How to Get Your Brand Noticed | Branded Headshots

HOW TO GET YOUR BRAND NOTICED

In this episode of Mwah TV, I’m focusing in on how to get your brand noticed, in the right way, through headshots.  We all know what it feels like when this goes wrong.  You know that dude in your Linkedin feed who really does stand out, but his down-with-the-kids zany approach gives you the cringes. Today we’re standing out, but most definitely WITHOUT the cringes.

COOL POINTS

It’s really easy for us to think of the people in our industry who stand out for being cool, they feel cool to us because they are unapologetically themselves.  We love them for their foibles and idiosyncrasies.  Then we can also probably think of that LinkedIn connection who is desperately trying to seem cool and it’s the desperation that gives us those cringes and feelings of embarrassment when we think of them.

COOL POINTS IN HEADSHOTS

When it comes to STANDOUT headshots it’s crucial we get you the former eyes on you and not the latter.  By the end of this episode today you’re going to know how to do that.

WHO ARE YOU… REALLY?

We are all unique snowflakes blowing on the breeze of a free market when it comes to business.

Am I right?

Now when we let our uniqueness shine out in our headshots we will undoubtedly run the risk of turning some people off.

But when we boil that down you can also argue that there are going to be people in this world who take a look at you and just decide that you are not for them.  Maybe the sight of your mush reminds them of someone else in their life?  There is nothing you can do about it.

When it comes to STANDING OUT, we first need to make our own personal peace with this.

Abraham Lincoln said, “You can’t please all the people all the time.”

Bob Marley sings “You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all of the time”

Two different men, with two different legacies. making the same point.

What causes the cringes is when we see someone trying really hard to be something other than themselves, it’s the pain that they have decided they are not good enough as they are so they are trying to fool you.

Think David Brent.

It’s funny.  Then it’s just tragic.

WHEN IT COMES TO HEADSHOTS

Now in photography I feel like I see this a lot!

This can be down to a photographer’s misinterpretation, or a person demanding headshots like their business hero instead of just being themselves.

If you are really struggling with this, write down the Top 3 things that are really not cool about you.

I guarantee you that these 3 things can be shown in a cool way.

Coolness is simply just not caring what anyone else thinks.

CHALLENGE ME

Challenge me with your 3 uncool traits and I’ll put a cool spin on them for you in response.  If you are feeling a bit shy about this feel free to DM me over on Instagram.

ZAG ON THE ZIG

Simply imitating what we see the rest of our connections doing in their headshots is a quickfire way to blend into the background.  Take a beat to gather headshots from people in you. When you have a visual sense of how everyone else is behaving its possible to come up with clear comparisons and then from that you can see a way to zag.

NEW ANGLES ON YOUR PROFESSIONAL LIFE

Going against the grain doesn’t have to instantly translate to behaving like a whacky version of the clear opposite of everyone else.  It may be possible to identify a piece of what goes on in your industry that no one else has put a spotlight on or thought of explaining in their headshots before.  You can also stand out with sheer excellence, maybe no one has a decent headshot in your industry yet?  Be the trailblazer!

Remember when I went in on Lawyer headshots in this episode?  This is exactly what I mean.

FUNNY EXPRESSIONS

A funny expression is a pet peeve of mine.  Made all the worse because I know I pull them myself.  I’m often going for clueless 50’s housewife face, I personally think that this notion of glamourous women loving the properties of cleaning products is hysterical.  But I’m well aware that my silly faces probably put people off.  Its silly of me to expect them to get this internal joke.

Comedians are notorious for doing this.  Take a look at a collection of comedians in photographs and they are likely:

• Raising one Eyebrow
• Pulling a Face
• Trying to be Ironic

LET’S JUST CLEAR THIS UP…

Pulling a face you think is funny is not going to make you stand out in the right way.  There is a time and a place, and you need to think about that for you and how you want to be perceived.

When this is repeated in every selfie and every headshot, it can come off as a cheap gimmick.

MORE TIPS AND ADVICE

When you sign up to Annals & Apertures, you receive more tips and advice from me every single week. Let’s get you noticed in the right way with headshots based on strategy today.