Picture the scene: you pop open your laptop, excited to share a new post on LinkedIn. You know exactly what to write, how to structure it, and why you should share it - to build brand awareness and generate excitement about what you're up to. This way, you get seen, get discovered, and continue to build your brand.
You also know that you now have a whole host of amazing personal brand photographs you can choose from to go alongside your posts. Photographs that you are proud of.
Because of this, creating social media content is something you look forward to, as you invariably get such a great response from people, and this, of course, often translates into new connections and, ultimately, new work!
Now you feel confident to engage with potential investors, respond to that podcast that reached out for an interview, and so much more. Because you’ll have some clear talking points, a compelling founder story, and some great shots to send them for publicity.
And that goes for pitch decks, websites, and a whole host of other public-facing assets too - finally, you can update your aging profile photos with images that truly represent your energy.
You’re busy as a founder - juggling so many tasks and ideas, maybe you’re in your formulation stages, pulling together ideas for a venture that excites you, or maybe at a time where you’re considering expansion and growth.
It can sometimes feel like there’s no let up with very few hours in the day and you know that you need to focus your attention to ensure things work and stay on track, but In order to spread the word about what you are doing and build brand awareness you know that you need to spend time focussing on your brand and your message, but this never seems to get prioritised - largely because you don’t know where to start with it all or what to share to make it effective.
What’s also frustrating is that you see your competitors sharing great content and fabulous photos of themselves, in conversation, behind the scenes and looking natural - they seem to be getting tons of traction with their content and they make it look so effortless!
It's possible that you've taken a course or read a few books on self-promotion and branding, and they've inspired you to try some things out.
But it was a little hit-and-miss; some things would fall flat. Mostly, you felt like you were just copying and pasting a few formulas, so you were disengaged and uninspired by the whole process. You actually want to share something real, some of your foundational story, your purpose, and reasons why what you do matters, but you have no idea where to start and you dread ‘oversharing’ and it going against you.
And then there are your current headshots - wow, you went to a portrait photographer because you knew you needed to because selfies just wouldn't cut it anymore, but the whole process felt forced, fake - like a production line. The photographer didn't engage with you or show much interest.
You weren’t given any tips on how to relax or dress for the shoot, so you didn't feel at all comfortable - literally you had to 'grin and bear it', and the end results look awful, ultimately, you parked them on your hard drive never to be seen again.