“I’m looking to inject more heart into my content…”

“I’m looking to inject more heart into my content…”

That’s where branded lifestyle portraits come into the picture.

I was on a consultation call the other day with a potential client and the first question I had for him was why he felt the need to invest in a branded lifestyle portrait session. 

His response was simple.

“I’m looking to inject more heart into my content and not be so shiny.”

I immediately knew he was an ideal candidate for a branded lifestyle portrait session.

On far too many occasions when I’ve perused the socials, I see speakers, authors and other expert-based business owners posting work that has no heart behind it. 

What do I mean by this?

Although the images are beautiful and flattering, there is nothing else behind it. These photos belong in a magazine next to an article that touts their expertise, but have no business being a part of their online presence. 

Why?

You don’t get a real sense of who the person is, who they serve and why they do what they do from these types of photos. 

And that’s what your online presence is all about; creating familiarity, connection and rapport with those you serve. 

If you post images that present you as a rock star with no allusion to your personality and sensibilities, then you lose your relatable qualities with your audience. 

These glamor portraits position you on an untouchable pedestal, which is great for your ego, but does nothing to connect you to your audience. 

That’s why it’s important to have a balance between being a superhero and relatable in everything you post on social and in your blog. 

You need to inject “heart” into your content. 

And by “heart,” I mean breaking down the fourth wall between you and those you serve by sharing lifestyle portraits that show your audience what work, client interactions, brainstorming ideas and day-to-day activities look like in your world. 

These types of portraits inject your personality into the equation.

This allows your audience to not only have the unique opportunity to envision themselves working with you, but it also clues them into the type of person you are.

From that, they can determine whether or not you’re a suitable person that can solve their points of friction. 

I have a sea of client work on my portrait gallery that illustrates what I’m talking about.

Although we, as business owners, share a lot of commonalities with how we operate, we all have subtle quirks that help us stand out.

From our unique smiles to our specific workflows to the way we spend our free time, we all have unique spins on the same activities. 

And it’s important to celebrate these subtleties in the image content that we use to visually punctuate the sentiments of every story we share with our audiences.

It gives your audience a fly-on-the-wall experience that allows them to feel like they know you without ever having a conversation. And that’s how to start building a rapport.

Sure, glossy studio portraits where you look like a million bucks is great, and there is a definite need for these images. 

But the time and place for these types of photos is not on social media. 

On social, that’s the place where you show heart by visually illustrating your processes, share your passion for why you do what you do, and open up to an audience that is interested in getting to know the real you. 

You achieve this not only in the photos that you post, but also in the lessons that you teach through the stories you share alongside these images.

I can talk about this kinda shit all day, and I do in my blog. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the storytelling process and become aware of the power of the relationship between the written word and the visual, I invite you to subscribe to my blog. 

I’ll throw in a freebie to sweeten the pot, how does that sound? :)

If you’re interested in a more personalized conversation, let’s stop wasting time and hop on the phone to chat, shall we?

Set up a time to talk and we can take it from there.