Top 10 Tips for a Professional Image revealed at Athena
Athena, the networking group for business Goddesses, met this month at its new home of Donnington Valley Hotel. The group now has a great core of members from many diverse business and attracts interested (and interesting!) guests each month.
The format is that we have a business training slot, monthly minutes, a business speaker and then chance for testimonials, comments or indeed thanks. I would like to say ‘Thank you’ to Jean Piercy of Newbury accountants Griffins, Linda Gale of Positive Interiors , Vikki Champion of Vie Photography, Miriam McCallum of McCallum Associates, Lynne Baker of Calla Salon and Julie Larrad at RBS for all your lovely comments about the public relations and social media skills of Morgan PR, I’m looking forward to meeting up with you all again very soon.
The accommodation and lunch were first class, as was this month’s speaker, Vikki Champion from Vie Photography. Vikki talked to us about how to have “The Perfect Image”. We are delighted to present her top ten tips are below.
The Perfect Image – 10 Top Tips for your Business
- Refine your personal image. Is your personal image congruent with your business image? Think it through – is the image congruent with your profession? Remember it’s about how people relate to your image.
- Use colours appropriate to your profession. Consider the message of colours relative to your industry. Conservative equals neutral, while designers and consultants equate to strategic splashes of colour. Creatives need more colour options. Consider going to a professional image consultant.
- Consider the style of your outfit. With any formal industry you will need conservative styling, whereas designers and consultants should have more flair and of course with a creative role almost anything goes!
- Grooming. Consider how to style your hair and makeup Conservative industries expect you to be neat and neutral. So the less conservative will allow for more sophisticated flair. Again anything goes with creative types – but be sure to be neat and clean.
- Consider how to integrate your personal style. Use creativity and common sense. Weave personal elements in subtly.
- Decide whether to use a picture of yourself on your website and other collateral. Portraits create rapport and can also say something about your business. Beware of using poorly composed, poorly exposed or low quality images.
- Beware of using any DIY images on your collateral and website. Get images retouched or taken professionally. Have the option to enlarge an image where appropriate and remember the image quality will impact on sales. Always use a professional if you can.
- Use meaningful and sensible titles for your images. It makes a difference to the customer and to search engines too.
- Make sure the quality (image density) of your photographs is good. Use the best quality image you can and use the JPEG format for your images for the best page load speed.
- When choosing a photographer (for any kind of work) do the research and talk to them. Look for qualifications, for example either an ‘L’, ‘A’ or ‘F’ before ‘MPA’ or BIPP etc. Do look at the quality and variety of images on their website – and if you like their style, ask to meet with them.
Athena provides networking opportunities and training for local business women. If you would like to attend a meeting please do email Debbie Miles or call on 07891 503225.