Are you already using video to market your real estate agent services? If you haven’t gotten around to it yet, here are a couple statistics that might get your attention.
It has been studied and found to be that consumers are much more likely to purchase a product after watching a detailed product (or service) video.
Desktop video has evolved a tremendous amount in the past decade, making it not only an extremely attractive marketing medium, but also an affordable – even free one. The complexity of creating quality video content requires only a couple of hours of learning; dramatically opening doors up for businesses of all kinds and sizes. It is simply not the big production effort or expense that it once was. A few basics to consider. An agent without a video on their webpage at this point is only shooting themselves in the foot.
Your phone could be perfect for the job.
Believe it or not, these days some professional commercials and even entire movies are being shot entirely on smartphones. The video quality on a modern phone is perfectly suitable for an internet delivered marketing video. The video needs to be shot keeping basic video techniques in mind, an iphone or android phone should capture a perfectly acceptable level of quality. If you do have access to higher resolution, quality camera equipment – great, but the phone you likely already have in your pocket or purse is adequate to get you started.
Keeping it simple
Simplicity is most often the best. Nail your average client’s problem and solution in the most direct way possible, and then chances are you have just made an effective video. Some special effects are a nice embellishment but don’t overuse too many distracting effects. That being said, using an appropriate backdrop image, or simply staging yourself in the right setting is one of the best effects you can add to your video. There are many tutorials about the basics of producing a video which you can easily Google for.
Begin with your story
It is still critically important to outline, storyboard and narrate a clear compelling story or message. You should give understanding to your audience, about how your agency addresses their issue or challenge. The way your video communicates and bridges the problem between customer challenge and business solution is absolutely key. Shorter videos are better; not many people wish to hang out staring at a long, rambling, self-promotional video. Directly address your customers’ pain points or typical interest and clearly highlight your business solution.
Sound & lighting are incredibly important
Some of the most important basics of videoing is the importance of audio & lighting. Getting it nearly right is not that complex , but missing the dartboard in either of these areas can actually devastate the persuasion level your video. Your video should not be overly bright or dark, regarding your lighting. Thinking ahead about how you’ll assure quality audio is a critically important aspect too. Using an external microphone on your phone, if possible, or a secondary recording device that you can dub over your video in post edit is a worthwhile touch to increase your audio quality. Most online video basics tutorials will have simple suggestions on best practices in both aspects.
Editing tips
The raw video of your shoot has to be decent quality overall, however editing, (also known as “post production”), turns good footage into something marvelous. Whether you have an iphone or Mac; there are nearly 100 or more freeware editing tools available. (See download.com ) iMovie on Macs is just one example. These free, or low-cost tools typically offer more than enough production power for most basic videos.
Posting/Distributing your video(s)
In one word: Youtube. There are dozens of video platforms within reach on the internet for small businesses. Some are: Vimeo, Vidyard , Wistia; and many others. If your website is based on WordPress many themes today have video player options for uploading and displaying videos. Youtube and some other platforms make for easier embedding or social -media integration.
It is easy to get pulled into complexity as you start to get familiar with video self-promotion, but when it comes right down to it – shooting and editing a great video doesn’t need to be complicated at all.
Start frugally by utilizing your phone (and maybe a friend’s phone too for cutaway angle(s) and perhaps a third for best audio capture.) Keep in mind lighting and audio. Use free or low-cost video editing software and publish your video through one of the many platforms and you can expand from agent to video marketer practically over a single weekend.
~
Would you like to super-charge your career with 40+ fresh & real leads per month? Just contact us for for information on our Canadian Real Estate Lead marketing system.
