Branding Opportunities that will Impress Your Ideal Client

There have been a few eye-opening (and humbling) moments at our studio.

The revelation we're about to share with you completely changed how we presented our event headshot services to future leads.

A large brand hired us to provide headshots at a conference. We attracted a crowd, captured leads, and promoted our client's brand. Participants were pampered with first-class service and they each received a handful of beautiful headshots instantly, complete with a branded email from the sponsoring brand. They were all super happy!

At the end of the event, we were reminding our client that we'd be delivering a private gallery of all the headshot images to them shortly after the event. Their response was, "Oh, I don't need that. You can just burn them."

We were stunned! Burn our beautiful headshots?!?!

Then we realized...their reason for booking our services was NOT the headshot itself! To this client, (who we've worked with several times since then) the most important thing for them was to create a valuable experience that promoted their brand and made THEM look good.

As photographers, it was difficult to realize that our ideal event headshot client doesn't really care about catchlights, soft boxes, image resolution or online galleries.

They care about making a great impression as a brand and attracting as much attention as possible. THEY want to be the hero of the event!

When we started designing our event headshot packages to feature key branding opportunities, we found that we were not only attracting amazing clients, but we made them really happy too!

How can you help turn your event headshot clients into the hero? Consider offering some of these branding opportunities:

Opportunity 1: Branded, curated, live slideshows

As participants wait in line, you can treat them to a beautifully curated slideshow of headshots. People they've watched ahead of them in the line are up on the screen...and they look fantastic! Instead of showing them every image you've taken (awkward ones and all), you can curate the slideshow. The quality of the images reflects on the brand you are representing. Only the best go up on the screen!

Tastefully inserted between those stunning headshots are advertisements from the Sponsor (your client). You can include images and video ads in between your headshot images. It looks super professional and your client will love it!

Opportunity 2: Branded, instant headshot image delivery via email

After participants have their headshots taken, you can deliver the images instantly by email. That email is golden real estate for your client! Use it for a custom message, website links, social media profile links, logos, etc. Be sure to review the subject and message content with your client before the event, and include the suitable privacy disclosure with an approval process (built into the app used to capture lead contact information).

Opportunity 3: The Experience is Branding

Branding is so much more than logo placement. The experience you create directly reflects on the brand/company you're representing.

One of the number one comments we receive from participants is that they've never felt so pampered. With a stylist providing touch-ups, the editor curating only the best images for the slideshow, the assistant serving participants at the image sharing kiosks - these all contribute to the good vibes you are creating for the brand you're representing. From start to finish, make sure the experienced is polished.

That's not the end of the possibilities!

Consider adding even more branding options as up-sells! Be creative as you think through the before, during, and after stages of an event! For example, larger events sometimes will require printed or digital signage to draw the crowd if your headshot setup is located separately in the venue (away from the client's booth at a trade show). Consider offering custom pop-up banners or signage as up-sells to your packages.

Be creative! How can you make your client look like the ultimate hero at the event? What can you do to reflect well on their brand? We'd love to hear what you come up with!