It's a brand new year. I'm sure you hit the ground running, right? A new year means it's the perfect time for a fresh start for your biz... new pricing, updated marketing plan, logo, branding colors and business cards in place, and even a new look for your blog/site. Whew! But there might be ONE thing that was overlooked....
What about your BIO photo?
Now, I'm not talking about the one on your personal Facebook page. Feel free to switch those in and out to your heart's content. What I'm wondering about is a MAJOR component of your brand that often goes overlooked. Yup, your bio photo. If you're an entrepreneur (whether you be in the corporate or the crafty world, have your name on a book jacket or a blog), it's important that you have a PROFESSIONAL photo that is a good representation of yourself. No longer can you get by with using a spiffy logo in place where your face should be... business has become all about connections, and people want to know who they're doing business with.
And repeat after me... A PROFESSIONAL photo does NOT mean it has to be serious or stuffy. In fact, I highly encourage the opposite (and we'll get to that in a moment).
Wondering if you need to worry? Think about this:
- People make snap judgments. I'm sure you've heard that you have only seven seconds to make a first impression, but did you know that it's even LESS in the online world? A behavioral study showed that people can decide within 50 milliseconds whether they liked a website or not.
- And that snap judgment can LAST. In what psychologists refer to as the "halo effect," whatever feeling the viewer had at first sight will spread to other areas, such as the website's actual content. And since people like to be right, they will continue to use the site that made a good first impression (as this action confirms their decision was a good one).
Here's what having a good bio pic can do:
- Make a quick and clear statement about YOU... who you are as a person and also as a business person/entrepreneur
- Help to make an easy (and instant) connection with your target market
- Help with brand recognition and reinforcement
So... if a picture is worth 1,000 words, what's your bio picture currently saying about you?
And what would you like for it to say instead?
Let's figure it out together, shall we? In my Business Casual portrait session, we get into the nitty gritty of it all... to figure out what message you'd like to convey, how you want people to view YOU, and how to put it together with a few marketing tricks in order to capture the REAL you.
Not ready for a full session? No worries... I'll be giving you a few tips in upcoming posts to help you put it all together yourself (so stay tuned for those! And I won't leave you hanging, either:
MINI Business Casual sessions will be available at the studio on February 22 and 23.
Registration will open for these mini-sessions early next week, and space is extremely limited. So be sure to click here to sign up for my newsletter and be among the first to be notified when registration is live.
See you soon! And stay tuned for more tips on capturing the perfect bio picture. (Next up: how to quickly convey your message.)
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