It might seem like the main purpose of a brand is to showcase their products or services in the most beneficial way—and to achieve this, it’s essential to take pictures of such products or services. However, adding people-centric images to your brand’s website, social media, and marketing materials is another critical aspect. Doing so can help make your brand more human and connect with your audience quickly.
Read further to discover the top five reasons for using photos featuring people in your brand and marketing materials, and learn where you can find licensed HD stock visuals for your projects.
5 reasons to use photos of people in branding projects
Using pictures of people in branding projects is helpful for numerous reasons. But most importantly, they can help you showcase and achieve the following:
Diversity
By showcasing a variety of individuals from various backgrounds and experiences, you invite everyone to see themselves represented in your brand narrative. Such diverse representations in advertising resonate deeply with today’s consumers, particularly Gen Z, where 70% trust brands that authentically portray diversity. This commitment fosters inclusivity and cultivates a sense of belonging, making your brand a natural choice for customers who value diversity.
Authenticity
Authenticity helps you form a genuine connection with your customers. By featuring real employees and team members in your brand and marketing campaigns, you invite your audience into the heart of your organization, showcasing the human faces behind your products and services. Moreover, opting for authentic, unfiltered images over polished model shots showcases the human side of your brand’ this will make it look more trustworthy and credible.
Emotional connection
Creating an emotional connection with your audience is essential for fostering brand loyalty and advocacy. Visuals that show genuine emotions, such as smiles, laughter, or expressions of joy, establish a relatable connection and invite customers to see themselves reflected in your brand, enhancing a sense of empathy and understanding. Furthermore, emotionally engaged customers are three times more likely to recommend your product or service to others.
Visual engagement
Visual engagement is paramount in capturing and retaining the attention of an audience. Pictures of people capture attention more efficiently than text or abstract graphics, as people tend to remember faces more than other types of images. Incorporating such imagery into your branding and marketing materials enhances your brand’s memorability and creates lasting impressions.
Conveying messages and values
Visuals of people are powerful storytelling tools that allow you to convey messages and values with more significant impact and resonance than product images. For instance, a photo of people enjoying your product can showcase its benefits and also communicate happiness, satisfaction, and social connection.
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FAQ: What is similar for people across the globe?
No matter where they live or what cultural background they have, people worldwide definitely have something in common. They share emotions like love, fear, joy, and sadness, and the basic needs—food, shelter, socialization.
FAQ: What unites a group of people?
Working towards a common goal and sharing mutual respect can help groups of people unite and help them achieve a certain objective efficiently.
3 stock image banks to find licensed photos of people
Multi-ethnic crowd
To add a picture of someone or a series of such images to your branding or marketing projects, you can hire a professional photographer. However, this can take some time and be costly, especially for small businesses. In this case, stock content marketplaces can become a convenient, affordable alternative.
Check out these three websites that offer diverse, high-quality, licensed visuals of people:
- Depositphotos
Depositphotos is one of the biggest stock content marketplaces on the web. It features over 250 million royalty-free files, including HD images, vectors, illustrations, videos, and music tracks. Depositphotos’ curated collections and smart search filters make finding a desired visual simple—just input your search keyword and choose a specific color, point of view, orientation, number of people, etc.
Depositphotos offers free and paid royalty-free visuals under Standard, Extended, and Editorial licenses. To browse unpaid content, use the “Free” filter in the “Search” tab. To download watermark-free paid pictures, you must quickly register and choose an affordable subscription.
- Unsplash
Unsplash is a free stock image website created to promote talented photographers worldwide. It currently has over 3 million high-resolution visuals in its library. This website is photo-centric, and you can search for pictures using smart search and image collections.
Using Unsplash is free, but you can always credit the authors to show your support. If you’re looking for exclusive content, unlimited royalty-free downloads, and enhanced legal protection, you can also subscribe to a paid and upgraded version of the site—Unsplash+.
- Pexels
Pexels offers royalty-free stock photos and videos. You can discover visuals using the “Popular Collections” tab, exploring “Popular Searches,” or entering your own search request in the appropriate bar.
The visuals are free to download, and you don’t need to credit the author (although it’s appreciated). However, there are certain restrictions regarding image usage; for instance, you cannot use photos of people in an offensive way or show them in a bad light. You also cannot imply the endorsement of your product or service by people on a visual.
FAQ: What does it mean to unite people?
Uniting means bringing people together, helping them understand each other and cooperate effectively, even if they have different backgrounds, beliefs, and opinions.
FAQ: Why should people unite?
Often, what cannot be achieved by one person can be achieved by a team. A group of people can drive social change, support each other, and solve problems more efficiently.
To sum up
Using images of people can make your marketing efforts not only more diverse, but also more appealing to a target audience, potentially driving sales and increasing brand recognition. Consider the image stocks in this article to find appealing and high-quality visuals for your business projects.
