Is it OK to use stock images for my business marketing?
It’s a tough question. How do you get great images to use in marketing? You may not be a photographer by any means, or you work with clients and feel awkward about asking them for photos. Perhaps you don’t have the option of depicting your clients at all, because of sensitivity or confidentiality.
Great images (that are actually uniquely yours!) are really hard to come by for MANY small businesses.
Yet they are so important to your customers.
So what should we do?
I know I’ve spent so much time on getting photos right for my business BoyPilot Goods, and I still don’t have all the pics I’d like to have for marketing.
Many small business owners turn to stock photos so that their images look professional. It’s especially understandable when you work with people.
Look up what you want, download it, pop it into the available space. Now it looks professional, and most importantly, you’re done.
The problem is, stock always looks like… stock. Right? We know it when we see it, and even when it looks good, it can create a disconnect.
I recently was helping choose an assisted living place for my grandmother. Every brochure, every website, for every place, was all stock photos.
Of course the stock looked good, but everything looked the same. I knew it wasn’t their real facility, of course. It was harder to remember which place was which after touring them all.
And I hate to say, but it even decreased my trust a little bit - as if they were hiding behind generic pictures, unwilling to really be seen.
Stock can be useful, but also consider the downsides:
Keeps customers out, instead of inviting them in
It can feel like a wall between you and the customer, keeping them out instead of inviting them in. They don’t see you, your employees, your real menu items, your real location, your real anything.Not Really YOU
It doesn’t represent the humans in your actual community — none of whom are models who live in LA. It looks way too polished - not real or relatable. Nobody we know lives in a home like the one shown in the stock photo above. It’s not yours - It doesn’t feel or look local, since it probably wasn’t shot in your part of the country. Other businesses are using the same photos.Can feel deceptive or cheap
At worst, it make it seem like you are hiding who you really are when stock is totally overused on your marketing materials. And we all know stock is easy to come by and doesn’t reflect any special investment in your brand.
Now I’m not saying you can never use stock! In smaller doses it can really help, and it’s hard to avoid it completely. Please don’t take this as saying you should never use stock photo or video.
But when you only use stock, or use it too much when other options exist, it can hurt your organization.
It’s about making sure that you can own your identity.
When you own your business’s identity, when everything you do is uniquely driven by your brand, you gain value that goes beyond your product or your price point. You begin to be irreplaceable in your customer’s mind.
And that commands loyalty, builds recognition, and allows for premium pricing.
But you have to have that branding. You have to have that uniqueness.
When To Consider Using Stock
Media that you can’t spend much time on, such as weekly blog or LinkedIn posts
Minor photos that don’t need to be personal or real and don’t depict your main service
Photos that you or your designer can edit to be more personal
Photos that are only one part of an overall composition
When you don’t have any other options
When you can’t depict clients
But what if there was another solution… like stock, but uniquely generated for each user.
Get exactly the image you want, instantly.
Generative AI claims to solve the problem, but does it really?
So, should you use AI images to market your business instead?
It can feel more unique to you than stock photography, and it may look slick. I totally understand why it is appealing.
But if you’re considering AI imagery, it’s important to know that people can still spot it, and many people are against it, or find it unsettling - even subconsciously.
Yes, even if it’s flawless and everyone has the right number of fingers and toes. :)
For local businesses, using AI images can also signal that you don’t value the artists and makers in your community.
This is especially bad news for your brand if you have public brand values around connecting to your community, uplifting artists or selling locally-made goods. The types of businesses I focus on serving usually have some or all of those values.
Left: AI photo
It’s also important to remember that generative AI was built using materials made by real people, which are mostly being used without their permission.
Using it in your final product may be a violation of their intellectual property, and your image may not be legally protected by copyright.
How using AI images can backfire
A big, “alternative” craft fair in my community launched with an AI banner on Facebook. Aside from having that telltale AI feel, it did look pretty damn cool.
But the pushback from artists was unrelenting. Everyone knew it was AI, and as artists, they also knew that AI means less paid work and respect for their profession.
Eventually, the organizers had to change the banner and commission an artwork from a local artist to replace it. They could have done that from the beginning and avoided all that brand damage.
When To Consider Using AI
Early on in your workflow - to get ideas, explore styles and color palettes
For backgrounds or adding props to existing photos - not for the focal point
To tweak your own photos to look better
