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Why Branding Photography is a Must for Businesses

Written by Kate Hollingsworth on . Posted in Brand photography.

By Kate Hollingsworth

Visuals play a crucial role in how you portray your personal brand to your customers and clients, and how potential clients see you. First impressions last.  

It’s important to remember that customers shop with their eyes and will often make decisions based on their first impression of someone.

Personal branding involves influencing the way potential customers see you and view your products or services, which is why personal branding photography can have such a massive impact.

Professional photos are an asset and will serve you for years to come. Having a bank of on brand, professional, memorable and bespoke images will not only save you time , it will attract more of the right clients and make you more money into your business.

Here are a few of the ways that you would benefit from taking professional personal branding photos.

Send them with your press releases

If you usually send out press releases or are planning to in the coming year, professional photos will help your submission stand out. Publications love it when all of the hard work is already done for them!

Use them throughout your website

Businesses that feature professional photos of real people inspire more trust than those that use stock photos. Real life bespoke photographs, that are personal to you and your brand, also help tell your business story more authentically. Also, the promotional show reel and GIFs that your photographer has provided you with will stand out on your site.

Use them throughout your social media campaigns

For every post or social media communication, you can choose the right image, that will heighten the engagement that post gets. You can also use the graphics, video clips and promotional show reels that your photographer has provided to increase levels of engagement.

Place them in your email campaigns

Take your email blasts to the next level by including your brand photographs in them.

Include them on your landing pages

If you rely on landing pages to help you generate sales, adding personal branding photography to them can boost your results.

Create a killer bio for events

Speaking at an upcoming event? Make sure that you have a professional headshot and branding photos on hand to send along with your bio.

Make your email signature memorable

Not everybody remembers a name but almost everyone can recall a face. Adding a photograph to your email signature can make it more memorable.

Add them to your printed marketing materials

If you print your marketing materials on a regular basis, a photograph can be used to make your brochures and business cards stand out.

Save time

When you’re approached by a publisher, you want to have a professional photograph that you approve of on hand. When you rely on publications to take your photos, you need to rely on their photographers, many of which are students. This is your personal brand and you should have the final say in whom takes your photos. You also save time in the sense that you don’t need to take additional time out of your day for the photos because you’ll already have them at your disposal. 

Remember to refresh your photos often so that your personal brand is also reflected accurately – also every time you change that head shot on your Social Channels – your network is alerted and you stay fresh in their mind’s eye, literally!

Why wait? Let’s have a discovery call today to see how I can help boost your business….

www.katehollingsworth.co.uk/getting-to-know-you

Behind the Scenes – Countryfile

Written by Kate Hollingsworth on . Posted in Behind the Scenes, Brand photography.

As some of you will know my first career before photography was producing and directing documentaries and factual television so when ‘Countryfile’ asked me to follow them for a couple of days and capture behind the scenes photographs of their team at work I was thrilled!

I still have super fond memories of (the one and only) John Craven having a cuppa in my kitchen before I drove him to location.  I can still see my (usually very composed) hubby’s face as John introduced himself. He was a proper fanboy and just looked wide eyed as if to say – ‘yes I know….it’s you off Newsround – in OUR kitchen!’ 

Unfortunately I wasn’t with Mr Craven this time, but had the opportunity of meeting the equally lovely Matt Baker, Margherita Taylor and Adam Henson.  

As a behind the scenes photographer you need to work in the background and slip by largely unnoticed. You are expected to document everything that is going on to really capture the atmosphere on set from start to finish. Knowing what was happening, why things take time, when to speak and more importantly when to stay quiet is paramount! Having experience of filming I knew when I could grab people for quick portraits, where I would be out of shot and when to remove myself altogether if time pressure was becoming too much.

The question most people have asked me is… ‘has much changed from when you last filmed last with them 8 years ago?’ The answer, is no, not a lot to be honest! The teams were still super friendly and fun, the subject matter still brilliant and the days still tight on time! 

Countryfile films most of it’s VTs (Video inserts) in less than two days, which believe me is very short for Prime Time telly.  Most of their filming is natually outdoors which means filming can be under extra pressure from short daylight hours and the vagaries of British weather.  Then there is the added pressure of traveling from location to location, getting contributors into position and having to feed people!  The crews are made up of director (who often self shoots), cameraperson, sound operator, presenter and researcher.  As anyone who’s ever done a shoot knows, things don’t always go to plan, these shoots were relatively straightforward, but we were still under time pressure.  To the untrained eye filming can look laid back and very relaxed – but often they are not shooting, because they are waiting for an airplane to pass overhead, a piece of kit to be fetched, a battery to be replaced…all the while knowing that the clock is ticking. 

In my opinion they still make brilliant programmes with fab content that look stunning – Hurrah for The File – shame I didn’t get a chance to catch up with John though…hopefully next time.

brand photography

Images, Images, Images

Written by Kate Hollingsworth on . Posted in Brand photography.

16 years working for the BBC and Channel4 on a lot of property programmes which meant that when I photographed my first hotel it felt like I’d come home!

It’s a very similar skill set that I employ when trying to capture a mood or convey an emotion of a property in To Buy or Not to Buy’ or ‘How to Build a House for 100K’ both of which I directed and produced respectively.

Before photographing a restaurant, hotel or home we sit down and together work out exactly what mood and story we need to convey. What are the images to be used for, who is the target client and what is the emotion or sentiment we need to create.

This way together we create a wealth of beautifully crafted images to convey your message and on websites, social media or in print. The right images to help create a following and get you more visitors and sales.

Below is a project I recently undertook for the fine dining boutique hotel ‘The Feathered Nest’ in the Cotswolds.