Travel is a very visual product. We’ve said it plenty of times in the past but the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words remains very true for the travel sector. People expect and need visual stimulation as part of their planning and buying process. Having fantastic images to illustrate your travel products is a key component to being able to drive sales.
Whether you are starting a new website design, having a refresh, creating content for your blog or using an image as part of a PR release it is handy to make sure your photography assets are well organised. You need to ensure you have images categorised with accurate location information and any copyright notices that need to be displayed. You can then easily see where you have image weakness and plan to fill in the gaps.
Here are a few ways you can improve your image library.
1. Photographic Commission
Photo by Matt Sugars on commission for WithinWarwickshire
Commission a local photographer to build up your library. You’ll get a number of professional shots that your visitors haven’t seen elsewhere and you can tailor these to reflect your unique value propositions and to appeal directly to your visitor personas. It doesn’t have to be expensive. A local college may have photography students who are willing to work at low cost to build up their own portfolio.
2. Specialist Photographers
It may be worth building relationships and working with specialist photographers. For example wildlife photographers if you sell wildlife related tours, or extreme sport photographers if you are selling snowboarding and ski adventures. This is often the best way to get very high quality, unique images to associate with your brand. They may have good existing catalogue they are willing to be used with your brand.
3. Creative Commons
Free Creative Commons image of the Taj Mahal
Search for free to use images under a Creative Commons Licence. Flickr is a great source but make sure you credit photos appropriately and link back to the source.
4. Tourism Boards
Your Destination Tourism Board may have an image library or toolkit that local businesses can access.
5. Stock Photography
Stock photography sites can have some stunning, low cost photos. These can be very effective when used as “hero” images on your site. However, be aware that others may be using them and ensure you don’t fall into the trap of using pictures that aren’t relevant or authentic to your offering.
6. Customers
Image entered into monthly image Facebook competition for Mahindra Homestays
Crowd-source amongst your customers for images, perhaps via social media. You could run a competition or just ask people to share their favourite images. People generally love to share their best images. This has the advantage of creating some great community engagement and can also act as a customer testimonial (after all, if they are getting great images on your trips other potential customers will take note!)
7. Your own team
It’s possible you already have some great images of your travel products from staff either on location or participating in fam trips.
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