headshot or no headshot? what does personal branding mean...today

I think a head shot is important, I think many consumers have perceptions about realtors and mortgage people and having a head shot on your business card and promotional material allows the consumer to see you as a real person and to be able to identify with you.

I totally agree with you. It is important to personalize your marketing materials. Make these people remember you.

The only problem I have with using an agent's photo in marketing is that it's become cliche to an extent.  The horizontal business card, with a portrait on the left and company name, address, phone & email to the right does nothing to distinguish one agent from the next.  And that may be one of the biggest marketing challenges we face today, with so many competitors in our industry. 

The public can't seem to distinguish one agent from another.  They make no distinction between quality or experience or education..we're all the same in the eyes of the majority of consumers.  So fighting that conformity and democratization of the agent image is something we should all consider.

In my market it is so cliche to have your photo on everything you publish. Agents even have their photos on the dividers you use at the grocery store to keep your items separate from the other people in line. While standing in line I have heard on numerous occasions what a ego that person must have! While it is important to brand ourselves it is also important to know what our clients and prospective clients want from us and provide marketing directed to meeting their needs not our egos.

Best,

Scott 

As ugly as I am I still use my headshot as offtend as possible, I know it help with a personal brand.

Personal branding is everything in this day and age.  Especially because of the amount of competition we are faced with.  Clients have to be able to set you apart from others.  Obviously certain people are more photogenic, but there are ways everyone could take a picture that represents them.  "A picture says a thousand words."

 

I need a new photo... ond that looks less "Realtory" ... mine is old. I want something artsy and black and white... 

When I got in the business we did not have our photos on cards.  I remember the discussions about how it would help us brand ourselves.  I remember thinking "ick."

Sometimes I wish we did not have our photos on our business cards (and I have some without my photo) but I think it gives people letting us into their homes (getting into our cars) some security that we do use business cards with photos.  Yes if someone other than a real estate agent wanted to have cards printed up with their pictures they could, but a crime of opportunity posing as a real estate agent to enter a home is less likely because most agents have a photo business card.  Using a secure lockbox and sellers being aware of security, is important of course. 

 

 

My  new business card does not have my photo - my reasoning, is, I want something that I can stick on a magnet and give to someone and they'll put it on their fridge, so I chose a nice landscape photo that I took and am using that.

I have a black and white photo on my current card and I hate it - because the guy doing the printing took my beautiful soft focus photo and screwed with it to make it "sharp" and VERY contrasty and the secretary didn't know what I wanted and went ahead and okayed the proof (it looked fine for her; she was only looking for typos, she assumed that was the picture I wanted.)   Now it looks like a cheap Xerox - I have this ghostly face and my hair is the same color as the background... and I wanted to know who he thought he was, "fixing" something that I didn't ask him to fix. ....  He'll never get my business again.  He should have asked ME, not the office secretary....

I'll try it again some day, but with overnightprints.com, not this clown.  I usually like to go local if I can, but not only was he extremely slow, he obviously has no sense of "art".  LOL  I know I sound harsh...but it made me MAD.   

Does this billboard make me look fat?

True, so true!  I really like your statement. 

We have recently formed a great group called The Optimist.  I think you will find like minded people there and many more networking opportunities in the future.  Brett Noel, Michael Tarrabotto, Gene Wunderlich and in the near future the fantastic Scott Black, the motivational speaker.  I am inviting you to become a member of that group and contribute your great blogs there.  I hope to see you there!

yet, it is so strange that some realtors do not change their headshots for years and often even decades....