Today’s big brands foster online engagement through the means of social media marketing, personalised email and good website branding as a backbone.
For each design element is authentically crafted, carefully eyeballed and applies the uncommon sense of work of art. You can’t find anything similar around the web because it is uniquely done for the brand only. Unless someone has copied it which is copyright infringement.
This is one top reason why big brands are more lasting – because they don’t use stock graphics. Their web designers know these rules very well and it is a mandate over their professional career.
Yet till this day we still get this question; Why not use it since it is a cheap and fast solution? And here’s why;
1. It is cheap and fast
There is a saying; anything that is cheap won’t do good, while anything that is good won’t come cheap. Although, we can bicker how fast it can churn out, sometimes it is applicable only for a quick solution but it will also diminish your brand quickly. That’s what it meant by fast — bloody fast.
2. Your brand is losing its voice
A logo represents the DNA of your business. Oftentimes, many companies may have a business, but do not have a brand. A brand power can help you prolong your business, through generation or even someone can use your brand (legally) to strike a deal.
Therefore, the visual design of your logo must be uniquely crafted, and not copied from Google or imitate somebody else’s logo. For instance, by changing the font type of KFC, it will not help your brand in anyways, except looking like a fool.
Stock graphics have a very low share of voice, and the voice will sound almost like a wind especially when you use it to represent your business.
3. Your brand loses credibility
A business may have a logo, but it does not mean it has a brand yet. Having an authentic logo is the first step towards building your brand credibility. Building a brand requires time, effort and good investment in order to establish trust and loyalty with your customer.
The minimum requirement to build a brand online is to have an authentic logo and authentic website. If a website is overwhelmed by stock photos or stock graphics as a logo, it will definitely pull down your entire brand credibility. Eventually, giving your competitors more chances to shine.
4. Copyright issue
Common stock graphics are widely used across the internet, and the more it looks good to you, the chances of people using it is incredibly high. Furthermore, it comes with free-to-use licenses, therefore it cannot be trademark ™ or registered ®. You will have copyright issue.
And there you go, back to square one, redesigning your logo again and rebuilding the brand all over again.
5. Causes confusion with other competitors
To put into a simple metaphor, a Donut Business that pulled an oval-shaped to form a logo from the stock photo bank or Google may result in the same with someone who is selling homemade doughnuts or a schoolgirl assignment.
This is possibly the weirdest situation to be stumbled upon with. Your customers may be confused when they are looking for you, and could lead to your competitor instead.
Brand Legitimacy?
Let’s put a case scenario; your customer may have already visited thousands of different websites, and they land on your website, they saw your logo image mirrored to the one of another business website.
Wouldn’t that look funny?
To be frank, a few stock photos that briefly used to describe some of your products or services would be okay to do so. But swamping it to the whole website may seem overkill.
Lots of scam sites, and quick scheme businesses are usually flooded with stock photos. That puts your business in question, are you real or legit?
Spend some time restructuring your budget for branding purposes because a good design can make a good sprint for your business in the digital space.
Consumers today are not a moron, they see things differently, and to win their loyalty, one business has to show authenticity, legitimacy and proper branding impression.
Shape your digital brand with us. Build a good website, and get an authentic logo.
Contact WDD Malaysia to schedule an appointment.
