E48 How to Leverage Photos to Up Level Your Brand with Lindsay Sullivan

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How excited are you when it's time to get in front of the camera?

Do you love to have your photo taken or does it stress you out and you convince yourself no one really needs to see you front-facing of your brand?

Having the right photographer can help put your fears aside, help you feel more confident, and feel excited for each and every photo to take your brand to the next level.

Lindsay Sullivan is the Small Business Photographer and she knows you don’t have to lose a bunch of weight, or look like everyone else just to take good branding photos. What you need is a photographer who understands your brand and can translate your message into photos that will draw in your ideal client and align with your vision.  All while looking fabulous and showing who you really are to the people you are connecting with.

What to consider when planning your branding session:

Telling a story: You want your photos to evoke an emotion in the people seeing your photos. Showing them what it’s like to work with you, how you are helping them, and why they should trust you.

Behind the scenes: Show where you work, what the process of creating your products is like, things you use in your day-to-day life when working with your clients. i.e., paintbrushes, cameras, money, crystals, yoga mats, laptop, spreadsheets.

Set the mood: What sort of lighting do you prefer? Is your brand light and airy with lots of whites and bright neutral colors? Are you more into a smoky look with cool black and white tones? Or are you all about the colors and want everything to be bold and stand out. What suits who you are the best and showcase that in the lighting you take your photos in.

Get personal: What are the things that reflect who you really are? Do you have pets? What are your hobbies? These things help people relate to you on a more personal level. Love dogs, show them off. If you are an avid hiker show some nature. Spend a lot of time working out maybe add some gym theme things in. Whatever makes you, you, share that.

How a branding session helps with your social media presence:

A branding photo session gives you back hours and hours into your months from having what you need in advance.

It takes the pressure off of not knowing what to post all the time. Having 50-100 photos taken in one session in a whole variety of outfits gives you so many more options and saves you so much time later on down the road. You will be able to have a cohesive social media presence that reflects who you and your brand are across the board.

You can put your photos on your website, sales pages, Instagram, Facebook, everywhere you might need a picture you have them to choose from. Instead of having to spend a bunch of time every week getting ready, taking a photo, and then writing the copy that goes with it. You will simply have a whole photo album ready to go to plug and play your captions into that will always be a true representation of your brand and who you are.

In a good branding session, you will have several outfits and room changes, add some props that suit you, change the lighting as you need and give yourself plenty of options, so you aren’t just using the same headshots or selfies over and over. You can pick a few themes to stick with that you can repeat over and over to really showcase who you are. If you love dogs or cats, hiking or the beach, if journaling is important to you then you can get photos of those things to sprinkle into your social media over time giving people a better idea of who you are and why they should get to know you and eventually work with you.

By doing a branding shoot you can also be preparing yourself for the things that are coming later in the year for your business. If you already know you are going to have a launch during the year you can get those photos. If you have seasonal sales for holidays, you can get those planned out ahead of time as well. When you know where your year is going to be going for launches, offerings, and things you intend to celebrate you can front-load all of those things in one great branding session.

Are you scared of how you will actually look in front of the camera? Or have you just never had someone take really good pictures of you?

You might be anxious in front of the camera because in family group photos or even friend photos you don’t look your best and you can just pick apart every little insecurity you have because it's not a flattering picture. That is going to have more to do with the person taking the photo than it has to do with how you already look which is beautiful and unique no matter what little things you might think could be better.

Working with a good photographer they are going to help you feel incredible in front of the camera. They will help you learn your best angles, they will get you in the best lighting, they will make the entire experience so much fun when you smile it will be a real smile. You should be wearing clothes that fit you that you also already enjoy and feel good in. Changing how you normally dress and look to present yourself to the world in a way you think it wants to see you rather than who you really are is going to make you feel stiff and uncomfortable. Being who you are and allowing the photographer to help bring out the best in you is going to help alleviate any fears you have of your own insecurities that others might see. Others aren’t looking for your flaws they are looking at who you are.

Connect with Lindsay:

• Work with Lindsay
• Follow Lindsay on Instagram