Choosing and using stock images

I know marketers tell you not to use stock images. I know original content is best. I agree, but reality bites. We don't all have the budgets we'd need to use original images everywhere. So let's stop pretending and look instead at how to be original and creative with stock images.

First up, there are still some limits. Whatever your budget, there are some places you shouldn't use stock images at all.

Where you shouldn't use a stock image

Your About page is where people come to find out more about you and your business. They're looking for something real.

Using stock images on your About page sends a message:

• You've got something to hide.
• You're embarrassed about your business.
• You're pretending you have a big office when in fact you're working from home.

This is doubly important if you're in a business where personal trust matters.

If you're a coach, a mortgage broker or a psychic, people need to see you and trust you. Get a good headshot and put it on your About page. Heck, get two and put one on the home page.

Even the supermarkets know this. Why do you think they have photos of the manager in the store?

Invest in a professional photo shoot. If you have a team, get them all in for the day and get headshots of everyone. Adding extra people costs very little compared to getting the photographer out there in the first place. Take group shots, location shots or photos of branded vehicles with happy staff at the same time.

(Need a good, affordable photographer? If you're in Sydney, check out Cesar Ocampo. No, he doesn't pay me any commission, he's just an amazing photographer.)

So, with that out of the way, how are you going to make stock images work on the rest of your website, brochures and social media?

Making stock images work harder for you

1. Choose your stock image service wisely.

There are plenty of stock image libraries. Some are paid services, others are free.

Why pay if there are free options? Because:

• You get more choice of (better?) images
• You'll get a wider range of images for niche and 'concept-based' images
• You're less likely to infringe copyright. (Paid sites have more resources to monitor and manage contributors.)
• The right search and filter capabilities will save you time - and time is money!

That last reason alone means I opt for a paid library. (Although I use free ones too sometimes.) Never underestimate the hours you can spend trawling though stock image libraries trying to find the ideal image for your project.

Paid sites usually have more keywords and descriptors attached to each image, so it's easier to search and find. They also have more filters to narrow down your search. For example

• type of image (photo, illustration, vector etc)
• colour (either by primary colour or right down to the level of a hex code)
• orientation (so you can see ones which will fit in the space you have in mind)
• copy space (ie a blank part of the image where you can add words. Useful for social media in particular.)

At NoBull we use Adobe Stock and there are two features there which can be very helpful when you've found and image which is 'sort of right'. You can quickly look at images from the same series, or images with similar content. It doesn't always work well, but sometimes it's fantastic.

So test a few libraries to see what they have which is relevant to you and how easy they are to use. And remember, you can use more than one. (Secret, we do, but Adobe is the only one we pay for.)

2. Avoid the obvious image

No website is enhanced by a photo of five or six random business people sitting around a table smiling. It means nothing! It's filler on the page, with no message beyond the fact that you couldn't be bothered to take a photo of your own team.

It looks like a stock photo.

But your aim is to find a stock photo which doesn't look like a stock photo. Or at least, looks like a stock photo you chose carefully.

A non-complete list of kinds of stock image you should avoid:

• business people doing nothing other than smile or look at a computer screen
• stick men and bubble people
• a random keyboard and coffee cup
• people shaking hands
• wordclouds
• fake technocomputer overlays (especially a businessman in a suit pressing a button on an invisible wall)

And then there are the very basic analogies which get used all the time:

• jigsaw pieces for teamwork
• chess for strategy
• light bulbs for ideas and inspiration
• a row of growing seedlings and ever larger piles of coins

You may not be able to avoid all of these all the time, but keep them to a minimum and try to make them more than just a stock image. (For example, we have a cup and a pen on our home page, but they're in NoBull green, with a note saying 'Worth it!')

3. Beware overused images

Many years ago we used a stock photo of a young Indian woman on a flyer. Then I started seeing her everywhere. This is just her Zoom calls.

People may not know where they've seen this woman before, but the subconscious is strong! The image won't be working hard for you specifically, because it's so generic.

How do you avoid overused images? There's no surefire way. But you can try:

• Stock library filters. Adobe Stock has an option for 'undiscovered content'. Shutterstock has a 'usage score' for each image.
• If you use another library, or want to check usage of the model as opposed to the specific image, try using Google image search . That's how I got the images above.

4. Be clear about the purpose of your image

As a general rule:

• an image in a social media feed is to attract attention
• An image in a blog post is to attract interest and reinforce the message of the post
• an image on a web page or brochure is to make visitors feel warmer and more positive about whatever you are offering

Social media is generally more relaxed than your website. You can afford to take a few more risks with images in social media than on your website or other marketing materials. Plus, things disappear down the feed fairly quickly, so even if you make a mistake it's unlikely to hang around and haunt you.

Try images which pick up on one aspect of your post - not necessarily the main point, but something more visually arresting.

5. Think about the message of your image

Images can attract attention, but they can also convey messages and ideas. This is especially relevant for blogs, articles and white papers.

For example, how do you illustrate a post about working closely with your AV provider at an event? We wanted an image which promoted the partnership message and also tied back to the theme of events and audiovisual.

This is a great example of a 'complex' topic or idea with multiple facets to it. It's the kind of image where a paid stock library where images have multiple descriptive keywords really helps.

We searched on many terms and combinations of terms. event av, event av organiser, event organiser partner, event perform partner, event partner trust, audio trust event... Eventually we found this:

It's a stock image, but it doesn't feel like a stock image. It's a perfect tie-in to the twin concepts of audio-visual services and partnership, both of which we wanted to get across. Plus the offbeat humour fits well with the client's personal brand.

6. Create an image style guide

What unspoken rule or guidelines do you have about the kinds of images that suit your brand?

For example:

• NoBull Marketing blog feature images are always photos. No illustrations or vectors, just photos! They also always have a touch of our brand colours.
• One client has an all-female office, so she wants mostly images of women, to reflect what potential customers can expect.
• Another is a bookkeeper who wants to promote the feeling of calm which comes from being sure your accounts are correct and up to date. Rather than images about money, she wants something to reflect calm and peace, in her brand colours.
• Another works with career-driven people in their 40s or older and wants happy, positive images of older people, a mix of men and women.
• One pest controller only wanted to show the happy result of using his services - no nasty cockroaches, termites or other bugs. Our post about ticks showed a child and dog playing happily in the grass, free from fear of ticks.

What do you want in your images? Once you have clarity about this, it's easier to create consistency, which helps build your brand.

Remember, you can have different guidelines for different images or images in different places. For example, our colour and photo rules are pretty strict for feature images on our website and blog. With social media, they're more flexible.

7. Edit images to match your brand colours

Colour is so important in establishing consistency.

There's more than one way to achieve that consistency, though.

The simple option is to search or filter by colour.

Alternatively, find an image which matches your message, then edit it to match your brand colours. (How do you think that cup and pen on our home page got to be in NoBull green?)

This may sound like a lot of work, but if you have the skills, it isn't. If you don't, find someone who does. (Hint, Fiverr! Even if you pay it will cost far less than custom images but still create great impact.)

8. Try combining more than one image

Combining two images gives you lots of opportunity to stand out. Pick things which don't go together naturally - like this example which sets the 'bidding' element of paid social media advertising against the 'tribe' element of building an organic following.

Summing up

I hope this post has helped you appreciate that not all stock images are created equal - and that there are ways to spice them up too.

All the principles here are ones we apply at NoBull Marketing, for our own images and for our clients.

We're not perfect. We don't manage it every time. But if most of your images have some personality and relevance, that usually puts you way ahead of your competition.

One final reminder.

Once you choose and use the best images for you, make sure you also optimise them properly to get the best value from them. But that's a whole different post!