A brand is so much more than a logo, a colour palette, your email signature, or a website. A brand is the voice of your business. It’s the complete image of your business, which conveys a feeling and an overall experience to your audience.

One of the best ways to showcase your brand’s personality is through a styled brand photoshoot. And this post is all about how to plan a successful branding photoshoot.

What’s a brand photoshoot?

It’s a photoshoot that goes beyond simple headshots. It’s a way for you to communicate an intentional message to your ideal clients, enticing them to pay attention to what you have to say. It’s an invitation to stick around and find out more about you and your business.

When you create a brand identity that attracts your dream audience, you’re a lot more likely to have them ask to work with you. So why not get started right away?

Here are a few ideas to help you plan for a successful branding photoshoot.

1. START WITH A CLEAR VISION OF YOUR DESIRED OUTCOME

Before you set out to schedule your brand photoshoot with a photographer, make sure you’re clear about what you’d like to achieve as a result of having these new photos taken.

How will you be using them? What message would you like these photos to communicate to your audience on your behalf? Where will your photos show up?

Some places you might have your photos placed are:

Website
Blog posts
Social media profiles
Social media posts
Newsletter
Promotional material such as business cards, e-books, digital products, guest blogs and features, brochures, etc.

Once you know where your photos will be used, you’ll be able to also determine how the photos will be taken. For example, will you need to have space next to your portrait in order to add text for online posts? Will they need to be cropped into a specific size? Do you want a coloured background or plain white? And so on.

Gather up as many details as possible to help you plan a brand photoshoot that meets your goals.

2. DECIDE ON WHAT TYPE OF BRAND PHOTOSHOOT YOU’RE GOING FOR

There are a lot of different styles of photoshoots you can do. Your choice will depend on what message you want your photos to convey. And of course, it will depend on your brand identity.

In another post, I covered the 3 STEPS TO CREATING YOUR BRAND IDENTITY. Make sure to check it out if you still need a little more help around that.

Here are some styles of brand photoshoots you might want to consider:

Lifestyle shoot of your product or service in use. Tell a story through photos that appeals to your client’s emotional and aspirational sides.
A peek into your workspace behind the scenes. Show your audience where and how you make everything come to life. Give them a glimpse of your studio/office or the process of your work.
The source of your inspiration. Every business owner finds inspiration in different sources. Share one of yours (or a few) to establish a deeper connection with your audience.
The tools of your trade. Do you use any special tools or supplies in your business on a regular basis? Why not get creative and share some images of all the tools that you use?
Photos of you in action. This bit should be incorporated into every brand photoshoot in my opinion. After all, your audience wants to know more about YOU, the person behind the brand you’ve created. Photos of you are especially important for your social media pages to connect with your followers.

3. GATHER INSPIRATION AND PREPARE A VISION BOARD

Most people I know are not comfortable in front of a camera. They often feel awkward and shy about having their photo taken. I believe the reason for that is because they don’t know what to do once they arrive at the scene of a photoshoot.

Preparing ahead for your brand photoshoot will help alleviate this problem big time. So after you’ve taken the first two steps above, it’s time to create a vision board for inspiration.

The best place to create a vision board is Pinterest. You probably already knew that.

Creating an inspiration board that captures what you’re trying to achieve in your photos will not only serve as a stimulus for brainstorming shot ideas but will also help your photographer understand you better.

Once you have a full board of ideas for your photoshoot, make sure to share it with your photographer so she can be better equipped to make your vision come to life.

To help get you started, I’ve created a Pinterest board already with a whole bunch of Photography Posing Inspiration ideas! Feel free to use this board or create your very own.

P. S. Are you ready to book your very own professional personal branding photoshoot? Then get in touch with me today. Details here.