Stock photography: Buyer be aware

The Business Journal

In my column, I will discuss marketing topics that face today's businesses. Today, let's look at adding stock photography to your marketing mix.

With the advent of digital photography and the proliferation of online sources, stock photography's popularity in advertising continues to rise. However, before you jump to stock consider the benefits of both stock and custom.

Benefits of stock photography

• Generally less expensive than custom work
• What you see is what you get
• Can speed up the design process and help you meet a tight deadline
• Can spark ideas and kick start the creative process
• Can be digitally manipulated to create a custom look

Benefits of custom photography

• You can combine elements to get exactly the look and feel you want
• You own it and can use it any way you like
• It’s unique to you and won’t show up in anyone else’s marketing
• You can show your customer interacting with your brand
• Can be less costly than royalty-based stock images

Stock photography may seem less time-consuming and more effortless than setting up for a photo shoot. But stock photography is not necessarily cheaper. It can take hours of searching through thousands of images to find the perfect picture for your application.

You also need to be aware of the fine print when purchasing images. All stock imagery is not created equal. With hundreds of vendors, usage rights vary. Generally, however, there are two categories: royalty free and rights managed.

Royalty-Free Stock

With royalty-free stock photography you get unlimited usage from a one-time purchase. You pay a flat fee and can use the images over and over again in any way you wish. Royalty-free images are lower priced. But they are also of lower quality than rights-managed images.

You can buy royalty-free stock images either on-line and download them individually in a choice of resolutions or you can acquire them as themed collections on CD-ROM. Collections typically have 100 images a disk, and the price per image is cheaper than buying images individually. Expect to pay between $50 to $500 for single images.

Rights-Managed Stock

Rights-managed stock images are the pick of the crop. Shot by the world’s best photographers, they feature the prettiest people, the cutest critters, the most spectacular scenery. These images, therefore, must be licensed each time based on use, circulation, image size, insertions, length of usage, territory, and industry.

The cost of using rights-managed stock can really add up. You can expect to pay between $750 to $5,000 or more for a single usage of a rights-managed image. It had better be a very special image with purposeful results if you are going to continually shell out thousands of dollars to use it.

Exclusive Rights

Exclusivity of use is something else that you had better think about in considering whether to use stock photography. Keep in mind that royalty-free stock photography places no limitations on who can use it. So nothing stops your direct competitor from intentionally or unintentionally using the same image that you’ve selected for your application. You really do take your chances.

You can, however, negotiate the exclusive use of a particular rights-managed stock image for a specific period of time. Research indicates that prices soar anywhere from 3 to 10 times the prices to secure limited or full rights protection.

There is more to a pretty stock picture than meets the eye. Be aware of all your options, and good luck searching. A few of my favourite sites are www.gettyimages.com, www.veer.com, www.mediabakery.com, www.masterfile.com and firstlight.ca.

About the author: Tim McAlpine is the president and creative director of Currency Marketing. His marketing agency specializes in the unique needs of the Canadian credit union industry.

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