Brand Photography or Personal Branding Photography, is great for small business owners who need to communicate their personality and show how that fits seamlessly with their brand. Potential clients love to see you, they love to see you looking comfortable and confident and communicating that perfect bit of personality.
Essential things to consider when considering a Brand Photography shoot where you really want to communicate you and / or your brand's personality:
Rapport Rapport Rapport - you can hire the most technically expert photographer out there, but if you don't have any rapport with them, they won't get those natural, comfortable smiles out of you and you won't get imagery where you look your confident best.
Nailing the brief: Find a photographer who will talk to you about your business, beyond the top line, in enough time prior to your shoot that it will impact on your Shot List. I always have at least one video call with my client around a week before our shoot where I ask questions about their target audience, their brand positioning, their brand's key messaging and what the essential take outs are for any potential client on viewing their imagery. All of this informs my Shot List, which I go on to discuss with my client in advance of our shoot.
Put together a list of essential messaging prior to briefing your photographer and if you can, also a moodboard as this really helps you both to visualise your goals and style together.
Prepare examples of brands you see doing it well to discuss with your Brand Photographer. All of this helps to ensure you're both on the same page and my ultimate goal for any shoot....that you come away with imagery that you love.
Consider props - items essential to your work, things that you love and work with all the time, items that represent your brand colours - these all help to communicate one coherent brand personality and can be used within your imagery.
In this recent example, my client, a University Lecturer and Clean Innovation Tech Climate Consultant, wanted to communicate 3 things which we discovered as we worked through 2 video calls prior to our shoot:
Her approachability in teaching.
Her authority as a consultant, expert in her field.
Her personality, which is fun and warm and such a pleasure to be around (my words, not hers!).
We shot in 3 locations on campus and in the studio for headshots too. I'm so proud to include what she had to say when she received her images:
"I recently had the pleasure of working with Nadia Lavelle Photography for personal branding and headshot sessions, and I was happy and pleased with the experience. From start to finish, every step of the process was clear and well-communicated. Nadia's pricing is transparent, which I greatly appreciated. the entire process was smooth and stress-free. I like her use of inspiring images to recreate new ideas. During the photo sessions, Nadia was incredibly professional and made me feel comfortable in front of the camera. She arrived early to the location and maximized our time together by efficiently moving through three different locations within the same location. Nadia's applied her creativity and was proactive in bringing up ideas and experimenting with different shots, this resulted in stunning portraits that exceeded my expectations. The stages to getting the final images were well-organized, and I was impressed by the quality of the final results. Overall, I highly recommend Nadia Lavelle Photography for anyone looking for professional photography services. Thank you, Nadia, for an exceptional experience!"
Why Work With Me?
In my previous career, I worked for 17 years for Media and Communications Agencies, helping big brands, like Kellogg’s, British Heart Foundation, Transport for London, BBC, and many more to determine who their core target audience is and how best to speak to them.
I now use this expertise as a point of difference in my marketplace to offer my Personal Branding clients and Business Branding clients advice about staying focused once they have identified their core target audience, on the importance of establishing a clear brand strategy, and standing out by having a clear brand identity.
This has evolved into a pre-shoot video consultation with my clients, which I have about 1 to 2 weeks before the shoot typically, in which we will talk about brand identity, core brand attributes, branding colours, their website, shooting styles, backdrop colours, locations, styling, posing and so much more. I work with a number of local hair & make up artists and can build this service into your Personal Branding package if you would like.
All of this means that my clients come away post shoot, with a set of Personal Branding imagery in a number of different formats, that they can use across all of their channels: website, social media, printed materials etc and that clearly communicates the key brand attributes that they need to ensure their core audience receives.
My Personal Branding style is ultimately to understand your business, your target audience, your personality and work with you to ensure your imagery represents you and the core messaging that you need to communicate to your target audience.
FAQs
What is Personal Branding?
Defining and clearly highlighting what you and your brand stand for. It is informed by your experience, your values, your skillset and your achievements within your field. It is what sets you apart from the competition. Ultimately it's about creating an identity for your brand.
Why is Personal Branding important?
It highlights your credibility, uniqueness, point-of-difference in the marketplace and critically, your personality. It is often the reason a client will choose YOU.
What is the point of a Personal Brand?
A clear personal brand helps you to communicate only what you want to communicate about your brand. You get to control how you want potential clients and customers to see you and your brand. Brand attributes and personality are key elements to help differentiate you from the rest of the marketplace.
What elements go into my Personal Branding communication?
Your brand personality, the look and feel of all your communications: your website, social feeds, comments, printed materials, emails, advertising. The look needs to be consistent, using brand colours and fonts and clear brand identifiers. Imagery needs to clearly communicate your key messaging and when you get it right, your personality too. In photography terms, outfits; colours; backdrops; lighting styles; posing; props; range communicated and so much more.
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