Keeping your online work professional
- Written by Cara Barilla; Hair, Beauty & Wellness Educator
Living in a virtual working world may be quite new to some however, we can definitely assume there’s a lot of people already on the internet who looks like they’ve been working online for many years solely based on their level of professionalism and deliverance. Here are some tips on how to add more professionalism in your virtual business. Many clients have found this takes the stress out of trying to maintain loyal clients as these tips could potentially be in a new consistent rhythm to your work life.
Lighting: when working with new clients it’s especially important to select clear lighting. When there’s poor lighting, many clients may suggest that the business owner hadn’t made enough effort into the video experience therefore it’s important to keep your videos at a high standard of quality. There are certainly cheap effective ways to gain better lighting for your videos for example: working near a window, under a skylight and purchasing second hand stand up lights and lamps have been useful. Don’t forget: when there’s clear lighting there is clear vision; Make sure when you set up your professional business to keep your background at a professional standard and at a complete minimal. This may be distracting and causing your clients eyes to wander off from you “ the focal point” and on to your potentially unprofessional background detail such as; dirty laundry or mess on the floor, moving objects in the background and intense bright or harsh objects to the eye. It’s crucial to keep your workspace clean, bright, consistent and minimal.
Sound: it’s important that your clients can hear you clearly especially if this is a business that requires audio demonstrations, presentations and lectures. Try to have your dishwasher, laundry washing machine, television and appliances off during recordings. Monitor times of the day where there’s potentially a routine of outdoor noise for example: garbage truck, postal deliveries and even wildlife bird noises which only make noise at particular times of the day.
Consistency: Engaging clients with consistency is not only a powerful tool but it can give your clients a sense of security. Creating routine similar lighting, background, words you choose such as your own trademarking words or colour scheme can add a lot into your brand and create a higher level of professionalism.
Mood: setting your own branded mood within a video can translate into something extremely powerful and professional for your clients or unprofessional and unrewarding.
Will you consistently give out a relaxing energy with soft and clear lighting such as an online yoga class? Are you going to give out a setting of your business in a “high energy” and bold scenario like a gym setting would? Will your mood be bright, colourful fun and interactive for child related classes? Or will your videos be clean, structured and bold for a corporate setting. Just remember: whatever mood you set in your virtual experience will instantly resonate and shift a new mood within your clients. The choice and effort you make for the mood will not only be appreciated by your viewers, it will also reveal your high level of business quality and work ethic.
