Scale your Business with Branded Stock Images

Simply put, a branding shoot is meant to help you gather photos that you can use for your business. And while it is important to get pictures of YOU so that people can see the face behind the brand, there are other types of images you should make sure to grab during your brand photography shoot. One of those types of photos are branded stock images. 

These photos can be flatlays or lifestyle shots of some of your favorite items, books, flowers or magazine clippings in your brand colors. They can also include products you offer, from physical items to printouts of digital products that your business sells. 

If you're confused on how these types of images can actually support your marketing strategy and SCALE your business, I’m showing you two ways that you can use branded stock images that will help grow your business to that next level!

On Pinterest

Pinterest is a search engine, like Google, and it is a great way to get your work seen and can easily become an integral part of your marketing funnel. But unlike Google, search results appear as images so having well-designed graphics with stunning branded stock images will attract people to your pins. That means they’re more likely to click on them and, even better, repin them so that they’re shared with their audience. 

My client, Courtney Fanning of Big Picture Branding, uses her branded stock images for pins to her website resources and blog posts. Below are some examples of her pin graphics along with the original branded stock photo she used to create the pin. Not only is she a great example for how to use branded stock images, she also is an example of why props matter during your branding shoot and how important it is to include items that are relevant to your brand and align with your brand’s aesthetic. 

She uses these pins to build her email list and also sell some of her digital products!

In Your Emails

Another great place to use your branded stock photos is in the emails you send out to your contact list, especially as a banner image. This ensures that when a client or prospective client opens up your email, they immediately know it’s from you because they’ve come to recognize that branded stock photo. 

While Courtney does use a picture of her keyboard, business card and other desk accessories in her brand colors as her email banner image, she also uses  photos from our most recent shoot of her hard at work, also featuring her brand colors. But she’s cropped the images so that the focus is on the work she is doing and not her face, which turns it into a branded stock image. These images help her audience identify with her and recognize her brand.

With branded stock images you are now positioned to have a beautiful brand marketing plan. From Pinterest (to collect those email addresses) to then leveraging that email list (now with those beautiful images) you can start to build a consistent and reputable brand that your audience wants! Don’t forget to grab my shoot planning guide so you can see how the whole process comes together to scale your business with beautiful images!