| Money Matters |
| The News on Stock photography vs. Royalty-Free Photography |
The good news? The royalty free stock photo used in the brochure to introduce your exclusive new day spa only cost around $300.
The bad news? The exact same photo is currently being featured in a print ad campaign for a men's spray-on hair replacement product.
Welcome to the world of royalty free stock photography.
In these days of budgetary belt tightening, many clients don't have the financial flexibility to create original photography for their marketing needs. In those cases, one of the most cost-effective options that Semaphore recommends is using royalty-free photographs.
Royalty free (RF) photographs and illustrations are a convenient and cost-effective way to visually enhance your marketing and advertising project without blowing your budget. But before you choose RF images for your next print ad or brochure, you need to be aware of the inherent limitations of stock photography.
Royalty-free means you pay one flat fee for a photograph or illustration and you can use it in any application (ads, collateral, web, etc.) over an unlimited amount of time.
Semaphore works with national stock photography providers and we routinely use royalty-free images for many of our clients. In addition, we have relationships with many local and regional photographers who also offer RF images.
The downside to "royalty-free" is that you can end up with a particular image being used by different companies in the same market (note the hair replacement and day spa image example). Because royalty-free products are relatively inexpensive, the images are also nonexclusive. In a worst-case scenario, this could result in your competition purchasing the same photo for the same marketing purpose.
The safest alternative to using royalty-free images? Rights-managed products or "licensed" images.
Rights-managed (RM) means you pay a fee for each time you use an image for a defined amount of time. Costs also vary depending on an image's particular use (i.e. print ad vs. billboard), numbers of copies printed, and the actual size of the image reproduction. With all of these specifications, the costs of rights-managed images can be quite steep. However, because the costs are higher, you truly get what you pay for and, in this case, you are often buying exclusivity.
However, if you want to pay an even higher fee, there is always the option of purchasing the exclusive rights to an image. It's still less than creating original photography and you can rest assured that the image is yours and yours alone.
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