How Important is Original Photography for Master Planned Community Marketing?

The team at Milesbrand believes that capturing the essence of a master-planned community and showcasing the community's unique selling proposition and brand is best served by taking original photos. Let's take a bit of a dive into the pros and cons of original images versus stock photos.

The Case for Original Photography Versus Stock Photos

Original photos build trust and create authenticity. This has proven time and time again to be more successful in marketing, advertising and social media. While you might be able to dig through stock photos and find a picture representative of the community, it won't resonate the way an accurate actual image will represent. In fact, a stock photo can actually dilute the master-planned community's brand.

How many times have you seen an image in multiple ads? It happens all the time and is one of the biggest downfalls of stock images. Of course, stock photos, by virtue of being stock images, are created to be sold many times over and used by many different companies. Anyone can buy and use a stock photo. Often stock photos are easily recognizable as stock images and seen as generic, common or pedestrian by consumers. They also reduce the positive impression on prospective home buyers looking for a more genuine representation of the lifestyle promised at a master-planned community.

Use Original Photography to Enhance Branding

Because potential home buyers start searching for their new home online, it is vital to display photos that show what the neighborhood looks like on the community website. Each property is unique, so showing the land's terrain, lakes, trees and other natural features helps buyers understand the value proposition. Branding that resonates with the target market is key to effectively marketing a master-planned community.

When the photography is set in the actual community, it brings the project to life. The brand promise for Southshore is Life at the Lake. Original photography of the lake truly showcases the lifestyle offered by the community. Incorporating nature and real photos into the marketing for another master-planned community, Solstice, the brand promise is Home Sweet High Line. The community, located on the High Line canal, showcases photography of the High Line with people walking, jogging and immersing themselves in nature. The images highlight the water well and invite people to explore their love of water.

Utilizing original photography shows commitment to showcasing the community's brand. It takes an effort to go this extra mile.

Create Recognition

Shooting intentional imagery creates credibility and recognition for the master-planned project. Think about this as a fantastic opportunity to highlight local scenery that will be easily recognizable to your potential buyers when they visit. This has the added bonus of helping the community's brand to stand out as transparent and authentic. Home shoppers can say, "Hey, I saw that view in the brochure or on the website." What a win!

Sell Lifestyle with Original Photos

Lifestyle photography is another opportunity to use original photos to tell the story of who will live in your master-planned community. We have experienced repeat success with original lifestyle photo shoots featuring representative home buyers and homeowners enjoying the community and all the amenities is has to offer.

Another option to hiring talent to represent your target market in a photo shoot is to reach out to early home buyers and homeowners to ask them to participate. Either way, real people at an original location have real relevance and personality. Stock photos of people don't typically do the best job of depicting the target audience or capturing the true essence of a community.

Bolster your master-planned community's brand and employ consumer confidence with custom imagining that matches the community branding and messaging. Milesbrand can help home builders and developers solidify brand messaging and imaging to let your project's personality shine through, as well as schedule and direct your lifestyle photo shoot.

If you're looking for more ways to boost your sales, Milesbrand can help. Contact us today to learn how we can bring your brand, and your imagery, to life.