There’s no question that stock photos add an incredible amount of value to ad campaigns. If they’re not part of your marketing strategy now, you may want to reconsider your marketing strategy and include them.
Some stock photo agencies are more expensive than others. Although some may tout that the more expensive ones are worth their weight in gold, if you’re on a budget, it may not be the best choice for you. Stocksy is one of the ones that can be quite pricy. Stocksy is one that offers a unique stock photo library, you can read its overview from Stock Photo Secrets site. Stocksy’s library is themed for the holidays, and each one looks like it came right out of an expensive photo shoot. Personally, I like Stocksy. However, if you play around with Stocksy’s software on their website, you’ll quickly find out that the most offensive option means you can end up paying in the realm of $900 for a single photo. Realistically, I can’t see anyone doing that – but it is possible.
Let’s take a look at some of the cheaper options out there, shall we? With DepositPhotos, you’re paying around one dollar per photo. Most marketing managers would welcome a price like that. Considering that the most common use for stock photos is in marketing campaigns, one dollar is a steal. That’s not even considering the promotion they have going on for new customers where you can get five free credits per day for the first seven days. Plus they have a unique add-in for Adobe’s Creative Cloud. By installing this add-in, you don’t have to go to the website or even leave the application at all to browse the stock photo library, download your image and use it in popular programs like Photoshop.
iStockPhotos aren’t the cheapest in the bunch, but they are quite popular. They charge around $10 per image. Shutterstock offers a decent plan for starters. They’re offering around six dollars per image for their cheapest, basic plan. For $30, you get five credits to use within a 30-day period. Fotolia recently got acquired by Adobe, which gave rise to their Adobe Stock offering. What’s nice to know is that Fotolia will remain a separate entity. It is quite affordable with a 10-credit pack starting at $14. That comes out to less than two dollars per image.
The point is this. There are plenty of stock photo options cheaper than Stocksy. Browse around, take your time, and decide which one is best for you. Many photo agencies have libraries that are larger than 30 million images. With that in mind, you don’t want to choose a stock photo agency based on variety, of all things. You want to choose it based on your own budget and how easy it is to use their website. It won’t be long before you’re a stock photo pro, being able to download what you want and when you want it on the fly.
