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John DeMato Blog

Welcome to the Deliver Magic blog, where experts who speak, coach, train, consult, and write books will find actionable insights to elevate their personal brands through visual storytelling. From strategy tips and branding photography to live event coverage and storytelling techniques, discover step-by-step guides designed to help you align what you say with how you show up in photos. Get ready to unlock the magic behind creating a cohesive visual identity that drives engagement, builds credibility, and inspires your audience. #DeliverMagic

"How do I figure out the visual style for my brand?"

 

When it comes to the type of photography that compliments your brand...

 
 

...there’s a couple variables involved to help discover an answer.

 

During a recent conversation with a speaker colleague, she asked an interesting question.

"How do I figure out the visual style for my brand?"

The answer to this question comes in two parts.

The first part involves identifying the types of photos that need to be captured. 

As a speaker, author, trainer, consultant and other expert-business owner, you’re in the business of building relationships. 

You nurture those relationships by offering valuable content that provides your audience an opportunity to get to know you better while also showing them how you can help them get past what’s holding them back. 

An extremely effective way of achieving this goal is by offering them candid, fly-on-the-wall photos that offer them an entry point into your world. 

  • Show them what work looks like to you.

  • Show them what working with you directly - whether on a screen or in person - looks like. 

  • Show them what your day-to-day life looks like. 

  • Show them the spaces and places in which this work occurs. 

All the while, wear the clothing you wear while working in your office to the outfits you wear when client-facing.

Use the tools - technology, pen and paper, reference books, internet, whiteboards, etc. - to display the unique nuances that illustrate your process.

These photos create familiarity with your personality, expertise and how you can help those you serve.

Once you’ve figured out the what regarding what you plan to photograph, the second part involves finding a photographer whose photographic style resonates with your personality, sensibilities, and overall, visual storytelling goals.

Not all photographers are created equal.

You can assign 10 photographers to shoot the same person in the same location, and come up with 10 completely different sets of photos. 

Similar to other performance and commercial art, it’s an acquired taste, and some shooters' style and approach will appeal more to you than others.

As a result, it’s important for you to check out a wide variety of lifestyle portrait photographers before you decide on the best fit for you. 

Look at the work and think to yourself:

“Does this photographer’s style feel like me, or is it too (flashy, boring, flat, uninteresting, off-brand. etc.)?”
And...
“Is this how I want to present myself to my audience?”

One thing to keep in mind as you qualify photographers based on their shooting style, take a closer look at what they’re presenting and make sure that their galleries exhibit this one, fundamental quality:

Visual variety.

Wide, medium and close-up shots. Photos captured from different vantage points. Photo subjects engaging in a wide variety of activities in front of the camera and not simply staring into the camera, looking pretty.

Visual variety is key because it prevents your photos looking and feeling too similar from shot-to-shot.

You don’t want to bore the hell out of your audience, so variety in your image content helps avoid that unfortunate scenario. 

When you understand the types of photos that need to be photographed along with choosing a photographer whose approach to capturing experts like yourself resonates deeply with you, that will go a long way to helping you establish your ideal visual style. 

The next step? Being consistent in sharing those photos across your entire online presence.

Over to you...

If you’re looking to refresh your image content portfolio and are actively seeking a photographer whose style compliments your personality and taste, I invite you to check out my work and determine if we’re a fit to work together. 

You can check out my work here.