Today we’re going to look at the best ways to use commercial photography on your property management company website to support your business goals.
Along the way, we’ll also attract more leads and distinguish your service in their minds from that of your competitors. I’m also going to show you how to avoid poor use of imagery especially stock photography. Finally, I’ll leave you with some advice on how to work with a photographer on your next commission to make the best of a shoot and get a great set of images you can use again and again to highlight the strengths of your property management company.
Given the number of similar-looking property management websites, many managing agents have a hard time distinguishing their offerings and uniqueness from others. Property management companies often offer the same services as each other. And in doing so, they struggle to identify their unique selling properties (USPs). If everyone is offering company secretarial services and section 20 major works coverage, how can you stand out to customers and leads?
That’s a pity because it is possible to project a distinct service to customers, distinguish yourself from the competition and avoid cliches all through the imagery used on your website.
Top 3 photography mistakes seen on property management websites
Three very common mistakes I see are, across managing agents’ sites from large to small are:
Empty Building Syndrome
We all know the adage about how my services business would be great if it weren’t for the customers? I always think of this when I see stock imagery of empty buildings on PM sites. They are like the wish fulfilment of PM business owners.
Does your property management website show page after page of empty buildings? I understand the thought process behind this. Your core business is the maintenance of buildings. Your core customers are leaseholders, freeholders, and stakeholders in buildings. Therefore, shouldn’t you use pictures of buildings?
Well, no. Partly because everyone else is doing it. But mostly because the sight of the page after page of empty buildings, stock shots or personal photographs, rarely elicits emotion from the viewer. I do think there is a place for building shots but on particular pages and for very specific reasons.
Irrelevant Stock Photos
Stock photography can be very hard to get right. If you are lucky enough to find a series of images that fit your brand visuals (and don’t look like stock photography), often there are not enough shots in the series to find the perfect picture. The smaller the agent, the more photos you’re going to need.
The technical competence of stock photography is attractive but the subject matter is often not relevant or only partly relevant to your operation. Who are those people peering over a laptop in a meeting room? Why are they high-fiving each other? And laughing? Laughing like drains?
Eventually, your stock pic will be found on a rival’s site: the ultimate example of your leads not being able to tell one managing agent from another.
If you cannot afford to commission a photographer, my next recommendation is to do it yourself. The cameras on smartphones/digital cameras are so excellent these days that great imagery is very accessible to you.
This leads me to the number one issue with using your own photographs…
Degraded images
Grainy pics taken uploaded onto your website’s back end and blown up to fit a full-width webpage do not pass muster. Yes, I know the pictures were fine before you uploaded them. I know it’s the CMS, stretching the ratio of the original file or not doing well with HEIC files. Sort it out.
Commissioning a commercial photographer for your property management company website
I said I’d give you some advice on briefing your next photography commission – a common enough marketing manager responsibility – and here it is.
The smaller a firm you are, the more photos I recommend you need. This is because, whilst a lot of your written content on static pages is going to sound very similar to the competition (your services), it is the pictures that can transform your market position in an instant. Great photography can elevate your site in a way that perhaps writing cannot.
- Sit down with the photographer before the day of the shoot to go over the shot list. Brief your photographer to get a better set of shots which you can use again and again. Think of different uses these photos can be utilised for: sales collateral, advertising, print, press releases, etc.
- Produce the shot list yourself.
- Produce a lookbook for the photographer
- Attend the shoot to keep on top of things and review results as you go
- Give the shots plenty of space around the subject so they can be cropped landscape or portrait for multiple uses.
- Always fold your USPs into the photos.
ENJOY DIRECT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT MARKETING COACHING
The Property Management Marketing Transformation is a 30-day programme that reviews your whole marketing function, from strategy to planning to execution. At the end of the programme is a whole new marketing and sales process geared towards your property management firm, your budget and your business plans that will help you grow, attract ideal clients, and systematise your marketing and sales processes.
Book a Discovery Call with me now to get started. Email: info@jasondoggett.com