A Picture Is Worth A (Half) Thousand Words
By John Hall - July 3, 2018
When it comes to making decisions, nothing helps like good photography. Pynwheel touchscreens are great for showcasing your floorplans and location, but it is your photos that will fill out the virtual brochures that your potential residents will lean on to make their decision.
Here are some things that you should consider when you are creating a portfolio of your community:
1) Human beings remember about 10% of the information that they receive. Surprising? However, when information is paired with a picture, that number goes to 65%! Wow! Not only are your potential residents relying on photography to enhance their recollections, they are very likely relying upon it to have any recollections of your community at all!
2) While it has been found that excessive photo taking can inhibit one’s overall memory of a place or event, that effect is caused by the distraction of interaction with the camera (or smartphone). So, when you provide quality photography to your applicants, you reduce the work that they have to do, and allow them to fully interact with your tour.
3) Quality photography allows you to optimize the memories of your potential residents. When a resident looks back on some photos of features that they liked, you can give them images that have been optimized to create an even better impression of those features.
4) Photography can shine a light on benefits that a potential resident might not be able to see on a tour. Images of a community lit up at night, lifestyle photography of people enjoying amenities, shots of different seasons - All of these can help to paint a more complete picture of what your community has to offer.
5) Photography has unique emotional appeal, and choosing an apartment is an emotional experience. Lifestyle photography goes a long to create good feelings around such a drastic change. Your photography should include images of people that appeal to your target market.
6) Apartment photography and real estate photography are different in one very important way - people! Real estate purchasers do not want to see people living in their spaces. It is jarring to see people that they do not know occupying a space that they want to purchase. They might as well be seeing ghosts! On the other hand, apartment renters are not interested in the long-term value of their home. They are more interested in the lifestyle possibilities of a new community. They love to see pictures of people like them enjoying your amenities, and enjoying their lives.
7) This is especially true for millennials! They are looking for communities and lifestyles as much as structural features. Millennials are much more inclined to share spaces with others in their daily routines. Furthermore, they are the most likely people to save photos from your community on their mobile devices, and to refer back to them in the decision-making process.
Hopefully, this gives you ideas that inspire some of your photography choices. Next time, we will delve into some more specific ways to make your community photography as effective as it can be!
Go to Part 2!
Here are some things that you should consider when you are creating a portfolio of your community:
1) Human beings remember about 10% of the information that they receive. Surprising? However, when information is paired with a picture, that number goes to 65%! Wow! Not only are your potential residents relying on photography to enhance their recollections, they are very likely relying upon it to have any recollections of your community at all!
2) While it has been found that excessive photo taking can inhibit one’s overall memory of a place or event, that effect is caused by the distraction of interaction with the camera (or smartphone). So, when you provide quality photography to your applicants, you reduce the work that they have to do, and allow them to fully interact with your tour.
3) Quality photography allows you to optimize the memories of your potential residents. When a resident looks back on some photos of features that they liked, you can give them images that have been optimized to create an even better impression of those features.
4) Photography can shine a light on benefits that a potential resident might not be able to see on a tour. Images of a community lit up at night, lifestyle photography of people enjoying amenities, shots of different seasons - All of these can help to paint a more complete picture of what your community has to offer.
5) Photography has unique emotional appeal, and choosing an apartment is an emotional experience. Lifestyle photography goes a long to create good feelings around such a drastic change. Your photography should include images of people that appeal to your target market.
6) Apartment photography and real estate photography are different in one very important way - people! Real estate purchasers do not want to see people living in their spaces. It is jarring to see people that they do not know occupying a space that they want to purchase. They might as well be seeing ghosts! On the other hand, apartment renters are not interested in the long-term value of their home. They are more interested in the lifestyle possibilities of a new community. They love to see pictures of people like them enjoying your amenities, and enjoying their lives.
7) This is especially true for millennials! They are looking for communities and lifestyles as much as structural features. Millennials are much more inclined to share spaces with others in their daily routines. Furthermore, they are the most likely people to save photos from your community on their mobile devices, and to refer back to them in the decision-making process.
Hopefully, this gives you ideas that inspire some of your photography choices. Next time, we will delve into some more specific ways to make your community photography as effective as it can be!
Go to Part 2!