Does Your Brand Inspire Confidence or Confusion? w/Lisa Craig

Long before someone books a call or buys from you, they're already deciding whether or not they trust you.

In this episode, I sit down with Master Brand Photographer and Fractional Marketing Strategist Lisa Craig to talk about how your visuals, messaging and marketing work together to shape the way potential clients perceive you long before you ever even have a conversation.

Lisa explains why brand photography is about much more than having a few profressional headshots. When your photos and content are consistent with your personality, goals and values, they create credibility, build connetion and help potential clients feel confident saying yes. 

When they're not, they can create confusion and make it harder for people to understand who you are, what you do and why they should trust you.

We also discuss:

• Practical ways to show up more effectively online including simple Zoom adjustments that can dramatically improve connection and engagement
• What it means to show up authentically in your marketing, especially in a world filled with AI-generated content, stock photos and filters
• How to use AI tools to save time and generate ideas without sacrificing the authenticity and personal connection that make your brand stand out

If you've ever wondered whether your brand truly reflects the quality of your work, this conversation will help you think differently about the role visuals, messaging, and authenticity play in growing your business.

Links & References:

Come network with us! CLICK HERE to attend your first PWR Connection Network virtual speed networking event at no cost using the promo code  FIRSTTIME

Learn more about Lisa Craig here:  https://www.lisacraigphotography.com

Connect with Lisa on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Lisa Craig

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hello, Lisa. Welcome to the Powerful Women Rising Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hi. So good to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Yes, I'm so excited to have you here. It's always fun to have a guest on the podcast who I met through networking, since that is my thing. And I talk all the time about how many opportunities and connections and collaborations and things can come from networking. So I love to have proof of that when I get to have somebody who I met through networking on the podcast. So so excited to have you. Before we dive into the things that we're going to talk about today, tell everybody a little bit about you and about what you do.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Okay, I'm Lisa Craig with Lisa Craig Photography and Marketing. And basically, I help brands elevate themselves through high-quality photography and also marketing. So I help them dial in their messaging, do their social media or other marketing, as well as have really great brand photos that they can use in all of those materials.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

I love that.

Zoom Eye Contact That Feels Real

SPEAKER_01 1:03

And we were talking before we started recording. Obviously, you've got to be in the same place as somebody when you are photography when you're photographering them. Apparently that's a word. When you are photographing them. But you were saying a lot of the things that you use in your business to make people look good are also applicable when we're talking on Zoom and we want to look good, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Yes, for sure. Like for instance, when we're on Zoom, all too often people are looking at the people on the screen, and that makes it look like you're looking down on them. Instead, you should be looking at the little dot on your screen or wherever your webcam the webcam is. Look at that, and then it's the equivalent of looking at the person. That's hard. It's a really great way to then you make eye contact. If you're looking at the screen, which is what we most want to do, is look at the people, then you aren't making that connection. And that can also create problems when uh you know they're like, how come that person could never look at me? And the thing is, is they're trying, but our instinct is to look at the person's face.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

So yeah, that's a great tip, especially for like virtual networking or something like that. I could imagine people are like, Well, that was an awkward conversation. She was looking down the whole time. And you're like, What? No, I wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

And uh, you know, a trick too that I use is sometimes I just get a little sticky note on one of the little tiny ones, and I will draw a little stick person and put it right above my uh webcam so that I make sure that I'm looking at the stick person.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Yeah, that's smart. Yeah, because it is it's feels weird to not be looking right at you.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Yeah, it does. And uh we're so used to in our communication, we're used to taking our cues, whether somebody's nodding that they are in agreement, or you know, we're we're just looking for those cues. And if we are looking at the dot, we don't see those cues. So you just you just have to go with it. Um, you have to focus on that. And especially if you're wanting to make an impression or a connection with somebody, looking at the camera is important.

Brand Photos As A Business Asset

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Yeah, I love that. So I know that there's a lot about photography that is about proportions and where you position somebody and where they put their arm and how they put their hand and all of those things is very important. But I also know there's so much more to it, especially when we're talking about branding photography, right? Because this isn't like my JCPenney family shot. This is, I want to be telling a story. I want to be conveying who I am, what my business is about, what my values are, what it feels like to be on a call with me, um, what it feels like to work with me. So, what are some of the most common mistakes that you see female entrepreneurs specifically making when it comes to their branding photos?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Well, I think first and foremost, you have to treat your branding photos as an asset for your business. It's not just, you know, a bunch of like fancy pictures. It's not that. Those pictures are what will lend credibility to your business and show your potential clients what it's like to work with you, whether you are relatable, whether they are gonna trust you. All all of that goes into the brand photos. So the biggest mistake comes when you maybe you're working with a photographer that doesn't actually plan your session ahead of time. They just show up and start shooting. I like to plan. I I have a pre-planning session where I walk people through every photo we're gonna take, but it's all based on what are the goals of your business? What are you like where are you going this next six months or this next year? Do you have a product launch? All of those things I take into account. And then together we collaborate to create the shot list. So by the time we are walking into the photo shoot, like the next week or two weeks later, we know exactly what we're doing and we can stay targeted. So I would say that that's really one of the biggest mistakes is people sometimes just jump in, they get some photos, but then they don't even know how to use those photos.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Yeah, yeah, that's that makes total sense. And having gone through all of the stages of like I can take headshots myself with my iPhone, which were, you know, good enough for what they needed to be at the time, to having, you know, a full package with a branding photographer where I did four shoots with her a year and always had updated and new things and and very different experiences of those.

Why Selfies And AI Hurt Trust

SPEAKER_01 6:17

But I'm thinking like for me as a business owner, I think that it's a good chunk of change to get branding photos, right? I won't say it's expensive because that's relative, but it's not free. And and so tell me why if I'm listening to this podcast and I'm like, branding photos sound great, but also I could probably like ask ChatGBT what pictures I should take. I could set up my tripod and like take some pictures of myself at my computer. I could use one of these AI photo generator things and create some branding photos for $30. So why wouldn't I do those things? Why would I have a whole brand shoot? Well, first I have to go, oh, yes. I know. I should have said please don't take offense to this question.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

But okay. So first off, you're 100% spot on. Brand photos are not they are an investment. But so is getting a website, so is getting good systems in your business. It's all r regarding like how do you present your business in the most professional manner because you want people to also pay top dollar for your services. And Chad GPT's pictures and other AI pictures and your selfies and all of that, those are not the best reflection on your brand. What they are is a shortcut. And I put the air quotes on it because when you shortcut your business, the biggest question that comes in my mind as a client is when is she gonna shortcut me? And you don't want to do that. So in businesses that are high trust businesses like real estate, financial planning, uh, coaching, anything like that, you uh need to earn trust first, and you're not gonna do that. Number one, if your picture doesn't even look like you, or if your picture is so old that it looked like you 20 years ago or 10 years ago, you need to have it be real and authentic like you are, and you want it to reflect the quality of the work that you do for your clients. So you want to match that. And yes, it's an investment. Um, and you know, the the old saying about you get what you pay for, it's totally true with brand photos. Now, there is an alternative, and the alternative is still get brand photos and you can get different packages, some are more affordable than others, and then learn how to do some of your own photos where you might be sitting at your desk or something like that. And I offer training for people so that they can take better photos of themselves and use those, they sprinkle those in, not all the time, but they would sprinkle them in to extend their regular photos, their regular brand photos. So you can do some of that on your own, but never use an AI picture to represent your brand or to represent yourself. Yeah. Now, if you're gonna do an image, say you have a product, maybe it's uh okay, say you have a wine product, because you know, who doesn't like wine? And if you want to take a picture of the wine bottle or the wine label, then you can probably fudge that a little bit using some AI, that type of thing. But if you're trying to show what it's like to work with you, make sure you're showing what it's really like to work with you as the real person, not the fake person.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yeah. Yeah, that makes so much sense. While you're talking, I'm thinking of something that keeps coming up in a lot of business conversations I've been having is the client experience, right? And we think about the client experience starts the first time that they connect with you, whether it's the first time they meet with you or they see you on social media or they go to your website. That is the beginning of the relationship that you're gonna have with that person. And so if you think about your photos in those terms, how do you want to present yourself in the beginning of that relationship? What do you want them to think about you, to feel about you, to believe about your business, to um think about what it's gonna be like to work with you, right? And all of those things are a representation of the photos that you have.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Yeah, and and every client, well, okay, 98% of the clients that you're gonna work with, they have already been watching you for however long. And it isn't just one time. They've been watching you for months or at least, you know, uh a few weeks. Um, but they're watching you. So what are they looking at? And what have you given them to look at? Because your the trust in that relationship with your potential client happens long before you even know that they are a potential client. Yeah. And that's what you need to, you know, pay attention to, and that's why you don't want to shortcut or you know, kind of cheap out on uh, you know, what you use to represent yourself.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Yeah.

Authentic Marketing With Personal Balance

SPEAKER_01 12:06

So when it comes to marketing in general, not necessarily photos, although that's a part of it, how do we make ourselves as a brand feel real and relatable and authentic and trustworthy?

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Well, so one of the things that I do, and I try to do this in like my photo shoots, but I encourage my clients to do this, and that is you have to show the various sides of your personality. And sometimes we are silly and crazy, and maybe we say uh the words that everybody else wishes they would say, but they're they just think them, but we say them sometimes. And or or uh, you know, we just do something fun. And I think that's important to show all the different facets of you in all of your marketing. You know, you can still be fun. I mean, if business is just gonna be boring, we're doing it wrong. It should be fun. This is what we're doing the good majority of our day. We should be having fun, and we should also have fun with our clients. We can still be serious, but why not have fun? So I I like to like show different facets in their social media. They can show, uh, oh, you know, tonight I'm gonna go listen to a concert in the park. And that's okay. It does not have to be all perfect, posed, and photographed. It can still be you because it shows that, oh, you like to go to concerts too. So do I. What kind of music do you like? You know, and it it prompts all these other questions. So make you want all of your marketing to really be authentic and you know, showcase just the different elements of who you are, but why people would relate to you and you know, why it would be cool to work with you.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Yeah. I think that's great advice because on social media, especially, and often on people's websites too, I see this like all business all the time, right? And if we think that if we post pictures from what we did on Friday night, or a picture of me hanging out in the hot tub or playing with my dog, or whatever it is that people won't take us as seriously, or you know, people will think that we don't take ourselves seriously, or we're not professional, or we don't know what we're doing. And I really think that it's that balance of personal and professional, like let me see you as a real person and as a business owner that is what connects with people.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Yeah, like like for instance, so the hot tub idea. You could do a picture of yourself in the hot tub on Friday night, and you've got your glass of wine, and you know, your dog is like hanging out next to the hot tub. You could do that picture. But what you could do in the post is say, sometimes when I'm working, it's not at my desk. It's with a glass of wine and it's in my hot tub. And it's a way to show them a little about yourself, but you can still kind of relate that to your business. Yeah. Or sometimes when I get stuck, my best idea comes when I'm sitting in my hot tub. A lot of people say it comes when you're in the shower and you can't write it down. So don't post pictures of that, people. Yeah, don't post pictures of that. People don't want to see that. Or maybe they do, but that's not what you're selling. So, yeah. So I think um you can do other things. Now, would you want to post maybe if you had drank too much? That's probably not the best idea. So I would say no. So you have to be discerning about what you're doing, but you can still uh, you know, it doesn't have to be all business-y all the time. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Yeah. Be discerning and I think be intentional too, right? I think for some people it's like, I'm gonna post all of the political stuff because if somebody doesn't agree with me, I don't want to work with them. Like this is how people can self-select in and self-select out, right? And that's that's a choice, and everybody is entitled to make that choice, but just having that awareness and being intentional that like people are gonna have thoughts, people are gonna have feelings about whatever it is that I post, and I feel okay with that. I I feel good with that because this is an important part of who I am.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Yeah, and you so l just to make sure that I I don't misrepresent this, but you get to um you can show who you are. So if you are, you know, of a a specific religion, you can still show that. Uh you know, you don't have the idea is you still show who you are. Yeah. I do believe that we should be honest and uh not necessarily uh you know post everything we think or everything we do. Um but uh d you know, don't uh like don't lie about who you are either. Be be authentic. Uh you know, if if you uh you know despise uh uh purple uh uh people eaters, then you know, you probably shouldn't be, you know, on the street hobnobbing with the purple people eater. So I think uh it's all about you know showing who you are. If you're a foodie, then show show that. Whether you're cooking or maybe you're at a cool restaurant and you want to share this cool menu that you see, you can share those things. And those are perfect ways to let people get to know you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yeah. And I think the the point that you bring up too about like if this is something that you're strongly opposed to, maybe don't post pictures of yourself doing it. I think part of how we build trust with people is consistency, right? And that's where that authenticity piece is really important because I should get the same experience of who you are when I meet you at a networking event that I get when I look at your social media that I get when I look at your website, right? They're gonna be different content. You're gonna be presenting yourself in somewhat different ways, but I shouldn't feel like I had a conversation with you or we sat down and had coffee for 45 minutes. And then I look at your social media and I'm like, is this even the same person? Right. Like I think that's an important aspect of it too, in terms of building trust through that authenticity and consistency.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Yeah, that underlined that for sure. It's it's all of

AI For Ideas Without Losing Voice

SPEAKER_00 19:04

that. I think the other piece is especially on social media, when uh don't just ask people to like and interact with your things, you need to do that too. And all too often, uh, you know, I see it all the time, people are trying to sell me their things, you know, their their courses and their, you know, whatever their programs are. And yet they never like they advertise to me all day long, but they don't ever interact on my social media. And to me, that makes me feel like, oh, you just want you want me, but only when I am actually going to buy something from you. Yes. And I want to know that you see me, not just when you want something from me.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Yeah, absolutely. Because ultimately, marketing is about creating connections with other people, right? Whether they're potential clients or collaboration partners or whoever it is. And it's very hard to create a connection with someone when it just goes one way. So I know that you are not completely anti-AI. What are some of the ways that entrepreneurs can use AI in their marketing without losing their authenticity and starting to sound like everybody else?

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Yeah, that now that's a great question. I love that. I think um I love AI, so I use it all the time, especially when I'm doing social media for clients. However, AI is really great to avoid the blank page, the dreaded blank page when we don't know what to say and we don't even know where to start. So I would use it for that. But after you get whatever it generates, just know that everything it says is now robotic. It's a pattern that is very uh recognizable in AI. Um so you need to go in and now make it sound like you. Because while it might sound good, it still isn't you. Uh so it like AI does all these long like run-on sentences, or they'll all of a sudden throw in like 15 really short ones. Yeah. And that that's a telltale sign. So you need to uh make sure don't just copy paste, but be intentional about would I actually use that word? Like, you know, if there's like I use a word called bomb diggity. Yeah. I use that all the time when something is awesome. I'm like, that's the bomb diggity. Well, the other day I asked Chat GPT to tell me something. And it and then it came up with, and that's bomb diggity. And I'm like, no, that's not. Because it it knew I used that word, but it inserted it in such a manner that I would never use that word in that uh context.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

So I'm like, no, that is not bomb diggity. You know, so I I think you just have to make sure that it it talks like you, you know, that whatever it spits out, you need to convert that. Use it as a tool, not as the thing or not as the authority. Uh because you're the boss of you, not the AI.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Yeah, absolutely. I love to use it to generate ideas. I love to use it when I'm stuck on something. I like to use it when I have said something in like three sentences that I'm like, I know this could be said in one sentence and makes so much more sense, but I can't figure out how to put that sentence together. Very helpful for all of those things. Saves me tons of time with that. But yeah, the copy and paste is, I think, where people go wrong. Or copy and paste and change a few words.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Yeah, and they think it's okay. Now, the thing that most people don't know is the algorithms on all the social media, they will uh ding you if they recognize it as AI. Yeah. And that's it's interesting because each of the tools has their own AI tool. But if it sounds or looks like AI to the bot, they're gonna ding you and they will stop showing that content. You know, so you so you don't want to do that. And it's the same with email. If the email, if you send out an email and it's a copy-paste, it will likely end up in somebody's spam filter.

unknown 23:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Because that's good to know. It's gonna get marked as AI generated.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Yeah, yeah, that's very good to know. This is awesome. This is really helpful, I think, in terms of just thinking about your brand in the bigger picture, whether it is your branding photos or how you're showing up on social media or an email or whatever. And, you know, this this conversation about AI is obviously not going anywhere. We're gonna continue to have these conversations. And but I love having people like you who can talk about the positives of AI, but also the limitations of AI and why, you know, the real, the real core of why we want authentic photos, why we want real branding photos of ourselves, and why we want to be showing up on social media as ourselves and saying words that we would actually say. Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

One more thing about you would not trust somebody else to go meet a client that is about to write you a $10,000 check or a hundred thousand dollar check. You're going to go to that meeting yourself, whether it's on Zoom, whether it's on social media or on a phone call or in person, you're still gonna show up as yourself. Your clients deserve you. And that's that is your silver bullet. People want you, and you have to focus on that. Um and and don't like don't get all like wrapped up around, but AI sounds better. But no, it doesn't. It sounds like it doesn't sound like you.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Yeah, it sounds like a robot. Yeah, I think that's great, great advice. And um, yeah, you are the one thing that no one can copy, right? Like I have noticed since I started Powerful Woman Rising and doing these speed networking events have become very, very popular. So many people in my circle and that I know on social media have also started doing virtual networking events or starting a networking group or doing a thing. And I used to get so bent out of shape about it in the beginning, like, oh, she's copying me, because you know, no one else has a networking group in the whole universe, only me. And uh I realized like people can do the exact same thing as you, but they will never be you. Like, that's the one thing that people can never duplicate, they can never copy, they can never take away from you. And that's the thing that sets you apart from everybody else. So don't give that up for AI.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

That's what's really important, and AI can't do that. So that's I mean, that's really that is the bomb diggity.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah, it is perfect, perfect use of that word.

You Are The Differentiator And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Lisa, if people want to know more about you, if they want to know more about what you do, they want to connect with you, follow you, what's the best way for them to do that?

SPEAKER_00 26:53

So my website is LisaCraigphotography.com. And if they would like to do a brand audit, I offer a free brand audit. And what I do is I go in and I just look at your social media, your website, the photos that you're using, and see whether we have some opportunities there to improve that. And maybe you need a photo shoot, but maybe you don't. Maybe you just need to adjust how you're using your imagery. So I just provide some insights, and you can take that for what you want. It's just a conversation. So it doesn't hurt. I won't bite.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Okay. She won't be a salesy weirdo. You guys will be okay. Yeah. I will put the link to that in the show notes. Also put your social media links in there if people want to connect with you that way. And um, thank you again for coming on the show. It was great chatting with you. Yeah, thank you so much. Have a great day, everybody.