits: © 2018 M3 Creative, LLC