WhatareWatermarksandWhyAreThey Important?
High-qualityvisual contentisaninvestmentin timeand money.All the stepsincreating visual content, frombrainstormingto photoshootsand graphicdesign,drainvaluable resources.Evenifitisworkingwithanagency,creatinganinfographiccantake one month(andcosts afewgrand).
Organizationsthatleavetheir digital assetsexposedcan besubjecttosevere consequences, suchasbrand depreciation, asset misuse, andfines.It's alsoshockingthat manycompaniesneedtousetheWatermark securityfeaturetoprotecttheirdigital assetsdue tothe amount ofmoney spent oncreatingoriginal content andthe consequencesofmisuse.This postwill cover thefollowing:
>Whywatermarksaresoimportant
>How towatermark photos properly
Herearesomebestpracticesforapplyingwatermarksonyourdigital assets Afteryouunderstandwatermarksandhowthey work,youwill beabletoprotectthose valuableassets andincrease your ROI.
Whatistheimportanceofwatermarks?
Let'sstartwiththe basics:whatis aWatermark? Awatermark isanimage oroverlay addedto adigital asset.Thewatermark will usuallybetransparentand monochromatic toallow otherstoviewthesupport.
WatermarkVideosareessential to protectyour assetsandclaimownership.Your digital assetscouldbe stolenorused unauthorizedwithoutwatermarks.
Watermarkinghasthreemainbenefits:
BrandConsistency-Watermarkinghelpsprotectyour assets andkeepsyourbrand safe.Iteliminatesthepossibilityofthembeing misused.Watermarksare awayto clarify wheninvestments shouldbeviewedbut notshared.
AssetProtection-Watermarksprotectimages andgraphicfilesagainstbeing stolen, used,oralteredwithout permission.
HigherROI-Watermarkingimprovesthe returnonthese essential investmentsby keepingthemsafeandavailableforuse,secure distribution,orupdating.
Anyorganizationthat spendsalot ofmoney andtimeonvisual contentshouldprioritize increasingROI.Watermarkingcanhelp youachievetwogoalswhenincreasing thevalue ofyour assets.It ensures theyarebeingusedonlyinapprovedcampaigns andprotects themagainstbeing stolenor altered, whichincreasestheir longevity.Watermarking shouldbea crucial partofyour digital asset securitystrategy.
Howtocorrectlywatermarkphotos
BeforeyoucanexplainhowtoWatermark Photosproperly,itisessential tounderstand whentodoso.Watermarkingshouldbedone onanyphotosorvisual assetsownedby thecompany.Watermarkingphotosbeforethey aresharedonlineoronnetworksisthe bestwaytodothis.
Therearemanyoptionsdependingonyour tech stack andhowyouwatermark photos Youcanusethesethree solutionstowatermark certaintypesof assets.
MicrosoftWord-TheMicrosoft Wordprogram allowsyoutoaddacustom or simple watermark toany document.Thesearethe stepsthat will showyouhowtodoit.
AdobeAcrobat -Toadd,change,orupdate a watermark onaPDF,Adobeprovides step-by-stepinstructions.
Watermarkingisagreatwaytoprotectyour brandassets. Watermarkingshould be secureandeffective.
WatermarkExamples
Asimplewatermark ideaistousethecompanylogo,acopyrightstatement,or a link. Organizationsthatspendtimeandmoney creatingoriginal contentruntheriskoftheir assetsbeingmisusedby others. Thiscouldimpactbusinessopportunities andrevenue. Unauthorizedsupportmaybe accidental,butit candamage yourbrand, spread misinformation,or havelegal consequences.
WatermarkBestPractices
Althoughitiseasy toaddwatermarksonline,notall toolsareequal. Notall online servicesofferthesamelevel ofsecuritywhenwatermarkingphotos. Whenselecting a third-partyvendorto applyawatermark,you shouldconsiderthese twoessential considerations.
WebScrapingisPreventable
It'spossibleto add awatermark to anasset.This canbedonemanuallyorviaanonline service.However,therearebetterwaystoensurethattheacquisitionremainssecure. Althoughthewatermark maybevisibleanddetersomepeoplefromtryingto claimthe image,itisstill possibletograban imageusing webscraping.
Webscrapingallowsusersto "scrape"datafrom websites,includingcontactinformation andtext,images,video, andvideo.Webscrapingisusedprimarilyforbusiness purposes, suchaspricemonitoring,marketresearch, and websitemigrations.However,individuals canuseitfortheir gain.
Example
Uploadabunchofimagestoyourphotography website.YoucanuseCSS andHTML codingforwatermarkingtheimages.Usingwebscraping, avisitor cangrab your photos andpostthem ona photographymarketplace.
Howtoaddressit
Youcanprotectyour assetsagainstweb scrapingbycreating anotherversionofthehelp withthewatermark embeddedinside.Web scrapingcannot separateassets ifthe watermark isembedded withinthesupport and notplacedon top
LimitCroppingandEditing
Theimagecanbeusediftheembedded watermark ismanageable.Youcanremoveyour embeddedwatermark ifitistransparentor inatinyareaofyourimage.
Example
Toallow themtocreate regional marketingmaterials,youshare aset ofassetswithfastfoodchainfranchisors.Eachsupporthas awatermark atthe bottomright-hand corner.
Beforeyoucanprovideun-watermarked assets, yourteammust approvethe designsof
thefranchisees.Oneof thefranchiseeswill removethewatermark using acroppingtool andreleaseunapprovedmarketingmaterial.
Howtoaddressit
It'simportant that yourassetisvisiblebutnotobscured.Awatermark between30-70% transparent andcovers asubstantial portionof aninvestmentisideal.