How to Use Stock Photos to Make Your Brand Stand Out
You know those images of desks with perfectly-placed items like a laptop, mug, a few pens, and maybe a pair of glasses? That, my friend, is a stock photograph, and that one simple image can make a world of difference for your brand.
Stock photography isn’t a new thing. You’ve probably seen tons of memes from popular older stock websites, such as the infamous Shutterstock, Alamy, and iStock, who are most recognizable by their watermark slapped across images. Any class presentation where you needed to Google image search for a photo representing something, you’ve run across some stock photography.
These days, though, that term has been recreated in a way. Photographers aren’t just shooting scenarios where the models are overly enthusiastic with their expressions anymore, they’re giving a new meaning to stock photography and, in turn, giving an amazing way for brands to add more flavor to their business.
But in what ways could you be using stock images to help your brand pop?
Today, we’ll be giving you some ideas for how you can use them in your business, and we show you some examples, too.
We even have 90 stock photos for you, so stay tuned for the end!
Engaging Facebook Posts
Did you know that Facebook posts with images see 2.3x more engagement than those without? The beautiful imagery in the background helps to catch your audience’s eyes and makes them want to see what it’s all about. Just imagine what this can do for your Facebook ads as well.
Spice Up Quotes for Instagram
Instead of figuring out what elements, shapes, colors, etc. to use to create a quote graphic for your Instagram feed, it can so much easier to find an on-brand stock image and slap your quote on there. Not to mention, it can look just as effortless!
Pinnable Graphics
Pins with beautiful images get 3x more repins than those with just text, but that shouldn’t be surprising. When personally scrolling through Pinterest, aren’t you more drawn to the Pins that have photos in the background? There’s just something about that desk.
Eye-Catching Email Headers
Using photos in your email headers is an awesome way to add a little style to your emails and entice your readers to, well, keep reading! Keep your image usage light, though. The last thing you want to do is make your header too busy.
Flavorful Client Welcome Guide
Let’s be honest here. No one wants to be overwhelmed with walls of text when reading about your business, services, and pricing. Sprinkling images throughout, plus having an eye-catching cover page, will make your welcome guide unforgettable.
Scroll-Stopping Instagram Stories
This kind of works the same way images on Pins do. Sure, Instagram is all about photos anyway, but having some pretty graphics with professional stock photos in your Stories is always pleasant to look at. The same way Pinterest users want to read more about your Pin, your Instagram audience will want to pause on your Story to see what it’s about, too!
Where Can You Find Stock Photos?
There are too many websites to count where you can find hundreds of free stock photos, but the only issue to be aware of is that there are scammers that prey on users. Plenty of business owners have run into licensing issues when using images from a lot of those sites. In some cases, the person who uploads a photo isn’t the actual photographer, which can cause a ton of unnecessary and avoidable headache (and wallet ache) for you, the innocent user.
Luckily, we’ve just added three stunning collections of stock photos in The Creative Template Shop. We collaborated with three crazy-talented photographers to bring you 30 photos in each of our color options– bright, soft, and neutral– totaling to 90 images!
You can snag all three collections when you become a member of The Shop for only $47 a month. Not only will you be able to grab our stock photos but you’ll also have unlimited downloads of all of our current templates and future new releases, plus 10% off some snazzy merch.
The images make the perfect team when paired with our other templates, so be sure to use them together and then show us your creations in our Facebook community or over on Instagram!