How to use stock photos to create a cost-effective campaign

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially if it’s the right picture. When we scroll social media it usually takes less than a second for us to decide whether a certain post deserve our attention or not. And images play an important role in it. A good image has to be eye-catching, attractive and relevant to your audience.

You can use several types of photos for your marketing campaigns: your own images, stock photos or organize a photoshoot with a professional photographer. Of course, it’s always better to produce your own content, but usually, it’s expensive and not worth it. Using stock photos can be the best option as they are affordable and offer a wide variety of choices for any campaign.

Why you should use stock photos

1. Stock images will save you a lot of time as you won’t have to shoot and edit your own photos. You won’t have to organize your own photoshoot, just look for the images you need on stock photography sites.
2. You don’t need to pay a lot of money to a professional photographer. Stock photos are not very expensive and you can use them for different goals.
3. Stock photography sites accept only high-quality images, made by professionals, so you can be sure that they will look good in all sizes for web and print.

How to use stock photography in your marketing campaigns

The right images can attract the attention of your customers and even help you increase sales. They have to tie in with your brand image and help you build a connection with your audience. But how to use images in your marketing campaigns? Check out our tips and make the best of stock photography.

Choose images that are relevant to the message you deliver

There are millions of great images on stock photography sites, however, you need to choose the one that will help your audience quickly understand the message you deliver. We notice visuals first, and only then we make a decision to read the message that accompanies them or not.

Image credit: wix.com

Look for authentic images

Authentic images establish connection between companies and their audience. They show real people in real situations and establish a connection between users and a company. Such images can be a part of the story you are going to tell. They illustrate it well as such images are emotional and feel real. They don’t look staged as the most of stock photography images.

How to find authentic images on stock photography sites?

• Look for certain actions and scenes;
• Avoid photos of smiling people on a white background;
• Choose images that convey certain emotions.
• Look for images in the section “editor’s choice” of “featured collections”.
• Photo Clichés (idea bulbs, smiling people looking on blank screens.

Customize the images you choose

Try to make all your company’s visuals recognizable. People have to instantly associate your images with your brand. There are several ways to do it:

• choose images in certain colors and style;
• get visuals from certain authors;
• add logo or frames to your images;
• add text to your photos, use online image editors with templates.

Choose the images for your audience, not for yourself

You need to track the effectiveness of your campaigns and to choose visuals that work best for your business. Before planning a marketing campaign post different types of visuals and define which ones are the most effective for your audience. For example, you may hate inspirational images with quotes, but if your audience likes and shares them, you definitely need to include them to your marketing strategy.