Stock Photography and/or Visual content can be many things, like photos or images, infographics, videos, *Memes, screenshots and presentations.

There are others of course but these are the main ones.

 

*BTW don’t know what a Meme is then check out this site Memes.com

 

In this article, I will concentrate on what stock Photography means to eight industries.

So, off the top of my head some of these industries include real estate, boat or yacht sales, restaurants, commercial builders, used car dealers, viticulturalists, jewellers and fashion designers.

Of course, there are many others.

But what they all have in common is that they all need a constant flow of high quality images to market themselves and their products.

And that’s because the speed and ease of their sales is connected to the quality of their photograph

So, let’s look at why you need it for marketing from these selected industries point of view:

1 Real estate

 

It goes without saying that real estate is an extremely visual industry.

Without images of the property on offer, a real estate sales person is going to struggle to get anyone to come and look at any property.

 

A properties image should show its livability and its condition.

The quality of the images should be good enough to tempt anyone looking for a property into seeing the real thing.

 

Any property investor, whilst not wanting to live in the property wants to know it’s condition, so that they won’t be having to update or worse still renovate before anyone can move in.

 

Of course, this is not new, real estate has always published images of properties for sale.

From grand 5 or 6-page booklet or flyers or portfolios to the current on-line platforms, images of real estate have always been well presented (well, mostly).

 

It’s interesting that despite the on-line opportunities the flyer is still going strong.

Why is that? Well when the image is being displayed in print especially in a newspaper ‘type’ publication, the print the quality is often poor.

And a poor-quality print will exaggerate flaws.

Yes, that’s right a lot of Real Estate markets still use newspapers. So, agents back it up with good quality flyers.

 

So it’s essential to ensure the image quality is as high as possible.

2 Marine Vehicle sales

 

 

Once again selling a boat is a very visual process.

 

Each boat for sale can have up to 20-30 images portraying different angles and features.

As with real estate if you are going to buy a boat you need to see the condition it is in if it’s a used one.

 

For new ones, you need to be able see the features, benefits and comforts.

 

Boats have the luxury of usually of being able to be photographed on water so that you get that eye pleasing character.

 

3 Restaurants

 

Rather than rely on the self-appointed reviewer who posts images to whatever Social media platform they are on, it’s about time that restaurants took charge of their own images of their property and products.

A chef will spend hours creating a work of art to put on the table but the effect can be ruined by a poor image, whether it be by a well-meaning customer or by the restaurant management themselves.

 

There are two trains of thought on images of food.

One is to portray it as a work of art and the other is to make it mouth-watering and tempting.

 

Pictures of the restaurant itself also come into play.

Often potential customers will be tempted by the interior of a restaurant rather than the food. Images need to convey whatever character the restaurant is trying to portray whether it be a fine dining or home cooking.

 

4 Wine industry

 

 

Wineries are usually located in stunning parts of the world.

Rolling vine covered hills, some with a mountain backdrop.

Some are less dramatic but equally pleasing to eye.

 

Capturing the essence of the terroir of a wine should be easy.

Likewise, a bottle of wine with an attractive label is again, usually easy to capture.

 

The wine itself being poured into a glass can be tantalisingly mouth-watering.

When you take a sip of wine you are buying into the back story whether it be the wonderful landscape of the vines or the winery history.

Even the aesthetics of the how the wine is packaged can be attractive.

Or the type of scene that the winery wants you to consider like a moody wine bar or a garden on a sunny day.

 

Yes, the wine industry has lots of options to visual its marketing.

 

5 Jewellers

 

In the 21st century more and more jewellers are selling their creations online as well as through the shop front.

Not only are they finding that customers are coming to their shop after seeing a piece of jewellery online, in some instances customers will buy off their website.

Customers look up websites first, unless they know and trust the jeweller.

 

6 Fashion design

 

 

How do you get your new design out there? By the web of course but that’s not the only way I’m sure.

Designers have relationships with buyers and will send off images of their latest ideas to garner interest.

 

There is the other side to marketing fashion and that’s directly to the end user.

There are lots of roads to that end but all rely on great visuals.

 

Twenty years ago, the new designs were either first seen in a boutique or a fashion show or media coverage of a fashion show.

Now of course we can search the web for the latest fashions.

 

7 Used car dealers

 

I say used car dealers, because new car dealers usually have the car manufacturer provide them with quality images.

Car manufacturers pay big bucks to have top line professional photographers do a shoot on each new model release.

 

From a used car perspective, the cars are all individual and they need images that will stand out.

Most of the advertising with images is in print and/or online.

 

It is especially important when using print, to ensure the quality of the image is high. As I mentioned before, print as a rule, especially newspaper print, has poor reproduction.

 

8 Construction industry

 

For new property developments, images are used to sell off the plan properties like apartments or even new houses.

 

Often the property hasn’t been built yet so images must be taken of properties of similar design.

They are then edited (not a negative in itself) to depict a more lifelike image of what the future property would look like.

 

There are of course opportunities to take some great images of show houses or apartments if they have been built which is often the case.

A lot of this is now put on line.

 

Residential apartment developments often have their own website full of images that they will hope to catch the eye of any prospective purchasers.

 

 

So, to recap there are many different industries that need excellent Stock Photography.

 

The main ones that I have identified are:

 

1 Real Estate

 

2 Marine Vehicle sales

 

3 Restaurants

 

4 Wine industry

 

5 Jewellery

 

6 Fashion Design

 

7 Used Car dealers

 

8 Construction industry

 

I’m sure you can think of many more and I’d be interested to hear which ones that are out there that you think need excellent Stock Photography.

Just leave your comments in the section below

And by the way thanks for reading this.

Whilst you are at it why not enter your details in the box below to get a guide “Eleven easy ways to help you take your own stock photography” plus I have some great material coming up that will be exclusive to those who have signed up.

 

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