Why You Should Ditch Stock Images In Favor Of Professional Photography

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A picture is worth a thousand words. It's an old adage, now attributed to advertising executive Fred R. Barnard who coined the term for the cover of his book on advertising published in 1921. It may be nearly 100 years old, but the saying is as true today as it was then, possibly more so thanks to the proliferation of image sharing websites and social media.

Whether you are developing content for an ecommerce website, setting up your own hobby blog, or run a global law firm and are looking to attract new clients, images can play a significant part in your marketing journey. They can feature on your website, be posted on social media sites, and they are incorporated into business documentation like fliers and brochures. Using poor quality or overly-generic images can damage your reputation – if these images are worth 1,000 words, most of those words are copied and lacking in inspiration.

Professional photography will cost more than stock photos and clipart. However, you have control over the subject, the emotion you wish to convey, and you have final say on what is being published in your name. You can even choose the primary colors in the composition of the photo, to ensure that they meet with your brand and corporate colors.

So, with marketing and photography, is it important to incorporate professionally taken, high quality images?

Custom Photographs Grab Attention

Consider an ecommerce site listing its products on Amazon, or having their products featured on Google's Shopping results. Those images are competing with tens or even hundreds of other images.

Stock photos, often provided by the product manufacturer, are commonplace. Now, consider that you have the only image that looks different. Viewers will be more inclined to look at the image you have used, rather than the image they see on every other listing.

Of course, you also need to stand out for the right reasons, and this is where professional photography is beneficial. Not only will your picture be different, but you can control the narrative of the piece. You can have the photographer portray whatever emotion you like, using the items you choose.

Helps Establish A Brand

Custom photographs enable you to establish a brand. They show that you care about your business which, in turn, suggests that you care about your customers, too. It also shows that you are professional and, even, more trustworthy.

Custom images can help branding in other ways too. Have photo models wear your custom clothing, or use your items. Add a tasteful watermark of your URL and those that see it will start to remember you while associating you with quality and unique items.

You can even go so far as to choose the colors that match your corporate color scheme, introduce members of your team, and show off your products being used in the real world. All of these steps will help your brand gain credence and value.

Branding should be a part of everything you and your business do. It should be found in the words of your social media posts, the videos on your YouTube channel, and in the attitude of employees when dealing with potential customers. 

Because your brand is actually other peoples' perception of your business, you can't dictate it, but you can elicit a high degree of control over it. Professional photography is as important as professionally written content or professionally designed product packaging.

Professional And Successful

Regardless of what your business does, it should appear professional. Customers will not want to deal with unprofessional companies, regardless of whether they are looking for personal law services or party planning. Professional photos give a professional appearance, and this should be included as part of your branding message.

Most potential buyers will be more inclined to use a business if they perceive it as being successful. This might be a case of keeping up with the neighbors, and having to have what others already own, or it could simply be the case that people measure quality by success. Custom photographs give the appearance of a successful business, and because they are shown to increase engagement, this is further highlighted to viewers.

Ensure Quality

Stock photos aren't always the best quality, at least for your purpose. They are composed and shot in such a way that they will appeal to a wide audience of people that want to use the image. The item or emotion that you're trying to convey may not be in focus, or it may be obscured.

When you pay for professional photographs, you aren't necessarily paying for high resolution images. You are paying for high quality photography. The photographer should have experience and knowledge of their art, and they will know how to achieve the result that you're looking for.

They Look Better On Social Media

There are numerous surveys and research papers that have looked at the effects of using photos and images on social media. Twitter themselves tell us that Tweets with photos get a 35% increase in retweets.

Not only does this mean considerably more engagement for your social media posts, but, on Twitter at least, photos are actually more effective than videos, which only offer a 28% increase. In fact, of all the extra content that you can add, including quotes and hashtags, photos are the single most powerful of these rich content options. If you aren't adding images to your Tweets, you should start doing so now.

It isn't just Twitter that offers these benefits. Social media users, especially, are looking for convenience and speed. They find more entertainment and greater value in images than they do in just text.

Photos Can Increase Conversions And Sales

Professional photos help your customers visual your product and how they can use it. If they can see themselves wearing your clothes, eating your food, or using your services, you are halfway to making a sale. Stock photos and manufacturer images go some way to doing this, but with unique and professional photos, you can enjoy even greater sales. They will, in most cases, pay for themselves in short shrift.

Tell A Personal Story

While customers want to see a business that is professional and successful, they also want to see a more personal side of your organization. There are many ways to do this. Hold open days, attend local events and industry fairs, publish podcasts and webinars. You can also post regular updates from the teams in your business, on your blog or on social media.

Ask some of your employees, or groups of employees, to post regular updates on your site. Maybe ask them to provide updates on their daily lives within your organization They should be encouraged to write the update from a first person point of view, discuss the motivation behind what they are doing, and they can post videos of the processes they take.

Professional photography is another great way to convey a personal message to website visitors. Have a photographer come in and take images of your workplace. You can get the usual professional headshots for the team page, and for publishing on the likes of LinkedIn, but you can also ask for pictures with more candid content.

Get the photographer to take pictures of people at work, and don't be afraid to include the occasional shot from the break room or from nights out.

If you sponsor or host local events, ensure that the photographer is involved in these. There's nothing wrong with showing your company's altruism, so get some photos to share with the world. Ensure that your employees are wearing branded clothing, get some candid shots of them interacting with members of the public, and post an update on your blog and on your social media pages for some positive coverage.

Make Images Match The Message

Image Source

Stock photos serve a purpose, but they really are stock. Potentially thousands of people could be using the same image of a smartly dressed business woman writing some arbitrary text on a whiteboard. Viewers will be able to work out the message, although usually only if they read some of the accompanying content.

The photographer was taking a picture of something that would appeal to as many website owners as possible. It won't necessarily match the exact message that you're trying to convey.

With custom photographs, you can provide details of what you want and the photographer will be able to create something unique that perfectly conveys this message. You can control the minutiae of detail in every picture, right down to the color of ink on the whiteboard, what is on the meeting desk, and the text on the board – or go for something more original.

Marketing And Photography

Professional photography is highly effective when used in conjunction with professional marketing. It enhances other content, generates the desired emotions in potential customers, and will lead to an increase in sales. There are many types of photograph and composition that can be taken, many ways they can be used, and many ways that they will benefit you and your organization.