The photography used in branding and marketing can make all the difference when connecting with your target audience. Photography and video styling are important elements of overall brand identity, helping to tell the brand story, set the tone of the brand, and communicate the benefits. However, sometimes setting up a photoshoot for every single image on a website or social feed isn’t within the constraints of time and budget. This is where stock photography plays an important role.
Stock photography is a great resource to fill in content gaps when a photo or video shoot isn’t feasible. However, it has its limits and should only be used when necessary.
What are the Pros of Using Stock Photography?
Fast and Convenient
With stock photography, marketers and designers can find an image within a matter of minutes by searching with relevant keywords. Stock photography can also be downloaded at a variety of resolutions based on what it will be used for, providing marketers with high-quality images at a fraction of the time it would take to set up a photoshoot. Photography can give your website, ad, or social feed a more visually-appealing look than just using text and graphics.
Cost-Effective
Stock photography can be very useful for start-up brands that may not have the resources to produce original photography quite yet. There are several websites (ex. Unsplash and Pexels) that offer royalty-free stock photography without having to create an account or take any additional steps besides pressing download. These sites are especially helpful for internal-use presentation decks where paying for a stock image isn’t necessary. Occasionally, you can find hidden gems that work well in customer-facing assets as well. Paid and subscription-based stock photo sites (ex. Shutterstock, iStock, and Adobe Stock) usually have a larger selection than royalty-free sites, offer more specific image content, and can provide high-quality images at a fraction of the cost of original photography.
High Quality
The photos found on stock photography sites are usually (but not always) very well produced. They’re shot by professional photographers in beautiful spaces with high-quality lighting and diverse models. For brands with a limited budget, stock photography can provide higher quality images as opposed to working with an inexperienced photographer or not using photography at all.
Best Option For Certain Industries
For the healthcare industry, in particular, stock photography has even more benefits. HIPPA regulations prevent original photography from being taken of actual patients while they receive treatment, at least for marketing purposes. Unless the healthcare brand is providing a niche service or uses a specialized technique or device, stock photography can be the best route to creating a visually-engaging website, ad, or other creative assets that don’t violate the privacy of the patients and staff.
What are the Cons of Using Stock Photography?
Not Unique
The biggest problem with using stock imagery is that other brands can use the exact same images as your brand. This will make your brand blend in with the crowd rather than standing out with a bespoke look and feel. Additionally, generic stock photography won’t be able to showcase a niche product or service and the benefits it provides to your audience. This makes it harder to communicate who a brand is and what it stands for, which can negatively impact conversions. By contrast, original photography can be tailored to perfectly fit your brand language and messaging while showcasing a unique product or service.
Lack of Control
While stock photography can be close to what you’re looking for, these images will rarely be exactly what you want or need. For example, you might find a great image of a person smiling for an ad, but the background is too distracting or the colors of the model’s clothing clashes with your brand colors. This can lead to marketers “settling” on an image that’s close enough to what they want, then spending additional time editing it to try and fit what’s needed. If these edits are noticeable to a consumer, it can communicate that your brand isn’t as polished or is willing to cut corners.
Inauthentic
Most consumers are smart enough to be able to spot stock photography, especially if they’ve seen the same or similar images on another site. A major problem is that most stock photography looks clearly staged. This lack of authenticity can be off-putting to audiences at worst, and forgettable at best. When searching for stock photography, it’s recommended to find images that don’t look overly-posed or staged, as if they were shot by an amateur photographer or everyday person. However, it can be difficult to find stock photos that strike the right balance between quality and authenticity. Stocksy and Death To Stock are some of our favorite sites for finding high quality stock images that don’t look like stock.
Under-Performs
Because of the reasons outlined above, ads and websites that use stock photography consistently perform worse with users than original brand photography. While setting up a photoshoot for original photography requires more time, planning and budget, it can provide a better payoff than using stock photography through conversions and building brand recognition and loyalty.
In summary, stock photography is a valuable resource for brands, especially for those with limited resources at the time. When using stock photography, it’s recommended to use images that don’t look overly staged and to overlay branded graphics or messaging to customize the stock to your brand. However, original photography is more compelling, memorable, and engaging to audiences, and will always be the best way to showcase a unique product or service. BuzzShift has a design and photography team that can utilize existing brand assets or conduct photo/video shoots to capture original photography for your brand. Get in touch with us to learn more!
About BuzzShift
BuzzShift is a full-service digital growth strategy agency with a focus on mid-market, scaling DTC Brands. By combining the ideologies of branding, performance marketing, and retention agency, we are able to create memorable experiences with measurable results, and build long-term success for our clients with scalable, sustainable growth. Learn more about BuzzShift.
