An Interesting Way Drones Can Help Outdoor Businesses During Coronavirus

Thousands of small enterprises across the country have shut down due to the coronavirus, more than half of them permanently. Of those that re-opened, many are struggling to draw back customers still wary about how safe some businesses — even outdoor businesses — may be. What does their outdoor setup look like? Are tables six feet apart?

With that, comes another way that drones may be able to help small business owners, well, in-business: taking aerial video footage of their outdoor setups. Aerial footage of outdoor dining or a socially-distanced outdoor bootcamp workout class is not only eye-catching, but it’s useful in allowing potential new customers to see what a businesses’ physical distancing implementations actually look like.

Take this example from Spark Social, a food truck park in San Francisco, Calif.:

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That’s just one of the many ways using drones for commercial aerial photography can help out small businesses.

And then, we’ve also seen drones help the COVID charge more directly. Delivery took off in 2020 largely due to the pandemic, whether it was Walmart shipping at-home COVID test kits to suburbs near Las Vegas with drones, or local coffee shops flying coffee to people’s homes in Virginia.

Of course, drones have long been used for businesses large and small long before COVID-19 changed businesses drastically. The folks over at Drone Service Phoenix, an aerial photography and videography company based in Phoenix, Ariz, which does work for real estate, construction, events, festivals, commercials, etc. created an infographic to show a few of the most common uses of drones.

Beyond just taking aerial photos of outdoor businesses, here are 5 other benefits of using drones for businesses, compiled in one infographic: