5 Reasons to Take Your Own Brand Photos - instead of using stock images

Do you take your own social media photos, or do you use stock images?  Here are my five big reasons why you should be taking your photos yourself…

Taking your own photos for your social media posts, blogs, and other content will help to build and grow your brand.  It will be far easier for your audience to recognise your content and remember you, for the following reasons:

Reasons to take your own brand stock photos #1: Authenticity

Taking your own photos is going to help your brand look far more authentic.  They will really show you and your business to your audience.  Because they will be your photos not stock, they will show where you really are, your home, your work, rather than anything random or unrelated to you.  Authenticity may be a big buzz word at the moment, but it is actually very important that you are really you, and share the real you with your audience. 

Taking and using your own photos will really help this.

Reasons to take your own brand stock photos #2: Consistency

Taking your own photos is going to help build your brand because all your photos will be much more consistent as they are all yours, not a mixture of photographers, along with showing the real you/behind the scenes.  It’ll be easier to get them in your brand colours and style when you’re taking them.  

Reasons to take your own brand stock photos #3: Connection

Taking your own photos is going to help you build more real relationships with your audience as they will see the real you, and then also be more likely to buy from you.  You can make sure that your photos will appeal to your ideal clients, share your personality, resonate with and connect with your audience.

Reasons to take your own brand stock photos #4: Trust

Taking your own photos is going to help you build trust in your brand, and show reliability, because it will look more professional.  But also becaue they will be real and authentic to you, and consistently so too.

Reasons to take your own brand stock photos #5: Value

Taking your own photos is going to up the perceived value of your brand because they’ll be more authentic, consistent, personal and professional. 

They’ll be unique to you too, your audience won’t be seeing your photos used everywhere else.

I have five more bonus reasons for you too, I’m spoiling you!!  Five more reasons to take your own photos, that will help you out, as well helping grow your brand:

Reasons to take your own brand stock photos #6: It’s free!

It’s free to take your own photos.  So long as you have a smartphone that takes photos that is, which let’s face it, we pretty much all do now. i-phones have very good cameras in them, but so do most other android phones too now (and that’s what I use).

Reasons to take your own brand stock photos #7: It’s fun!

It’s fun to take your own photos!  You can decide exactly what you want to include in them, and you can re-take if you’re not quite happy enough with it the first time.  Block off a little bit of time every week or month or two, depending how many different images you need to keep you going, gather some props, and bulk photograph lots of images in one go.

Reasons to take your own brand stock photos #8: You’re in control

If you’re taking your photos yourself, you get to decide exactly what to photograph, how to set it up or lay it out, how to style it, how to photograph it.  You get the photos you want and need.

Reasons to take your own brand stock photos #9: It Saves Time

It will save you lots of time searching for free or paid for stock images that show what you want them to, that suit your brand, that look how you want them to (and you might not even find any that do all three!).  

Reasons to take your own brand stock photos #10: Copyright

You don’t need to worry about copyright, and the permission to use any stock photos that you find (especially if you’ve been using some you found from just googling – don’t!!).  You won’t need to pay for permission to use your own photos, because you automatically own the copyright of any photos you create.

Pin It:

Are you convinced?  Ten solid reasons to get taking your photos yourself to share on your social media posts and use in all your other content. 

So what are you waiting for?! 😉

Not sure just how to take good looking, professional photos, and/or how to photograph your brand? 

Then get yourself onto my evergreen photography course, From Basic To Brilliant (and On-Brand!), and I will teach you all about how to take fabulous photos, and how to get your brand into them too.

Basic to Brilliant is my online photography course for business owners, helping you take better, beautiful and on-brand photos for your social media and other content online.  All just on your smartphone, no fancy camera needed!  All can be done at home too. 

Here's that link again to find out more and sign up: From Basic To Brilliant (and On-Brand!)

Need some help with what to photograph in your own brand stock images though? 

There are 100+ ideas of props to use in your own brand stock images in this blog.

Next Steps:

- Learn to take your own beautiful, brilliant and on-brand photos of your business, from products to stock images to behind the scenes: find out more and sign up to my self study photography course for business owners: From Basic To Brilliant.  

- Ready for more personal mentoring, brand, visibility and marketing strategies that work for you, a community of fellow ambitious introverts, training, and accountability to put it all into action?  Come and join my Brand Plan membership, and get support to show up, stand out, and sell more🤩

***

Blog topics / categories: 

#All things brand

#All About Branding Photos

[This blog was first written in April 2020, then transferred to this website, January 2024]