Bring your book to your branding session
A branding session isn't just about you.
Sure, you’re the main attraction, but the other elements of how you help your clients need to be captured too.
Constantly posting photos of yourself can get pretty boring over time, which is why including other visual assets is crucial for keeping your audience engaged and interested.
For authors, photos of your book are invaluable assets that let readers preview the book through their eyes.
That’s why I always ask clients during their pre-session strategy call if they’ve written books. If so, we add it to the shot list, ensuring they leave with photos to use across their online presence.
Take Jeff Gibbard, a speaker who told me about his book during our call.
After we finished shooting his promotional and lifestyle photos, I spent some alone time with his book, capturing a series of images leveraging different backdrops and surfaces at the WeWork space.
While capturing the photos, I made sure to compose the images in a way that left ample negative space for Jeff and his marketing team to include words, phrases, and other text and branding elements. This provides more creative latitude when determining how best to leverage each photo.
Here are 4 ways that Jeff can use these book cover and spine photos in his marketing:
Social Media: Create eye-catching posts by combining your book's cover image with a quote or insight.
Website: Use book photos to visually enhance landing pages, author bios, and blog posts.
Newsletters: Highlight your book in your email newsletters by adding images that visually punctuate the value you offer.
Press Kits: Include high-quality images of your book to provide journalists with visuals for articles and reviews.
Keep this in mind for your next branding session. It’s not just about capturing you; it’s about capturing everything that brings your brand to life.