corporate image

Types of business headshots

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When a company needs a number of business portraits, is it better for those headshots to have a uniform look or a uniform style?

Uniform Look

A uniform look means all the portraits have the same, or very similar, lighting, background and pose. This shows consistency and a strong brand.

Having a uniform look in business headshots is common at law firms, insurance companies, banks and any other company that wants, or needs, to create a feeling of stability, consistency and comfort.

A business that has many locations may want a uniform look to imply that the company is the same no matter which location you visit.

A consistent appearance creates a consistent message which helps build customer trust.
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Imagining a better image

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When searching for a supplier or vendor, many companies automatically seek the lowest bidder or the cheapest price. But imagine what might happen if these companies instead searched for the best supplier, the one who could do a great job rather than just good enough.

Imagine what might happen if a company chose the best they could afford rather than the least they can get away with.

Imagine what might happen when the best they can afford helps enhance their corporate image.

Imagine what might happen when this enhanced image earns more attention.

Imagine what might happen when more attention means more business.

Imagine hiring a professional photographer next time.

 

Expert Impression

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I was just reading an online article offering marketing advice for 2014. The piece included tips and predictions for the upcoming year from 14 “marketing experts”.

Of these 14 people featured in the article, only six seem to have professionally produced business portraits. But only two of these photos are of good quality and only one looks recent.

The majority of these “marketing experts” are represented either by a poorly exposed, poorly focused snapshot of themselves or by a picture of a picture of themselves (which suggests that they don’t even have a headshot).

With such a disregard for their own business image and apparently no knowledge of the marketing value of photography, how much credibility would you extend to these “marketing experts”?

A marketing expert who doesn’t have a professional business headshot is like a plumber who doesn’t own a wrench, a chef who doesn’t have a knife or a photographer who doesn’t have a tripod.

A professional business portrait is the simplest, most common and most effective marketing tool for making a positive first impression, creating trust and building credibility.

 

A thousand words

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More proof about the importance and power of photography especially when it comes to corporate image, portraits and public relations:

Words are about information. Pictures are about emotion. Emotion equals power.

Print folks … like to believe that words matter still. But, mostly, they don’t.

The people who put together TV newscasts, as well as the best news photographers, have known this truism for a long time, but they’ve kept mostly quiet about it. Perhaps they don’t want to hurt the feelings of their colleagues, who still vainly cling to the belief that the written word can move hearts and minds. But the fact remains that for voters, for citizens, words don’t matter nearly as much as pictures do.

– from author Warren Kinsella

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Annual report failure

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Here’s another example of corporate stupidity caused by the shortsighted desire to save a buck.

Earlier today, I was looking through the 2010 annual report from Ontario’s Toronto-based Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). The 2011 annual report is not yet available.

The annual report contains one business portrait of its chairman and one of its president. All the other executives, managers and employees shown in the other photos are fake. None of those people work for this agency. The offices shown in those pictures are also fake.
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That’s not cricket

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Here’s an example of what happens when an organization cuts corners and goes cheap. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants is promoting its Toronto cricket tournament which benefits school cricket teams. Good for them.

But by looking at the promotional poster for the event, it’s painfully obvious that the organizers didn’t bother to hire a professional photographer or designer. Is this poster supposed to be taken seriously or is it meant as a joke?
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