7 Branding Photos Every Business Needs

Understanding what you specifically need your photos to do for your business comes with conversations, questions and planning. This list gives you a general idea of all the types of shots we will plan to get on your photoshoot and why you need them. However, the exact execution comes with all the pre-planning we will do together and if I need to reach out to your website designer or social media manager and ask them what they would also need as well.

I'll never show up, shoot and hope for the best. Our photoshoots are planned and strategized to make the best of your investment.

1 Headshots

Headshot can be taken in two different ways, traditional and/or lifestyle.

Traditional headshots: This is what we are all most familiar with, a more professional look against a solid background. The outfit ranges from professional, to business casual to a uniform. 

Lifestyle headshots: These photos have a background storytelling element to them. Usually you’ll see them in the office space or even outdoors. The outfits also have the same range as headshots.

Which one makes more sense for you? Both can be done within a branding photoshoot session. This also depends on what stories you want to tell for your headshots, where you will be using them and how you’ll be using the headshots.

I always recommend you have one primary headshot that you put onto everything. You want your business to be quickly and easily recognizable. The primary headshot should be on your About Me page, your social media profiles (unless you're a business with multiple employees), your email signature, your business card, any bios in presentations, or print materials. 

The outfit within this headshot will also depend on what you need to present. If professional and competent are more important then wear the full professional outfit. If professional and warm is more important then I’d recommend the business casual or the uniform.

These samples are a 3/4 body, but you get the idea. When I take a more traditional headshot, I'll frame from the mid torso and then a post crop can be made into a square for the final headshot photo.

2 Client | Patient Interactions

As people we want to see what it is like to work with you. We want to know what we can expect from your personality to your expressions. We want to be able to see ourselves easily being in the client/patient’s seat and know that you are going to be the right person to help us! 

Photos can quickly show visual representation on things like: 

• Age
• Gender presentation / expression
• Ethnicity / cultural background
• Body inclusivity 
• Family / life stages

For the session with Buoyant Chiropractic in Sumner, WA we brought in a variety of clients to show the age range she works with. From babies to adults, men and women.

3 Exterior and Interiors

The location tells its own story and if you own or rent an office space you want to show the environment and atmosphere of the space people can expect to walk in.

Not always is an exterior photo needed if you lease a space from a larger basic building. It does help people to know if they are in the right complex when they arrive at the outside of the building. 

The interior rooms show off the atmosphere and aesthetic. Photographing the lobby area, all the rooms (or just one), a down the hall shot that shows multiple doors and the size of the office. The point of the interior photos is to take the fear out of what the space looks like. The photos answer the questions "Is the space is safe and clean to be inside of?" 

Some people will look for a specific vibe from warm, soothing, cozy to sterile, minimal, or luxury. Don’t mislead them on the space they will walk into.

What if you don’t have a space and work on location? 

The location should match the ideal space and client you work with. There are specific factors when finding the space, for photoshoots the space becomes the background supporting story and not a main feature in photos.

These interior (and exterior) photos can be added to your Google Business page, your contact page and even used on posts as where you put the text overlay of education or availability announcements.

4 Service Offers & Products

This is an area that heavily uses stock photos in place of branding photos. It can be easier to look through a library of stock photos and find the one that best fits the offer. 

Once again, people trust you more when they see the equipment or services that you will use with them. Anyone can use that exact same stock photo, but no one else can use your branding photos.

Not to mention most times the stock photo of the service doesn’t match all the rest of the photos or plain misses what your brand stands for.

In this sample of photos with this Seattle based personal trainer you can see that she comes to your home to work in person with you, she has a library of workouts you can do at home and she also supports you in person with your nutrition education.

5 Wide Photos

Wide photos of smiling people for the banner or headers of the website pages. I’ve noticed a very common thread of health practitioners using a pretty landscape photo of nature. Sometimes an unknown person is in that photo with their hands thrown up celebrating on a mountain top or walking in the woods. 

We want wide photos with smiling people or person off to one side. These types of photos are perfect for the website header photos. It gives the room for a website designer to add the what you offer statement, tagline, and CTA (call to action). 

The thing I love about wide photos is if needed you can crop these wide photos into a tall portrait photo for social media.  Good wide photos are very versatile for the website and content creation.

The mobile veterinary photos samples below, you'll see smiling people and even a smiling dog. You'll also notice overlap of variety of clients and service offers.

6 Smiling People

“Few images work better than smiling, happy people enjoying your products. So if you can’t figure out what images to use, smiling happy people are a good place to start”

• Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller

Why smiling people? We feel others emotions and we “catch” them. Generally we want people to be excited to reach out and contact us. While there are times when storytelling different emotions is helpful, the best photo as your banner header image should be of a smiling person, ideally that is your or one of the staff with a client or patient.  We want to show enjoyment of the work we do and share that with others. 

Photos of a corporate business coach, a meal prep service and a contractor.

7 Detail Shots

It’s all in the details! Especially with our hands, our hands communicate a lot. What we touch, hold and use in our hands. You don’t need perfect manicured nails, clean and natural will do. However, if you do have manicured nails do make sure those are fresh. 

Not every photo will or should be of hands, sometimes these will be focused shots of a product that is used. Think of these as branded stock photos that can later be used with text overlays.

The same businesses: a corporate business coach, a meal prep service and a contractor. Now we are focused on 1 smaller story telling piece. Leadership in the corporate business space, busy working woman still being able to eat nutritious meals on the go, and gathering accurate information.

Storytelling

The overall theme of every single photo you have taken on your branding photoshoot is to tell a story, YOUR STORY! We all start with the headshot and we need absolutely need a headshot, but we need more than a headshot. Your photos are intended to create trust, reliability and professionalism.