How Boston Executive Headshots Can Help Financial Advisors
One of the best ways to convey your brand and its message is through strong Boston executive headshots. While many do not realize it, executive headshots are very versatile in their use, and they can be used in many different ways to get full value out of them. As an example, the financial advice team that I recently worked with demonstrates how useful executive headshots can be in different contexts.
As a financial advisor, communicating your brand is an important consideration. Financial advice is a sensitive area, and it needs to be approached with a high amount of professionalism, confidence, and discretion. As you continue to grow your firm, creating organic client growth and demand becomes tougher…especially when you are competing with larger firms.
The client’s challenge
The financial advisory firm had just opened, and wanted to target small and medium business owners. They wanted more recognition and brand awareness, but also to put focus on their senior advisory team around the community. The challenge was rooted in the kinds of headshots needed, where they would be used, how much of the team needed to be photographed…and of course, how quickly this could all be done. It was a medium-sized team but there were a lot of different considerations for where the photos would be used.
Some of the team would be using them for social media such as LinkedIn, while others were going to use them to accompany thought leadership such as articles. Because the photos would have a lot of different usages, it was important to keep colors and backgrounds minimal, while still communicating their brand story. And it all needed to be done ASAP, as they had projects and proposals in the pipeline that needed executive headshots to go alongside their bios.
Boston Executive Headshots Process
I first scheduled a briefing session to establish key deliverables and deadlines. Together with senior stakeholders, we made a roster of the advisory team, identified who needed photos first, and prioritized according to the different proposal timelines in place. We also determined what colors would be used in the photo, and identified different locations in the office that could serve as neutral backgrounds.
The briefing session is an important part of the process, because it ensures that everything required is communicated effectively, and that both the client and I know exactly what is needed. Plus, it allows time to scout for locations and establish where the photos need to take place, to allow those areas to be cleaned and booked in advance if necessary.
Once the session was done, everyone on the roster was sent a link to my online calendar so they could schedule their shoots. Rather than giving pre-booked slots, I prefer to have people book on their own time.
This allows them to match it better with their schedule and reduces the risk of last-minute cancellations. After they booked, I sent them some friendly tips and advice on topics such as color choices, poses, etc. to get them in the right mindset.
On the day of the shoot, we had a conference room booked in advance, as well as some locations in the office cleared out for extra shots. I endeavor to make the process of photos themselves go as quickly and efficiently as possible, while making the person feel comfortable.
Everyone gets time to adjust poses and outfits as needed, and midway through individual sessions, I made sure to quickly go through their shots to identify if anything needed to be fixed.
Solution
The turnaround time was fast on this one, but luckily with my process, it does not take too long. I had advised everyone beforehand to keep an eye on their inboxes after their photoshoots. Within 24 hours, each member of the financial advisory team received an individual link to their shots in a web gallery. This allowed them to pick their favorites for retouching, but also gave them access to download any and all shots. That way, for proposals that needed to go out right away, team members would not need to wait a day or two for the official retouched photo but could send in a high-quality, unedited image quickly to meet the deadlines.
Once each person had sent me their chosen shots, I retouched and edited their picks, and sent them back within 48 hours. This is my standard solution anyway, but it was especially needed in this situation where they wanted to start using the photos as soon as possible. Team members also used the photos on their social media, and in different promotional materials for the community to bolster their advisory practice and get more exposure.
Results from Boston Executive Headshots
The biggest result was, of course, that my client was able to get their business development team up and running fast without losing steam. Financial advisory is usually a tough industry to crack, but the executive headshots for the team were instrumental in building trust with the wider community.
Once people saw their different thought leadership efforts and their promotional work around the community, coupled with the professional headshots, they were able to put a face to the name. This recognition allowed them to get more exposure and build client relationships organically, which was great.
Plus, they were able to use the headshots on their different social media pages to profile their team and help build a better marketing base on platforms such as LinkedIn.
You can easily book a session or request a quote here.
