Will Your Company Approve New Headshots?

If you are the marketing director for your office, you already know it's beneficial to get your team new headshots. But maybe you're struggling with how to convince management to approve the expenditure.?

Here are some of the benefits marketing managers have used to get the approval they needed.?

• Our people are our greatest asset so we shouldn't compromise on how we present them. High-quality headshots from a professional photographer communicate that we are a "company of high-quality professionals". Cheap photography says, "amateur people". More and more companies are providing headshots for their teams. In order for us to stay ahead of the competition, we need to make sure ours represent the high level of quality our company provides. And we want to work with a photographer that will help each person look great.
• Reinforce our brand. A professional headshot photographer can help us create a look that we wouldn't be able to create on our own.
• Look like a highly competent team. It's beneficial to see a consistently professional-looking team on LinkedIn when a prospect is checking us out. Our team currently has a wide variety of profile photos and not all of them are in line with our brand. This is an opportunity to give them something that will elevate their own personal brand while also elevating our company brand.
• Headshots are a mainstay of the new way of doing business. So much business is done online. Having an updated headshot portrait is helpful in bridging an emotional connection and strengthening existing relationships which are so hard to do when you can't always meet in person. When our team uses email signatures with their headshot on them, it improves recognition and connection with our prospects, clients, and even internally across teams.
• Trustworthiness. According to Dr. Yoram Solomon, the author of "The Book of Trust," personal compatibility is a key component of trust. A professional photographer that specializes in headshots, may be better at coaching genuine smiles from our team than someone internally or a photographer that doesn't specialize in this type of service.
• Stay top of mind. New headshots of the team are a great excuse to send out a marketing piece giving clients and prospects an update on our company and staying top-of-mind.??

• We can amortize the value of new headshots across multiple marketing tactics like email newsletters, social media, speaking engagements, PowerPoint presentations, staff spotlights, advertisements, proposals, and email signatures.
• Increase website traffic. When our team members update their profile picture on social media, they get noticed and that too may increase traffic to our website.?We're using the power of the team to help market our company.

• Boost their self esteem. Getting a great portrait of yourself boosts self-confidence. In turn, our team may be more enthusiastic about putting themselves out there to get more business.?
• It's an employee benefit. New headshots can be positioned as a benefit to our team members. Our people would appreciate having a professional photographer create a headshot that can boost their career.

Collectively these benefits can create?a winning argument when you combine them with your own?enthusiasm and get a few other key players in agreement. Anything else you would add?