How to Use Car Stock Photos for Your Dealership

Marketing new vehicle models across multiple digital channels allows dealerships to reach a wider audience of potential buyers. To effectively capture the attention of buyers, dealerships need to provide visual resources that can encourage them to take the next step in the shopping process.

Car photography is an integral part of automotive marketing. A car is an expensive purchase, and buyers now demand resources that allow them to gain insight about each model’s features. For online marketing, stock photos are the ideal visual resource to showcase new models. Here are 10 tips on how to use car stock photos for your dealership and help move shoppers to the next stage of the buying process:

  1. Use photos to create attention-grabbing ads.
  2. Incorporate animated stock photos for an impactful hero image.
  3. Encourage online exploration with spin photos.
  4. Provide base trim photos to help buyers know more about the model’s most budget-friendly trim.
  5. Use interior and exterior stock images for a comprehensive slide show.
  6. Create excitement on social media by sharing stock photos of new models.
  7. Use stock photos to break up text in a dealership blog.
  8. Design an augmented reality experience with stock photos that are compatible with this interactive tech.
  9. Share stock videos of new models on the dealership’s website to help buyers gain additional insight about the vehicle.
  10. Consider custom stock photo images for unique inventory or for a branded dealership photo.

Stock Photos in Ads Grab the Attention of Potential Buyers

Stock photos are high-resolution professional images that can be used in advertisements to increase the impact and allure of the messaging. Photography is more than just a visual element; images help consumers understand a car’s design and its features, too.

When used in online ads, these images also can positively impact the message. A sleek red car might catch the eye of a shopper who is on the hunt for a new sports car. As stock photos are taken in professional settings and can include unique backdrops, the imagery can send its own powerful message when used in an ad.

Choose images carefully when creating ads. Dealerships need to consider the message they want to send to their audience. When designing a carousel ad that features a string of different models, dealerships need to consider if the carousel ad will feature different cars to reach a variety of buyers or if the ad will include inventory models that are aimed at a particular segment of buyers.

Choose images that support the overall reputation or ‘personality’ of the model. For example, when advertising a pickup truck, dealerships could choose an image that depicts it in a rugged setting to highlight its strength.

How to Use Car Stock Photos for Your Dealership

Animated Stock Photos are an Impactful Hero Image

A hero image is designed in a large banner format. Its role on a webpage is to catch the eye of site visitors and grab their attention.

Animated stock photos load automatically and show a vehicle in motion. The movement is compelling and it instantly grabs the visitor’s eye. EVOX Images offers numerous animated photos for each model; dealerships can choose an animated photo that shows a vehicle rotating, driving into the photo, driving in and then rotating or an image that shows the vehicle from different vantage points (like drone footage).

With each movement, the vehicle showcases a different paint trim option. Each animated photo choice includes this colorized animation.

When used as a hero image, animated photos create excitement while also providing potential buyers with visual data about the vehicle. Shoppers can see how the vehicle looks in motion and they can understand their paint trim options, too.

Encourage Online Exploration with Spin Photos

More than 90 percent of car shoppers research vehicle options before visiting the dealership. What information does the dealership provide to buyers as they research? The more resources that dealerships can provide, the longer site visitors might stay on the page.

Car buyers might look at a variety of data points during their research. Price is important for many buyers. When a buyer is considering a few different models in their price range, resources that help them understand the features of each model could help them determine which vehicle is the best choice for them.

Interactive photography enhances the user experience (UX) online and helps buyers on the hunt for the perfect car, too. This type of photography is designed for exploration; EVOX Images offers two types of interactive stock photos: exterior spin photos and panorama photos.

Exterior spin photos depict a 3D image of the vehicle. Car shoppers can interact with this image by using either their fingertip (for mobile devices) or their mouse. They can rotate the image in a full 360 degrees to check out the exterior from any vantage point.

Panorama photos are interior spin photos, and site visitors can interact with them and navigate them with a fingertip or a mouse. These photos let users look all around the interior of the car. Panorama photos can help buyers check out the space in the back seat, zero in on the infotainment screen or even look up at the sun roof.

EVOX Images offers panorama and exterior spin photos for a variety of new and older models. Incorporate these online and invite exploration.

How to Use Car Stock Photos for Your Dealership

Showcase the Base Trim

Dealerships don’t always make it easy for buyers to understand what’s included in the base trim of a model. Some sites don’t even show an exterior photo of the base trim.

As the price of new vehicles might be on the rise, give buyers the tools to understand the most budget-friendly trim for each model. Incorporating base trim images can help buyers learn what they can expect from the base trim, and these images also might help them decide if they want to add any upgrades.

A Comprehensive Slideshow Includes Interior and Exterior Photos

Online visitors want access to as much information about vehicle models as possible. Almost 100 percent of buyers are researching online; dealerships should provide tools to aid this research.

Create comprehensive video slideshows of each new model. Dealerships should incorporate images of both the interior and exterior of the vehicle. EVOX Images offers an extensive library of images for models that capture all the most relevant details. Dealerships can easily search through images to find the stock photos they wish to incorporate into a slideshow.

Share Stock Photos of New Models via Social Media and Generate Excitement

Create excitement about a new model that’s expected to roll into the dealership and share a stock image via social media accounts. EVOX Images might have those photos of new models before they even arrive at the dealership. Use these images to tease upcoming vehicles.

When posting stock photos to preview a new model, dealerships also might include the starting MSRP as well as details related to any unique features of the vehicle.

Use Stock Photos to Break-Up Text in a Dealership Blog

Some dealerships include a blog that’s connected to their website. The dealership blog might include updates related to dealership events, articles about car care and more.

When creating blog content, images are impactful. Choose stock photos to break up the text of the article and add visual interest. Dealerships should choose photos that align with the article’s content and support the narrative.

Design an Augmented Reality Experience

Augmented reality takes exploration to a high-tech level. Auto manufacturers sometimes offer augmented reality experiences on their website; these experiences let consumers drop a graphic depiction of a vehicle into the individual’s environment using the camera of a smartphone or a tablet to navigate.

Dealerships also could create an augmented reality showroom or experience that lets shoppers explore vehicle models from home or any location. Augmented reality is accessible to most users and only requires a smartphone or tablet. To launch the experience, users have to allow access to their camera; they can use the camera to capture the environment in which to view the experience.

EVOX Images provides a library of images for different models that are compatible with augmented reality or virtual reality experiences. Use these images to create resources that encourage site visitors to engage interactively.

How to Use Car Stock Photos for Your Dealership

Share Stock Videos of New models on the Dealership’s Website

Videos are impactful and can provide more insight about a product than an image. EVOX Images offers a variety of stock videos for vehicle models.

Dealerships can post these videos on their website to help buyers learn more about a model they like. Some of these videos feature voice-over narration that highlights key elements of the vehicle.

Consider Custom Stock Photo Images to Market New Inventory

Sometimes a stock photo doesn’t best capture a particular vehicle. Dealerships might have a unique vehicle model or even a classic vehicle in the inventory. When dealerships need to market a unique model, custom stock images could be an option. EVOX Images offers custom imagery for dealerships; these images also could feature the dealership’s unique brand, too.

Effective marketing for vehicle inventory requires dealerships to provide potential buyers with resources to understand their options. Car stock images provide high-resolution professional depictions of vehicle models to engage and excite buyers while also allowing them to explore the features of the cars they like.