Branding and 2025

Happy New Year!

2025 is here, and it’s great time to think about your brand, how you’re perceived, and how to up your branding game. If you’re a business or individual, you may say you’ve never invested in your brand so you really don’t have one – the reality is, you do. The question is whether it’s the brand you really want or is best for your business or your career.

There are many books and articles about branding, so I won’t get into it here – suffice to say your brand is how people think of you/your business. It’s more than just a logo – it’s your identity, what makes you different, how you’re perceived, what you stand for, etc..

Virtually anything you publish (including your website), your LinkedIn profile, social media accounts, marketing materials, advertising (if you do so), is part of your brand. Which is why being deliberate, thoughtful, consistent, and insuring everything “that’s out there” reflects how you want to be perceived is key to successful branding. And branding is an essential part of your overall marketing strategy.

With respect to branding/marketing, here are some trends we expect to see accelerated in 2025:

·         Marketing is playing an increasingly important role in attracting new customers

·         Technology, including AI, the broad use of multimedia, and online social/business networking is facilitating personalization of branding

o   Clients want to know about you and they want to feel more “connected” – like you understand them, relate to them and understand their particular needs/concerns

·         Potential clients, particularly those seeking professional services increasingly are using a combination of approaches to finding the right fit – including referrals, word of mouth/networks, online directories, platforms such as LinkedIn,

·         Perception/branding – how you’re perceived across these various ways of being found is becoming increasingly important.

So where do headshots fit with these trends? When someone visits your about page on your website or your LinkedIn profile, they’re looking to learn more about you – and the first thing they will see is your profile picture. Studies have shown that an initial impression is formed is as little as 80msec – are you trustworthy, experienced, approachable, knowledgeable. That image of you/your team should not only show you in the best light (sorry, couldn’t resist!), but also reflect your brand. Imagine you’re looking for a surgeon for a major procedure and his/her profile picture was poorly lit, no expression, and look like it was taken at a friend’s wedding – would you contact that surgeon or keep looking?

Effective branding is more important now than ever before – take control of your brand, your image to put your best foot forward with the best image of you!