Image Licensing

A large part of marketing is visual; its important to find the right image to convey your message quickly. But the copyright laws governing usage of such images can sometimes be confusing.

Here's a quick overview of some common terms you should be familiar with. These are general guidelines and you should carefully read the terms and conditions for the images you purchase.

Rights Managed
The term "Rights Managed" refers to images with limitations on the media in which the image will appear, the geographical area in which the image will be distributed, size of reproduction etc.

The advantage of this type of license is that you generally won't see the same image in your competitor's material as well.

As you might expect these images/licenses are more expensive than stock photography and royalty free images.

Royalty Free
The term "Royalty Free" refers to a much more generous licensing arrangement. There are generally few restrictions on how you use the image or how widely you distribute it.

Royalty free images are lower in cost and widely available. Since there are fewer restrictions on their use however, they often pop up in numerous campaigns and you run the risk of seeing "your" image being used other campaigns as well.

Seat License
A seat license is a license for an individual to work on an image. If you have a team that will be working on a campaign and multiple users will be handling a given image you may need to purchase multiple seat licenses.

Stock Photography
"Stock Photography" refers to photos for which usage licenses can be purchased. A professional photographer will take the photo, sell or license the image to a distribution outlet and end users can then pay for the right to use that image.

Custom Photography
Custom photography is perhaps the priciest option for images for your campaign. Here you would hire a photography to take photos specifically for your project. You may need to hire models, arrange for props, etc.

While this is a more expensive option, it may not be as expensive as you think and may be the best choice if you need specialized images. And you won't have to worry about seeing your photos in your competitors next marketing campaign! Just be sure to clearly outline with your photography, who owns the rights to the images.