Elevated architectural photography of a luxury development of flats in Farnham, Surrey called “The Bridge”. Click to enlarge.
When it comes to choosing any kind of service provider for your business, it can be a bit overwhelming. There are so many things to think about, and so many companies out there you could choose to work with.
Things can get particularly complicated if you’re looking to commission aerial or ground-level photography or videography work to promote your business as there are a huge number of providers that can offer bits and pieces of what you need.
But to get the most consistent results, and to make the most of your investment, the most cost-effective and hassle-free solution is to use a single provider for everything. Having a single company in charge of producing your aerial and ground-level photography and videography content has numerous benefits for you and your business, and in this blog we will be exploring the reasons why.
Drone aerial photograph and a ground-level architectural photograph of an industrial logistics site in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. Click to enlarge.
#1 — Consistency
If there’s one thing that’s important in marketing your business, it’s consistency. Not only does it strengthen the branding of your business, but having imagery of a consistent style across your website and social media channels translates into trustworthiness and credibility in the eyes of your customers.
When they see a range of images and videos of your projects that are all in the same style, they know that:
a) you take great pride in the way your projects look, and
b) if they do decide to work with your firm, their project is likely to be delivered to a similar very high standard.
On the other hand, if all of your images look and feel a bit different – some are processed well, others are a bit dull and wonky, and your videos are shot in a totally different style altogether – it can end up transmitting a muddled and inconsistent message to your prospective clients.
By commissioning a professional ground-level photography company who also specialise in drone aerial photography, virtual tours and promotional videography (amongst other services), you can avoid this issue altogether, and be confident that your business is seen as having a bold, confident and consistent brand.
Drone, telescopic mast and ground-level photographs and a promotional film of The Bourne Club tennis and sports club in Farnham, Surrey. Click to enlarge / play.
#2 — Fewer Logistical Headaches
You’ve heard of the term ‘herding cats’? That’s what it can feel like when you’re dealing with lots of different people and companies on one project. Let’s say you’re a construction company, and you want to capture your latest project to promote your services. To do this, you might want:
- Drone aerial photographs of the site before construction begins (which can be combined with CGI imagery of the development for use in your initial marketing material before the project is completed)
- Time-lapse filming capturing every moment of the build as it unfolds
- Aerial and ground-level photographs and video footage documenting the progress of the build
- A comprehensive set of interior, exterior and aerial photographs when the project is completed
- A Matterport 3D virtual tour of the interior of the finished building
- A short promotional film about the project for your website / social media, using aerial and ground-level footage shot during every stage of the project
That’s a lot of different visual elements to pull together, and you could easily end up using 3 or 4 different companies to provide all these different types of imagery.
This means you will be in charge of arranging it all – knowing when you need to book each service, finding the companies, liaising with them about when and where to turn up, going through multiple post-production processes, paying lots of different invoices at different times, not to mention paying numerous travel fees for multiple people coming from separate offices. It’s a big job that can waste time and create unnecessary stress.
But if you use a single provider to handle all of those elements, you only have to deal with one company, give one brief, communicate with one person, and pay one invoice. It’s just simpler at every level.
Architectural photographs, a promotional film and a Matterport virtual tour of a stunning new-build block of flats in Farnham, Surrey called ‘The Bridge’. Click to enlarge / play / interact.
#3 — Less Disruption
When it comes to photography and filming work, most providers will need to arrange a site visit or ‘recce’. This is when the provider comes to your location and scouts the area, working out what shots they want to take and generally planning how they will undertake the work. Once they have done that, they will then come back at a later date to do the actual work.
Working with a single supplier has two huge benefits in this respect. Firstly, it will guarantee that all your imagery will share the same lighting and weather conditions (going back to that consistency aspect we spoke about earlier), and secondly, it will minimise any disruption to your site.
If you use multiple providers, you will need to ‘down tools’ multiple times for them to come and visit you, talk to you and do the work, all of which can cause unnecessary delays for you and your team. Whereas with a single provider, you only need to plan for a single recce visit and a single visit for the actual shoot.
Architectural and promotional photographs and a promotional film produced for the Thorpes Physiotherapy clinics in Fleet, Yateley and Sandhurst, Hampshire. Click to enlarge / play.
In Summary
At Horizon Imaging, we offer a wide range of photography and videography services including drone photography and filming, telescopic mast photography, architectural photography, Matterport virtual tours, promotional video production and time-lapse filming.
This means you can have all your progress and completion imaging requirements fulfilled by a single provider, without the headaches of dealing with multiple companies. Thanks to our tailored pricing strategy, we also offer bespoke discounts if you use several of our services on the same project – saving you money as well as time and energy.
What Do Our Clients Say?
“We are now working with Horizon Imaging to perform quarterly inspections of our inflated roof canopies which are suffering continuous damage from seagulls pecking holes in the membrane. The drone’s point of view allows us to easily identify the location and severity of the holes and get them repaired before the damage becomes too serious. The quality of the pictures is excellent, as is the service from Horizon Imaging — the alternative method for inspecting the holes that we used in the past was a difficult and very expensive high access arrangement that would take several days to complete / map the locations of all the holes.”
“I wanted to write and say thank you for the recent drone photography completed at a couple of our sites in Wokingham & Slough. As a block management company we often encounter problems with roofing and one of the only ways to get a decent report and survey is to go to the expense of either a cherry picker or scaffolding which cost extensive time and money.
After networking for a few years I recalled that you may be in a position to help us and you attended both sites quickly, cost effectively and we had the pictures within hours of your visit. The Directors of both sites are highly impressed and extremely satisfied that we can now gain the quotations we need on factual evidence rather than a contractors say so.
We thank you for this service and we will be doing everything we can to recommend you going forward and will ensure as we grow as a business that we continue to take you on our journey as a service we can easily provide to our clients.”
After networking for a few years I recalled that you may be in a position to help us and you attended both sites quickly, cost effectively and we had the pictures within hours of your visit. The Directors of both sites are highly impressed and extremely satisfied that we can now gain the quotations we need on factual evidence rather than a contractors say so.
We thank you for this service and we will be doing everything we can to recommend you going forward and will ensure as we grow as a business that we continue to take you on our journey as a service we can easily provide to our clients.”