Use Stock Photos the Right Way

1. Use Stock Photos the Right Way “A picture is worth a thousand words" – is a famous saying and there is no better evidence than the advertising world to ascertain this popular statement. Though its origin is still unknown, marketing professionals across the globe have been following this idea of using images in designing marketing materials for years, to catch all the necessary attention of the audience. To grab all the eyeballs, it’s imperative to do something different and unique with your design as well as image selection, which your competitors couldn’t even guess. While curating artworks for advertising materials, designers tend to use images available free on Google and other stock image websites. The advantage of using stock photos is that they are not only free of cost but you can get a great deal of high-quality images of every variety that you can think of. Just type the keywords for the image you are looking for and then you be flooded with a plethora of images of varied types and qualities. This article will guide you on where to use these stock images to obtain the best results and where you should completely avoid using them for the sake of your business’s repute. WHEN TO USE STOCK PHOTOS 1. To support your copywriting – An article or a blog is definitely all about useful information, good pieces of advice, opinions, views and ideas. But to make that content visually appealing, so that the readers find it interesting, images should be included. This is a place where stock images can be fully utilised. 2. Adding as a background image – Often, stock photos are used as background images in creating flyers, web banners, to complement a specific theme of the artwork. 3. PowerPoint presentations – Yes, they form the best add-on to every slides and thus prevent the onlookers from getting bored from bullet points, statistics, and numbers. 4. Educational Whitepaper or Infographics – You can use stock photos to illustrate lengthy informational content meant to educate the people. WHEN NOT TO USE STOCK PHOTOS

2. 1. Logos – Logo being the face and sole identity of your brand should not be compromised at all in terms of concept and designing. It should be unique and stock photos just cannot serve this purpose. So, it’s always recommended to seek the assistance of an expert designer to create an out-of-the-box logo. 2. Promotional materials and book covers – These things are completely owned by you and hence to justify your ownership rights, please create your customized marketing materials that blend with your branding elements. Same goes for book covers. Yes, though it’s not the right thing to do, people still judge a book by its cover only. 3. Pictures with photographer’s license – Though most of the stock images are free, some sites provide premium images that required payment before purchasing. Also, some pictures are offered with license and ownership rights. It is better to avoid these types of images that require the photographer’s permission to avail them. 4. If it doesn’t represent your brand –Yes, it’s true that stock photos are quite tempting and can accentuate the look of any graphic piece that you are trying to create. But does it epitomize your brand? This question needs to be answered first and once you know the answer, you know whether to use a stock image or not. This article has been written with an objective to make the business owners aware about the dos and don’ts of using stock images so that they can keep an eye on the designer who takes care of the company’s marketing needs. Now, you can verify by yourself whether to use a stock image for a particular design. A much-admired website design company Florida called Wheelistic Web Design is helping marketers to create great advertising materials that will actually help their brands to stand out. If you wish you can connect to them by visiting their website.