 Welcome, everybody, to Are Your Photos Helping or Hurting Your Business. A picture is worth a thousand words. A picture is worth a thousand words. When you look at this image, what are the first words that come to mind? Victory. Victory. World War II. Returning. Returning. How about this one? The eyes. The eyes. How about this one? Get off my lawn. Get off my lawn. That's a good one. How about this one? Nice one. Ooh, it went from here to here. A picture is worth a thousand words. Why should this matter to your business? Do you use photos on your website and social media? Are those photos helping or hurting your business? Which of these is $1,000 a night? Their words. The Buckhead Luxury or the Luxury Home. Show of hands. This one or this one. They're both $1,000 a night. I'm thinking to change that. So now let's choose between these two restaurants. Which one are we going to go to? This restaurant. Oh, y'all are pointing this way. Okay, this restaurant. Your photos can turn people away, which is loss of customers, loss of referrals, trust, credibility, loss of revenue. Or your photos can inspire people to do business with you. Say you need to have surgery using these actual photos from LinkedIn and hospital websites. Let's choose a surgeon. Are we going to go with the recent graduate? The fisherman. How about the lady having drinks at TGI Fridays? All too often we choose photos that are good enough. We need a photo so we take a quick snapshot or grab any old photo that's available. Not realizing the message that it's sending. People just aren't searching for hotels and restaurants and doctors. We're searching for our businesses too. 80% of people will research you and your company online before making a decision. And on the internet, people don't have to make excuses to walk away and choose someone else. So while it said we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, the reality is we all do it. It's just how our brains function. Imagine searching online for a recipe without the photos. Imagine a cook for dinner tonight. Hmm. It's the photos that make us curious enough to want to click to learn more to read more. Imagine Amazon without any photos. What are we going to buy? It's the photos that make us curious to click, drive that connection to learn more to read more about what is being offered. We're just the perfect words and just the perfect font. I spent two days picking out a single font for my business card. But we can't spend all our time on our words that we completely forget our images. Your images are a vital part of every aspect of your marketing. 90% of information transmitted to our brains is visual. Visual information like those photos get to your brain 60,000 times faster than text. Here's an example. The deepest part of our brain, the survival part, it's hard wire to form an impression the instant we see someone. Your subconscious brain makes a conclusion about a person in less than one half of one-tenth of a second. So how can we win someone over in less than a second? What's going to make somebody searching on the internet stop in all of the sea of people that are available and say, I want to do business with this person? The simple answer? A connection. People want to do business with people that they like, know, and trust, not faceless websites, especially when it comes to a service-based business. How are we going to make that connection? We can do it through our headshots, our profile photos, those all-important business portraits, which are commonly referred to as a profile photo or a headshot. That headshot is the most important photo on your website and social media because it's the photo that represents you. It's the photo. It's the first thing that people see when they browse your profile and it's the mental image they are going to recall. Remember, we are hard-wired to form an impression of the instant we see someone. We can't help it. So let's look at some common missed opportunities that people do with those all-important profile photos. From a psychology standpoint, arms crossed say, I'm closed off. Leaning away says, doesn't care, makes us less approachable. Too far away hints at insecurity. It's hard to establish trust with this person. Too close. Even in a photograph we don't like it when somebody is in our personal space. Too high asserts dominance. While too low shows weakness and lacks confidence. And the selfies often have too many distractions, especially the bathroom ones. Think about all the information that is in front of our eyes, colors, shapes, lights, movement, words, texture, all vying for our attention. Remember, you have less than a second and anything that distracts the viewer is going to take away from establishing that connection. The opposite of the selfie, the everybody photo, which one are you? There's no personal connection. And my personal favorite, the disembodied friend. There's no connection because we're all wondering who that person was. And covering our eyes, there's no connection. What are we hiding? And looking away, we tend to follow the gaze of others. We break that connection. And wide eyes makes us uncertain and eager. And tired eyes, there's no confidence. It's hard to trust this person. And clothing says so much. This is, I would rather be anywhere else than doing business today. These people, actual LinkedIn photos would rather be anywhere else than doing business. Poor lighting creates wrinkles. It ages us, makes us less trustworthy. Seriously, nobody wants that. And a fake smile, it doesn't generate trust. Most people can spot it. But we have an opportunity to make a connection in less than a second. How can we do that with a single photo? We do it through that all-important headshot. We narrow it down to just our head and shoulders because it reduces unnecessary distractions, giving us a better chance of establishing that instant connection. Remember, your headshot's about you, just you connecting with your target audience. So for this type of photo, look directly into the camera because it communicates credibility. And a warm expression says, I'm open to connection. And a genuine smile makes us more approachable and has been said to generate trust instantly. And good lighting makes us more trustworthy, more approachable, and more radiant. And a good photographer can take it a step further. Because while this is reality, that is marketing. Reality, marketing. Reality, marketing. We live in a highly competitive world. And what you market with matters. Your photos, every single one of your photos from your headshot to all of your posts on social media are a vital part of your marketing. And marketing is about standing out from your competition. Connecting with and engaging your target audience. Building a brand reputation and boosting your word of mouth. And communicating that you are worth every single dollar that you are charging. The right photos can actually give you a competitive edge. But you have to make the effort when it comes to that all important headshot and profile photos and all those photos on your social media. To stand out from the competition and connect with your target audience. Think about this. You make the extra effort when you go on a job interview. You make the extra effort when you go on a first date. Why? Because we care about the impression that we're giving to the person sitting across from us. Your headshot is that first impression. And online it represents you 24-7-365 so you have to choose it carefully. How do we do this? Here's just one way. This is something that I do with my clients during brainstorming sessions. Those all important strategy sessions. This is the time we're going to narrow this down to just two. I'll put that back up at the end. Fill in the blanks with at least three positives about yourself and your business. What is it that you're wanting people to know about you? To tell others like oh my goodness you need to do business with this web designer or this person because they are fill in the blanks. The words that I most often hear from my clients are I want to look approachable, friendly, and professional. These words are going to vary based on your profession, your unique personality, and what it is that sets you apart. For example, a defense attorney might want their words to be confident, no-nonsense, and top of their game. Whereas a veterinarian might want their words to be friendly, respectable, and knowledgeable. What are your words? Write them down. Then show your headshot to five to ten people preferably clients, your target audience, even random strangers. What is it that they say when they look at that photo? Write down their words and make a list. Once you have a long list it's time to pull back out your words and tally up all of the words. Do your words match their words? Or is there a disconnect? Are you showing the world what it is that you think you're showing the world? You might like your photo and it might be well lit. But is it connecting with and engaging your target audience? Even the slightest variation in facial expressions can turn someone away or inspire them to connect with you. Let's choose a headshot. By a show of hands which one do you prefer? There's no wrong answer here. A or B? What if I told you choose a real estate agent? A or B? What if I told you she was a book editor? A or B? How about an attorney? A or B? How many of you changed your mind based on her profession and her target audience? With every photo that you post on your website and social media you have to keep your target audience in mind. What is going to connect with and engage them? Then once you have chosen the right photo it's time to update it in all the places that your headshot is on the internet. It's in a lot of places. For the sake of time I'm going to go over just a few of these. Do you have a headshot on your about page? When somebody lands there to learn about you how is the facial expression and the body language and your distractions what does your photo look like on your about page? Have you looked at social media and put a headshot there? Because think about this our clients come to us from all different channels across the internet. Are you grabbing their attention and connecting with them and engaging them no matter where it is that they're finding you? Specialty websites. Do you have your services listed on specialty websites? What does your headshot look like on there? Do you compare to the competition that is offering the same thing that you are? My favorite have you thought about those job proposals? By putting a really good headshot in your job proposals you are putting yourself in the room connecting with and engaging the person that is making a decision about who to award that job to and reviews. By placing a headshot with reviews think about Amazon earlier did you want to click on anything without the photos? By placing a photo with your reviews you are increasing the likelihood that people are going to read them which increases your credibility and conversion rates. People come to us from many different channels your product or service is just one of many the consumer has to choose from. Many of you in this room offer similar services these are essentially all sodas they all market themselves differently one of them you are sharing with a friend another you are jumping off a mountains how are you marketing yourself are your photos connecting with and engaging your target audience those words that you wrote down are you conveying that are you expressing that it's important that you use images that are relevant and cohesive to what it is that you do for example these are both clothing companies clothing company A clothing company A is doing a really good job of using relevant and cohesive images clothing company B it's a little confusing about what it is that they are selling and offering you shouldn't confuse your target audience as a Tennessee we do this on social media we like a photo so we go ahead and post it but is it going to connect with and engage your target audience it's important that we use images that show what it is that we offer and the problems that we solve for example this is two architects if you are in need of an architect is it architect A or B that is going to inspire you that you are going to go oh my goodness what is it that they can do for me A is doing a pretty good job where B doesn't really show anything to do with what they are offering or the problems that they would be able to solve it's important that you use images that inspire connection and engagement so using this heat map tool which is a tool used to show user behavior red is where the viewer's eyes linger the most what is it that we can learn as humans we are attracted to the human face and we tend to follow the gaze of others so when you have a headshot and you are wanting the viewer to connect with you you want to look directly into the camera have good body language and a good facial expression when you are wanting the viewer to interact with something like a product or something else you want to turn your body or your head or your eyes towards that product like the all important call to action button the buy more sign up for this newsletter call us don't look into the camera for this you want to look over at what it is you are wanting the viewer to actually interact with your photos should do their job what is that as a business your photos are to entertain to educate to inform to inspire, provoke, engage how are we going to go about getting those images we can hire a professional we can purchase stock photos we can do it ourselves or we can do a combination of any of these above so let's talk a little bit about each of them stock photography this is the one earlier that got the ooo there's dos and don'ts of stock photography don't purchase cheesy images they just don't connect with most people don't select images for yourself make sure you keep your viewer in mind if you are posting what is happening in your office this is not what people do in an office environment day to day this is more like something that you would see in an office this is more likely to connect with your target audience don't select random images so this is on hundreds of companies websites while it might work well for the travel company not so much for the oil change company that it's advertising for don't choose an image before you've done your homework and research google has where you can right click on that image and go where else is this on the internet for example the girl in the car is on thousands of companies websites over 100 car rental companies over 100 car insurance companies remember the whole point of having a website is to show the world I'm different look at me do business with me it's hard to do that when you're using the exact same image as another company and especially your competition it's hard to do that when you're using the exact same spokes model as thousands of other companies so you have to do your homework before purchasing those images and I would be dropping the ball if I didn't tell you there's study after study showing that when you actually replace the stock photo with real life images of you and your company your conversion rates are going to increase here's two examples the top one is a moving company they swapped out the stock photo with the real life movers these are the people coming into your home and carrying away your worldly possessions when they swapped that out their conversions went up by 45% think about this who in here asked for the password from their clients they want to like know and trust you they're giving you their livelihood their password, their business they want to trust that person the bottom image was actually confusing while this laptop's a pretty good stock photo this was not an online conference that you would think of when you actually see a laptop it was an in-person conference so when they swapped out the image from the previous year's participants their sign up rate went up by over 40% and if you still choose to use stock photos at least use the ones with Vince Vaughn and Dave Franco just saying DIY do-it-yourself photography how many of you like doing photography oh yeah so there are so many resources out there where you can learn good lighting and good competition composition free you can learn online photography not like I was 20 something years ago where you're just scouring to try to find stuff don't go out and buy expensive equipment you have a really good cellphone in your pocket so if you learn to know what you're doing for those all important social media posts you can take really good compelling images with that cellphone because the best camera is the one that you have on you when you take images pay attention to the details right, is there a palm tree sticking out the top of somebody's head are there empty water bottles what is their body language what is their cough and leaning away what is their facial expressions really pay attention to the details of those photos and then stockpile your own images those words that you wrote down earlier you know what it is you're wanting to convey the world so as you just go about your day to day think about those images that you need and start taking and capturing those images so when you need them down the road you already have your own stockpile of images for my clients when you use your cellphone to take images go ahead and hit the favorites button so it goes into a separate folder so a month from now, a year from now when you need that image you're not scrolling through thousands of images to find that one for that blog post you already have it in its own folder and then as with anything just practice practice practice and have fun photography is fun and hiring a professional it's pretty easy to take a general list of what it is that you need first you need a really good compelling head shot how many pages do you have on your website four? now you're up to five images that you need take a couple of hours and knock that out research photographers ask around if you see somebody that has good images ask them you know who did you use find the right photographer for you look at their website facial expressions you know if a photographer ever asks you to smile smile pretend you have an emergency gather your stuff and leave because it's not your job it's the photographer's job to entertain you engage you and capture something genuine that people are going to connect with and engage with once you find the right photographer go ahead and make an appointment get it on your calendar it doesn't exist unless it's on the calendar and a good head shot should last you three to five years so go ahead and take an hour of your time and invest in your