I’ve been shooting personal brand photography for small business owners and online entrepreneurs for several years now, and in that time, I’ve honed my skills and streamlined my process down to an art form (no pun intended, lol.) Over the years, I’ve developed four pillars of an awesome personal brand photo shoot, and today, I’m gonna spill the tea for you! Together, we look to each of these pillars to create a detailed shot list for each personal branding client I work with.

Pillar One: Personality

You are building a personal brand, right? So let’s get personal. Now, I’m not telling you to share your deepest, darkest secrets on the interwebs, but you do need to let your followers know who you are behind the business. What do you have in common with your followers? What are your hobbies? What will it be like to work with you – are you serious, or do you crack jokes nonstop? Don’t be afraid to share your personality with the world! It’s what makes your personal brand PERSONAL!

Pillar Two: Process

So you’re an awesome business owner who does this awesome thing. How do you do it? What’s it like to work with you? What are the steps in your process, and what happens at each step? Arming your potential clients and educating them about your industry and process is SO important, so let’s brainstorm photos to capture your process in imagery.

Pillar Three: Products

You may have physical products to sell, and you may not. But either way, this is a crucial part of a personal branding photoshoot. In story branding, we call this the character transformation element. This is where we see where the hero (your ideal customer) has worked with you and now has something amazing to show for it. There’s been a transformation – from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly!

For example, let’s say you sell Mary Kay. There are physical products, and we can photograph those. But the transformation element for your business is actually confidence, beauty, and fresh, glowing skin.

Or maybe you’re an online therapist. Your don’t have a physical product. But your transformation element may be a sense of self-awareness, a new outlook on life, or new coping skills that help your client manage their emotions.

This looks different for every industry, which is why we’ll sit down for a strategy session.

Pillar Four: Purpose

This pillar is closely related to pillar one, because we are getting personal again. In this pillar, we capture why you do what you do. This is where we really work to create emotion in our photos. Do you have a personal story that explains why you got into your industry, or why you love what you do? The purpose pillar contributes to your brands authenticity, and gives you authority to speak into the lives of your clients. It also ties you to them with common bonds and enhances the know-like-trust factor.

So there they are: The four pillars of an awesome personal brand photo shoot. For every client, I sit down at a strategy session where we meticulously plan out a shot list that addresses each pillar. I’d love to sit down with you and learn more about your business! My process starts with a free discovery call, and you can book yours here!