7 Steps to Setting-Up Your Own Image Depot

I’m a big proponent of stockpiling your own collection of high-quality images as a marketing resource. You can never have enough.

Photos of your own customers and staff are best. Especially images that sparkle with candidness and authenticity. Please, junk those plastic-coated, staged photos. I promise, your customer can tell the difference between a phony and an authentic smile.

Now I admit, candid images are difficult to capture. By definition, candid moments are unplanned and occur in a flash, and you’re often too busy running your business to notice. That’s why, if you can afford to, hire a professional photographer to spend a day or two at your business.

But it’s unlikely photos of your customers and staff will be enough for all your marketing needs. No worries, royalty-free stock images will help you fill in the gaps. (Don’t even think about relying on Google image search. Images found on Google are likely protected by copyright laws.)

I always recommend using both original photos and royalty-free stock images. But you should set up a image depot and begin stockpiling images to improve your marketing.

Here’s a quick, step-by-step guide to setting up your own image depot:

1.) Purchase a good, easy-to-use digital camera for your business. And make sure its easily accessible. Stuffing your camera in a desk drawer will only ensure that it remains unused. Share in the fun and encourage your staff to take photos too. Oh, and buy plenty of batteries.

2.) Snap away. Yes, you might only get one usable image out of every 100 shots you take. That’s okay. The beauty of a digital camera is that you don’t have to pay for film. Just delete the unusable images and move on.

3.) Now, go to iStockPhoto.com and sign-up for a free account. iStock promotes a free weekly image and makes it available for members to download. If you’re absent-minded like me, be sure to schedule a weekly visit to iStock.

4.) Go to Crestock.com, and do the same. Crestock promotes a daily free image for members. Again, membership is free. And, although the quality of images won’t be as good as iStock, Crestock is a worthwhile image source.

5.) Create a dedicated file folder on your computer to store your images. I also recommend renaming the images once download to make them easier to find later.

6.) Buy the book, Presentation Zen. This book will become your “Image Bible.” It will teach you everything you need to know about selecting and using your new photos. Yes, Presentation Zen was written to rescue presenters (and audience members) from eye-melting PowerPoint presentations. But the guidelines found in this book will help you improve the imagery on your website and in your collateral materials.

7.) Most importantly, do something with your stockpile of images. Use them to rejuvenate your marketing brochures, advertisements and website pages.

That’s all. And yes, it’s that easy. Start your image depot now, and in a few short months, you’ll have a pretty good stockpile of images.