The Selfie phenomenon is, by and large, the domain of the personal social network and rarely (albeit cringeworthingly sometimes) the avatar of choice for the business world. Whilst the duck-lipped, soloist exhibition is by no means going anywhere soon (nor should it!), it’s interesting to see how the movement is being cleverly adapted by the business world.

Battersea Dog’s Home recently ran a brilliant pet adoption campaign with their massively popular ‘Dog Selfies’, becoming relevant in a pitch-perfect way to a wider audience.

For business, the Selfie opens interesting conversations with the tried and tired headshot. Previously seen as an unfashionable addition to your CV, the birth of the Selfie has breathed new life into the headshot, transforming it into your most valuable asset. The Guardian’s Harriet Minter has put her own clever spin on the business Selfie for this year’s Women’s 1st Conference on 3rd July. Attendees will be offered free professional headshots to literally put their best face forward on social media and on- and off-line marketing channels.

An avatar can give you and your business visibility. By breaking up the anonymity of ‘female entrepreneurs’ or ‘women in tech’ businesswoman can grow and shine as individual creative leaders.

As we have quickly become a predominantly visual society, being able to put a face to a name is more critical than ever in developing brand trust and, of course, the all important task of branding yourself. Developing ‘brand you’ and growing your own voice has always been a key factor of our strategy at Project Voice. Whether your company is B2B or B2C, the fact remains that consumers are more likely to invest in people than products. This is one of the primary reasons that LinkedIn has become such a powerful platform for attracting new clients. When researching a potential partnership one of the first ports of call is the people page, because we need to know who we are buying from and who we are selling to.