Many business owners, especially those operating smaller businesses with more limited budgets, make the mistake of using stock images from a photo or image library. While these types of images may seem useful for those with very limited budgets and marketing needs, they don’t provide the level of differentiation you should be looking for in your business publications.
Stock photography certainly has its place. For those who are just starting up a new small business or producing simple marketing products, stock libraries can be great and inexpensive sources of business photography. For some businesses, the images available may be very well suited to their business needs. General office publications can benefit from stock images of people in the workplace. Many types of businesses can be easily represented by images readily available in stock libraries. These types of photographs have been very helpful for many small businesses when first jumping into marketing activities.
While stock photos certainly have their place, they don’t usually work for long-term business marketing and they don’t serve the purposes of those businesses looking to establish a strong brand presence. They don’t provide the level of sophistication or uniqueness that professional photography can for your business.
One of the dangers of using stock photographs is the duplication between photography in your business publications and the publications of other businesses with which you compete. In the same way that you’re making an effort to save money by utilizing stock images, your competitors may be doing the same. Or perhaps they have realized the benefits of using a professional photographer, and their marketing and business photographs far exceed the quality of your own.
While you can purchase exclusive rights to images from stock photo libraries, this method tends to be more expensive than hiring your own professional photographer to produce unique photos for you. If you’re going to pay for photography, you should get the best possible images for your money, and hiring a professional allows you to customize images to uniquely represent your business.
One of the most important aspects of competing in business is establishing a unique and recognizable brand. If you’re selling products or services that many other businesses provide as well, you will need to ensure that your business publications, website and ads feature unique images and ones that make you stand out from the crowd.
Differentiating your business in the market can’t be achieved through the use of stock images. Your marketing materials, website, and other business publications need to have a cohesive appearance and feel. Selecting stock images can be useful for a one-time project but the quality, conceptuality, style and character of stock images vary. The photographer, subject matter, techniques and age of stock images all influence their final appearance. These images rarely work well together and usually don’t produce a nice, fluid, and impressive combination.
By working with a single professional photographer or photography firm, you ensure that your images have a cohesive and consistent appearance and style. You have a strong voice in what your images look like, and can request changes and design adjustments until you see the quality and appearance of business photographs that will truly distinguish your business in the marketplace.
A professional photographer will work with you to establish the context and content of your photographs. They will need to understand your business goals and the image you want to project in order to produce the photographs that will best meet your business needs and marketing goals.
Your business may have a marketing specialist or creative team that works on marketing materials, sales and marketing plans, and long-term brand development. This team can be an invaluable resource. By combining their knowledge of your specific business needs with the technical prowess of a professional photographer, you can get the business photos that will move your marketing ventures to the next level.
If you’re planning a large marketing campaign, including a website, brochures, sales fliers and other publications, you should consider the overall cost of the venture. The marketing campaign itself will cost a significant amount of money, and you need the plan to work. Adding a professional photographer to your efforts will cost very little in terms of the overall budget but can greatly increase the chances of a successful campaign.
Araman Studio is a creator of beautiful things. When you need a Abu Dhabi Photographer or virtually anywhere in the Middle East to capture the beauty of the area and you in it, visit us today. Araman is the Middle East official photographer for Starwood hotels – Sheraton, Meridien, Grosvenor House, Four Points by Sheraton and The Westin. He also teaches photography at the American University in Dubai.