AMAZING! Or Miss The Mark?
I saw a real estate video for a mansion in Malibu, California yesterday. It was AMAZING. The coloring – perfect. Camera work – perfect. Editing, lighting, audio, music, placement, actors – perfect. I saw the perfect video, yet – did it miss the mark?
huh?
I can hear you already, “Stephen, are you stupid? Crazy?… how can a video that you yourself said was PERFECT miss the mark?”
Let me explain….
The video, titled “The Spider and the Fly” a 3:46 MASTERPIECE, is making its rounds on the Internet right now. Many of the guru’s and experts in the real estate space are putting it up an an AMAZING video, a video that you, as a real estate agent or REALTOR® should possibly take note of, a video that shows what’s possible when you use video in your real estate business. It is. Yet. . the experts may be wrong on this one.
I’m not a fan of experts. Especially in the real estate space. Many of them have no credibility as they do not and have not done the things they encourage YOU to do! I taught a video class the other day where a REALTOR® said, “so, you are the video expert!” . My answer – “Nope just a guy that knows a little of this and that about this and that”. I would NEVER call myself an expert, – in anything – even though you can bet I know more about WordPress, SEO, SEM, Video, Editing, Optimization and Syndication than any of my competitors in the real estate space. There is always someone out there that knows more about something, than me, even though I may know more about it than you.
I’m not an expert. I’m a consumer. At the end of the day that is who our marketing is trying to attract right? When I make real estate videos for my clients listings, website, introduction videos, interviews, screencasts, WHATEVER – when I help them with their real estate marketing I always look at the marketing message not from the REALTORS® perspective but the consumers. What would the consumer what to see or know? What questions would the consumer have about this or that? Does this video, article, interview, screencast – answer them? If the answer is “NO”, then no matter how good the video quality is, no matter how good the audio is, no matter how good the story or lighting is, the acting – if the video does not educate, inform or answer a question – then in my opinion, it misses the mark. See “The Spider and the Fly” below.
The “Spider and the FLY” is A-MAZ-ING. The director did an AMAZING job, the producer did an AMAZING job, the editors did an AMAZING job, the score is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. They all did an AMAZING job. The video is BEAU-TI-FUL. I felt like I was watching a Hollywood movie trailer! There is no way in HELL that I could do a better job than this, NOT EVEN CLOSE nor do I know anyone that could, in fact – EVERYONE I know that makes a living in video COMBINED could not make a better quality video, yet the video in my opinion, misses the mark.
In my opinion, as a consumer – the best real estate video’s educate and inform about the product – the home. The best ones tell a story. While “The Spider and the Fly” certainly told a story, a good one too, after watching the video – what can you tell me about this house? How many bedrooms there are? Bathrooms? What did they look like? Square feet? Location? What is the house near? Are there appliances? What kind? How big is the kitchen? Is there an office or den? How big/small? Is there Granite? Marble? Where? A great video will allow the ideal client to mentally move in to the property, there just wasn’t enough about the home for me to imagine anything.
If “The Spider and the Fly” was a movie trailer I say “a perfect 10! – Amazing! Unbelievable!, I want to see that movie” As a video about a home that a consumer wants to learn more about, “what are the features and benefits?” I think it misses the mark. It simply left out {in my opinion} the most important information – what are the features and benefits of the HOUSE?
Marketing Takeaway: My advice
If you are a REALTOR®, stop putting so much stock in what the real estate “experts” and real estate websites say is good and bad, what you should be doing and what you shouldn’t. The real estate industry encourages “modeling”, – taking what someone else is doing and applying it your real estate business. Modeling isn’t always good. At the end of the day, evaluate what you are being told to do with your CONSUMER hat on – leave your REALTOR® hat off. Ask yourself, “as a consumer, would I respond to this or that? Would I find value in it? Would I want to contact the REALTOR® for more information or HELP?” If the answer is “NO” – Don’t do it! I find many experts in the real estate space are not experts at all, merely persuasive speakers often put upon a pedestal unjustly.
I’m certainly willing to be wrong on this but am I? Is “The Spider and the Fly” an AMAZING real estate video or did it miss the mark?
