The success of many businesses often lies in their creative approaches toward online visual presence. Social media ads, website blogs, and catchy emails can boost the company’s growth, but only when done correctly. Images of people are excellent for different uses, from supporting complex information to making the text more appealing. Besides, visuals prompt potential clients to act, complementing the promoted product or service.
As a business, you know that hiring a professional photographer or having one on payroll is probably the most strategic way to get decent pictures in a highly relevant context. However, it might often be, if not unaffordable, then quite expensive, especially if you’re trying to cut down on your expenses. What might the solution be? Getting images of people from stock content platforms has several benefits. Read on to learn five reasons for using such images and easy steps to landing on your ideal content.
Defining stock platforms and images of people
Stock platforms offer licensed visual assets, including high-quality photos, vectors, illustrations, and videos for diverse use cases. Visual content in these online libraries is usually available upon subscribing to a specific plan, granting you access to audiovisual files.
Images on such platforms typically feature models captured in various settings, moods, and demographics so that they can be used across business industries. Stock images on Depositphotos are just one example of how photographs of people are represented in different themes, including but not limited to food, leisure, family, and business. Depositphotos provides ready-to-use files under a royalty-free license, which is the perfect compromise for brands and creators to quickly source files on the web and avoid copyright issues.
5 reasons for using stock images of people
#1 Stock photos of people are diverse and high-quality
Stock content platforms feature diverse visual representations across age, ethnicity, gender, and occupation. This makes them a short- and long-term win-win solution because your goal is to connect with your target audience and beyond as a business.
Photo diversity and quality vary depending on a particular photo bank. However, trusted sources curate professional photos already edited and optimized for commercial use. Whether lifestyle, workplace, healthcare, or other niche subjects, you will likely find content catering to industry-specific needs.
#2 Stock photos of people are commercially safe
Stock photos come with usage rights to avoid legal risks associated with unlicensed content. Unless a visual file you find on the web falls under a specific Creative Commons license (CC BY, for example) or is open source, you must avoid using it for commercial purposes (such as including it in your brand product line ads).
On the contrary, a picture of someone purchased on stocks comes with a license, allowing you to add it to any marketing material. Audiovisual files bought on royalty-free stock marketplaces also eliminate the complexity of securing separate permissions for each use case. In other words, you can use content multiple times across different ads and marketing campaigns by paying once.
#3 Readymade images are time and cost-efficient
Stock photos of people are significantly cheaper than arranging professional photoshoots, especially if you are a small business with a limited budget. This arrangement goes way beyond hiring a skilled photographer. It also eliminates logistical challenges, such as:
- Finding models;
- Searching for venues;
- Planning outfits and picking relevant props;
- Creating an entire composition.
Moreover, immediate availability allows brands to maintain tight schedules and update campaigns or website designs quickly.
#4 Purchasing images of people support creators
Stock platforms partner with various photographers, helping them grow and advertise their work. It is through royalties and fixed payments that photo banks support creative professionals and provide a venue for freelancers to monetize their work. Given the popularity of such marketplaces and its projected growth to over $12 billion market size by 2032, it would be reasonable to state that more photographers will sell their works using stock platforms, offering a wider selection of images on multiple topics.
The increased demand for authentic, diverse stock photos of people encourages creators to explore new themes and expand their digital presence. This, in turn, gives you a superb opportunity to get a series of unique images affordably, supporting photographers and their creative expansion.
#5 Stock photos align with trends in branding and marketing
Stock content libraries give ready access to modern and culturally relevant images to help you stay in line with current marketing trends. Various seasonal, themed stock photos with a person or group of people can improve content quality, making it more comprehensive and appealing to changing consumer interests. Stock libraries evolve constantly, adding new content to reflect current trends like inclusivity and diversity.
The best thing about content marketplaces is that they don’t just provide you with themed photos; they also offer advanced tools that can be instrumental to your brand identity. Background remover and smart editor are tools you can’t miss out on leveraging when sourcing images on stock platforms. They can help you create a brand kit with colors, fonts, and logotypes that you can apply to selected images, thus enhancing your emotional storytelling and increasing your conversion rate by a whopping 94%.
3 things to consider when looking for stock images of people
Licensing terms and usage restrictions
Since each platform has unique licensing limitations, check it first to avoid unintentional misuse. Consider permissions for editorial and commercial use and licensing extensions. Besides, check for any geographical or time-based restrictions on image usage. You want to prioritize marketplaces offering extended permissions for wide-reaching campaigns.
Relevance, authenticity, and reputation
Evaluate each platform based on its verified user reviews and testimonials. Check their content offerings and ensure any person in a stock photo looks natural, crisp, and relatable to your content purpose, not overly staged or cliched. Remember to follow your brand’s tone, style, and target audience when sifting through photo collections. Doing so will help ensure the expressions, settings, and contexts speak to your clientele and build trust, nudging them to act even if your offering is more expensive than your competitors.
Quality and resolution
Opt for high-resolution images, which you can use for print, web, or multimedia without compromising precision. It would also be best if the platform had an editor to quickly make changes to images (adding a logotype, toning colors up or down to align with your color scheme, or including the text using your signature typeface).
Recap
Stock photos of people are one of the low-effort ways to improve your marketing efficiency, whether using them for a long time or as a temporary solution until you find a photographer. There are several reasons for turning to stock image platforms for photos of people in various settings and themes, from a rich selection of high-quality pictures to supporting worldwide photographers while saving a buck. However, evaluate a marketplace before providing your credit card details, including its reputation and content quality.
