Stock images do damage your brand
I know, stock images are easy to search & find and above all … they are so cheap. But … because there is always a drawback with low cost: Stock images are somebody else vision and don’t reflect your corporate reality.
Proven facts
Eye-tracking analyses demonstrate internet users are now massively glossing over or entirely ignoring stock images. Why? Because web surfers have seen so many of them, they instinctively know those pics won't bring any value. Users brain is so trained it can immediately tell if an image is genuine or comes from a stock base.
What’s your goal again?
One of your top marketing goals should be to stand out of the crowd by demonstrating your uniqueness. Stock photos won’t allow to achieve this. As a matter of fact, there is no guarantee that your competitors aren’t using the very same pics. Remember your choice of images will influence both the credibility of your company and the image you want to portray to your clients.
Close enough?
When browsing through thousands of stock images looking for the perfect pic, we usually end up with something which is close enough to what we had originally in mind. This is not only frustrating, it also means you won’t be able to express yourself accurately. Therefor you take the risk to leave room for interpretation and misunderstanding.
Fake & inconsistent
One of the major critics about stock images is most of them feel manufactured or set up, and their models are rarely reflective of your actual collaborators. Moreover, it’s almost impossible to find a visual or style consistency across different images because of the cherry-picking process when purchasing online. Photoshoping those images in order to apply a common filter is probably a good solution but it’s very limited in term of style.
What alternative then?
The solution to take back the creative control over your images and branding is to commission a photographer. Indeed, it will be slightly more expensive than purchasing stock images but in the end the impact on your target would be considerably improved. This can definitely be a game changer.
Another alternative is to look internally for a talented colleague. In any case, you should first identify all the images you need for your communication and the style you want to convey. Try to feature your colleague in action as much as you can without forgetting to ask their consent first.
Should you need guidance in how to build your own image library, let’s meet and talk about it over a coffee!