Do You Know the Who and Why of Your Headshot?
When you are setting up your headshot, whether it is a selfie or one done in a professional photo studio, do you know the Who and Why of your Headshot? There are some very simple considerations to making your headshots more effective. Just because “everyone else has one” isn’t a reason.
As my mother was fond of saying, “if everyone else was jumping off a bridge…”
Well, you can probably finish the rest!
In an informal survey of my last 10 headshot conversations, I asked my clients why they were interested in getting this kind of portrait and who were the images for.
Most answered with some variation of “I need one for LinkedIn/bio page/because marketing/hr asked for one.”
That, unfortunately, means that they don’t know if their headshots are effective or not.
The Headshot Science!
A headshot is used to market the person in the image, which implies that there is both an intended audience and an expected outcome for what happens after that audience views the photograph.
Your headshot is a visual placeholder until you can get in front of your prospective client and talk to them about what you do.
Our mission, therefore, is to create an image that will show the prospective client who finds your web page, or LinkedIn page, what they will see and feel when they are in that meeting.
This means, as one client put it, “this photograph is not for me or for my mom. I don’t have to like it. But, my clients do. And, if they do, I get to do my job!”
With that as our goal, take a look at your current executive portrait with your clients’ eyes and let’s create a portrait that will help you sell more.
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