Why Your Business Needs Custom Photos VS Stock Photos
Investing in your business is an ongoing process, which means investing in the content you use to promote your business.
From social media to your website, having a curated suite of custom photos will help elevate your business and marketing.
But you might ask: why would I pay for custom photos when there are so many options for free stock photos?
Here are our top reasons to invest in custom photography, no matter your industry!
Custom Photos Are More Easily Aligned With Your Branding
As marketing professionals, we believe every business should have a strong branding and style guide. Custom photos are much easier to align with your brand guides and colours than stock photography, making custom photos more efficient when designing your marketing materials. Overusing stock photography can often lead to an inconsistent brand look and feel. For more details on the difference between DIY and professional marketing, we recommend giving this blog a read!
Custom Photos Build Brand Trust
Custom photography can help to establish trust in your team, your business and your work. Stock photography can create a feeling of anonymity that does not create strong connections with your potential clients or customers. We always recommend ditching the overly posed corporate stock photography in favour of more natural photos of your space, products, or team. This helps to create a sense of connection with you, your brand and your products.
Custom Photos Perform Better Than Stock Photography
Let’s talk about stock photography and social media for a minute. Across all platforms, custom photography performs better than stock photography. Why? Simply because users are inundated with stock photography on these apps!
Posts using custom photography generally outperform stock photography, especially when selling products or eCommerce. Custom photography can leverage multiple angles for product-based businesses, and situation shots can help your products shine and stand out from the crowd.
Here are some of the types of social media posts we recommend for every business!
Stock Photography Can Be Overused—Especially From Free Stock Photography Websites
Another risk of using stock photography is the classic look and feel of stock photography. While incredibly versatile, stock photography is often easily identified and glossed over by prospective clients and customers. With only a finite amount of stock photography available, brands who leverage stock photography risk overusing stock imagery or using the same imagery as another business or competitor.
But Wait, Should I Never Use Stock Photography?!
Well, no. That’s simply just not possible for many small businesses! If you choose stock photography, we recommend using them sparingly. We always use designated stock photography websites rather than reposting another creator’s content.
Are you ready to elevate your marketing, branding, website or custom photography?
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