The time to differentiate your business and brand is now!
Entrepreneurs are always looking for new and improved ways to elevate their businesses and enhance their brand image so that they can distinguish themselves among a sea of other products and services. Using styled stock images is one of those beloved methods leveraging which millions of business owners have benefited in ways they couldn’t have even imagined.
You can think of them as the glue that binds your efforts to build your business and forge a successful brand. In a world ruled by social media platforms likes Facebook and Instagram, choosing the right photos is more crucial than ever.
Fear not though, styled images are tailor-made for exactly that! In today’s world, there are two things that will determine your success. One, how you present yourself and two, whether or not you can grab people’s attention. If you do the first well, the second will be taken care of automatically. So, you really just have to make sure your business and brand are irresistible in the eyes of your audience. Thankfully, styled images can be used in a number of places to help you do just that. Not only will they help you save time (a frustratingly limited resource), but they will also help you build a recognizable brand if you choose images that go perfectly with its style. As the options are virtually unlimited, you should have no trouble finding just the right images. Aaand, when you use these photos on various channels, it will help you create a synergy that will make your business go skyward!
You thought they can only be used for social media? Nope! There’s an entire list, my friend. And who doesn't love a good list? Here’s one that’ll serve as your guide...
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 1 - Social Media Graphics
Social media is the name of the game these days. No matter who you are or what you do, having a social media presence Is. A. Must. The amazing things it can do for your brand and business are huuuge! It’s beyond any doubt, the number one weapon in your arsenal today. You can take things on an entirely new level by using stock images for all your social media needs and there are sooo many places to use them there. Here’s a list, which can no doubt be longer but it's a good start:
Instagram
Feed
Carousels
Stories
Lives
Video thumbnails
IGTV
Highlight Covers
Ads
Reels
Facebook
Banner Images for your Page
Banner Image for Group
Posts
Ads
Twitter
Header
Posts
LinkedIn
Header
Posts
There are other avenues as well but these are particularly indispensable considering just how many users there are on these platforms. Attention is the currency of the internet. Make sure you gather as much of it as possible.
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 2 - Blog Post Graphics
Blog posts are great resources to communicate with your ideal audience. They can be used for information sharing, educating, product announcements, offer announcement or even just general sharing of your thoughts.
If your blog post contains a styled image as the main attraction point, a user will be far more likely to check it out. Images invite people to click on a piece of content as they can say a thousand words without even saying anything.
Depending on how long your blog post is or what it is about, you might only want one main image, as the header for example, as well as a pinnable one or you might want a whole bunch of images to break up big walls of text or to show examples of topics you are going over within your info.
That’s why bloggers, YouTubers, news writers, and the likes, all ensure that the image associated with a content piece is as attention-grabbing as possible. It can multiply your clicks and views in no time at all!
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 3 - Pinterest
Although Pinterest can sometimes be considered a social media platform it is a search engine and is a highly useful platform if leveraged properly. If used to its best capabilities it can be very worthwhile in getting more eyes and therefore more traffic to your blog post and website.
By optimizing your blog graphics as Pinterest pins, you'll be that extra step ahead in your Pinterest game. You'll be able to make your pins stand out and get them in front of more eyes.
Stock images can make your pins so attractive that the viewer will not only feel compelled to visit your blog or website but will also increase the shareability of your pins.
At the end of the day, it’s all human psychology. When you see something beautiful, you naturally want to know more! You can use this to drive more traffic to your website that will, in turn, increase your sales.
One of the best ways you can do this is by using the hero image of your blog post to also create a Pinterest friendly graphic, which can then be placed at either the beginning or end of your post. Remember that on Pinterest, Pins are at their best when vertical and are mostly a combination of graphics as well as text.
Power users of Pinterest will immediately recognize these awesome pinnable images. As such, they will be more inclined to save and pin these to their boards too. The more your posts are pinned or shared, the better it is for you.
To make graphics for Pinterest easier and faster, you can create a template that you could use across your posts. This will also help in enhancing consistency.
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 4 - Mock-ups / Product Displays
Presentation matters. Sometimes it matters even more than the product or service itself. This sounds counterintuitive but that’s what psychology says! And it’s true when you observe what happens in the world. Humans do judge a book by its cover. Period. You can use this knowledge to make sure that they judge yours the way you want them to. Initially, your ideal audience won’t care about how good your product is or who’s selling it. All that will matter to them is how it “looks”. ‘Looks’ being the operative word, in case that wasn’t clear. Using mock-up images can present your product in a clean, elegant and minimalist manner that will instantly make it appear professional, stylish, elegant and worthy of your audience’s attention. Seeing as mock-ups can be digitally manipulated you can easily place the screenshot of your product/service/website or social media of your choice right where it needs to be in the smartphone, tablet or laptop screen of the mock-up image. This is a great way to nonchalantly put your business, brand, and products in front of your audience in a way that may not always be as easy to otherwise do.
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 5 - Educational & informational Content
This one is a biggie. And to understand this, you can take a stroll down memory lane and recall the time when you were in school. Didn’t you use to be more excited to get learning materials that had pictures in them in contrast to the ones that were all text?
The same thing applies even today. Thanks to the internet, it’s easier than ever to provide courses and educational content for people who want to learn something from the comfort of their home.
If you include styled images in the background of your courses, slide decks, presentations, workbooks or freebies not only is it a great way to infuse your brand in your content but your students or users will be much more attracted and involved in the content too. This will make learning way more fun as well as elevating your content and making it way more memorable for your audience.
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 6 - Website
Your website is your address on the internet. It’s your home. And just like your real home, you’d want to make sure your internet home looks as gorgeous and inviting as possible. There are so many places on your website where using styled images will instantly give it the face-lift it deserves. These can be incorporated in:
Website Banners
Parallax or Background Image
Hero Images
Landing page
About page
Services page
Product page
Sidebar Navigation/Images
Buttons
Shop Listing images
Website Footer
Contact page
Coming Soon page
… and more!
A polished website will go a long way in convincing your visitors to stay for longer periods of time and keep coming back for more and more.
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 7 - Sales Page
You and I both know your sales page is very important. It’s where the visitor makes their final decision about purchasing your product or service. The Sales Page is literally the page you direct all your traffic too. This traffic could be from ads, social media or any other source. As such, you need to craft an awesome, attractive sales page that your visitor just can’t click away from. You need to make sure that you do everything possible to make them click on that ‘BUY NOW’ button. Using engaging imagery on this page will go a long way in helping you do just that. It will not only keep the visitors’ attention pinned on the sales page, but it will also initiate a positive emotion. Using styled images on the sales page is also a great way to break up the copy into specific sections, keeping your visitors hooked, eager to keep reading and essentially encourage them to make that purchase. As we all know, sales is an emotion-driven decision. So, your imagery should evoke a positive response from your visitors. It is best if the images can help them visualize what it would be like to have your product or service. For instance, if you are selling a course on how to be more organized and productive with your work hours, you could use an image of an organized desk. You could then take it a step further by using a mock-up image from the same collection to include the title of the course or the content page to give it more of a physical form. This will help the visitor imagine the end results they can expect by using your course. This initiates a positive emotion that results in sales! Of course, your copy and information are crucial too but a little more beauty and style on your sales page can make the difference between someone buying your product or choosing to click away.
After all, a photo is worth a thousand words and having the perfect imagery with your impressive copy is a winning formula for a Sale Page that converts.
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 8 - Email Sign Up Popup
To sustain and grow any business, you need numbers. You need to build an army of followers so you can keep getting recurring revenue. Building an email list is probably the number one method to do so. How about jazzing up your email sign up popup on your website with a stunning image, which will take your copy and offer to the next level and make users that much more likely to give you their email addresses. This small step can result in huge returns for you down the road. Pop-ups are still a highly effective way to grow your mailing list. Most people will sign up happily to your emails if they find value in your offering. To nudge them into giving you their email addresses, you need to make that pop-up as attractive as possible. The best practice is to use imagery that is consistent with your brand and overall style. This will make the pop-up appear right at home and not “spam”. Also, if you are offering some sort of lead-magnet as part of your email list building strategy you can showcase it in a mock-up image in your pop-up to build interest.
For instance, if you are offering a free checklist, you could use an image of an iPad mock-up showing that checklist. It gives the visitor an idea of what the checklist looks like and they would be more willing to let you have their email address in exchange for your highly valuable lead-magnet.
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 10 - Freebies or Lead Magnets
Lead magnets can be great to get people to notice your brand while gathering their email addresses and other valuable information at the same time. These lead magnets can be strategically placed throughout your website. You can include them in your sidebar, landing page, and even at the bottom of a blog post which has content related to your lead magnet. To put the icing on the cake (ooo cake!), you can make use of styled images in your lead magnet. Styled images can be used from your opt-in pages or pop-ups (as previously mentioned) to your freebies/lead magnets to help generate all the interest it deserves. If you’re adding an element of beauty on top of what is already valuable, your potential customers will LOVE it and YOU even more.
Also, who doesn’t love some gorgeous looking freebies? By now, you should be well aware that most human decisions are influenced by emotions rather than logic. You can use this understanding to nudge them into getting your lead magnet.
For instance, if you are offering a free chapter from your course as your lead magnet, you could present it in an image of a laptop mock-up. As such, your audience will get a feel of what they can expect, giving a more physical sense of your digital freebie which gives a sense of immediately getting something for free as soon as they handover their email address.
Instant satisfaction! #winning
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 9 - Email Newsletter
Email newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your current and potential customers. In both cases, styled images can spruce up the content of your newsletter and encourage the users to read what you have to say and to see what you have to offer them.
It can also give them the ‘branded effect’ such that they are immediately recognisable and distinguishable as soon as your newsletter lands in their inbox.
A styled image can also be cleverly used as a call to action button in your newsletter. This can enhance the chances of a subscriber clicking on it.
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 11 - Promotions
Promotion graphics for sales, bonus offers, launches, a special event and competitions or give-aways are a great way to attract as many of your ideal customers as possible and guide them towards your product or service.
As stated earlier, attention is the currency of the internet. If you have enough of it, you can grow and thrive. Styled stock images can go a long way in creating these graphics for all your promotions content needs.
Using styled stock images in your promotional campaigns will not only turn heads but keep them turned in your direction.
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 12 - Advertising
Ads are made for one purpose and one purpose only, to get the right eyes on your products or services. What better way to do that than with imagery that gets the attention of your ideal online audience.
Having the right imagery that connects with your ideal audience can make or break whether that someone clicks on your ad or keeps on scrolling. Quality styled stock photos can be the exact visual queue that your ideal customer is looking for, for them to make that much-deserved click to "Sign-up" or "Learn more".
Where To Use Styled Stock Photos For Your Brand: 13 - Print Media
Even in the age of the internet, print media still has its perks. You shouldn't underestimate the effect of an attractive looking pamphlet, brochure or even a business card. People still save these for when they would need them. Whether it is for an event, an upcoming product launch, a new business, a workshop, conference, an in-person meet-and-greet or anything else, styled images can be instrumental to induce interest among people who can make a significant difference.
At the end of the day, styled images are a great tool. A tool that can be adapted in any way to suit your specific needs. With a little bit of creativity, you can apply these to any imaginable scenario to benefit your business. You can quite literally create that ‘vibe’ or ‘energy’ that people will love to engage and associate with. That’s the ultimate goal, right? Since this is also a highly affordable solution that has huge returns for you and your business, it is a no-brainer to make them a part and parcel of your business. You will not only differentiate yourself from others, but you can also construct your very own solid brand image that people will fall in love with. Now that you know all the awesome places where you can use styled stock images, that will increase your visibility online and ultimately grow your biz, set some time aside to implement your imagery throughout your online businesses and create that cohesive look and feel that you and your brand deserve. With Love Monique xxx P.S. If you'd like to start using styled stock images for your biz in any of the above suggestions join the CLUB and get access to a monthly code that gives you access to a free styled stock image that you get to choose! Did you know about all these places you could use styled stock images in? Have I left any out, I'd love to know...