Are your pictures working for you?
It’s no secret that a picture is worth a thousand words, as the old saying goes. Pictures speak volumes, and from a brand strategy standpoint can make or break your ability to catch the attention of your prospective customer, reel them in, and seal the deal on a sale. The images you use as a part of your branding will play a crucial role in building interest and trust in your brand. That’s why we’re addressing stock images and brand strategy on the blog today! We’ll go over a few tips, and also provide you some awesome premium and free resources!
When we say “imagery,” this includes — yes, I’m going to say it! — your logo and related brand components, and it also includes the imagery that you use on your website + blog and social media. That means the pictures you’re posting on social media, the photographs on your website, whether it’s your products, your headshots, and so on.
We’re not going to touch on the branding side of things in this post, thought! We actually wanted to point you in the right direction for some amazing stock image resources to help you beef up your look.
I’m going to be straight with you. If your imagery sucks, the chances of someone being interested in what you offer are slim to none, even if you DO have the most amazing product ever.
Stock images are fantastic resources.
Stock images don’t replace your product images. In other words, if you offer coffee mugs for sale, you shouldn’t Google “coffee mug stock images” and use those images.
Your product images should showcase your products true to form, and should showcase the way it looks, textures, size & scale. Your images should be properly lit and balanced, and if appropriate, edited nicely. Shooting in natural lighting is often best. If you don’t have the mad skills, strongly consider hiring a photographer to help you. If it’s not in your budget, check out this post we published a while back that show some basic tips to improve your photography!
Stock images do offer support. Think of them as a helping hand – you’ve got the product, the business, the brand, and the interest for it. Stock images will simply elevate it when used appropriately.
Stock images should be selected carefully.
- They should look like they belong.
- They should look cohesive to your brand.
- They should not be misleading, depending on the nature of your business + offerings.
We want to help!
We’ve compiled a short list of some premium & free resources that we think you’ll love. Check them out below!
Premium:
1. We produce our own stock photos!
2. Haute Stock is phenomenal – we LOVE our subscription.
3. Jana Bishop has beautiful images, and she also provides Lightroom presets!
4. Creative Market is a great place to get stock photos.
5. Sunny Tangerine has some gorgeous images, too.
Free:
1. Burst from Shopify
2. Pixabay
3. Unsplash
4. Pexels
5. StockSnap
Do you have other resources you’d recommend? Drop a link below in the comments!
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