3 minute read
Feature
Picture Perfect Plants: Using Photos to Boost Market Appeal
By Alicia Rihn
A key benefit of ornamental horticulture crops is the aesthetics they provide in containers, landscapes and gardens. Customers are purchasing these items as an extension of themselves to beautify their environment. As such, high quality photos are an essential component of the marketing toolkit. Photos are particularly important in instances where the marketing channel does not allow for interactions with the plant prior to purchase (i.e., online sales), the plant is not currently displaying its key aesthetic attribute (e.g., full flowers, fall color, or fruit development), or when potential customers are searching for plant information online (e.g., Google).
When deciding on plant purchases, people visually inspect them first as an initial quality/aesthetic check – does the plant look healthy, does it have the desired aesthetic (e.g., white flowers)? Providing a picture allows customers to evaluate the plant’s potential (in-store or online), as well as its current state (if viewed in-store). This information helps them make informed decisions and can influence where they shop and what they buy. Updated photos of plants are important. Sometimes, it is easy to use existing photos if the plant is a well-known cultivar or has been on the market for several years. This is a benefit showing that the product is stable; however, the technology we use to capture photos is not.
Recently, technologies have advanced substantially and allow for higher quality photos than in years past at relatively low costs. But it’s not just the quality of the photo, it is also that the customer has higher quality screens to view the photo, and outdated photos will not show the quality of the plants due to pixelation, blurred edges or off colors. As we enter the busy season, consider taking a minute to snap a couple of photos to update when things slow down. A couple of considerations to capture high quality “on the go” photos are:
Focal points: What are the key aesthetic characteristics of the plant? Take photos of the most aesthetic attributes (e.g., foliage, flower, textures) to visually demonstrate what the customer can expect from that plant. How would those benefits best be conveyed (close-up photo, distance, in a combination planting)?
Lighting: Light shade or cloudy days provide great photo opportunities by minimizing dark shadows within the plant. This would be particularly beneficial for plants where texture, uniformity, or consistency are important (e.g., boxwoods, grasses, mass plantings, evergreens). Conversely, bright sunlight may be desired if large flowers (e.g., sunflowers, hibiscus) are the focal point. Take photos from several angles to help identify the best vantage point to showcase the plants.
Background: What is behind the plant? Is it visually “noisy” (i.e., does the background distract from the plant as focal point)? Many cameras (including cell phone cameras) have filters to blur or minimize the background. For example, the “portrait” option helps reduce background noise.
