8 Ways to Use Brand + Stock Photography in Your Creative Small Business
Professional stock and brand photography can transform how your creative small business shows up online. With top-notch images, you can really nail your brand’s vibe and make a memorable first impression. Stunning photos draw potential clients in, building trust and letting people know you’re not afraid to commit to your business. In a sea of online noise, those polished photos help you stand out. Investing in styled, elevated photography isn't just about looking good—it's about boosting your online presence and making sure you’re noticed by all the right people.
Here are 8 of our top recommendations on how to use your stock and brand photos! Starting with our favorite:
Instagram Story Backgrounds
Instagram stories are the most popular way to check in with folks these days. Make sure you’re switching things up and giving your follows something pretty to look at when they get to your stories. Use your brand or stock photos as a background on your Instagram stories!
Make an on-brand collage
You can head into Canva, our favorite free design tool, and use several images to create a collage of on-brand images to use as a static post on Instagram with an evergreen caption. We even like to boost the posts with the on-brand collages we make in order to show potential clients what we’re all about, as a form of marketing.
Mockups
Take stock or brand photos of blank paper, signage, or posters, and digitally insert announcements, updates, graphics, your logo, and more. Again, we recommend Canva.
Pinterest Pins
We have to talk again about one of our favorite tools, Canva. They have templates for things like different social media posts, presentations, social media stories, etc. One template type in particular that we love are the Pinterest Pin templates. Drag and drop your brand + stock photos into Pinterest Pin templates to create beautiful cover photos for your linked pins on Pinterest. Give us a follow over there to see some examples of what we’re talking about!
Newsletter Imagery
Elevate your newsletter’s visual appeal by using stock photos. We have plenty of topical, relevant stock photos in our free stock photo gallery that is accessible to our newsletter subscribers. If you’re not already a subscriber, you can join and gain instant access by clicking here.
Quote Graphic
Digitally insert a quote over the on-brand stock photo.
Website Hero Images
Every website needs attractive, professional photography. Using stock photos on your website can help out if you’ve not invested in a custom brand photo session yet.
Layered with Your Logo
Digitally insert your logo over the on-brand stock photo. Perfect to share as an Instagram post, an Instagram or Facebook story, or as a profile photo.
There’s plenty you can do with your brand and stock photography, and if you show up consistently in some of these ways, it’s sure to help with your creative small business’
