Small Businesses

"Hello, this is ______. How can I help you?"

"Oh, I'd love to book the largest package you have, and I have about 25 friends I've referred you to. They'll be calling you later this week to book as well, probably the same package."

"Wow, really?"

"Absolutely! I heard about you through a friend and if you're good enough for them, I completely trust you and want to give all my money to you. And all my friends each have many other people interested in your services."

​Oh, if only things were this easy when you run a business.

​There's a lot more to running a business than just doing great work

Starting your own business can be equal parts exciting and terrifying. You're building something from the ground up, and whether the business succeeds or fails is on your shoulders.

You already know that marketing yourself and your new brand is one of the most important parts of your business strategy, but where do you start? That's where we come in!
​
This page should give you some ideas on how you can market your small business, and show you ways we can help you come up with a game plan to move your business forward.

---

​The Professional Headshot

The basic marketing tool needed for all social media pages, LinkedIn, and About pages on a company website is your headshot. With a high quality, professional headshot that captures a unique, natural expression, you're showing potential clients and prospects that you take your business seriously and don't skimp on quality. A great headshot should:

1. Be up to date (ideally less than a year old). Keeping your headshot fresh keeps you top of mind on social media and shows clients you take your business seriously
2. Be in color, not black and white, or it may appear dated
3. Have a background that matches current trends
4. Show genuine emotion to form a memorable connection with potential clients
5. Show you the way you look on your best day, and not be overly retouched
6. Contain clean and bright lighting so we can see you clearly
7. Not contain distracting elements like strongly patterned clothing or a busy background
8. Be unique enough to be memorable, but not distractingly stylized
9. Match your company brand and overall aesthetic

See our headshot packages here, or continue reading to learn more.

---

Promotional Photography

In addition to headshots, every small business owner should have other photography on their website and for use in their marketing materials. Some small businesses resort to stock photos, but numerous studies have shown that stock photography actually hurts conversion rates. Professional, custom photography can build your brand and help your website stand out. Promotional photos should:

1. Be up to date (ideally less than a year old). Most teams change through the years, so be sure that any photos you have on your website don't show team members who no longer work with you, and if your office space looks different now than it did last year or you moved to a new location, it might be time to update.
2. Show your team in action. Visitors on your website need to connect with someone visually. Text is great for getting across ideas, but clients want to see who you actually are and what you do day to day. A great set of headshots can only take you so far in the branding process.
3. Match the aesthetic of your website and appear professional. If you have a sleek, modern website and the photos are unprofessional or lackluster, it can take away from the user experience.
4. Load fast and look high-quality. Without following proper compression guidelines, you might accidentally upload slow-loading photos to your website which can cause visitors to leave your site quickly out of annoyance from waiting for your pages to load.
5. Never be cliche, and always support your message. Similarly to what was mentioned above, you don't want to use canned stock photos or pictures that are commonly used everywhere on the internet. Your content should be unique, as should the photos on your site, and they should directly relate to what the page is about to support the text.

​We can assist with promotional photography for your marketing materials and website. This can be paired with a headshot or video package if you'd like.

---

Event Videography/Photography

Many companies put on events throughout the year in preparation for launching a new product or service, or they host an annual holiday party or team building event to boost employee morale. Having the event professionally captured by a videographer or photographer can give you a large quantity of new content to use on your website or in your marketing pieces. Event videographers and photographers should:
​

1. Capture all the major segments of the event. You need footage of each of the parts of the event, from guest arrival and opening events, to speeches, eating, and goodbyes. Each segment represents an important part of the event and should be included in either the final, edited product, or by itself as a standalone promo piece. 
2. Focus on your key message and overall company brand. By understanding ahead of time the overall branding and theme of not only the event, but your company as a whole, a videographer or photographer should more effectively be able to capture the needed shots. Knowing your key message and brand ahead of time will allow the shooter to be more aware of and recognize key moments and be able to capture some small but important details that can help the final product be even more effective.
3. Have full liability insurance. Almost all event venues and buildings require shooters to have $1,000,000 general liability insurance. We carry this insurance, but many independent shooters don't, so if you're considering a different company, be sure to ask them about this.
4. Capture the perspectives of the attendees. Closeups and dynamic photos and videos can make a compelling final product. Many shooters will simply set up a camera on a tripod or capture photos from a distance. The closer the shooter gets physically, the more interesting the final product and the more engaging it will be to viewers, which equals longer view times and more interest.
5. Be extraordinarily professional. There is a huge difference between an amateur video and a professional, polished video that's edited smoothly. Shooters should use high quality HD or 4K cameras, Steadicams, sliders, tripods, and wireless lavaliere systems to capture sound. They should also dress in all black to ensure they blend into the background and are not a distraction art the event.

​
We offer videography and photography for events and can help you work the final edited product into your website and/or marketing tools.

---

​Shoot a Commercial or Promo Video

Commercials and promo videos speak for themselves in terms of the value they hold for a business. Studies show that consumers are 27 times more likely to click on video ads than to click on photo ads, so you absolutely must have video content on your website. One great way is to create a promo video or commercial. A great promo video should:
​

1. Be short and to the point. No one has an attention span these days unless your content is extremely engaging and visual. The sample video above uses content throughout a day of shooting to show different environments and people, so it's much more engaging than a simple video bio or commercial about a specific product. Put yourself in a client's shoes: as busy as they are, would they want to spend more than a few minutes watching footage about a business they don't trust yet? If they wish your video was longer, it means they'll probably reach out to you.
2. Look high budget. In order to build trust and gain client respect, a great commercial or promo video should look professional and be shot on professional equipment and utilize great sound and lighting. Save the low-budget handheld videos for your YouTube or blog page and make sure your main promo video looks high-end.
3. Focus on the key differentiators of your business. A great promo video effectively shows potential clients why your company is different and why they should work with you over the competitors. If you choose to work with us for a promo video, we will help you answer questions such as, "How do you over deliver to your clients in a way they’re not expecting?" The answers to these questions will then be included in the video to show off your strongest points and engage prospects.
4. Show everyone looking confident and natural on-camera. You've probably seen promo videos or commercials in the past where you can tell that the person on-camera is uncomfortable or having trouble memorizing their lines. During our shoots, we will coach and guide you so this is a non-issue. We have a few tricks up our sleeves to ensure that everyone on-camera looks and sounds their absolute best.
5. Be aesthetically in-line with your headshots, website, and other marketing tools. The individual marketing tools you use to capture new clients should not be disparate and separate from one another. They all must work together cohesively so your brand is recognizable and memorable.​ The promo video is no exception, and should always be branded similarly.
6. Include a slate shot at the end with your company information. In some cases, a prospect might stumble across your video on YouTube or another video sharing website. Including your company contact info will ensure they're able to find you if they don't have any other info about your company.
7. Ideally focus on one target market at a time. It's important that you don't make a promo video that is too broad. Instead, creating one promo video or commercial per target market is ideal so you can tailor your advertising to speak directly to their pain points. You might service 5 different types of clients, and so ideally, you should eventually have 5 different promo videos that lead prospects to different webpages, each tailored to their specific needs.

We shoot professional promo videos and commercials for companies and can combine these packages with headshots, makeup and other services.

---

Left to right: Rachel, Samantha, Valentina, Cirsty, Stephanie, and Amaris

And many more things...

Marketing yourself is one of the most important elements to creating a successful career. Whether we simply help you upgrade your headshot, or we do an all out branding session and rebuild your marketing tools from the ground up, we promise you'll walk away with exactly what you need to take your career to the next level.

Here are just a few of the other services we offer:

• Business consulting & coaching
• Re-writing your bio and/or website copy
• Help with marketing and finding clients
• Upgrading your website & integrating all your other marketing pieces into it

---

"I LOVE City Headshots. They make you feel so comfortable and guide you during your photo process. I have started getting significantly more clients with my headshots and the marketing advice they gave me. Thank you City Headshots!"

"Wow, wow, wow, wow! Being a business owner is expensive and very trying. When you finally find people who are willing to go the extra mile to support you it is such a relief. That is what I have found with City Headshots."

"My experience was fantastic, and the photos for my personal training business were beyond spectacular. They have terrific photographers that do very well directing their subject to achieve photos that fit their needs. The makeup artists are friendly and do a perfect job making you look great. I will definitely return.​"

---

​Let's chat.

We'd love to talk with you to see how we can help take your business up a notch. We've worked with over 750 business and understand deeply how to help them move forward.

We'd love to take you through a short, complimentary "Website Media Evaluation & Audit" to help you find potential website issues and figure out what your next steps should be. Fill out the form below to schedule your free consultation or you can call us at (212) 706-1902.

---

Packages & Pricing

Click the button below to see the packages.

Headshot Packages

Video Services

---

​Thank you!

We appreciate your interest in our work, and truly hope to have the opportunity to serve you. Have a great day and enjoy the rest of the website!
​
Sincerely,

The City Headshots Team
info@cityheadshots.com
​(212) 706-1902

---