The Benefits Of Property Photography
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The Benefits Of Property Photography
You may be uhming and ahing whether to invest in some professional photography for your business, so today we are going to go over the main benefits you will get for your business. The most common thing we hear at Hostimize regarding photography is “why can’t I just use my phone” or “whats the difference between my iPhone and an actual camera” Although mobile phones are convenient and photographically more capable than ever, they certainly cannot compete with a professional photographer and a DSLR.
Capture attention quicker
Professionally taken pictures will capture the attention of potential bookers when they are browsing their filtered searches on online travel agencies like Airbnb and Booking.com. Your properties thumbnail is make or break as to whether people click through and even consider booking your property. You want to put the best foot forward across all of your distribution channels.
Increase your bookings
Investing in professional photography will long term increase your overall bookings. The quality difference translates to value for a potential booker and therefore they are more likely to be sold on your listing. Many of the short term let property owners we have worked with have seen at least a 15% increase in their direct bookings for the given year.
Competition
When scanning through search results on Airbnb, potential bookers will compare and then shortlist your property against your local compset. We have seen cases where a property has a great click through rate but a 0.5 conversion rate, due to the quality of their competitors listings. There are very fine margins in the short term letting industry and you don’t want to continue losing out on bookings because people are not sold on the quality of your property photography.
Target Audience
Great property photography can help you to attract the type of guests that you would like to have stay. For example, if you are looking to target families going on a trip, a photographer would highlight the key selling points in immaculate quality. Outdoor spaces, twin bedrooms, large dining tables would be made the priority during your shoot and should be across all of your distribution channels.
Increase your click through rate
How many potential bookers will skim past bookings with a low quality thumbnail? You may be the best choice for a guest on paper but if you don’t win the initial click, then you will continue to miss out on bookings. This ties back to the “competition” point because you need to beat your compset to the click in order to be in with a chance of someone making a booking. How often will a potential booker be actively looking for what you have to offer, but settle for somebody else’s property due to them not clicking through to yours?
Boosting online visibility
One of the main benefits of property photography is that it can help boost your online visibility. In today’s digital age, the first thing that potential bookers do when searching for an overnight stay is to go online. With high quality photos, you can attract more views, engage with potential bookers and distribute the content across social media to increase brand awareness.
Marketability
Property photography increases the marketability of your overnight stay. By showcasing the best features, creating a positive first impression, and highlighting the unique characteristics of your property, you can increase interest from potential bookers, sell them on your listing quicker and even charge a higher daily rate.
Credibility
Having a budget to invest back into your business will reflect in the trust you can build with potential bookers. Social proof is a key concept that we discuss at Hostimize as it comes into effect in almost every decision we make in life. Creating the best possible listings will earn you the credibility you need to be considered during the booking phase of your sales funnel.
Cost effectiveness
Spending money in the short term, will earn you more money in the long term. Once you have the highest quality photos to market your property, you can now grow your following on social media, update your online travel agency listings, reduce overall marketing costs, increase click through rates and earn more bookings throughout the year for your property.
Conclusion
We hope by this point you have realised the value in investing in a photography shoot and not just taking amateur pictures on your phone. If your going to be successful in then short term letting industry, you will need to optimize your marketing constantly to stay competitive with your compset. Book in a call with us at Hostimize today to discuss your current circumstance and then we can assign you the best person to capture your property in all it’s glory.