The importance of photography in your marketing efforts is the first topic in our new Fresh Perspective blog series exploring a marketing or advertising theme through short posts on the subject.
You’ve heard that a picture really is worth a thousand words and that’s true when it comes to marketing. The right image can do more to promote your product or sell your service than pages of copy. Conversely, a poor image can compromise your marketing efforts, or worse, even damage your brand.
Stock vs. Custom Photography
Stock photography used to be extremely expensive or held restrictive rights for use. Not anymore! There are a plethora of stock image services providing unlimited rights to stock photography at an affordable price in addition to the higher priced, limited rights stock providers of the past. Sounds great, right? Sometimes stock photography will work, sometimes it won’t. There are many factors to consider when deciding whether stock is right for your project.
TIME – Stock imagery is quick. When you need a new marketing piece fast, stock imagery may be your only option. Scheduling photography, delivering product, building a set and hiring models often takes substantial lead time especially if your marketing partner or advertising agency doesn’t have its own photography studio.
EXCLUSIVITY – Stock imagery costs have gone down because many photographers have found they can make more money selling the same image to more people with fewer restrictions on its use. For marketers that means your competition may be using the same image, the same models or the same location in their marketing materials. When you commission photography, you have the exclusive rights to its use ensuring your brand stands out from your competitors.
CUSTOMIZATION – If your marketing efforts need to include your product, your location or your people, then stock imagery alone isn’t going to work. While some instances of stock imagery use may work in a supporting role in your marketing materials, custom photography is critical to communicating your brand.
Fresh Creative helps our clients balance the challenges and benefits of stock photography versus custom professional photography to make the right selections for your project, budget and timeframe. Explore our work to see a mix of stock and custom photography and be sure to check out the rest of the Fresh Perspective series on photography.
