10 Potential Clients that Might Need Drone Photography

Drone photography and videography are in high demand around the world right now, and the field is only continuing to grow. More and more photographers are buying a drone and getting their FAA certification, and adding aerial photography to their list of services. So how can you set yourself apart from the competition and find clients? 

A huge amount of potential clients are out there, but many photographers are looking in the wrong places. The following is a list of 10 potential clients that might be in need of drone photography or videography: 

 

1. Real Estate Agents

One of the most common drone photography/videography clients is real estate agents. Every house on the market needs photos! Adding drone photos to a real estate listing can help the listing sell up to 68% faster than listings without drone photos. Aerial photos can elevate listings for both residential and commercial real estate properties as they are great for showing the location of the listing (for example if it is near a body of water), or capturing the entire plot of land in one photo. Real estate agents are great clients for photographers because their shoots tend to be straightforward, and they have multiple listings that need to be shot, making them recurring clients. Connecting with individual real estate agents can be effective, but reaching out to brokerage agencies that can recommend you to many agents is even better. 

2. Construction Companies

Another great recurring client could be construction companies. If a site manager is monitoring multiple sites at once, they might not have the opportunity to make trips out to each one on a regular basis. Drone photography could help the manager monitor the progress of each site without the need to travel to each one. Aerial photos of a construction site might not be the most exciting to shoot, but they enable you to capture the entire site in just a couple of photos, making them very informative and useful. They can also be used by construction companies to inspect their finished projects. Drones are able to get a closer look at hard to reach areas, such as bridges or tall towers, so that the builders are able to investigate these areas safely and efficiently. 

 

3. Roofing Companies

Because drones are perfect for hard-to-reach areas, an ideal drone photography client is roofing companies! What better way to capture their work than from above? Roofers need advertising photos and videos to show their potential clients examples of their work, and these are very difficult to capture from the ground. Furthermore, roofers incur liability when sending contractors to work at high heights and often prefer avoiding the expense when possible.  Aerial photos and videos are perfect for capturing their handiwork, and can be used in marketing materials or on their websites. They can also be used to review their work at the end of a project to inspect a roof without the need to climb up there again. 

 

4. Landscaping Companies

Similarly, another type of company that might have a need for drone services to capture their handiwork is landscaping companies. Like roofers, their work can sometimes be difficult to capture in one photo on foot, but can be better captured from the sky! Especially if the property is large or hilly, drone photography can capture the entire thing in one visually appealing photo much better than regular photography. You might also suggest taking before and after photos – these can be great marketing materials! 

 

5. Energy 

Renewable energy companies are also in need of both marketing materials and inspections of their work. Whether it’s solar panels or wind turbines, these are much more easily accessible with a drone than a person! Drones can get up close to massive wind turbines hundreds of feet in the air, and capture vast solar panel fields from above. Drone photos and videos of these renewable energy sources can be used by companies to advertise their services with stunning imagery, or be used to inspect a project once it is finished.

 

6. Farmers

Orthomosaic maps are another great service to offer with your drone, as they can capture large plots of land with extreme precision. An ideal client for these maps that you might not have thought of is farmers or agricultural companies. They are often in charge of large plots of land that can be cumbersome to monitor on foot. With aerial photography and orthomosaic mapping, drones are able to map massive plots of land with great detail that is essential to farmers. Apps like DroneDeploy have features such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) – a way to monitor plant health by measuring the level of chlorophyll in a piece of land. 

 

7. Tourism Boards

The goal of tourism boards is to entice people to visit their location, so they are always in need of quality imagery to use in brochures, flyers, email campaigns, etc.! They might have someone on staff that is certified to fly a drone commercially, but they might not. Aerial photography could be a great addition to their visual library, as these images are ideal for capturing landscapes and locations in an intriguing way to attract visitors. And this doesn’t have to be far away – even local tourism boards could use beautiful imagery!

 

8. Wedding Venues

More and more couples are interested in capturing drone photography during their wedding, or adding drone videos to their wedding video. Rather than reaching out to couples individually, it could be beneficial to partner with a wedding venue that can refer your services to potential clients. Wedding coordinators at a venue meet hundreds of couples every year, so they could potentially provide many referrals. They are also very experienced in the field, so they could help you network with other people in the industry.

 

9. Boat Owners

Another place that is much more accessible to drones than regular cameras – over the water! Boat dealerships might want marketing materials of their boats in action, and drones are perfect for getting those action shots. After all, boats look much more appealing on the water than they do in a garage! Some boat owners might even want footage of their boat as something to frame in their home! Reaching out to boat dealerships or salesmen could connect you to potential clients that would like photos of their boat on the water. 

 

10. Anyone with a marketing department!

And finally, any company with a marketing department is a potential drone client! Startups might want aerial photos of their new office building to showcase the location, car dealerships could use aerial photos to feature the cars and size of their lot, or restaurants could put drone photos or videos on their social media to attract potential customers. Aerial imagery makes great marketing material for any company, so you never know who might be a potential drone client! 

 

Get Certified to Fly Commercially

The Dronegenuity Part 107 Test Prep Course does a deep dive into all of the topics that are covered on the FAA’s Part 107 Exam. This exam is required for drone users who intend on using their drone commercially. In other words, if you intend on making money with your drone, this course sets you up to take the FAA’s exam and get your certification. We’ll cover topics such as FAA regulations, weather, radio communications, sectional charts (of course), the national airspace system, and more. Enroll now to take your first step towards FAA certification.

 

 

Learn More 

We’d love to hear from you if you want to learn more about the benefits of aerial drone photography for the real estate industry. If you’re interested in obtaining your Part 107 Commercial Drone License or other drone training courses, please contact us at Dronegenuity today! We offer professional aerial photography services, performed by FAA licensed drone operators for customers of all sizes. All of the work that we do is completely customized and we make the process simple and convenient.