Updated: May 10, 2024 By: Dessign Team
Stock photographs are widely used across industries to fulfill various requirements for visual elements. If you are running a marketing campaign and do not have the resources or time to create new images for your website content, social media posts, or PPC ads, these stock images can fill the gaps without any hassle.
However, you cannot simply pick any random stock photo if you want your marketing efforts to be fruitful. While you need proper photography marketing strategies in place, you must also know the dos and don’ts of using stock images for your marketing campaigns.
Dos of Using Stock Photography in Marketing
Customize the Images
There is no need to keep stock images exactly the way they are when you use them. Consider making a few modifications or edits to them so that they can seamlessly fit your brand’s style. However, the rules may not be the same for every website.
Read the instructions carefully before you change the images. If you use the images incorrectly, the stock photo agencies can file a lawsuit against your brand.
Evaluate Licenses
Every stock photo has a license that outlines its usage. Here are the most common types of licenses available for stock images:
- Royalty-Free License: Once you have paid a one-time fee for the royalty-free license, you can use the picture as many times as you want.
- Rights Managed: The terms of the license are changed depending on your audience, geographical location, specific use, and distribution volume. You need to purchase the license again if you want to use the image for a different project.
- Extended: With this type of license, you can use the image in products you plan to resell.
As mentioned, you need to check the rules before using a stock image, as the terms of use vary from one website to another.
Choose Relevant Images
It is important to select images that your target audience can relate to. Since the choice of photographs will set the tone of your brand, you need to make sure that the images you upload represent the goals of your organization accurately and resonate with your audience.
Instead of going for cliches, take time to scan through the photos and find suitable ones. Put yourself in the audience’s shoes to find the images that will be effective for your marketing efforts.
Don’ts of Using Stock Photography in Marketing
Don’t Neglect the File Size
Do not select stock images that are too large. Uploading images with larger file sizes can affect the loading speed of your website, resulting in poor user experience. As a marketing professional, you may be aware of what happens when your website takes more than 2 seconds to load. The bounce rate of your website increases significantly, which also impacts your rankings in the search results.
Even if you decide to pick a large-sized image, compress or resize the picture. You may also crop the unnecessary areas of the image to reduce its size.
Don’t Settle for Low-Quality Images
Finding a stock image that fits your brand’s messaging may take a significant amount of time. However, that does not mean you pick low-resolution, blurry images that cropped unevenly. If a user comes across your marketing messages and sees such a low-quality image, he/she may have a negative impression of the brand. Always select good-quality, vibrant images that resonate with your target audience.
Don’t Forget SEO
While using stock images for your marketing campaigns or website content, do not forget to optimize them for search engines. You need to ensure that the images appear at the top of search results for relevant queries about your organization, services, and industry.
Start by changing the file name to something relevant to your marketing goals and include keywords that resonate with your SEO strategy. Also, those keywords and phrases should be integrated into the alt tags to help the search engines understand what the image is about.
Final Thoughts
Even though stock pictures are created for commercial uses, their application is not always straightforward. However, you can use these images to drive a successful marketing campaign as long as you comply with the dos and don’ts mentioned above.
