There are many ways that stock footage can be used, but here are the 15 ideas that can help you boost your business or other personal projects. It’s not just about how to use stock footage, but can it bring you more money, reputation and followers. That is why all ideas can be equal in effectiveness. It really depends on your project or business. Big corporate business will have better impact with tv commercial and web commercials, small niche business could use the facebook/instagram and funny meme for better engagement. And so on…
Stock footage of Envelope with a pack of money person point of view 4K
It’s a marketing strategy to figure out which channels will bring the most feedback, views and customers. And there are also some ideas that are not strictly marketing oriented. So, here goes:
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tv commercial
This is one of still most used way for promoting business, product, services, events or other means. There are many people watching television. Stock footage can be used as a whole commercial or just some parts of it. It is easier and cheaper to buy a $100 clip than hire a team to shoot a $1000+ 10 second clip. You can’t buy whole commercial though, because you wont find “Coca Cola” branding (for example) among stock footage. So, some of the commercial parts will still have to be scripted and shoot to fit customer needs.
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web commercial
It is the same as the TV commercials. But the web commercials can be more efficient with targeting specific groups of people. Even if the production value can be almost the same. Only that there is not length limit. You can run the 2 minute commercial on internet for the same money as a 10-second video. But if it’s not interesting enough, people with skip it. So, quality matters more than a TV commercial.
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promotional videos
So, if a company wants to present themselves on the internet, they make a promotional or presentation film. Mostly for showing it on their web page, facebook page or youtube. You can attach such video anywhere else too – Linkedin, informative articles, show it at events…etc. Such videos can include a lot of stock footage. But it again there should be some branding seen in footage and on-location too, so hiring a production team will still be necessary.
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documentary
Creating a documentary is one of those project which could be made almost entirely from stock footage. Only interviews should be shot if the narrative requires it. But of course, better documentaries have their own unique footage too. It depends on the purpose of the video.
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educational video
Similar to documentary the educational videos can also be made entirely from stock footage. But it again it depends what kinda theme you are covering and what is the purpose of the video.
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news
If you run your own news agency, you could use commercial or editorial stock footage to report on local and worldwide news. Because most footage is tagged with location, it is much cheaper than sending a crew to film some basic b-roll.
Stock footage of Snow blizzard city center in slow motion 4K
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facebook/instagram post
A way to upgrade your posts using photos is to use stock footage. They are more dynamic, engaging and informative. Putting just a simple text overlays over an interesting stock footage will make much more views and feedback than static images.
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funny meme
One way of people being aware of your product, service and business is to make funny memes from stock footage. Find a stock footage related to your business, slap a funny text over it and transform into short .gif animation. It is really an underrated way of promotion. Such animations can be used on Facebook posts, in e-mail marketing and on twitter. You can make a standard short video and put it on Instagram too. The biggest purpose is to get it sharing.
Stock footage of Businessman wakes from bed suited up 4K
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movies/tv series/web series
There are many cases that stock footage can be used in movies and tv series. For example opening locations footage. Random street footage. Timelapses of clouds, sunrises, sunsets and moonlapses. These are just few basic ideas to add in to your project. It doesn’t matter if the project is high budget or low budget. Finding these perfect footage can take a lot of unnecessary time.
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blogging/vloging
Blogs and vlogs are a good candidates to use stock footage as part of the content. I must point out that Google search loves content with included video – more specific tagged from Youtube. Also, readers will appreciate a more dynamic content too.
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youtubers
These days being a Youtuber can be a full-time job or even grow into a big company with employees. It really depends on the theme you are doing. We’ve seen many Youtubers use stock footage as part of their own produced videos. There is almost not a topic which couldn’t use stock footage.
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powerpoint presentations
Maybe unexpected, but powerpoint presentations are still very well used at conferences and lectures. Why not upgrade them with more dynamic stock footage? Newer PP software supports video, audio, and animations. Make your PP presentation stand out.
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e-mail marketing
There are so few agencies using .gif animations made from stock footage as part of the e-mail marketing. Such e-mails really stand out and are much futuristic than traditional images and texts. Embrace the technology.
Stock footage of Person facepalming in slow motion 4K
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exhibition video boards
You cannot miss the big video board on exhibitions. Getting attention from visitors is a priority to any exhibitor. Use interesting stock footage to get their attention.
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web page intro video
If you are planning designing a new web page, think about using stock footage as an intro. Mostly video production have such into to showreel their work, but why couldn’t a simple business have such an intro too? Give it a thought. It must be short, simple and effective.
Check out our portfolio of stock footage.
