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Whether it’s social media gurus or real estate trainers, they’re all saying the same thing: Video is vital for your success in selling your clients’ homes. In my opinion, if you’re not using video for your clients’ ad campaigns, you are doing them a disservice.
Video accounted for 75 percent of all online traffic globally in 2017 and is predicted to reach 82 percent by 2022, according to Cisco Systems, an IT, networking, and cybersecurity company.
“In these days of ‘thumb-stopping’ content, it’s never been more important for real estate agents to embrace video,” says Kylie Davis, head of content and property services marketing at CoreLogic. Davis also reports that the word “video” in the subject line of an email boosts the open rate by 19 percent, and video converts 40 percent better overall than any other content.
If you’re new to creating listing videos, or you want to improve the quality of your videos, here are two key tips.
1. Don’t be the hero of a listing video.
Contrary to what others may be teaching, the sole purpose of a listing video is to promote and sell the property, not to promote the agent or broker. Whether you choose to shoot a video tour that’s narrated with a voiceover or create a tour that simply set to music, don’t make it about you. Look to industries outside of real estate and study how they use video to market their products. For example, you would never see a Mercedes-Benz salesperson promoting themselves in a car commercial.
2. A real estate video must match the rest of your campaign.
A real estate professional should write the listing description or ad copy first, then brief the photographer to take the appropriate photographs to match the write-up in sequence. Similarly—and no different than a movie—the script of a real estate video must be written first; then the filming should be done to match the script in sequence.
Ideally you want to shoot the video at the same time listing photos are taken so the lighting and time of day match. You also want to brief the photographer and videographer on capturing the same details. If your ad boasts “watch the yachts sail by” in the description of a beachfront condo for sale, you want to make sure your photographer and videographer are capturing the patio view of those boats. If the photos are shot on a Saturday with yachts visible on the water, but the video was shot on a Wednesday when no yachts are present, the two elements of the ad campaign wouldn’t match.
Matching your ad materials is vital to increasing the cumulative effect of your professional advertising. When people see congruent images and messaging across various media platform, it helps the brain recall the information more quickly. Buyers will be more likely to remember the property you’re marketing, allowing you or your team to stay top of mind and ahead of others vying for their attention.
