So let’s assume that you’re starting a business, but you don’t have any assets that you can use. In the current decade we’re in, no business can get away without having a good looking website, or some sort of graphics on their business’s main page. Long gone are the days when you can just have a pastel colored back drop, a few links here and there and call it a day.
These days, you NEED to be professional just to get noticed. So how do you start and what do you do if you need to get something nice and quickly done and go for a certain look to get yourself started?
Well, you COULD go with doing everything yourself. A lot of Online Businesses do that. However what most people don’t realize is that stock photography and videos actually are out there and are designed specifically for this purpose. And in fact, using stock videos and images has a lot of positive benefits that help your business out.
Don’t believe me, let’s take a look at some of those benefits
1. Can be High Quality and Professional Looking
Let’s just state the obvious right now to get that out of the way: Creating stock videos and images is a huge business, and one entirely ran by professionals. Believe it or not there are thousands of Freelancers out there right now that take to the world to create amazing photography, or create amazing videos all surrounding different scenes from Landscapes, to Corporate, to Homely, to anything else in between.
These professionals THRIVE off of creating something for you to use with high end equipment, and often have portfolio’s that near into the thousands or tens of thousands of videos and photography or artwork. Plus, a lot of them also stay on retainment of various different businesses as well to work with them for a premium price.
So most of everything you get is often sold in HD, all the way up to 8k Resolution if you’re someone who strives to have impressive numbers and stuff. The more professional and high quality the stock image that’s on sale, the better the Freelancer gets paid after all.
2. Cheaper In the Long Run
When you need Photographs or Videos shot you often have to pay for a lot of the production itself up front. From the staging area, to the actors in the photo, to the photographer, the setting, lighting, renting out equipment and materials and props and costumes and perhaps even catering and everything else.
And it all adds up to a tremendous bill over time; all of which only a small part of your Video or Photography section can be usable depending on your marketing or stock imagery.
Contrast this to just finding a stock Photograph or Video that you can find that does exactly what you need it to, and just purchasing it right on the spot. Sure, some stock images are often high in demand and price – especially if it’s from someone who IS high in demand – but often times $100 for multiple uses is a lot cheaper than spending time and money on for something that might not be usable in the end. Especially if you have a small budget to work with as well.
3. Time Saver
This sort of adds onto the above in a way as well. As mentioned, sometimes all you need is at the end of a button click, and a small payment and you have access to the stock image and can use it at your leisure. You get a receipt for legal reasons (of which I’ll explain in a bit and then you’re free to use the image how you see fit.
Often this can be done in a single afternoon by someone who knows what they’re looking for and looking to save on their marketing budget.
So now you don’t have to worry about scheduling equipment, a Freelancer, professionals, actors and props and renting spaces and more and can just put all of that on the onus of the Freelance Stock Professional and letting them get paid per use of their stock video or image.
4. Curate A Personal Look
The neat thing about the fact that there’s so many thousands of Freelancers all looking for a slice of the same pie is that they often try to do something that stands out and gives them a distinct “style”. Not only that but with thousands – if not millions – of images and videos that are taken every single day, you can get exactly the sort of look that you want in many different styles and looks. Want something more corporate looking? More natural and relaxed? Something vintage and retro or futuristic? There are freelancers that specialize in all of that. Plus best of all is that if you find a particular Freelancer that takes Stock Photos and Video’s that you like you can even reach out to them to hire them personally to do exactly what you want them to do.
5. It’s Legally Simple
The best thing about Stock Videos and Images is that they’re pretty legally simple. When you hire someone to make things for you, you technically don’t own the rights to those images and you have to pay for their use, with everything going to the Freelancer you hired.
With Stock Images and Videos it’s pretty much the same thing, but a little bit different in that you’re essentially buying all of that on a per use basis. So you don’t technically own the image itself and can make money off of it (meaning you can’t resell it) but you purchase the right TO use the image itself on your websites or marketing. As long as you keep a receipt of the purchase you can continue to use that image without worry or impunity as long as you don’t sell the image itself: meaning you can’t make prints or sell the stock video itself or anything like that. And honestly, it’s just simpler that way.
List Of Best Stock Footage Websites for 2024 From IMHO Reviews
- Storyblocks
- Envato Elements
- Artgrid
- Pond5
- ClipStock
- Shutterstock
- Pexels
- Videohive
- iStockphoto
- Pixabay
So there you have it, the biggest benefits to using Stock Videos and Images in all of your Online Business marketing needs. It’s actually not that complicated, and as we’ve discussed above, it actually helps you a lot because it can be cheap and done quickly. If you’re on a budget and a time crunch then it’s all nothing but benefits to you with little downsides.