Keeping your marketing looking professional can be a challenge.
That’s why I’ve created The Brand Story Library.
What is The Brand Story Library?
The Brand Story Library is a growing collection of professional stock images, designed for small businesses, with spaces and areas for you to add your own message, and even an option to order professionally edited customisable images, along with digital resources to help too.
It’s designed to give you access to high-quality imagery and practical marketing tools that help you create consistent, professional content without spending hours searching online or paying for brand photography.
Whilst nothing replaces bespoke images of you and your business, I also know there are plenty of occasions where you simply need beautiful supporting imagery.
Inside the library you’ll find:
- Business stock images
- Seasonal business images
- Flat lays and styled workspace photography
- Motivational and inspirational images
- Images with space to add your own text or branding
- Selected personalised image options
- Checklists and other downloadable resources designed to help you market your business more effectively
Whether you’re creating social media posts, writing blogs, sending newsletters, updating your website or designing marketing materials, The Brand Story Library brings together images and resources to help.
Seasonal Images for Your Marketing Throughout the Year
Keeping your content relevant throughout the year is much easier when you have seasonal imagery ready to use.
The Brand Story Library will continue to grow with collections including:
- Christmas business images
- Easter business images
- Spring business images
- Summer business images
- Autumn business images
- Winter business images
- Valentine’s Day business images
- Halloween business images
- New Year business images….
No more scrambling to find suitable images when the next holiday or marketing campaign comes around!
Are You Sure You Have Permission to Use That Image?
There’s another reason I’ve created The Brand Story Library: to make using professional photography for your business easier and less worrying.
Many people search the internet for images to use. However, the fact that an image is publicly available on the internet doesn’t mean that you have permission to use it.
And this isn’t just about images you find online.
“But that’s a photo of me!”
Even if you have a photograph of you, it doesn’t mean you own the copyright to it.
For example, perhaps you attended a networking event and the event photographer took a lovely photograph of you. You may have been given the image afterwards, or found it on the photographer’s social media page and downloaded it for your own website.
Even crediting the photographer or adding an image to a Canva design doesn’t automatically give you permission to use it.
The photographer will generally own the copyright in the photograph unless this has been assigned or licensed differently.
So yes, you can potentially need permission to use a photograph of yourself.
And getting caught may become easier
As image-recognition and search technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, it’s becoming easier for copyright owners to know their work is being used and can, in some cases result in facing legal action and financial costs. The Intellectual Property Office warns that these costs can ultimately be considerably more than the cost of properly licensing an image in the first place.
So if you’ve ever thought “It’s only a little image on my website – nobody’s going to notice”, it may be worth thinking again.
You can read the UK Government’s guidance on using digital images and photographs online here: Copyright notice: digital images, photographs and the internet – GOV.UK
Personal Brand photograph by Photography by Fran
1. Stock images are safe to use, however….
When you purchase an image from a stock image library, such as The Brand Story Library, you’re purchasing it with a licence that allows you to use the image.
You might be thinking: “Why don’t I just use one of the big stock photography websites?”
You absolutely can. There are some excellent stock libraries out there.
But there are some drawbacks to using larger stock libraries, such as:
1. Your audience may have seen the image before
One of the biggest problems with generic stock photography is that the same images can appear everywhere.
You might use a photograph on your website only to discover that a competitor or dozens of other companies are using exactly the same image.
That’s not particularly helpful when you’re trying to build a recognisable brand and trust.
2. It can make your marketing feel less authentic
Stock images look fake and don’t represent your brand’s unique personality, which can lose trust and turn off potential customers. It’s been proven, that original photos have over 35% more engagement than stock photos.
3. There can be restrictions on how you use images
Different stock image libraries have different rules about how their photographs can be used, such as where and how an image can be used, whether it can be modified, whether it can be used in templates or products for resale, and how many people within a business can access it.
This does mean you need to understand what you’ve actually purchased, because if you use it in a way you’re not supposed to (even when you believe you can) you’re at risk of being faced with legal action.
See more about this in my ‘5 reasons why stock images could be damging to your business‘ blog post here.
So what’s different about The Brand Story Library?
I’ve deliberately taken a slightly different approach.
The Brand Story Library isn’t intended to compete with enormous stock photography libraries containing millions of images.
It’s about creating a smaller, carefully curated collection of images specifically with small businesses in mind.
These images aren’t produced to replace your personal brand photography (having images of yourself is still hugely important to help build trust). There are no images of people (ie generic business men/women.
Images designed with marketing in mind
I’ve created many of the photographs specifically with social media, websites, blogs and email marketing in mind.
You’ll find images with useful negative space for adding text, images or branding, along with seasonal content such as Christmas business images, Easter images, Summer business images, etc
Some images can be personalised
This is something I’m particularly excited about!
Some of the images in The Brand Story Library can be professionally edited specifically for your business.
So rather than simply downloading the same photograph as everyone else, you can have something that feels much more connected to your own brand.
More distinctive imagery
Because the images aren’t being distributed on the same enormous scale as traditional stock libraries, there’s a much better chance that your audience won’t have seen the same photograph being used by hundreds of other businesses.
Photography + practical marketing resources
And it’s not just about photographs.
The Brand Story Library will also include digital marketing resources – including guides, planners, templates, checklists and other practical tools designed to help you market your business.
A library that will continue to grow
The Brand Story Library is only just getting started.
New business stock images, seasonal collections, lifestyle photography, marketing templates and digital resources will be added regularly, giving you even more ways to support your business throughout the year.
Whether you’re planning your Christmas marketing, looking for Summer business images, creating Easter promotions or simply searching for professional stock images for your next social media post, you’ll always have fresh content ready to use.
Check out The Brand Story Library here – https://www.photographybyfran.co.uk/shop