3 tips for using drones to sell anything

Today I’ve got a few tips to help you sell just about anything using your drone!

Let’s face it—we all have too much stuff nowadays, and with spring in the air, it’s a perfect time to clean out those cupboards and do a little de-cluttering. While you’re at it, why not sell a few of the things you don’t use anymore? There are groups on Facebook now dedicated to buying and selling, so you might be able to find a buyer from the comfort of your couch!

Attract those buyers

We all know that the key to making a sale is great promotion, right? Make your product stand out over the rest and you’ll have buyers beating a pathway to your door. Well, one of the best ways to entice your audience nowadays is with video. Posts on social media with video get 82% more clicks than those without. And 85% of statistics are made up on the spot. But you get my point: video attracts eyeballs better than anything. And a lot of social media networks have autoplay, which means that videos start to play the minute they show up in the feed. That’s why you ended up watching a 10 minute video of the dog cuddling a kitten last week.

So if you want to sell something, make a short video and stick it on your social media. Follow my tips today and you’ll have a video that Steven Spielberg would be proud of. Like this one:

Ok, there’s obviously zero chance that I can help you to make that video, because that video was made by an actual director and a creative team that included a cinematographer, actress, voice artist, stunt driver, composer for an original score, and sound designer. It paid off though—the car was eventually sold for $20,000. So my point stands: VIDEOS. SELL. STUFF.

Create something cinematic

Yes, you can shoot a video with your smartphone, but it’s just not going to look that interesting (unless perhaps you use something like the DJI Osmo Mobile, but we’re not here to talk about that), and as we’ve already established, you’ve gotta attract interest. So why not use a drone instead? With a drone you can create a video that looks waaaay more cinematic (see video above). If you’re selling a car, or something big like that, it’s pretty easy to come up with some cool shots, but what about if you’re selling something small, like a watch? My suggestion is to recruit a friend and get him or her to hold the product while you fly some tight lines around it. Whatever it is you’re selling, try and find a nice wide open space to shoot, like a deserted car park, where there’s plenty of room to maneuver. It will also provide a nice plain background to make your product pop.

So here we go, on with the tips….

1. Shoot at sunset

I could write a whole article about the merits of shooting at sunset—in fact, I already have. There’s a period of time around sunset (and sunrise too, but really, who wants to get up that early??) known as the Golden Hour, and every photographer worth his salt knows that this is the best time to shoot, when the light is at its most interesting. Check out the video above again and notice how many shots were filmed around sunset. When the sun is low in the sky you get these long dramatic shadows and a beautiful golden hue which gives everything that nostalgic appeal. When the sun dips below the horizon, you get this amazing soft light that is just about the best possible light for shooting anything. Of course, all of this relies on a cloudless evening. Be aware that if you’re trying to highlight the great features of your product, you’ll want the sun at your back.

2. Use lots of movement

The beauty of using a drone is that you can create some beautiful shots that have movement. Static shots just aren’t as alluring. So like I said earlier, try and fly some nice lines around the product. Even straightforward up and down movement or side to side can look great, but you want them to be as steady as possible. This means that you’ll probably want to shoot on days that are as calm as possible—wind is your enemy here, unless you have a drone with a gimbal, like the DJI Mavic Pro, which can cope with some wind buffering. Something like the Uneeq Breeze 4k Quadcopter, however, really struggles in a gust. The fact that it shoots 4k is a bonus though because you can work with the footage in an editing program like Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve and apply some stabilization to smooth out your shots.

3. Short clips work best

When it comes to the edit (and as every filmmaker knows, all the most important work happens in the edit), there is one pretty simple rule to keep in mind, and again the used car ad above will back me up here: keep your shots as short as possible. It makes for a much more interesting video. I read somewhere that no shot should be longer than the time it takes to describe what is happening in the shot. A lot of social networks play videos on mute, but adding some music will take your video to the next level. The YouTube Audio Library has loads of tracks that you can use, and there are some really good ones in there too. If you’re feeling really adventurous, pop some text overlays in there with a description of the product and the price.

Ok, so obviously I had my tongue firmly in my cheek for parts of this article, but seriously there is no good reason you can’t make an awesome video to showcase any product to attract buyers, particularly when you have drones like the Mavic Air—the latest from DJI, which can even fly pre-programmed flight paths.

Check out the Mavic Air and all the other quality drones available in the drones section at Best Buy!