Why You NEED a Professional Business Headshot [in 2022]

Making a good impression is critical to the success of your business. In the current digital age, this most often happens entirely through pictures.
Whether it be through the icon of your LinkedIn profile or the About Us section of your company’s website, people will decide whether they trust you within 100 milliseconds of seeing your face. Meaning, before you get a chance to speak with potential clients, they’ve already formed an opinion about you.
As a business professional, it is important to develop good relationships with both recruiters and customers, but that’s hard to do if they start off with the wrong impression. That is why it is more important than ever to have a professional business headshot.
An executive headshot can help you grow your business, expand your network, and aid in finding your dream job. This key part of your career should be handled by a professional to make sure that you get the most out of your headshot.

The Benefits of a Professional Headshot

Your executive headshot should attribute a smiling face to both your name and the company’s brand. Stand out from the competition with a well-shot photo!

Make a Good First Impression

Allow me to make a quick analogy. Let’s say you want to read a new book, but only have a short amount of time in the bookstore. You’re not going to carefully go through every single book’s summary page to determine what interests you, but you might grab a few that have interesting designs and skim through their synopsis. You’ll most likely purchase the book that stood out the most, but chances are, you may have left something even better untouched on the shelf.
Judging books by their covers may be a surefire way to miss out on a hidden gem, but when you’re trying to sort through an entire bookstore’s worth of material, you simply don’t have enough time to not judge them. The same goes for hiring candidates for a job. It doesn’t matter if you’re the best person for the job, if you don’t stand out immediately, you’ll be passed over.
Having a professional headshot can guarantee that you’ll catch the eye of a recruiter, increasing your chances of getting hired for your dream job.

Convey Your Professionalism

When you set up your LinkedIn profile you may be tempted to use an older photo from a wedding or trip you went on. Sure, you may have to crop out an ex and the photo may be a bit fuzzy, but you look good in it and that’s all that matters. Right?
Wrong.
You want recruiters, investors, and potential clients to take you seriously, and they can’t do that if they can’t see the photo clearly. Show them you mean business with a professional headshot.

Stand Out

Your clients want to trust the people they do business with and having a faceless or boring About Us page is just going to turn them away.
If your website already stands out from the crowd, top it off with high-quality professional headshots! They go a long way to improve the trust a customer has with your company.

Develop Your Brand

A picture is worth a thousand words, and the same holds true for executive headshots. Your personal branding is defined by your experience, expertise, and actions within your industry, but a bad headshot can quickly invalidate your resume.
Enhance your branding by utilizing a professional headshot.

Network

A quality headshot will help jog the memory of potential contacts you met in passing. It’s always helpful to have a face to pair with a name after all.

Show Off Your Personality

Professional headshots don’t need to be stiff; you can show off some of your unique personality with them! Use props, fun poses, and unique background to show off who you are! Just make sure to not go too crazy.

Tips from a Photographer

Showing off your personality is a huge part of making a professional headshot into your own. Put the polish on your digital persona by utilizing these tips.

Utilize Props

While not appropriate for every profession, props can be a creative tool to show off your personality and passions. Props can be something important to you or what you do, or they can be as ordinary as a couch or a chair.
For example, a musician may pose with their instrument, or a realtor may pose with their signpost. If you have something dear to you, you may also be able to use that as a prop.

Dress Naturally

You want your potential customers to view you as trustworthy and easy to work with, so your headshot should reflect that.
The focus of your headshot should be your face, so wearing simple clothing and jewelry is the right way to go. If you have a signature ‘look,’ like specific makeup or fun glasses, include them in your headshot. You want to look nice, but also be recognizable.

Backgrounds

Gone are the days of a plain grey background. Modern professional headshots make use of the outdoors and colorful backdrops to add vibrancy and depth to the photos. Your background is meant to make you stand out! So use a background that works with your features and shows off your personality.
At b&b Photography, we understand the importance of professional headshots. Whenever you’re ready to take this next step in your professional career, don’t hesitate to give us a call!