Are you guilty of using a selfie for your business headshot? Yes, it’s probably better than a blank avatar but let’s speak about why you can and should do better than using a selfie to represent your business persona.
First and foremost a casual selfie just doesn’t belong in your business profile. In your personal social media, yes of course! As a side note, in the ‘about you’ section of a website where you want to personalize yourself a bit and share some of your unique personality, ok! In blog posts where you share useful and fun information about you and your field of expertise, absolutely! As the face of your company or department, in business emails, or LinkedIN profiles etc., NO WAY!
Your business platform is for doing exactly that, attracting and doing business. An overly casual or straight-up bad photo will give the impression that you don’t take yourself and your profession seriously. You want potential clients to perceive you as competent and trustworthy from the start. Even though you may be all those things people consciously and subconsciously make snap judgments about one another based on first appearances. This is an innate human trait passed down through our evolution as a survival instinct. We form opinions of the strangers we encounter and judge them as possible friends or foes. If your business photo projects a sense of disregard for yourself it can cause potential clients to take their business elsewhere. Especially, if your competition has taken the time to make sure they look sharp in their business profiles.
If that’s not reason enough let’s talk about the vanity issue and assume that we all want to look the best we can in any photo, most importantly, the ones we make public. A professional headshot will utilize the best possible lighting and lenses to flatter you. No bad lighting, no distortion, no distracting elements. All the focus is on you and making sure you look your best. The cherry on top of course is retouching! We’re not talking about cheap filters that smear the skin and make you look like a different person, that defeats the purpose of representing yourself as a confident competent professional. We individually retouch our photos by hand making sure the final image looks natural, not an overdone fake version of yourself and you always have the last say on the outcome.
Hope this helps those of you who have been procrastinating or asking yourself it it’s really necessary to invest in a professional headshot for your business. View our portfolios or read some of our reviews to decide if we’re a good fit to help you elevate your business headshot to the next level!
