Stock Photos for Business: Reasons Why Your Business Should Totally Use Them
Using stock photos for business is my number one time-saving tip! There is always that part of your business where images are required. These could be social media photos, for your blog posts, promotional content, and materials, or other purposes.
At that point, you will be torn between two decisions: getting a professional photographer to shoot you some photos, or selecting from a wide array of stock photos waiting to be used. Please try and not shoot your own. It takes forever and the quality won’t be the same. I am here to save you time!
I offer a ton of stock photos here in my shop or on Creative Market. On Creative Market I sell them individually and in bundles on my site I currently only offer bundles. My photos are different from others because I sell rustic and farmhouse styled photos. I sell the photos for businesses to use on their websites, graphics, or social media accounts.
I have so many clients that keep coming back for more stock photos for their business because once they started using them and seeing an increase in engagement and views they knew buying photos was the way to go. No more trying to take photos edit them upload then and crickets!
If this is you, here are a couple of reasons why leaning towards stock photos will always be a better idea than trying to take them yourself.
But before we get going …
What are stock photos for business?
‘Stock photos’ are used to refer to images taken of places, landmarks, happenings, events, nature, people and all other picture-worthy entities with the sole aim of being used and reused commercially.
They could come free or with a license, and that is usually determined by the platform on which such stock photos are found.
All photos from Hudson Farmhouse here on my website or Creative Market can be used without attributes. That is a biggie with using certain photos sites or freebie photos. SOme want you to attribute the photographer. That is something that takes too long!
Time-Saving
You could get onto your favorite stock photo platform and search through thousands, if not millions, of images for use on your project. Even if you were not a member already, obtaining a membership (free or paid) can happen in a matter of mere minutes.
These photos have even been arranged in different categories to make your search much faster. With all of these tools at your disposal, getting your project going is as simple as taking a pause to visit that stock photo platform, sifting through the ton of images there and choosing one which best suits your need.
Here is a list of my favorite stock photo sites (besides my own shop DUH)
All of that is as opposed to having to find a photographer, explaining your concept to them and hoping they can come up with an image that will go in line with it, all in record time too.
Prime Selection
One thing you will observe when you visit a stock photo agency is that they have a lot of different photographers contributing to their platform. That is just the sort of thing that allows you get the right kind of website photo that you have been looking for.
Let’s put that in context.
Say, you got a photographer to help capture ‘nature’. They will only do this to the best of their individual ability and interpretation – and you might even think it is the best you can get.
On getting to stock photo websites, you will find out that there are hundreds of ways to capture the concept of nature alone, and they are all at your fingertips. So many different angles, colors, and options to choose from. Making it even easier to find the exact photo you need for your project.
One of the things I love about some of these sites like Creative Mare=ket is you can search for images with keywords and dimensions or orientations. For example, you may need a photo for your cover photo on your website. It needs to be landscape orientation and probably a bigger dimension. You just plop those down in the search field and they will return photos that will fit better.
Choice
Going hand in hand with the benefit of selection is all the choice you have.
Stock photo websites give you the freedom of browsing through a catalog of photos at no charge. The only time you might incur a charge is when you have found something you like.
While all the creative freedom is left to the photographer, you are also given more freedom and range of choice than you would have with a single photographer. Colors, sizes, and themes for instance.
Cost
The aim of any serious business owner is to minimize cost (without cutting corners) while maximizing profits. When it comes to cutting costs, though, the same principles should be applied to obtaining business photos for your needs.
The photographers who work with stock photo agencies usually submit a lot of such photos, so they can make back their money on the spread. A photographer you hire, however, would make you pay all the extra expenses – as it should be.
At the end of the day, you will end up paying up to, or more than, ten times what you could have gotten a stock photo for.
Take into consideration the fact that you would end up using just one of the pictures the photographer gets, and you see that you have wasted money other picks. For stock photos, on the other hand, you only pay for the one(s) you pick.
Membership Perks
Registering with a stock photo agency can do a lot to help your business.
If cost is what you are worrying about, stop. Many stock photo agencies will charge nothing to have you as a member – only requiring you to pay when you are getting an image.
By becoming a member, you are entitled to enjoying any and all of:
- Free tips and tricks to making our pictures work better
- How to choose the best images for your projects
- Free photos from time to time
- Discounts on photos and
- Inside information that only registered members will be aware of, to mention but a few.
How many photographers do you know that will offer you the same?
Licenses
When it comes to getting business photos, licensing should be one of the biggest things to consider. Why? Well, maybe because this single word could cost you a single photo, or your entire business.
Licenses are what shows that you are free to use the images in the first place, helping to steer clear of any legal problems which may arise in the future.
Many stock photo agencies will sell/ offer each photo with detailed licensing instructions, helping you best decide which should be used for what project. With this, you will always be protected under the established terms and conditions of the stock photo agency, bearing no liability whatsoever.
Using an image with peace of mind while maintaining the good image of your business in the same vein, don’t you think?
But be careful which one you choose from. I know Haute Stock offers amazing photos for example but you cannot use them in certain ways. She does not want you to alter them. Which means things like add a filter. Where my photos you can do whatever you want with them. Add filters bright or darken etc. It just depends on who you purchase the stock photos for your business from.
Below is the description of her licensing if you choose to grab her membership which is a a really good membership with tons of quality images to choose from.
Haute Stock membership comes with a non-exclusive limited use license. Please read the terms and conditions for “Members” below:
Members May:
- Use images for personal or business use, online and in print.
- Resize, crop or change image orientation.
- Overlay the image with text, website screenshots, product designs and pdf designs.
- Add filters or color overlays to suit their branding aesthetic.
- Use the images to create opt-ins such as checklists, workbooks, pdfs, ebooks, as long as the images are flatted and overlaid with text or graphics and cannot be extracted, and so long as the image is not a main component of the download.
- Use the images for multiple businesses/blogs for which the member is the sole owner.
Members May NOT:
- Otherwise alter, edit or manipulate the image, or claim the image as their own.
- Sell, loan, or give away the image or otherwise allow a third-party to use the image in any way.
- Transfer the images to clients/customers, even if you have modified the design by adding text or graphics.
- Transfer membership or login credentials to a third party – whether a client, customer, or business partner without previous written consent obtained directly from Haute Stock.
- Use the images for social media, websites, or any other online/print mediums for clients/customers or anyone who is not a member of the Styled Stock Library (even if the image files are not being directly transferred to the client/customer).
- Use the images for ebook covers or physical book covers to be sold on Amazon or similar mass distribution sites.
- Create derivative products from the images such as templates, screensavers, quote graphics, desktop calendars, printables, art prints, mugs, calendars, clipart, invitations, or any such products, either for sale or to give away for free.
- Images may not be used for any offensive, illegal or pornographic use.
- Use the images to promote or sell other stock photography products/services/resources/courses, whether for free or paid.
- Use Graphics Packs or InstaQuotes to create commercial products for sale or to give away. This includes derivative products such as prints, patterns, invitations, and social media templates.
So please make sure you read the licensing info before purchasing. Once you find a honey hole or two then you already know the rules and can stick to those few sites.
Branding
If you can find any number of stock photos for business on the internet, you will notice one thing about them – they lack branding. In other words, they have not been taken with the intention of representing, promoting or slandering any brand.
This is good for two reasons:
For one, you don’t have to fear backlash from the brand(s) that might have appeared in the chosen stock image as to why you are painting them in a poor light. On the other hand, rest assured that your business is not running free ads for another brand entirely.
Wrap Up
We could go on with listing reasons why stock photos for business make for good photos, website photos and images for your social media posts, among other things. With these, though, you get the picture.
Wouldn’t you rather start saving time and money with a good stock photo website today? Please check out my stock photos in the shop and sign up for our newsletter below for access to our freebie library which includes tons of free goodies including photos.
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