You may be asking: “How do I create a brand for myself?”. Let me tell you.
How do you create a brand for yourself?
Personal branding – it’s moved on from the buzzword and now it’s in all of our vocabularies. As the world becomes more and more ‘online’ the way we present ourselves (our brand) becomes more and more important and prominent.
When figuring out what your personal brand is, you need to first understand how you present yourself and communicate with others. Once you’ve figured the keywords of your personal brand, we can understand what sort of images best represent you too.
Determining your personal brand
Your personal brand is a summary of who you are as a person, and how other people portray you.
You may have a preconceived idea of who you are, but if everyone else sees you differently, then you might be missing the mark on how you present yourself.
Your brand includes:
- How you communicate to others, including the language you use, and the way you interact.
- Your body language.
- How you dress and style yourself.
- The attitude you present to others.
Diving deeper into the way you portray yourself
Think firstly about how you want other people to think of you.
Do you want them to see you as kind, open and approachable? Would you like to be seen as determined, reliable and a strong leader? Write down the keywords of how you want people to see you. These will be the foundation of your personal brand.
Knowing how you want people to think of you will give us a good basis. Pairing this with what you do is important too. We look at people in law differently from how we look at people in counselling, for example.
My own brand.
I went through my own personal brand refresh in early 2023. My approach to my business is friendly and personalised.
As a photographer, I listen and refine. When considering how I wanted my images to look, I aimed to portray a sense of trust, professionalism and friendliness.
My images needed to show a bit of personality (I’m a bit of a dork), and a little bit of quirk. When someone is happy to be relaxed and themselves, it’s easier for you to do the same. This was my ultimate goal for my branding images.
Image Styles To Suit Your Brand
You’ve figured out your keywords and defined how you would like to make people feel when they view images of you. Those images will be a first impression – so we want to get it right.
Image Tones & Colours:
Do you need neutral tones (greys, whites and blacks), Brighter colours, outdoors, a corporate setting?
These are all things that we can incorporate into either what you wear, or the background of your images. A studio will allow for varied, flat toned backgrounds that can be matched to your overall style preferences. Outdoor and on-location can give a feeling for where you work – these are great options for candid photography.
What to wear:
Is your brand more casual, formal, businesslike, quirky and colourful?
What you wear is going to communicate a lot about your personal brand. The styles you present yourself in are going to make an impression on others – colleagues or clients. If you present yourself right, you’ll attract your ideal clients.
Poses & Expression:
Poses & Expression:Serious, candid, smiling, laughing, in-between….
All of these give different vibes. In my headshots you’ll see I’ve gone from pulling funny faces through to softer smiles.
Some people I work with prefer no smiles at all – it doesn’t suit their profession (It could be that their industry is quite serious and sombre).
Play around with posing – from relaxed and candid poses like walking and laughing, to power poses like crossing your arms. You’ll know best what poses feel right, and when reviewing with your photographer you can give them guidance on what is and isn’t working for your brand.
You are in control of your personal brand, and it’s an easy thing to tweak and refine over time.
From changing the language you use in your emails and online, through to refreshing your headshots on LinkedIn and social media.
Take control of your brand – find a photographer and book in to get your images just right. Make sure they have a style to suit you, and dive deep into a conversation of what the images should look like.
If you’re in Melbourne, Australia, jump online and make a booking (or give me a call!).
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