PSA: Stock photos for business are not your friend. It might be a hard truth to hear because using stock photos for your business might feel like the easier option now but they will not age well with your brand and they’ll end up costing you in the long run.

Let me tell you why you should not use stock photos for business.

Your photos sell your products

It’s as simple as that. How can you sell your product (whether that is a physical product or a service-based business) if you don’t have real photos of your product? How do you build a brand without real photos that are capturing your brand story? It definitely makes it harder.  For example, I do the brand photos for Cindy Ames Coaching, you can tell her energy and what her service will be like based on her photos.

How will you keep consistency?

Stock photos are from different photographers with different photography styles. For a short time, you might be able to find photos that work with your brand but they won’t last.  

It’s better to find a local photographer with a style you really like. This way you can go back to them time and time again for all the different types of brand photos that you need. Much like the ones we discussed in the 5 photos you need for brand photography post.

Waste time searching for a relatable photo.

You can spend hours trying to sift through photos to find the perfect photo that is somewhat relatable to your brand. But you should realize, your time is worth something.

Instead of spending money there, invest in brand photography where you can have your own brand photography gallery with photos to choose from. Once you have your own photos it will take seconds to find one that works.

Your client can tell if you use stock photos for business.

The one thing that really matters the most. Stock photos are obvious. Your clients can tell when photos feel disconnected and staged. You want to build trust with your client and stock photos are not going to help you achieve that.