Photographs featuring people visually communicates your culture and helps clients and prospects connect with your firm. Having a professional photographer take head shots and group shots saves you time and money. You can then use these pictures for a multitude of print and digital marketing materials, as I’ll explain below.
Nothing is worse than when you have half the employees with professional head shots and the other taken unprofessionally. So, whom within your company needs a professional photo? The owners, leadership team, marketing, business development, and those employees that are responsible for client retention and engagement. For the design and construction industry, this would include studio lead managers, project managers, superintendents, marketing, and business development employees. If you submit someone in a proposal, then you will need to have a professional head shot.
Beyond proposals, these head shots can also be used for press releases (announcing promotions or new hires), social media (LinkedIn profile picture) and your website. Nothing is worse than a bad headshot of someone you want to convey as a team player, good communicator, and great designer or builder. A picture is worth a thousand words, so make sure you put your best foot — and face — forward.
If your office isn’t very big, you’ll probably need to have employees go to the photographer’s studio. But if you have enough employees, many professional photographers will come to your office to take all your head shots.. This means less time spent away from the office for your employees, too. You can stage some pictures of employees working at their desk, engaging in a company meeting, or working with technology. Capturing your employees in action shows ‘real’ people interacting in your office. This helps portray your company culture, too. If you have a cool breakroom or fitness room, then make sure to capture employees utilizing this space.
It’s especially important for contractors to take pictures of employees working on a jobsite, but architects and engineers could utilize these pictures in their marketing, too. This allows clients, prospects, and potential employees to see your jobsites and how they’re organized. Make sure the photographer is accompanied on the jobsite by the superintendent to ensure nothing that is against OSHA is recorded. Taking pictures of team members working together on a jobsite or walking the jobsite with an owner gives clients and prospects an idea of how your firm operates — regardless of whether you’re an architect, engineer, or contractor.
These types photographs can also be used in a variety of places. In proposals, when you are talking about what makes your firm a fun place to work, you can use these interactive employee pictures. They also help enhance the Careers or About Us pages on your website, as well as recruitment trade show banners. Photos also grab attention in social media posts, so use them on any platform to talk about the company culture and being a great place to work.
Truthfully, most people won’t even realize you are re-purposing your photos across different materials. The life span of the photography is about 3-4 years, though, after which it will start to look a little dated. Also, if you had an instrumental employee leave to work for a competitor, then you’d want to remove those photos in any existing materials and avoid using them in the future. In order to be able to get the most longevity from your photos, try to get different angles and people in the pictures.
Pictures of your people are worth the small investment, because you can use them in so many ways. It also is gathering important history of your firm, too. Photography can be priceless, especially when you find the right professional to capture those pictures.
