5 Ways to Use Your Brand Photos After Your Session
You booked the branding session.
You planned the outfits. You showed up. You got the gallery back. You downloaded your favorites.
And then…they sat in Dropbox.
Maybe you changed your Instagram profile picture. Maybe you posted a few favorites from the session. Maybe you finally updated the photo on your About page.
But six months later, you still have dozens of images you love and absolutely no idea what to do with them.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
A lot of business owners know they need brand photos. They know their current images are outdated, their website needs a refresh, or they’re tired of recycling the same three headshots.
What they don’t always have is a strategy for how those images will actually be used.
And that’s where I think we need to shift the conversation around branding photography.
Your Brand Photos Need a Job
Here’s my hot take: we’re moving away from taking brand photos just to show people what you do.
For a long time, branding photography followed a pretty predictable formula.
What do you do?
Where do you work?
What tools do you use?
What props can we bring?
Laptop? Check.
Coffee cup? Check.
Notebook? Check.
Standing at a desk pretending to type? We’ve all seen it.
And there’s nothing inherently wrong with those photos. Sometimes they make complete sense for your brand.
But I don’t want to choose props or create an entire shot list simply because we feel like those are the things you’re supposed to have in a branding session.
I want to know what we’re trying to communicate.
What story are we telling?
What are you promoting over the next several months?
Where are these images actually going to show up?
What does your audience need to understand about you before they decide to work with you?
You don’t necessarily need to come to me with all of those answers figured out. In fact, many of my clients don’t.
You might just know, “Jessica, I need new photos.”
That’s okay.
Part of my job is helping us think beyond simply taking pretty pictures and creating a gallery that can actually support your business.
So once you have those photos, here are five ways to get them out of your Dropbox and into your marketing.
1. Refresh Your Website
Your website is one of the first places your new brand photos should go.
And I don’t just mean swapping out your headshot on the About page.
Think about your:
Homepage
About page
Services pages
Contact page
Blog
Sales pages
Testimonials
Banners and headers
Calls to action
This is also why variety matters during your branding session.
A tight portrait might be perfect for your About page, while a wider horizontal image gives your web designer room for text. A photo with negative space can become a banner. A more personality-driven image might work perfectly next to a call to action.
When we know how your photos may be used, we can intentionally create images that work in those spaces.
2. Build a Social Media Content Library
Please don’t post five of your favorite photos the week you receive your gallery and then never touch them again.
Your branding gallery can give you content for months.
Use your photos for educational posts, personal stories, client testimonials, service highlights, announcements, behind-the-scenes posts, thought leadership and even those random Tuesday posts when you know you need to say something but have absolutely no idea what photo to use.
They can also become the foundation for Canva graphics, carousel covers, Reel covers, quote graphics and Stories.
And here’s where strategy starts making a huge difference.
Instead of asking, “What props should I bring to my session?” we can start asking, “What am I going to be talking about this quarter?”
Maybe you’re launching a new offer.
Maybe you’re trying to book more speaking engagements.
Maybe you want to talk more about a specific part of your story.
Maybe your business is shifting and you need your audience to see you differently.
That gives us something to create around.
3. Use Them in Your Email Marketing
Your email list sees enough plain text and stock graphics.
Give them YOU.
Brand photos can be incorporated into newsletters, email headers, launch sequences, welcome emails and promotional campaigns.
If you’re launching something new, think about how much stronger the campaign can feel when you already have images created specifically around that story or offer.
And don’t forget seasonal campaigns.
Black Friday. The holidays. New Year. Spring launches. Mother’s Day. An anniversary for your business.
If we know those campaigns are coming, we can create imagery during your session that gives you options when it’s time to market them.
You don’t have to scramble for a photo every single time you send an email.
4. Promote Your Speaking, Podcast and PR Opportunities
If someone emailed you tomorrow and asked for a professional photo for a podcast feature, speaking engagement or magazine article, what would you send them?
Would it represent who you are and what your business looks like right now?
Your branding gallery can become your personal media library.
Use those images for:
Speaker bios
Conference promotions
Podcast features
Press and media kits
Guest articles
LinkedIn
Awards and announcements
PR opportunities
Having professional images ready to go makes it so much easier to say yes when opportunities come your way.
And if speaking, media or thought leadership is a big part of where your business is headed, that should influence what we photograph during your session, too.
5. Market Your Next Launch, Offer or Big Idea
This might be my favorite one because it brings everything full circle.
Your branding session doesn’t have to be about documenting what your business looks like today.
It can help you market where you’re going next.
If you know you’re launching a course, opening a new service, hosting a retreat, releasing a podcast, speaking at an event or making a big shift in your business, let’s think about that before we start taking pictures.
What will you need to announce it?
What will you need for the sales page?
What could you use on social media?
What story do you want your audience to understand?
What feeling should the campaign have?
Suddenly we’re not just taking pictures of you holding a laptop because you’re a business owner.
We’re creating visual assets around something you actually need to communicate.
Stop Letting Your Brand Photos Sit in Dropbox
A branding session should give you more than a collection of pretty pictures.
It should give you options.
Photos for the website.
Photos for Instagram.
Photos for the email you haven’t written yet.
Photos for the speaking opportunity you don’t know is coming.
Photos for the offer you’re building behind the scenes.
Photos that help tell people who you are, what you do, what you care about and where your business is going.
And no, you don’t need to have the entire strategy mapped out before you book your session.
You just need to know that your photos should do more than sit in a gallery.
We’ll figure out the story we need to tell from there.
If your current brand photos aren’t keeping up with the business you’re building, it might be time to create something new.
Ready to get your brand photos out of Dropbox and into your marketing? Inquire about a branding session and let’s create images you’ll actually have a plan to use.