Why You Should Watermark Your Marketing Photos … and How to Do So Easily

Watermarks are a common feature in the world of photography, and for good reason; they are used by copyright owners to protect their works from uncredited use elsewhere.

Fewer businesses take this approach when publishing marketing images online, and yet it makes sense to do so. 

Let’s look at why this is the case, and how you can quickly and simply apply watermarks to the marketing materials you create.

The web is awash with copyright infringement and outright theft, and while some see this as irrelevant because of the ease with which digital files can be replicated, it’s harmful to those who made the effort to produce the images in the first place.

Let’s say you’ve spent a lot of time and money photographing products in a unique and engaging way. You don’t want to find that after you’ve added them to your site or shared them on social media, some rival ecommerce retailer has seen them and nabbed them for their own purposes.

This often happens to smaller firms in particular, so with watermarking you’re not only dissuading would-be image thieves, but also shoring up your initial investment that went into creating the snaps in the first place.

Another advantage to including watermarks on marketing images is that this can be a way to build and showcase your branding.

Including the company logo as the watermark makes it clear to anyone that sees the image who is responsible for it. This will improve trust and could win you new customers as well.

The good news is that watermarking marketing images doesn’t have to be a drag. In fact with modern tools, you can watermark multiple photos at once, rather than needing to apply this aspect individually.

For businesses that need to produce a lot of pictures to promote products and services, being able to harness batch processing in this way will be a real productivity-booster.

We touched on the role of branding in a watermarking context, but it’s worth discussing this in more detail, specifically with regards to the design.

You could create a design for your watermark which is simple and unfussy; simply the company name pasted in a translucent manner across the image you want to protect. For the full marketing impact, it may be worth using your logo instead, as this will make it more recognizable when prospective customers encounter it again in the future.

As well as looking into the design of your watermark, you have to work out where on the image you’re going to place it.

You can put it in the corner to keep it out the way, although doing so will make it possible for thieves to simply crop it out, rendering it ineffective.

Some choose to plaster the watermark design repeatedly across the entirety of the image, which definitely makes it clear who the photo belongs to. This is fine, so long as it doesn’t detract from the marketing impact of the underlying picture.

It’s all about striking a balance and seeing how you can use a watermark effectively as well as unobtrusively. Testing it out on customers to see which approach works best is wise for this reason.

Watermarking marketing images has never been simpler, and it is also vital given the state of play in the online era.

Whether you are adding images to your website or sharing them on social media, if you own the copyright then a watermark is always worth adding.