They say a picture is worth a thousand words—and it’s true. An image quickly portrays a certain attitude, vibe, and emotion, all in just a glance. So when choosing lifestyle stock photography for your community’s marketing materials, it’s important to pick wisely.
Prospective residents begin to associate what they see in imagery with what it must be like living in your community. Choosing photos that accurately represent your community’s lifestyle is vital to authentically depicting what it’s like for residents—while also portraying an aspirational lifestyle that quickly catches viewers’ attention.
Use one of these tried-and-true approaches to find the right lifestyle stock photography for your community.
People-Focused Lifestyle Stock Photography
Though it’s not a hard and fast rule, it’s not uncommon to see lifestyle stock photography that depicts smiling, happy, beautiful people. When curating photography for your community, it’s important to choose images that evoke an elevated, coveted lifestyle.
From a family relaxing by the community pool while enjoying the sunshine to a fit young man hitting his goals in the fitness center, the right photography can help people imagine what their life would be like in your community—and including people is an important part of that. To take it a step further, specifically select photos that represent your target demographic. If your target market is families, active seniors, or young professionals, we can curate a selection of photos that feature people in a similar demographic so they can even more easily imagine themselves as a resident – all while keeping the entire gallery diverse to stay compliant with fair housing, of course!
Real People & Real Residents in Photography
Instead of using generic lifestyle stock photography you can take it to the next level and use images of your real staff and residents. Though this is slightly more complex, it helps you stay totally true to your brand and your community. It also gives you the opportunity to hand-select each image that you want and capture the exact angle, area, or person that you’re looking for.
To start, find a photographer in your area whose work you love. You can then arrange for residents and staff to be on-site to capture your dream photos. Try including your graphic design team or bring on a third-party agency to ensure that the photos align with your branding and creative vision. Just be sure to collect photo releases from everyone involved, so you can freely use the images in all of your marketing collateral.
People-Free Lifestyle Stock Photography
You could choose to avoid people completely and still curate elevated and sophisticated lifestyle stock photography that perfectly represents your community. Select photos that leave details and people up to the imagination. Showing a coffee cup and a book on a table in the business center or a towel and sunglasses on a lounge chair by a pool, for example, hint at the amenities and lifestyle that your community offers—all without showing them directly.
This is an amazing option for communities that are undergoing renovations or have some planned in the future. It’s also a smart option for new developments that don’t yet have spaces to photograph. You can use these lifestyle stock photos in addition to renderings to portray your community’s best elements, all without limiting your target audience to a certain demographic.
Whether you’re looking to orchestrate a full-scale photoshoot or simply need an expertly curated collection of lifestyle stock photography, having added expertise on your side goes a long way. At zipcode creative, we’ve created marketing materials for communities of all shapes and sizes. From developing websites from scratch to refining your branding to developing printed collateral like postcards or brochures, we can help you select the right photography to make your community jump off the page.