How often should a company update its corporate photos?

There is no fixed schedule that works for every company. Corporate photos need updating when they no longer look like the company as it is today. That happens when someone new joins the team or when someone's appearance has changed a lot. It also happens when the office is no longer the same, or when the brand has taken on new colours and a new style. A simple test: if a client turns up to a meeting and doesn't recognise the person in the photo, that photo no longer works.

How to tell if it's time to update them

How do you know if it's time? Open your company's website and look at it the way a client would. Pay particular attention to the 'about us' page. A real case shows this well. Someone visited a company's website and, in that section, saw the staff profile photos. Every one of them was completely different. One person was pictured in the mountains. Another had a selfie taken at their desk. A third looked as if it had come straight off an ID card. And a fourth looked like it was from a private studio session. None of the photos was bad on its own. The problem was the set as a whole. That page didn't say who the company was.

One style for the whole team

That's why the question isn't only how much time has passed. It also matters whether the photos fit together. For established companies, it works very well to take portraits of the whole team in the same style, for the website and for LinkedIn profiles. When someone new joins, their photo is taken in that same style and the page still makes sense. When the style as a whole no longer reflects the brand, it's time to update the whole team at once.

A Marchon corporate presentation in Benidorm.

Each photo suited to the person

The background and setting of each photo have to suit the person, their role and the company. A lawyer and a mechanic aren't photographed the same way, and that's how it should be.

Updating them isn't as hard as it seems

Many people keep putting it off because they think updating the photos is a hassle. In a large company it does take more effort, that's true. But the photographer can come to your premises and plan the session so that nobody on the team loses much time. A session of this kind usually lasts between 20 and 30 minutes. It can produce around fifty photos, and in the end you keep between 2 and 8. That's not much time for something people see every day on the website and on LinkedIn.

Review them whenever something changes

So there's no need to put it in the diary. It's enough to review the photos whenever something changes in the company. If the photos no longer tell the truth about who works there and what the place is like, it's time to take new ones.

A first step for this week

So what now? Something small. This week, open the website and your team's LinkedIn profiles. Put the photos side by side. Note down which ones look like they're from another era, which ones don't match the rest, and who doesn't have a photo yet. With that list, you'll know whether a couple of new portraits will do or whether it's worth updating them all.

Let's talk about your photos

If you'd like to talk it over with someone, Evan & Natalia Simon do photography and video for brands and businesses in Gijón and across Asturias. Write to them and tell them what you've noticed. A relaxed chat, with no obligation.