"Swag" your photos
Do you have any swag that you offer clients?
If so, bring it to your next portrait session...
As I hit the hotel room door with my keycard, I took a huge sigh of relief as I knew my long day of traveling cross-country and shooting my client, Joe Mull, was finally over.
Within seconds of being on the other side of the door, I began packing up all my gear, ready to eat some dinner and pass out. And then...
...I came across a piece of swag (the pin in the above photo) that we didn’t capture during his lifestyle portrait session.
Shit.
Rather than set up my light again and go hunt for a place to shoot, I opted to come up with a quick and dirty solution - use a hotel lamp and the side table by the bed.
“I just need one quick shot - no biggie,” I thought to myself.
So, I moved the pin around, found a good spot and fired away. Ok, done.
But then, I realized that there was more juice to squeeze from this one piece of swag, especially considering that the background surface I was using was a plain white tabletop.
There was an opportunity to do more with it, and so I did. Here’s a couple other ones I took in the moment:
The reason why I created more than one photo option was simple: visual variety.
Rather than being married to just one photo, now Joe and his marketing team have options when creating content around the message of the pin, which, by the way, directly relates to his book, keynote and overall expertise - NO MORE TEAM DRAMA.
With photos like this, he can:
Insert quotes from his keynote and book in the open space of the image
Use a photo like this to share his upcoming speaking schedule
Create a blog thumbnail format where he can insert the article title in the open space
Leverage one of these photos in his slide deck and/or webinar presentation
…among many other options.
At the end of the day, when it comes to a branded lifestyle portrait session, your image portfolio needs to be filled with a variety of images that relate and tie back to who you are, who you serve, what problems you solve and why you do what you do.
And, sometimes, those photos don’t involve you directly.
That’s why if you have any swag connected to your business and brand - stationery, notebooks, pens, party favors, mugs, calendars, etc - make sure you pack it before your next portrait session.
Creating image assets in this way will help keep your visuals fresh and interesting because you’re not simply sharing photos of your face day-after-day.
They also reinforce hallmarks of your expertise, such as the case with Joe’s NO TEAM DRAMA pin he hands out to audience members.
It makes for a much more valuable photo session and makes you more memorable in the eyes of those you serve.
If you’d like to learn more about what working with me looks like during a branded lifestyle portrait session, set up a time to chat with me and let’s see if we’re a fit to work together.