6 Tips to Prepare for a Personal Branding Photoshoot

Before your potential client ever picks up the phone or slides into your DM’s, they’ve done a bit of digital sleuthing!

Who is this person?

Can they help me?

Does this person care about the same things I care about?

Can this person get me what I want?

Personal branding images tell the story of who you are–not just how & what you do.

We want your followers to get a sense they know you. Like, they’ve just had dinner at your place. Creating a relationship that will benefit you both into the future.

So, how do we create these beautiful images that have significant return on investment? We need your help to tell us who you are and characteristics to convey in your images.

Tip #1 : Share examples of what you like before your shoot

Pinterest is a great way to save images into a collection. You could pin poses, props, photography style. Tell us a bit about why you selected the pins you selected.

Tip #2 : Ask your marketing people for help

This could be your brand designer, web guru, or the person creating social media for you. They’ll have opinions of the images that’ll be most versatile for projects. If you are all those people, just have a way to communicate what kind of images you want. 

Example: On location, seated, friendly welcoming expression with space over to the left of the image to put text.

Example: Headshot for speaking engagements

Example: 1:1 ratio headshot for social media profile picture

Tip #3 : Establish a few adjectives you want your images to convey.

As the model, your feelings will come across in your body language and facial expressions– and into your images. We are trained to help put you at ease, but having a few adjectives to ‘act out’ during your photoshoot can help with your satisfaction with the images.

Example: friendly, luxury, genuine

Example: fast, focused, result-orientated

Example: techy, sophisticated, brainy

Tip #4 : Bring Props that support who you are

We’ve had people bring electronics to show them working, shoot people in their cars, and have even had enough balloons on set to lift a small Pomeranian to the sky. Think about props that support your brand or show you ‘in action.’ 

Tip #5 : Plan your outfits

Unless loud colors and prints are part of your brand, consider solid colors. The best outfit choice is what you’d wear to a client meeting, and most importantly something you feel comfortable wearing.

Tip #6 : Ladies, hire a professional hair and makeup artist — seriously

We want you to feel confident and polished and a professional will know how to do your hair and makeup that shows off your beauty on camera.

Common mistakes:

1. Wearing something you’d never wear normally, but it looks cute

2. Waiting until you’re a different pant size– Being seen for your fantastic self and creating connections NOW (best time to plant a tree was 100 years ago, the next best time is now)

3. Wearing clothes with brand labels or logos prominently placed on it