Seven uses for your headshot other than just for your website or socials!

Everyone needs professional headshots for their website and LinkedIn profile. Here are some other uses and ideas you may not have considered.

1. To Connect With Your Ideal Client or Avatar/s

Hands up if you have customers or clients you want to deal with daily ( my hand is up). Well, having the right headshot and other branding photos to appeal to those people goes a long, long way to attracting your ideal client.

For the sake of discussion, let’s say you are an IT consultant, that your area of skill is small to medium business networking services, and that you want these businesses as clients. A professional photo, perhaps wearing a shirt and jacket with an expression of friendly professional competence, is far more likely to attract the business clientele you want. A bad iPhone photo at the surf club or worse, no photo at all, and you could be getting calls from people like my mum because her solitaire game won't start and the ink-jet printer is not working.

2. You can use a headshot as part of ALL your communications as passive marketing.

Most people think of headshots just for your website or social pages like LinkedIn. There are many more ways to use your photos. You can have your photo in your email signature. Your team can have their photo on their business cards.

You can add team photos with quotes or tenders your chamber of commerce profile, Google profile pic, press kit, networking association profiles, advertising campaigns, PowerPoint presentations and Facebook profile. The list goes on. You can make an indelible mark so that people will remember you when they need your help.

3. Put a name to a face.

Have you ever had that weird moment when you meet someone for the first time and all your communication has been by phone or email? You think .... wow, I did not know this person would look like this, and you can tell they feel the same.

Awkward moments aside, the key takeaway is that people are far more comfortable talking with others when they know who they are dealing with. This goes a long way toward establishing trust and rapport.

4. Personal touch.

We are in an era where more and more people want to connect with actual people.

I am no different. I would like to give you a personal example. I recently needed our water tank cleaned.

Stay with me; I'm going somewhere with this thrilling story... So I did what everyone does when they do not know someone ... I fired up Google and started looking around. I found a Sunshine Coast tank business. They had a nice clean site, some photos of the owner ( I thought... hmmm, he looks like a good bloke), also a picture of his dad who owned the business before he retired and some action shots of him getting into a tank through the small hole at the top ( I was impressed, they can squeeze through that tiny opening !!). That was enough to enquire... I rang them, they came around, cleaned the tank, and that was that.

I doubt I would have called if it was a generic website with a stock image of a call centre person wearing a telephone headset (you know, that photo) and an optimistic link to "Call Now”

5. The Sunshine Coast is exploding

It really is. I went to school here. I am one of those annoying locals who love to tell you what it used to be like if you are silly enough to ask.

New business developments are constantly popping up in Maroochydore, the Kawana area continues to expand, and Caloundra is growing like crazy due to the ongoing Aura suburb.

Thousands of people move here monthly from Brisbane and the southern states, all needing goods and services. To connect with these people, you need marketing materials, headshots, and branding photos, which are an excellent place to start.

6. First Impressions

The well-worn adage "You do not get a second chance to make a first impression" is as accurate as ever, maybe even more so these days, when often people will "meet" us for the first time online. A good photo representing who you are and your values in the "About Us" section of your website helps to gain trust and showcase your credibility.

7. You deserve good photos where you look awesome

If someone spends years at university or puts in the blood, sweat, and tears of learning your trade or craft, then it makes sense that you would have photos representing your passion, professionalism, and commitment to your chosen career.