Why Professional Services Should Always Hire A Professional Photographer
With an example from a law firm in Providence, RI
Professional Services: This is a term that covers quite a broad range of industries, everything from Accountants and Financial Advisors to Lawyers and Consulting firms, and a mountain of professions in between.
Yet, what do all of these many different industries have in common?
When it comes to sales, most of these companies do not have tangible products they can show off to potential clients. Which means – without concrete samples of work – the main focus of the sale turns from the products and services offered to the professionals themselves.
Do they seem trustworthy? Professional? Reliable? Experienced?
Suddenly, a target’s first impression of the professionals within a company becomes more crucial than ever. And often these days, that first impression comes from what a target sees on a company’s website. Namely: lifestyle photos and headshots.
Which leads us to the main reason Professional Service firms should always hire an experienced photographer to shoot the images on their website:
A company’s online images can make or break a first impression.
“You only have one shot at a first impression”, as they say. And how true that is. Especially on the Web.
People make a lot of snap judgments based on the visuals they see on a business’s website. We all do it, really. If those photos look sloppy, unprofessional, and thrown together, we will associate those characteristics – consciously or unconsciously – with that business or the professionals within that business. And with the competition always just a few clicks away, this can be detrimental to a business’s sales, especially one that relies heavily on getting leads online.
Why one Providence law firm chose to hire a niche photographer
One of my recent clients, a Providence-based law firm, is an excellent example of a professional service company that gets a huge chunk of their leads online. Since most of their leads’ first impression comes from online sources, perfecting the look and feel of their website was a major priority for them. Which is why they decided to bring in a professional photographer.
But here’s the thing they realized: hiring any old professional photographer is not enough. Rather, it’s important to hire one with lots of experience shooting headshots and lifestyle images in office settings. Why? In-the-office lifestyle shots can be notorious for looking staged or cheesy. It takes a lot of technical skill, loads of experience, and the proper equipment to get these kinds of lifestyle images to look just right.
The same is true of professional headshots. A professional experienced in headshot photography should be able to make anyone look great – no matter how unphotogenic that person thinks he or she is. Because, in my experience, almost everyone thinks they’re unphotogenic. But the reality is, anyone can look photogenic with the right photographer. (Read more about headshot photography here.)
These were the two biggest reasons this law firm decided to hire me – as I specialize in shooting both headshots and lifestyle images for professional service industries.
So, if you are a company that falls under the category of “professional services”, be sure to put your best foot forward online and hire a professional photographer that specializes in headshots and in-office-lifestyle images!
Want to learn more? Reach out anytime!
Tags: professional photographer