Why It’s important to have more than just ONE good head shot.

As a follow up to the last post about getting your Orange County head shot or portrait done on location and what that means for your business, we wanted to tackle another question that we get asked a whole lot:

“Why do I need more than one portrait or head shot for my business?”

It’s a party! So take a moment to imagine with me for a minute that you walk into an event. The lady at the front welcomes you and takes your name for registration. She is dressed nicely in a red dress with a black belt that wraps around the outside and her makeup and hair look like she just came from the salon. She even smells like freshly sprayed hair spray and foundation. She looks up at you as you grab your name tag and says, “Enjoy your time!”, “Thanks”, you say as you head into the party. As you move towards the first group of people, you notice that everyone is dressed super nice, yet something seems a little off and you can’t put your finger on it. All night you meet some great people and learn some great things about the people in the room. You leave the event feeling like you met some great individuals and you ask the lady at the front when they might be holding another event. She tells you that they will actually be having one every night that week at the same time but at different places, so you decide to come back for the rest of the events that week. One strange thing happens as you return though. When you stop by the next event, you notice that a lot of people are wearing the same thing from the night before, including the person at the front. Not only that, but when you talk to everyone, you notice that those you have spoken with the night before are telling you the same things they told you the night before. You meet some new people that night, but as you come back for each successive night, everyone seems to wear the same outfit and tell you the same thing they told you last time, almost like it was rehearsed or scripted. You never quite get to know anyone past that initial conversation you have with them, so you decide to not return because everyone just seems fake. They just say they same thing to you. How would that make you feel? Would you ever want to do business with them?

Realization #1: How will people get to know more about you when they dig deeper? Give them the tour.

The point of the story above is to illustrate how people view you and your business. If you only show one part and example of who you are, then, when they want to dig deeper to find out more about you and your business, what will they find out? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what are you communicating through your images?” Your images for your business are the story that you are telling the world about who you are as a person, a business owner, and the story of your business. People don’t buy what you sell, they buy you. And if they buy you, then wouldn’t you want to communicate effectively who you are and what you are about in the most effective way possible? By having more than one image, you are able to take them on a tour of who you are and what your business is about. You are effectively able to communicate to them through pictures what can’t be communicated through words and it helps them get to know a little about the person they are or will be dealing with. As people dig deeper they want to get to know more about you. In a world where it takes 9-13 touches before some one will buy or move forward with you in business you want that process to be as quick as possible.

Realization #2: What about your brand?

I believe Michael Drew, best selling author of Pendulum: How Past Generations Shape Our Present and Predict Our Future, puts it best when talking about branding. He asserts that “branding is more than a logo, color combination or font. While those ways of visually defining a company are important, they aren’t at the heart of successful branding. Relationships are.” If relationships are key to your branding, then how are you branding yourself? Are you helping your potential relationships or hurting them by your use of images? If you have only one image, then I can guarantee that you are missing out on an important part of success for your business and that is connecting with others and helping others connect with you.

Realization #3: How are you relating to people? It all comes back to this.

I will talk on this point until I’ve beat it into the ground. In this world of business that we are in, people will work with you because they like you. When I left the mortgage industry, I reached out to a Realtor I had been working with and told him that I had left the company, but that he should continue with someone there because the program they had going was incredible. I will never forget what he told me. He said, “Yeah, the program they had (I’m paraphrasing here) is pretty cool and all, but I was really working with you because we had a personal relationship”. That just affirmed what I’ve learned from some great mentors about business. Relationships and how we relate to others is key to our success in business. So, how are you relating to others through your marketing efforts? When people see one image, they may relate to you through that image, depending on how it speaks to them, but what about the rest of the people out there? By having multiple images that you can use for your marketing efforts, there is a greater chance that you can relate to more people. Get out there and get more business! By having multiple images, you will create a persona for you and your business that will help people get to know you on a deeper level, brand yourself in a way that is congruent with who you are, and relate to people in a more effective way. Now with this new knowledge, get out there and get more business!

If you’d like to see an example of our work, you can check out our latest Orange County head shot and portrait session with Troy.

And if you’d like to find out what we do for our head shot and portrait clients, feel free to contact us.

Orange County Family Photographer, Kincannon Photography is a professional photographer in Orange County, California capturing newborn, seniors, dog, children and family portraits.

Kincannon Photography is based in Yorba Linda, and serves all surrounding areas including Newport Beach, Irvine, Corona Del Mar, Brea, San Juan Capistrano, Aliso Viejo, Anaheim Hills, Mission Viejo, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Villa Park, Laguna Beach, Newport Coast, and other surrounding Orange County metro areas.