How Do Real Photos Attract Relevant Buyers?

Scott: Hello and welcome to the show. Today, you'll hear the advice from photography and visual storytelling expert, John a D'Amato. At a time when stock photos and some AI generated images are instantly recognizable. Uh, John is here to explain the difference it makes when speakers, authors, coaches, and consultants hire a professional photographer to take branding photos for their business.

Thanks for joining me today. John A. Demato is a professional photographer whose love of visual storytelling and photography started when he was in television. For a while. Photography was a side hobby, but he loved it so much. He made it his full-time gig. And he was able to integrate his TB producer experience into his work to create an end-to-end experience that provides clients not only with the hyper-specific visual assets

they need to create a perception of authority in the eyes of those. They serve.

But also making sure those clients feel natural, comfortable, and photogenic in the process. Along with serving speakers, authors, coaches, and consultants, he's also had opportunities to work with other branding and live event photographers.

And someone like John can be really invaluable to a brand. A visual storyteller who sees these photos as a never-ending story. And a way to uniquely convey. A visual message. That connects with an audience. And that's a lot more than what a stock photo can do.

John: Yeah, stock photos are a dirty word to me and and and it's not and it's not because You know, there's some level of resentment towards, Oh, someone's using a stock photo. You should be hiring me. It's not really about that. There's plenty of opportunities out there to work with some amazing people that see the value in what I do.

But more specifically when talking about stock photography, what you're doing is you're cutting off your opportunity to connect with people more deeply than, um, if you were to use images that Involved you, your team and the people that you serve, because At the end of the day, regardless of what your business is and how you position yourself out into the world, you are in the business of building relationships.

And as a result, there is a important need for you to be able to create image content that draws people in, not just because they think that you can solve their problems, but also that you resonate with them on another level and specifically with your essence and personality and how you present yourself as a human being, because we work with human beings.

We are human beings. As a result, when you're using a stock photo, your Basically saying to them, that's not important. Here's how I can help you. Here's all the people that I've served and just focus on that. It's not really enough.

It's all about strategy. It all starts with a phone call, whether I'm photographing branding photos or I'm. Covering an event for authors photographing their books. It doesn't matter before that camera comes out of my bag. I am on the phone with these people asking a litany of questions to be able to unearth the who they are.

Who they serve, the problems they solve and how they solve those problems. And I'm also learning about how they want to be perceived by their audience and the ethics of their personality that they want to convey. When you combine those pieces, those high level pieces together, that's what helps inform me of what they're going to wear where we're going to shoot the activities in which they're engaged in front of the camera and the types of emotions that need to be conveyed in these images. Those answers become a very detailed shot sheet that I then bring into the branding session. And if it's for an event session or a book session, the questions are a little bit different based on the nature of what I'm photographing, but the philosophy is still the same.

Strategize beforehand, get the ideas down, have a very organized list of what needs to be photographed and then execute.

Scott: Okay. So that's the process. And if John's working with you, you'll find out how comprehensive it all is. And that's a good thing.

Think about two of the core principles we've talked about here, when it comes to what it takes for content to stand out today. You have to consider whether sticking to the basics is enough. And a lot of times it isn't enough because there's just too much to compete with. And you also have to consider repetition. The overlap. Your target audience, seeing the same things all the time, reading the same things all the time. And in this case, It's possible that if you're not leaving your photography to a professional, you might find yourself kind of defaulting to what you've seen other people do.

And then you do that on your site and it doesn't make a connection.

Like any other type of content, people will do that because they've seen other people like them do that. I mean, how many times have you seen a personal brand take a photo that you've seen other personal brands take? Probably a lot. Maybe it's another photo of someone smiling and randomly looking up to the left or right. Almost like they're thinking or happy to be thinking.

Maybe it's a photo where they're doing simple things like drinking coffee, petting a dog or cat. Or maybe they just shoot a ton of shots where they just look overly excited. With exaggerated smiles, laps, and poses. And the audience might think. What is this supposed to tell me?

I mean, maybe they don't have someone like John who can tap into the more unique and professional approaches to taking the right kinds of photographs of you. So he can highlight all the things he just talked about and making sure these photos align with your brand. Your copy. And everything else your audience sees about you.

John: Yeah, no, they got a template from somebody and, oh, I have to capture all of these things when in reality, none of these things are actually connected to them. And it all ties back to this one very important thing to keep in mind, you know, before anyone steps in front of the camera. Don't ever put on a show.

Being yourself is more than enough. And the reason is because, you know, there are aspects of your day to day life, of your process, of the way you serve your people, of the way you live your life, and what's most important to you. There's plenty of meat in that. On that bone for you to be able to share with your people and therefore you come off in a more genuine type of way, which is the goal ultimately, because if you're putting up a false front, you are going to attract the wrong types of clients, the clients that are going to not resonate with you.

And there's a lot of friction and who knows what's gonna. Come of that relationship, but the point being is if you cut that off at the past by being extremely genuine in your image content and show the world are in this case, specifically the people that you serve that are following you or that are attracted to you based on the images you share, you're now giving them a real slice of what it looks like to be in your world and in some of the images, what it's like to actually work with you and that's the best way to go about it. There's the, you mentioned the wildly smiling shot. Don't forget the confetti thrown in the air or blowing balloons or blowing bubbles or any of that stuff.

It's like, listen, for some people that actually is a fit. For some, some business owners, that is a fit, um, but not for all. And if just because you saw someone else do it and they got all this engagement and everything doesn't necessarily mean that that similar engagement is coming your way. So just stick to who you are.

Scott: While we're on the subject of the typical photo and getting the right photos for your brand. Obviously one of the most common personal brand photos is a headshot. Which makes sense. However John says, get that. But then think bigger.

Don't limit your photos to just you looking at the camera. The last thing you want to do is limit yourself to thinking, okay, well, which one of these similar photos should I use? Where.

John: It all comes back to the strategy that we mentioned before, you know, what you need to do before you start thinking about investing in any type of photography is take stock and where you're at right now. Look at all of the major touch points across your online presence. You start with the home base, your website, see what those images are like.

Are they up to date? Do you recognize that person? Does it represent where you are in your business right now? Does it convey aspects of your personality that you want to share with your audience? Do you look like you're worth more than you charge in these images? And if the answer is no, it's time to update them.

And that goes for any type of media and promotional kit materials, your social profiles, your online content, any printed materials, any giveaways, PDFs, any presentations where you're leveraging image content. And in addition. To the copy that's on those slides or graphs or illustrations, charts, whatever, you know, you have to be very intentional when it comes to thinking about the types of images that, uh, you need.

And then when you're actually in the session, the goal is not just to get, you know, 1 headshot. The goal is to get a variety and it could be in the same location. It could be the same outfit, but you have 6 different slightly different expressions that convey different aspects of your personality. And then when you layer on top, the promotional images with the wider portraits with the headshot and some other stuff.

Then you also have your promote, uh, lifestyle images, the ones that show, as I said before, the process and the behind the scenes and how you serve your people. When you layer all that together, it's very comprehensive and it gives people a lot of information on, on you to paint that broader picture.

Scott: When it comes to a brand evolving or modernizing its content marketing today. One common roadblock can be thinking that a certain type of content strategy. Well, for whatever reason, just won't work for you. And this case may be you think, well, we're not a very visual business. Or we don't think we have anything exciting or sexy to take photos of in our business.

You know, something like that. As with other aspects of evolving your content strategy. All this does is limit your ability to take things to a new level or stand out.

And if you think. photographs might not be good for your business. Well, John has a few things you should consider.

John: If you are a service based business, this conversation is for you and you are the type of person that would require these types of visual assets to be able to tell your story to those that you serve. And in terms of being different from client to client, well, there are overlaps. We can start there. And that's what the promotional images, the directly addressing camera headshot and the portraits and those types of things.

Um, Any type of business owner is going to need those, especially if they're promoting themselves outside of their own website. That's a given, but where the differentiation comes is in the candid lifestyle portraits, because, you know, as you said, there are different industries out there and the key is understanding.

Uh, how to share these images that illustrate the process of what they're doing and the, um, the value that it brings and how the clients actually work with the business and showing that fly on the wall experience. I mean, any business. Can do that. I've worked with people that strictly work on computers, and yet we've come up with a wide variety of images.

You know why? Because there's other aspects to that person's life that they also need to share. And there's other aspects to their process beyond that of just typing on the laptop. You know, you mentioned the thinking photos before being overused. If you create those kinds of moments of reflection and rumination or, and then you add in, say, some brainstorming notes with a pad and pen or typing on a phone, all of a sudden that becomes uniquely you.

Because in addition to sharing aspects of your personality through your facial expression and your body language, you're also showing them that you're putting in the work. Before the work and that helps to reinforce credibility that you use what you say you actually do it.

Scott: Another thought that might prevent someone from hiring a professional to take photos is their smartphone. I mean, they really do take good photos. And one of the more popular photo ops is at a speaking engagement. So couldn't you just have a friend or colleague snap, a few shots of you on a stage or in front of a crowd. Or is there still some key advantages to that professional touch?

John: And therein lies the difference between someone taking out their handy dandy smartphone and snapping a quick one versus a professional that's dedicated to shooting the entire speech from the beginning, middle and end, including everything that happens before the moment that they hit the stage to the moment after they're packing up their stuff and heading to the airport.

The goal is to create a wealth of visual variety. It's not about the one photo. You mentioned the one photo before and that's fine and you can post that and actually, in fact, it's not either or when it comes to smartphone photos of people in in attendance versus a professional. It's yes. And because they serve different purposes.

The smartphone photo is great for the moment to showcase people actually caring enough or being interested or inspired enough to take the photo of you because you've been crushing it on that stage. And that's great. But the photos from the professional, uh, the wide shots, the medium shots, the close ups, showing the audience engaging and participating, showing different ranges of emotion and body language from the speaker, him or herself, all of those images become, uh, valuable collateral that you can use for a wide array of purposes across the online presence.

And that's what also helps build that credibility.

Scott: When you look at it that way, then you start thinking about the real impact shots and all the opportunities you might miss if you just have a couple of photos taken with a smartphone.

Because there is just something about a photo showing you speaking to a group of people. At an event or on a stage. And yeah. What about some of those shots of the audience responding to you?

I think a lot of people recognize the power of public speaking or public speaking opportunities. So it's a good photo to get. But it's also a very tough opportunity to get some times. So what if you're somebody who wants that photo or wants that speaking opportunity? But you haven't had one yet.

What do you do then?

Do you just take a photo looking like you're speaking to people and superimpose elements that make it look like you're in an event or on a stage into that photo. Or is there something else you can do to show that you have a comfort zone of speaking or somebody might be able to visualize what it might look like if you spoke at their event or at their company.

John: I actually get that often from folks, especially from the emerging speakers in the community that I serve. It's not exactly a, uh, uh, ideal solution in terms of showing you in front of an audience because the ideal solution is you being photographed in front of an audience.

But nevertheless, during the branding sessions that I conduct specifically with speakers, one of the lifestyle scenarios that I capture is of speakers, talking directly to the camera as if they were presenting on stage. the setup is a blank background and they're not moving their body, but they're moving their face and their hands.

And I direct them to push everything towards the camera and deliver their keynote so that they have the natural flow and up and down of it so that their face moves and their arms and hands move. So that I just sit there and snap, snap away. And then. On the back end of that, when the client has the photos, they can then go to their team, have them cut out of that background and be put on any background possible.

Now, it could be a fake stage, or it could be some kind of, uh, just an artistic background. But the point being is that that image is showing the audience, the viewer of the website, what it actually looks like when they speak, while it is not The best, you know, ideal solution. It is definitely a good stopgap because it at least is showing their audience what it actually looks like when they present.

Scott: All right. So there are clearly a lot of great and meaningful reasons to hire a professional photographer for your brand photos. But let's make sure we cover some other important factors that businesses have to consider. Like budget. Quality. Getting exactly what you need.

 And making sure it's all a good investment. in money and time.

John: Well, the 1st place to start is to, uh, when it comes to figuring out what you need is. What does your foundation look like in terms of I, you know, I usually point people towards focusing on looking at their branding photos first before they get into any speaking or coaching or training coverage, uh, or conferences, whatever they're running or a part of because the branding images have.

a ton of, uh, possibilities with respect to putting them all over their online presence, you know, the headshots and, and the wider portraits have a lot of flexibility and there's a lot of need for it across all of those touch points. So once that stuff is, you know, addressed, then they can start thinking about, Investing in the event stuff that they do now, if they already have, you know, really well established branding photos and they recognize themselves and it's all on point and they feel good about how they are positioned in those images.

Then obviously you can think. About the, uh, event stuff. Now, in terms of budget money wise, finding the right photographer, everybody's different. You know, everybody's in a different place. But the 1 thing that I could say about that is regardless of. You know, where you live, there are photographers everywhere that are specific specialists to what you need, regardless of how much, you know, you're willing to spend.

Your goal is to find 1 of those specialists that have worked with people just like you before so that when they photograph you, they get it right the 1st time so that you're not stuck having to pay for a 2nd session. which is unfortunately a common problem in this expert community. So do your homework and be sure to find a photographer that fits your budget range, but also as a specialist.

And the third thing to that is that they are the type of person that you will have a rapport with that you can vibe with because if you feel uncomfortable with this person, Behind the camera, you're going to look terrible in front of the camera because it's going to be written all over your face as a result, you know, aside from the strategy call that happens, you get to suss them out in the inquiry call the initial call that you have with them so that you're able to know, okay, I can work with this person for 246 hours and it's going to be just fine.

That is a huge part that people also need to take into account, not just the money,

 at the end of the day, you know, what's the cost of you not doing it? What is the cost of you not investing in these images to be able to put out into the world so that people that need you to help them get past whatever is holding them back can identify you? recognize you, connect with you, follow you, engage your content, and then ultimately get to the point where they're ready to buy.

 The question is, if you don't do it, you miss out on that opportunity. And what's that worth to you by not doing it?

 It's tough to put hard numbers on the value of images, but the ROI. That's an example of what the ROI is. You know, if you're in a 50 50 race with somebody, the smallest thing could make the difference. Now, I'm not here to say that, oh, it's just because of the pictures that that happened.

I mean, that's ridiculous. But the point being is that when you put all your ducks in a row, This is what gives you the opportunity to have the leg up. And if you find yourself losing these 50 50, uh, calls to other experts in your space, I mean, obviously a reevaluation of everything in your pitch that you're providing them or in the contract or however they're, they're, um, the proposal I meant to say, um, You know, images and visual content and all of that stuff related to visual storytelling is something that also needs to be considered.

Scott: Now what's another thing people like when they're considering making an investment like that. How about proof? What other people say. So I asked John if he could think of a specific story. That demonstrates how professional photos can be a key difference maker for a business.

John: A couple of years ago, I had a client who is now, a close friend. But at the time I was just introduced to her. She hated photos, hated being front of the camera, didn't really want to do it, but eventually bit the bullet and decided after us having some conversations to to do it. We went through the strategy session.

She flew to New York. We conducted the branding photo session in Manhattan, and then she then Shared these photos online updated her website did the whole thing fast forward a couple of months and She reached out to me and was all excited because she had booked this this gig that was a high ticket gig and I'm like that that's awesome.

And she said to me when I talked to her to the contact person at that company. And I asked her what was the difference because she knew she was in a 50 50 race with another expert. The difference that that person said was the way she came off in her pictures. And I thought that was pretty awesome.

Scott: So let's say we've really outlined everything we've needed to cover as to why it's important for you to seek out. Uh, way to create humanized engaging connective images as part of your brand's, that's obviously shot by a professional photographer. But there's still this one barrier that you're already concerned about, and that is

How am I going to look on camera and everything that comes along with imposter syndrome or just a self-consciousness of being in front of the camera. John says you need to let that go. And focus on what matters most.

John: There is this perception. you know, that if you, if the photo doesn't, you know, look good, then you can't use the photo. So what you're doing is you're focusing all of the value of the photo on the vanity that you feel towards it, as opposed to the value that this image could provide you, your team, your company, and your brand, to be able to draw in the right types of people that you want to help.

So I think it's important for people to learn how to, For the lack of a better phrase, get over themselves. Now, if the photo has, uh, if the image has you wearing a shirt where there's a coffee stain on it or there's some kind of wardrobe malfunction or your hair is kind of weird a little bit, I understand that, and that can be fixed.

But if you want to shave 20 pounds off your face and your body and 30 years off your face. That's the kind of stuff that you need to avoid. Because again, what we're trying to do here is create genuine connections with people and bring them in from an honest place and not put on a show in front of, uh, you know, in front of them when they're digitally introduced to you through those images.

So always remember that the value of the image. In however way you choose to use it across your online presence is more important than the vanity that you feel, or more, more importantly, the perceived imperfections that you have about yourself to shut it off and throw it out because ultimately, at the end of the day, the more variety you put out there, the more interesting you are, and the more opportunities you're creating to connect.

 So that's why it's essential to be able to long story short, get over yourself and look at the images with a more critical and strategic eye so that you can intentionally leverage them across your online presence to be able to give yourself the opportunity to bring in the types of people that you want to serve. .

 You're in the business of building relationships. And if you don't look like the person that you are in your photos as you are in real life, when these people in real life meet you, they're gonna be like, Who the hell is this person? And that immediately kills the opportunity to build trust with them.

 They're not worried about you in that sense. What they're worried about is how can they help them. That's it. That's all they're worried about. They don't they don't care if you walk around with a bag on your head as long as you can deliver on your promise.

That's all that matters to them.