A case study with Kate Daniel Photography

When was the last time you had professional photos taken of your people and your brand? What about specific photos that tell the story of your brand – have you ever done that? Let me explain more… I’m not talking about the selfie group shot taken at the last team get together, the front door of your office, or the headshot you did when you first joined LinkedIn. I’m talking about a set of photos that really tells the story of your business. Shows who you are, in your element, with the people that make it happen.

We get it, we are in the same boat. We haven’t updated our photos and headshots for more years than I care to mention. Too long, but lucky for us we were able to work with Kate Daniel Photography as she continues to launch her Brand Storytelling photo sessions. We were thrilled to work with her on this and since we feel it’s such an important part of the way your company can connect with your customers we wanted to share more about our experience.

“As our world continues to move more online, we have a unique opportunity to connect with our customers on a new level. A business is no longer just about the products it sells or the services it offers. Customers, today, long to connect with the real life people at the heart of a business. Brand storytelling photo sessions are important because they allow business owners to showcase who they are and the values they stand by. By creating photos that showcase the stories of our business and personal lives, our ideal clients get to know, like and trust us at a much deeper level. And, ultimately, we are more likely to do business with people that we know, like and trust.” – Kate, Kate Daniel Photography

Why did we want to have Brand Storytelling photos done?

Brand storytelling photos are critical for a business to have a collection of to showcase what you are really about, and who you are as individuals and a team. They can show place, space, personality, and connection in one fell swoop. They are different than other corporate office, team or headshot photos that offices typically get. You can say so much more with brand story photos. Connecting with our audiences is the best marketing move any of us can make.

We wanted (and needed) them for a website refresh, social media posts to go with key messaging as well as marketing materials. We would also use them for presentations and request for proposals. It’s a great way to stand out and continue to present ourselves as a boutique agency and husband/wife founder team.

We are very happy with the outcome of this experience. It feels like we have a fun collection of images to use in all the ways we wanted and more. I wish we had done it sooner, but it’s always hard to make the time for our own projects. This has prompted us to get moving on the things we know we want to share with our audience.

They show who we are, connect the work with the people and the team. To show that we are the boutique company we want to come across as, but have the skills of a large digital agency. The feel of the photos helps that come across.

Did you have any hesitations ahead of time? 

No, but it is always nerve-racking to plan, get ready for and fully show up for a detailed photo shoot. You want to be in the right frame of mind and a good mood all around so that you show yourself in the best light possible – figuratively and literally. Otherwise, Kate did a great job of asking the right questions and talking us through what was going to happen, ideas for shot list and settings.

To do these brand story photos justice, you need to think about things a bit more. How can you visually showcase what your business does? What you are like as people, professionally and personally, and what is your environment like? Kate will help clients sort through this approach and ensure the right tone, location and approach is taken.

 

What do the photos mean to you? 

Especially in this time of virtual… everything, it’s really great to share real photos of us and share more insight into who we are and what we are about. Doing that verses stock photography that might be polished, but say very little about who we are. We wanted to start to expand on what our business stands for and represent that in a vibrant and bold way.

We were also thrilled to get photos done with our adopted Weimaraner, in our backyard that we have been painstakingly renovating, bit by bit the past two years. That was a real thrill and great keepsake for us. The icing on top was that we really enjoyed the process of taking and planning the photos. It’s even sweeter when we enjoy journey on the way to bigger things. Hopefully, it’s something you will consider doing for your business along this journey.