Tips for getting the best photos and videos to sell your outdoor and adventure activities

The main aim of your visuals is to allow customers to project themselves into your activities and start to feel the sensations, so that they want to book and come and meet you.

With today's mobile phones and sports cameras, you don't have to hire a photographer who's an expert in outdoor and adventure activities to get great photos that will appeal to your future customers. However, if you have the opportunity to invest in a photo/video bank of your activities or in photography equipment, it's one of the few investments you should make without hesitation!

Customers are spending less and less time reading activity descriptions, and are indirectly placing more and more importance on photos and videos to help them make up their minds and book. Having attractive photos and videos of your outdoor activities will speed up the booking process for customers, but will also help them to choose between your various activities.

In this article, we're going to give you 10 simple tips to help you take your next photos to renew the visuals of your outdoor and adventure activities, to help your customers book online.

Photos 📷

Number 1: Smiling customers 😃

It's always more reassuring and more sellable to see people happy and having fun during your outdoor activities. In fact, many people who view your activities online will be doing them for the first time as a couple, with friends or with family. It's essential to convey good humour and fun through the smiles on the customers' photos. It also plays a big part in reassurance, especially for parents who want to take their children on a family activity, for example. So it's important to vary the different customer personas in the photos (young, old, groups, etc.) to appeal to everyone.

Number 2: Good quality photos 👾

This is certainly a logical point, but it's one that many outdoor professionals still don't include enough in their photos. We're not telling you anything new by saying that good resolution photos are more appreciated by customers. A smartphone, a Gopro-type on-board camera (without the fisheye effect) or a still camera, if you have one, will do the trick. Don't hesitate to ask around, we're sure you'll be able to find something to take superb photos of your outdoor activities.

The important thing is to frame the photo properly in landscape format and centre the subjects when there are any. If you can hire a photographer for a few hours of the day, don't hesitate for a second. Make sure you prepare well for the photographer's arrival, with different settings for the photos, high points in the day's activities, etc., so as to optimise the photographer's work as much as possible. It's best to plan several dates in case of bad weather 😉

Number 3: Photos in the sun ☀️

For outdoor activity professionals, the weather is always an important factor. However, unsurprisingly, when the sun comes out, it immediately sells better, no matter where in the world you are. Whether you're located in the Pyrenees or in French Polynesia, you need to show your activities in their best light: a beautiful blue sky, snowfall for winter activities, a starry sky for night-time activities, and so on. The colours will be all the more appealing and will naturally catch the eye 😉

Between two identical activities on the same spot, one in grey weather and the other in bright sunshine, customers - and you too, I'm sure - will instinctively choose the latter.

Number 4: Aerial shots ✈️

Among our many service providers around the world, we are beginning to see new forms of photography. Using a drone to take aerial photos of landscapes and points of interest is proving to be a very suitable solution for outdoor and adventure activities. It offers a different vision of the surrounding nature and space that customers will come to discover through your activities, here's an example with this kayaking excursion by Yanature on Mauritius 🌴

Number 5: Show the complete experiment

Of course, the important thing is to show the activity itself, with different scenarios, but it's always interesting to show the before and after activity as well. The customer will be able to see the whole experience from A to Z. Even if it seems anecdotal, it's useful to show photos of your structure, your facilities (changing rooms, toilets, showers, etc.) and your relaxation areas, as well as photos of your customers being fitted out, being briefed, on the shuttle, etc.

At Manawa, we're getting more and more questions from customers like this when they're looking for the best activities. This type of visual will encourage them to buy your outdoor and adventure activities rather than others. It would be a shame not to take advantage!

Number 6: A map of the route and/or points of interest 🗺️

To make the most of the visuals, it's important to have a map that informs potential customers about your itinerary. In fact, a map showing the itinerary of the activity, like our partner Corsica Sud Croisière for example, makes it easier for customers to get their bearings.

It also gives you a clearer idea of how the activity will unfold than in the activity description. On this map you can list points of interest, technical points, fauna and flora, and all the special features present during your activities.

Number 7: Summarise the activity in a few photos

There's no point in having an album of 50 photos for each of your activities. The customer who discovers your outdoor and adventure activity won't be able to get a quick idea of what to expect, and is likely to move on. At Manawa, photos account for around 40% of the time a customer spends on our partners' outdoor activities. So it's best to summarise the activity with a few highlights, in 5 to 10 shots. Here's a fairly complete structure that you can use as inspiration:

• A photo of the activity in a beautiful landscape,
• A photo of the customers in "action" during the activity,
• A photo of the customers (alone or in a group) smiling during the activity,
• One or two landscape photos showing the point(s) of interest of the activity,
• One or two photos of your structure (base, changing rooms, car park, suits, equipment, boat...) to create reassurance,
• A photo/image of the itinerary on a map showing the progress of the activity.

The most important thing is to show customers what the activity looks like on site, i.e. what your activity title SPORT + POINT D'INTÉRÊT + SPOT covers. Take a look at our previous article on this subject. You need to show the point of interest if there is one, a moment at the heart of the activity and what it's known for (fauna and flora in diving, bungee jumping, fresh snow and sunny landscapes in a snowshoe walk, etc.).

Bonus issue: Manawa's tip 😉

If you don't want to invest time or money in your photos, a simple solution for getting great ones for free is to ask your customers!

We're sure that many of your customers film and take photos to keep their memories. So don't hesitate to ask them at the end of the activity, if it went well and the weather was ideal, if you can look at the photos together. If you like them, ask them if they would be willing to share them with you to promote your outdoor and adventure activities.

If you really want something professional you can also go through a production agency like EWO House who really specialise in outdoor visuals and do a great job with their experienced photographers and cameramen.

Video 📹

We're taking advantage of this article to add some information about video. They're not compulsory, as they're a bit more complex and expensive to produce, but they can add real value to your pages. Here are 3 quick tips if you're curious or thinking of creating videos of your outdoor activities for your website:

Number 1: Make a video for each activity ⛷️🚵 🏄

If you offer several activities and want to highlight them in videos, it's essential to have one for each of them. Dividing the videos by activity will allow you to offer concrete images of the activity in question, which can be viewed quickly and which will allow you to differentiate between them according to the different points of interest if there are any, difficulty, route, etc. We invite you to look at the work done by the Ferme 5 Étoiles holiday centre for sea kayaking, dog sledding, etc.

Number 2: Show how the activity unfolds

For each of your videos, the customer should have an overview of how the activity will unfold. This will enable them to see themselves as if they were part of the activity and to move on to the booking stage, or to change activity if another suits them better according to their wishes, level, etc. For the video to be complete, it's best to have 5-6 second extracts from each of the following stages:

• Whatever your structure
• The equipment
• Briefing/preparation
• The activity itself, with its highlights
• Points of interest
• Happy customers during the event

In addition to the activity videos, you can of course have one that covers all the activities and also shows the team, the structure, the relaxation areas if you have any, etc.

Number 3 : No more than one minute ⌛

Customers won't spend 4 or 5 minutes watching a video to book an outdoor and adventure activity. The video should quickly summarise the activity, whet the appetite and reassure customers about any questions or concerns they might have.

After watching it, they should have a clear idea of what to expect on the day of the activity. 30 to 60 seconds is enough to show an overview of your activity, the landscapes they will discover and the different stages mentioned above.

My contacts: Louis Gabard - [email protected] - +33 1 76 35 00 87

PS: Please feel free to share this article with your friends/contacts in the industry if you think it might be of interest to them, and get back to us if you have any feedback and/or advice. For our part, we at Manawa are continuing to develop our outdoor and adventure sports offer in France and around the world! The link to join us is still the same: Join us on Manawa.com 😎.