Engaging photos and videos are key to capturing the attention of consumers across dealers’ websites, social media pages, and listings on the carsales network.
Indeed, in the Instagram-influenced age that we live in, its beautiful photos and videos that we’re trained to look for, and spark our curiosity to investigate further.
Below are a few tips to help lift the quality and professionalism of your photos and videos on carsales. Great visual media is sure to generate more interest on and off the carsales network.
1) Pick the right location
The right location is essential to create engaging photos and videos and help illustrate a compelling story around the inventory item. Think about the context of the item you’re advertising and choose a location that works.
“Think small commuter cars pictured in the city, a prestige sedan pictured outside a nice hotel or restaurant, a dirt bike on a track, or a caravan in a beautiful regional location,” says Scott Paddy, carsales Visual Media Manager for Queensland.
“All of the locations help sell the appeal of the vehicle. They allow consumers to put themselves into the picture.”
That doesn’t mean you sidestep the basics, however. Paddy says dealers also need to capture a series of basic shots in an area with a clean background.
“Avoid locations where other cars, light poles, bins, graffiti, and other objects, interfere. Not only do objects in the background distract the buyer from focusing on the inventory item, but they can also obscure the item’s lines and details, and even reflect in the paintwork.”
2) Avoid direct sunlight
When taking photos outside, best results are achieved when your car, bike, or van is parked out of direct sunlight.
“Direct sunlight can create too much contrast for the camera and photos will either be too dark with bright highlights or too bright with no detail in the shadows,” says Paddy.
Ironically, often good results can be achieved by taking photos on overcast days where the entire inventory item is bathed in consistent light, or alternatively, by shooting in an area of shade.
3) Cover the basic angles
Ensure that you cover the basics in order to provide enough information to win buyer trust.
As a rule of thumb, carsales recommended that dealers have a minimum of 20 photos of each inventory item, including photos of:
1. ¾ Front
2. ¾ Rear
3. Side Shot
4. Interior – Front Dash
5. Interior – Rear
“Try to take photos from a number of heights, including bird’s eye shots, headlight shots, and lastly, from a normal standing position,” says Paddy
“Remember, buyers want to ascertain the item’s condition clearly and easily. Multiple angles and heights help them achieve this.”
Try to zoom in or out until the inventory item almost fills the screen, leaving a small area around it for balance.
At least one shot – the main thumbnail photo – should show the best angle of the inventory item.
4) Target the photos to your market
Paddy stresses the need for dealers to pull the right logical and emotional levers. And these will change depending on the target consumer for the inventory item.
“In essence, photos need to change depending on the vehicle.”
“Emotional details – such as interior trim, alloy wheels, steering wheel buttons, and infotainment screens – are not always obvious and are worthy of their own individual photos, particularly to consumers shopping prestige or performance cars.
“Green car shoppers considering Electric Vehicles need to see the set of features that are specific to these types of vehicles, such as battery charge indicators, charging cables and sustainable materials.
“In addition, if a car is optioned with a sunroof, bigger wheels infotainment or other optional extras highlighted in listing comments, ensure that visual evidence is provided.”
Paddy also notes the need to showcase the ‘nice to haves’ such as multiple sets of keys, complete service logbooks, and even safety features such as reverse cameras and parking sensors.
5) Leave photography to the professionals
Effective photography and video requires investment in proper equipment, training, and lots of time and patience.
Choosing to invest in carsales Visual Media professional photography can help attract more online attention on inventory, and save dealers’ time and effort to focus on engaging prospects and converting sales opportunities.
Best of all, these quality photos can be used across websites, on social media platforms, and in customer exchanges over email.
“Our same-day delivery on photography services is a big timer saver for Australian dealers, says Paddy.
“It enables dealers to quickly generate awareness and consideration of new inventory through professional photos. This in turn can help to reduce time to sell and boost the velocity of enquiry.”
carsales Visual Media professional photography is available for car, bike, boat, caravan, truck, construction equipment, and farm machinery dealers.
6) Bring things to life with video
A great way to engage consumers and highlight the quality of facilities, inventory, staff, processes, upcoming events, and retail offers, is with professional video.
carsales Visual Media now offers video production that can show off the best elements of dealers’ facilities, new inventory items, or key retail messages.
Indeed, the carsales Visual Media team are qualified professionals that use industry-leading video equipment to deliver a premium result that can be leveraged across all digital channels.
“Dealers have had tremendous success in utilising carsales Visual Media video services to bring their business, inventory, and retail offers to life – both on carsales and on other key digital channels,” Paddy says.
“The secret to the success of our video service is that we work in partnership with our customer, to create a vision and message that works.”
carsales Visual Media professional video service is available for car, bike, boat, caravan, truck, construction equipment, and farm machinery dealers.
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