Phil Risher advises local businesses to stop using generic stock photos and instead use specific, local content (photos with logos, service-specific images, testimonials, and videos). He argues that specificity increases credibility and local relevance, which helps brand-building and conversion when customers search for local services; a simple first step is replacing stock photos with real, branded pictures.
Chapters
This is why stock photos suck and won't help you grow your business. Specificity lends to credibility. What this means is the more specific you can be, the more credible you sound. So if you're using stock photos, is that a specific thing? Does it have your logo on it? Is it in your local market? Right. If you're in Florida and you're sharing pictures of Seattle, well, people are going to know that this is not specific to my local area. So this company might not be credible. What can you do for a local business to actually leverage your. Your local specificity? Local specific content, service specific content, videos, testimonials, pictures with your logo in it. How can you tell if you're not stock photos, generic photos, pictures, not sharing testimonials. So if you're doing these things, it's not helping you be more credible in your market, which then again is not building your brand. And also it's not going to convert as well. When customers are looking for your product or service, try to be as specific as possible and it helps build credibility. Just start with taking out your stock photos and just getting nice pictures in there. That will go a long way.
