You’ve got the cutest little baby face!

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There was a time when headshots were only for models, actors, politicians and CEOs. For better or worse, those days are long gone. The world is now more photo-orientated than ever before.

If you’re planning to get a new business portrait then get in front of a mirror and practice your best baby face.

According to a study by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem:

Previous studies have shown that viewers can form judgments of trustworthiness after as little as 100 ms exposure to a novel face, and certain facial features evoke feelings of warmth, trust and cooperation while minimizing feelings of threat and competition. People with relatively babyish facial characteristics such as proportionally large eyes, a round chin, and thick pudgy lips are perceived as kinder, warmer, more honest and more trustworthy…

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Why you need a business headshot

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It takes us only a moment to form our first opinion of someone. This first impression will tell us whether that person might be friendly, smart, honest, kind, trustworthy … or not.

Judging a person by their appearance may not always be the best thing to do but it’s something that we’ve been trained to do by our parents, the media and many thousands of years of evolution.

Pop quiz: which of the following people would you trust enough to do business with:


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Public Relations and Publicity Photography

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Celebrities (and wannabe celebrities) depend on this. Politicians depend on this. All professional sports depend on this. The entertainment industry depends on this.

Publicity and public relations photography are exceptional marketing tools because photography is the number one way to get attention. The public loves looking at photography and they trust photography. News editors love free hand-out pictures not only because it’s free content but also because photos can greatly increase readership.

One of today’s catchy(?) buzzwords is “content marketing” but many folks will remember when it was called “public relations”. The Merriam-Webster dictionary says:
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Expert Impression

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I was just reading an online article offering marketing advice for 2014. The piece included tips and predictions for the upcoming year from 14 “marketing experts”.

Of these 14 people featured in the article, only six seem to have professionally produced business portraits. But only two of these photos are of good quality and only one looks recent.

The majority of these “marketing experts” are represented either by a poorly exposed, poorly focused snapshot of themselves or by a picture of a picture of themselves (which suggests that they don’t even have a headshot).

With such a disregard for their own business image and apparently no knowledge of the marketing value of photography, how much credibility would you extend to these “marketing experts”?

A marketing expert who doesn’t have a professional business headshot is like a plumber who doesn’t own a wrench, a chef who doesn’t have a knife or a photographer who doesn’t have a tripod.

A professional business portrait is the simplest, most common and most effective marketing tool for making a positive first impression, creating trust and building credibility.

 

More than meets the eye

Many photographers charge a minimum fee for their location work. This minimum might range from a couple hundred dollars to much higher, depending on the situation.

Before you scream “Unfair!”, keep in mind that most tradespeople and some other types of businesses also charge minimum fees.

Locksmiths, plumbers, electricians, furnace repair, moving companies, carpet cleaners, etc., all have minimum fees just for showing up at your front door. This minimum often goes up on evenings and weekends. My locksmith charges a minimum $90, my plumber has a $140 minimum. At a newspaper where I once worked, to get a technician to come service the film or print processor cost a minimum $600.

Businesses charge minimum fees to help cover the time and cost of travelling to the customer’s location, setting up equipment (if applicable) and providing at least a minimum amount of service.
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