How to prepare yourself for a successful personal branding photoshoot

Have you ever felt that your images or advertisement do not convey your brand essence?
Sometimes words are not enough to show your audience what is your offer and what your company can do for them. The easiest way to do this is having branded images that help you to show your approach, your brand personality and what makes you different from your competitors.

The question now is: How can you create these images? Well, you have two options: the first one is trying to keep creating these images yourself and the second option, find a Personal Branding Photographer that will help you to bring the best out of you and that is able to transmit your company’s essence in a visual way.

Let’s imagine that you found the perfect personal branding photographer, what do you do after? you can’t go blind to the photoshoot. You need to prepare so you can achieve the goals you have planned.

Portraits, portrets, photographer amsterdam
Picture taken during María Faciolince’s personal branding photoshoot

Planning a Personal Branding Photoshoot can take more time than you think, due to this I want to share a few tips so you are fully prepared when the day comes.

  1. What you want to achieve with the photoshoot and the images
    Set clear objectives and explain them to the photographer. Do you want to make yourself visible? or just your services? Do you want to show the location where you work? or maybe you just want to focus on your products?

    Picture taken during Aileen Kennedy’s personal branding photoshoot
  2. Make a list of the uses you want to give to the pictures
    You are spending time and money when you are paying for a personal branding photoshoot, so you really need to think about how are you going to use the images to promote your business and get more clients. Write down, where are you going to use those images? Some options are your website, social media, flyers, banners, blog post. It is really important to know where you want to use these images because this is going to set the tone for the type of pictures that need to be taken. You might need more action pictures than portraits, or maybe you need more details than full-body images. This need to be clear, because you don’t want to end up with dozens of images that you are barely able to use.
  3. Choose the stories you want to tell
    During the photoshoot, you need to show different aspects of your brand, your values and personality. To be able to do this, you need to choose what are the storylines that your clients need to know. I’m going to give you a few examples: if you are a coach, maybe you want to show yourself as a successful person who can combine work life and family time, but you also want to show those skills that make you unique. Got it?

    Picture taken during Silvia Montes’ personal branding photoshoot
  4. Create a mood board
    It is always good to let your photographer know what type of images do you like or what do you feel attracted to. Look for examples of images you like and place them on a Pinterest board or other mood board app you like. In this way, you and your personal branding photographer will be able to understand each other visually.
  5. Choose your outfits and share them with your photographer before the photoshoot
    When I’m planning my personal branding photoshoots, I ask my clients to choose different outfits. Different outfits can help you show the different storylines that you want to approach. It would be good if you share those outfits with your photographer, so you can get some wardrobe advice.
  6. Get your props ready
    You and your clothing are not the only important thing during your personal branding photoshoot. The products, tools and objects that you use during your workday, can help you to enhance the message you want to tell. As human beings, we are pretty visual; if we see something with our own eyes, it is 100% more clear than if we have to read it 10 times. Due to this, you have to create a scene and the props play an important role in it.

    Picture taken during Aileen Kennedy’s personal branding photoshoot
  7. The key to making everything work, be organized All the work done will go to waste if you are not organized. Get your props and outfits on time, but also plan well with your photographer the date and locations for your photo shoot.
  8. Try to look your best on your photoshoot day
    There is nothing worse than feeling terrible during your photoshoot. If you are sick, I suggest you reschedule. I always encourage my clients to get a good night’s sleep the day before the photoshoot, do their hair, and enjoy the moment that they are being photographed. They deserve it!

    Personal Branding Coach and Photographer
    Picture taken during Valeria Alba’s personal branding photoshoot
  9. Stay away from the trends
    The current trends might not go in-line with what you have to offer; the images that you will create need to be about your company values, your personality and yourself.

Before I finish, you should make sure that you have a good communication with your photographer, this will make everything go smooth. Follow the advice above and you will have the biggest chance to achieve the results you desire. Remember, the images will help you present your company and they will create a link of trust with your potential clients. Enjoy the journey and your personal branding photoshoot!

You can also book your personal branding photoshoot today
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