In the heart of Chester, Virginia, lies the headquarters of Elite Force Staffing Company—a veteran-owned construction staffing company dedicated to excellence, integrity, and unparalleled service in the industry.

Recently, Elite Force embarked on a journey to enhance their brand identity and foster greater cohesion among their team members.

There’s a difference between great personal brand photos and good-looking headshots. Brand photos… 

• Tell the entire story of you and your brand through images. 

• Capture your personality 

• Bring all aspects of your personal brand together. 

• Help your clients and customers know who you are, what you can offer, and why they should hire you. 

As a business person, you have to rely on some level of marketing in order to be successful. Marketing feeds new clients and customers into your business. It keeps you visible, which positively impacts your reputation. 

And for most of us, it totally stresses you out.

That’s often because you’ve been told (and probably believe) that there’s a certain “right” way to market yourself online. Online gurus invest a lot of money in marketing they target you with, and most of it is designed to make you feel inadequate and totally lost. That’s how they sell you their programs, many of which teach techniques that might work for some people but won’t work for everyone.

One of the best parts about having a professional branding photoshoot is the fact that you end up with lots of great photos of yourself. My clients may walk into their shoots with me nervous about how their photos will come out, but because of my proven process, they are always excited about the results. I do a pre-branding session so we can customize their session and get key images they know they need. We also figure out if there are any props the client wants to include to help tell their brand story. 

Here are five locations that would be perfect for YOUR next branding photo shoot. I’ve broken them down into interior and exterior options so we can choose the perfect “space” for your unique branding needs.

A few months ago, a Wall Street Journal article generated quite a bit of buzz in my LinkedIn feed, and I truly enjoyed reading not only the article, but all the different opinions about it in the comments.

The article was titled, “The Perfect Professional Headshot is Worth $1,000, and Maybe Even a Job.” Many professionals in my LinkedIn network shared it and put in their two cents around it. Here’s an excerpt from the article that basically sums up what it was saying:

Lots of photographers say they can do headshots. It’s the most basic type of photo any photographer takes. So it should be easy to choose any photographer to help you create a great headshot, right?

This week, I thought I’d answer some questions about the logistics of living life on wheels. It’s definitely different, and we’ve learned a lot in the two years we’ve been doing it.

If you’re an entrepreneur who’s still using an outdated headshot, there are probably several reasons why. It’s possible that you don’t love having your photo taken (this is most people, by the way, so you’re not alone). It could also be that you’ve changed quite a bit since your last professional photos were taken (maybe your hair is grayer or you’ve put on a few pounds). This might also be something you just haven’t invested the time or money into, feeling like your current headshots are “good enough,” or still look enough like you that they’re fine.

Whether you are a chef, photographer, real estate agent, fitness coach, or marketing manager. your personal brand and your image are more important than ever. Branded photographs that are creative, artistic, modern, and eye-catching help your business stand out by telling your brand’s story and providing an authentic experience to your ideal clients.

I love working with corporate clients. It gives me the chance to meet lots of amazing, interesting people. I pride myself on giving each company with whom I work a cohesive, branded look in their company photos while still making sure each executive feels like their photos represent who they are as individuals.

Social media marketing is a part of pretty much everyone’s marketing plan now, and if it isn’t, it should be. If you’re not convinced that social media is where your ideal clients are hanging out, I’ve got a few statistics that might just change your mind…

• There are now nearly 4 billion users on social media

• 57.6% of the world (4.55 billion people) now uses at least one social platform

• Globally, there are 5.29 billion unique mobile users, which means that more than two-thirds of the world’s population now has access to a mobile phone

• On average, people spend two hours and twenty-seven minutes per day using social media

• 54% of social media browsers use social media to research products

• There are expected to be at least 3.9 billion people using social media worldwide in 2022 which is a 4.8% increase from 2021

I often think it would be ideal if your best friend was an awesome professional photographer. That’s because, the more you trust the person taking your photo, the more relaxed you’ll be and the better the photos turn out.

Getting a great photo is about a lot more than the lighting or the background or even the equipment you use. All of those things are important, but I can tell you, as a professional photographer, it’s the energy and how well you and your photographer are aligned that has the biggest impact on how your photos turn out.

Have you ever needed a photo for your blog post or LinkedIn article and searched Google Photos to find it? I’ll admit, it’s the quickest and easiest way to find that perfect image to make your content pop. You may even avoid any photos that have watermarks, knowing it’s not okay to share them without buying them first.

But did you know that not every licensed photo on the internet has a watermark? If your Google search leads you to a photo on someone else’s blog, for instance, and you download and use it without a watermark, it can lead to a huge headache for you if you’re not clear about the etiquette and rules around giving proper credit for photos you use for your content.

On my recent work trip to Virginia in March, I was interviewed for a local morning television show, “Virginia This Morning” on CBS 6. It was a little nerve-wracking, but also a blast!

During the interview, I shared with Jessica Noll my top 6 tips for getting you the Perfect Picture of Yourself. These are all simple and guaranteed to make a difference in your next photo shoot.

Having your picture taken is something virtually everyone (especially every woman) I’ve ever worked with has expressed some level of anxiety around. It’s an emotional thing to do (even for me).

It seems like all of my insecurities come straight to the forefront when I step in front of a camera and I’m plagued with negative self-talk about my hair, my face, my body, my wardrobe, you name it.

If that happens to you as well and you’re not careful, those voices can be so loud they become overwhelming and they shut you down (exactly the opposite of how you want to show up to get authentic, beautiful photos that allow the real you to shine through).

I’m here to tell you that those voices are liars. I’m here to tell you that you matter.

Let me repeat that for those in the back who may still be hiding behind their hands, afraid to “smile for the camera.”

❤️ You matter ❤️

Client attraction requires trust

It’s easier for potential clients to trust you when they see a professional photo of a confident, authentic person smiling at them from your social media profile. Good branded photos capture exactly who you are and what your business represents.

The number one thing you can do to change that is to find a way to stand out from the crowd. That means your personal brand is more important now than it’s ever been. People want to do business with human beings, and the more real and authentic you are, the more people will want to do business with you.

Since social media marketing is always visual, your first step toward putting yourself “out there” in a more authentic way is to get awesome, personal, branded photos that allow people to not only see you but, more importantly, to see who you are.

Chances are good there are some areas of your online branding that you just sort of take for granted. If you’ve worked with a branding expert, “personal brand” is probably something you’ve checked off of your “to-do” list.

That’s fine for most elements of your brand (like your logo and signature brand colors and fonts that you use consistently online), but there’s one area where you need to continually stay up to date. Your headshots.

I get it. When you created your brand, you probably invested in professional headshots. Isn’t that also “done?” Probably not. Your personal image and how you look are the one part of your brand that’s constantly changing. Old headshots can hurt your brand. Outdated photos show a lack of investment in your business and damage your credibility with current (and more importantly, potential) clients.