Our brand is our uniqueness, our value, what we offer and how we offer it. It is why people choose us. It’s not our logo or our slogan but what’s real and true about us and about our business.

Aligning all of our marketing and messaging with our brand is critical to building trust. Consistency is key.

Our headshot or profile picture is a strong visual message that is seen many of times a day through our social media, marketing and engagement. It is the avatar of our brand. It is important it aligns with our values and is consistent with all of our other brand marketing.

I’m not a fan of getting my photo done but my team recently let me know my profile pictures weren’t ok.

I dreaded the idea of having another set of headshots done so this time I embarked on a different journey. My research to learn more about the perfect avatar led me to a photographer who took a very different perspective on headshots.

There was an extensive questionnaire about me, my values, my company and our brand. This was followed by a telephone interview to learn more about me as a person and finally, the better part of a day was spent together with the photographer and a very skilled assistant who looked after hair, makeup, and clothes and brought an air of fun and frivolity to the day.

The results were worth the effort and I can already sense a significant shift in the way people who have never met me think about me.

It’s only a first impression, but you never get a second chance at that.

Note: The photographer that I used is Linda Mackie in North Vancouver  http://www.lindamackie.ca/   and I highly recommend her. If you have a photographer who delivers an incredible experience and amazing brand avatars, please forward their information to me and I will include them in the sidebar of next week’s blog post.