Most companies want to use custom photography because they know the importance of being authentic. But instead of following through, they’ll use cheap stock pictures since they think these photos are just as good.
We like to believe in our decisions. We want to think that we make smart choices. So we always try to justify the decisions we make. If you use cheap photos for your company’s marketing, you might think:
“At least we have pictures on our web site!”
“Other companies use cheap stock pictures so they must work.”
“We saved a ton of money by using cheap stock pictures, so we made a good choice.”
A cheap stock picture is just a placebo. A sugar pill. It’s a substitute for the real thing. Placebo photos only provide a psychological benefit to you. They do absolutely nothing for your customers.
Using placebo photos is a fake solution for a real problem. But since we want to believe that we made the right choice, we think stock pictures will work. But they don’t.
Why do companies make the bad decision to use stock pictures for their marketing?
We often feel that today is more important than tomorrow (we like immediate gratification) and that cheaper is better than expensive. So a company will choose cheap today rather than expensive today. That same compmay may also choose expensive for the future – “we’ll hire a photographer next time” – but that day may never come. This company forgets that time has value and it underestimates the potential of future gains.
Our decision making is influenced by the comparisons we make. These comparisons are based on the past (our past experiences) rather than on the future (potential). Cheap stock pictures cost less today so they must be a good deal, right?
But the comparisons we use when making a purchasing decision have absolutely no bearing when we actually use the product we bought. The money saved by using cheap stock pictures is meaningless when it comes to using those pictures in your company’s marketing. Your marketing is not about money saved but rather it’s an attempt at future gains. Cheap, but ineffective, stock pictures instantly defeat the purpose of marketing.
We overestimate the value of our present pleasures (saving money) and we underestimate the odds of future benefits (business gains). This means that cheap pictures may save money today but we forget (or underestimate) that better quality photography will produce more benefits in the future.
Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert explained why we make bad decisions:
