Table of Contents
- Is There a Demand for Real Estate Photographers in 2023?
- Make Sure You’re Using the Right Equipment
- Grow Your Digital Presence
- Digital Tools to Help You Scale Your Business
- Expand Into New Industries
- Hire a Virtual Assistant
- Create a Referral Program
Do you want to know the best ways to quickly scale your real estate photography business and create a booming, money-making agency?
Even though times may be tough with a pandemic that doesn’t seem to go away and a looming recession, there’s money to be made in real estate photography in 2023.
With the current market cooldown, there’s a need for professional real estate photography to market properties for sale, giving you the perfect opportunity to grow your business.
So in this post, we’ll share the best ways to quickly scale your real estate photography business using the right gear and some powerful marketing strategies.
Let’s dive in!
Is There a Demand for Real Estate Photographers in 2023?
It’s likely that there will continue to be a demand for real estate photographers in 2023.
High-quality photography is an important aspect of the real estate industry for more reasons than one. Firstly, it allows sellers to market properties in a visually appealing way, which can help to sell them more quickly.
Additionally, as more and more real estate transactions are conducted online, high-quality photography has become even more important. In 2021, 97% of home buyers used the internet to search for homes and expect to see quality photos.
As expectations of good visuals increase, there will always be a need for high-quality real estate photography to market properties for sale.
Turn the Economic Downturn Into an Opportunity
Although certain factors such as the global economic situation and local market trends can also have an impact on demand, many successful companies, such as Microsoft, Airbnb, and Netflix, began during economic downturns.
The founders identified a problem and seized the opportunity to solve it.
You can do the same by starting a real estate photography business. Or just by finding effective ways to scale the one you have.
In summary, despite economic instability, the real estate market continues to be active. Especially in areas like Atlanta, Georgia, and Dallas, Texas that are expected to lead the nation in 2023.
This makes it the ideal time to start or figure out ways to scale your real estate photography business and maximize revenue. So let’s explore what equipment you’ll need to make this happen next.
Make Sure You’re Using the Right Equipment
If you want to quickly scale your real estate photography business and get more new and returning clients, you need to make sure you’re using the right equipment.
Here are some key items to consider include:
- DSLR Camera: Firstly, you’ll need a full-frame DSLR camera with a high resolution and good low-light performance is ideal for real estate photography. Our top picks are Canon EOS Rebel SL3, Nikon D3500, and Nikon D850. For more details, you can visit our blog post on the best cameras for real estate photography.
- Wide-Angle Lens: A wide-angle lens is essential for capturing the entire room, while a zoom lens can be used for close-ups of details. For more information, you can visit our blog post on the best lenses for real estate photography (top 15 picks).
- Tripod: A sturdy tripod is also necessary for keeping the camera steady and for taking shots at different angles. Some good options are GEEKOTO 75″ Camera Tripod, ZOMEi 62″ Camera Tripod, and Promaster XC-M 525K 70″ Professional Tripod.
- Lighting equipment: An external flash or a series of continuous lights will help to illuminate the property and create a well-lit and attractive image.
- Photo Editing Software: Photo editing software such as Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop can be used to enhance and retouch photos, which is essential to produce high-quality real estate images.
- Drones: If you’re looking to create more dynamic property and neighborhood shots and get more attractive to agents and Realtors, a drone can be a great addition to your gear. It also shows that you’re a tech-savvy photographer and that you’re willing to go the extra mile to take top-notch real estate photography.
Ultimately, the most important thing is to invest in high-quality equipment that will produce professional-looking results.
Grow Your Digital Presence
Creating an online presence is crucial when building a real estate photography business.
A website or online portfolio allows potential clients to easily view and access your work, while also providing a platform to showcase your style and personality.
To set up your website quickly, consider using a service like PhotoUp custom website builder. With the help of beautiful and user-friendly templates, you can create an online portfolio in minutes.
Furthermore, if you don’t have time to build a website yourself, our web designers can help you.
In addition, using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn can help market your business online and reach a larger audience.
Joining or starting Facebook groups in the real estate photography niche can also be an effective way to engage with potential clients and promote your work.
The Ultimate All-in-One
Real Estate Photographer Business Platform
Grow a successful real estate photography business with PhotoUp.
Digital Tools to Help You Scale Your Business
If you haven’t already, you need to start accessing powerful digital tools that can help you scale and grow your real estate photography business.
Here are 4 suggestions to help with your productivity and the quality of your product offering:
1. Real Estate Photo Editing
To be able to scale your real estate photography business, you need to get out of the mindset that you can do everything yourself.
In other words, you need to outsource tasks like post-processing that take too much time away from shooting more properties and building long-lasting relationships with clients.
Learning how to master Photoshop and Lightroom doesn’t happen overnight. Especially, when it comes to more advanced editing techniques like object removal and twilight editing.
Not to forget, the money you have to spend on purchasing these programs. It’s actually faster, cheaper, and more efficient to set up an account with an outsourced editing provider like PhotoUp.
They have teams of dedicated real estate photo editors on standby, ready to take your RAW photographs, edit them to match your style preferences and standards, and get them back to you within 24 hours (or less).
That’s an incredible advantage and asset to your photography business.
Overall, a real estate photo editing partner allows you to shoot more properties without having to manage the time and effort it takes to process photos.
Best of all, for a limited time, you can create a free PhotoUp account today and get 10 free edits as a welcome bonus!
2. Virtual Staging
Virtual staging is a powerful marketing tool that can help buyers visualize themselves living in a home.
With the help of digital furniture and decor, you can transform any vacant, outdated, or cluttered space into a warm and inviting home.
All you need to do is shoot clean, high-quality images of empty or outdated rooms and our professional team of editors will digitally furnish the room and provide you with beautiful real estate images to showcase your listing.
PhotoUp’s virtual staging services start at only $25 per image and have a short turnaround time of 24 to 48 hours.
3. Single Property Websites
As a real estate photographer, you can do so much more than simply deliver images to your clients.
For example, offering single property websites to your clients is another easy upsell.
A single property website is a landing page with its own unique URL (web address) that has one purpose: to showcase a property that’s on the market and help to advance the sale.
They are excellent marketing tools for agents and sellers since they remove the competition from the MLS and other online listing sites like Zillow and Redfin.
Take the time to learn how to build a single-property website for your clients that combines imagery, text, video, floor plans, and even virtual house tours.
It’s a great service that is perfect for high-end properties and offers huge value and time savings for real estate agents.
4. Real Estate Walkthrough Videos
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), home walkthrough videos drive 157% more organic search results to your online listings.
Also, Zillow statistics show that listings promoted by a video walkthrough sold on average 14% faster than listings without one.
By offering real estate walkthrough videos to agents, you can help them get more traffic to their listings and accelerate sales.
And don’t worry if you’re not a skilled video editor, PhotoUp offers an affordable and professional video editing service starting at $30.
The more services you can offer, the more useful you’ll become to your clients and the more money you can make.
The Ultimate All-in-One
Real Estate Photographer Business Platform
Grow a successful real estate photography business with PhotoUp.
Expand Into New Industries
To diversify your client base in 2023, consider expanding into new industries such as commercial real estate, accommodation, construction, hospitality, retail, and design.
This will not only provide a buffer against seasonal fluctuations in residential real estate photography. But also offer benefits such as larger budgets, increased job security, and opportunities for creative growth as a real estate photographer.
Additionally, the skills and experience gained from shooting residential properties can be easily applied to other types of buildings, providing added security during slower periods.
Hire a Virtual Assistant
If you find yourself unable to keep up with daily tasks or forgetting core aspects of your business, you should consider hiring a virtual assistant.
A virtual assistant can help you with:
- Marketing
- Admin tasks
- Sending invoices
- Managing your website and social media
- Handling photo editing
- And more.
This will help you free up valuable time that you can use to shoot more properties and create lasting relationships with clients.
Not to forget, you will also have more time to spend with your loved ones and entertain the hobbies that you love. These are all important aspects of creating a good work-life balance.
Create a Referral Program
One excellent way of spreading the word about your real estate photography business and giving a kickback to your most loyal clients is to offer a referral discount.
Make sure that you have plenty of business cards to give to your clients, and develop a system for when new customers are coming on board.
For example, you can just tell Realtors that they will receive a 10% discount on their next order if the customer mentions their name.
In addition, stopping by a Realtor or Broker’s office in person and giving them a presentation is another great way to let people know about you. For instance, you can offer them a “first shoot free” or a 50% discount on their first shoot.
Lastly, offering free food to agents never goes wrong either!
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there’s a lot more to being a real estate photographer in 2023 than simply photographing properties.
You need to master new and powerful real estate marketing tools and keep adding value to your clients.
By embracing these tools, you can evolve from a real estate photographer to a real estate marketing professional and quickly scale your business.
Get started with PhotoUp today, and let us be your photography and marketing partner. Together we can grow your real estate photography business in no time!
We hope this blog post gave you some valuable tips on how to quickly scale your real estate photography business. If you found this post useful, you may also want to check out the following resources:
- How to Start a Career in the Real Estate Photography Business (in 2024)
- Adding More Services to Your Real Estate Photography Business
- Ways Real Estate Photography Outsourcing Can Help Grow Your Business
- 3 Reasons Why Virtual Staging Is a No-Brainer for Real Estate Photographers
- Preparing for a Real Estate Photo Shoot
