Curating images for your brand can seem like an very overwhelming process. It took me a while before I really put together a formula for what to keep as brand imagery and what to not include. So I figured I’d help a little with some advice on a few different types of images that you should curate for your brand, whether they’re going to be shared on social media, or used throughout your website.
1. Behind the Scenes
Behind-the-scenes photos are so important for your brand. They help to make you approachable, and basically make you seem like a real human to your followers. They’re great for helping to show the process behind the business. That being said, they shouldn’t be completely spur of the moment, you’ll want to curate the imagery to be cohesive with the rest of your branding. They should help show off your hard work and the fun that goes into making it. Behind the scenes images really to attract your ideal clients, because they show the processes in your work that are unique to you and your business.
Customers love to know who they’re buying from. So many of today’s customers prefer to shop with small businesses. It’s important to customers to build relationships and connect with the businesses that they’re shopping with. Sharing behind the scenes content helps your brand with transparency and builds audience trust.
The photos really help to humanize your brand which goes along way and building trust. They can share your values with your audience, which in turn helps to build your audience with the ideal audience members fix later. They even go so far as to helping give your audience a sense of community and belonging which results in higher loyalty towards your business.
2. Workspace Images
While this also falls in the category of behind the scenes it’s a little more specific. It gives your audience a sense of where you work your magic. People enjoy seeing pretty workspaces, decor ideas, and home office set ups.
It’s part of your story and it shows where you work. It’s okay if you don’t have a gorgeous home studio, you can set up a small corner that you can take some pictures in. Even if it’s just sitting on your made up bed with your laptop open and a cup of coffee beside you, show people where you work day to day. Bonus points, if you hire a professional photographer to capture images for you, they will be able to help you show off your space in a way that doesn’t make it seem like a disaster area.
When Creative Trek came to take my branding photos, we made sure to set up in several areas of our house. We took some photos of me on my laptop sitting on a comfy chair. We took some pictures of me at my desktop computer, in our office. We even took a few photos of me sitting on the floor surrounded by some of the tools that I work with (and with my office buddy Carl.)
3. Product Images
This one seems easy, but it can be tricky to take pictures of your products in use. For this one it helps having someone else around to help you take the photos, or to model for you using your products. For example, one of my main products is wedding stationery. While I can set up my tripod and camera to get photos of me and my designs, Creative Trek helped me get pictures of my of me holding my stationery and designs, much more quickly and easily than I could have done on my own. Working with the professionals also lets you churn out a lot more content all at once. They helped me think through the flow of the photos we were going to take, and then move through that plan pretty effortlessly.
Another way to get photos of your product in use, is to ask your customers to send you they are photos of them using or holding your product. For example one of the things I do with my wedding stationery, is to include an extra set for my couples to give to their wedding photographer. This helps the photographer to get quality flat lay photos of the wedding paper, and sometimes even photos of the couple holding their stationery.
4. You (headshot, working, traveling, being comfortable)
What do you do in your spare time? Hang out with your family, play with your pets, sit on the couch with a cup of coffee? Your audience wants to get to know you. Show them photos of you working, of you traveling, of you showering your pets with affection. Some of my favorite photos to share are the ones of me with my little corgi buddy, Carl. I might be biased but he’s basically the cutest dog in the world.
Showing photos of you being comfortable whether it’s working or having fun lets your audience in on little bits of your life. While you may not love having pictures of yourself taken, with a little bit of practice it really does get easier. And a good photographer does wonders to help make you feel comfortable while snapping those images.
Pin one of these for later!
