Fair or not, you’re often judged in the blink of an eye.

When people see an image of your staff or your executive team on your website, they decide whether you’re trustworthy, competent, and someone they may want to work with in as little as 80ms.

That initial impression then serves as a sort of filter through which the visitor explores more – if that impression is negative, they may not go further, or they may come away with a less than positive felling.

Having a solid first impression is important for any business, but particularly for services businesses, where people are the product. Think about the last time you were searching for an attorney, CPA, physician, or marketing agency – chances are you went to the About Us or People page to see and learn about the principals, team, etc..

Now imagine your company was facing significant issues that were public in nature – you’d want to work with a firm that specializes in communications, crises management, strategy and reputation management, and global public affairs. One such company is FGS Global, whom I recently had the pleasure of working with.

They understand the value of reputation, image, and “walk the walk” – and wanted to update the headshots of the team in their Boston office. The branding of these images should show both confidence and approachability, which is in harmony with the work they do. They also are very engaged when working with their clients, so the energy they demonstrate in their headshots should reflect that. And we had a blast shooting!

The images from the sessions at their Boston office are shown below – the look is consistent with their branding, and their expressions amplify it. If you visited their website and saw these images of their staff, wouldn’t you want to engage in a dialog?