Benefits Of Video In Real Estate
11 years. 11 years working in the title industry. That’s a long time in any industry but it is even more significant in the competitive, often cut throat world of real estate marketing. As a REALTOR® every title company, every title rep, every escrow officer wants your attention, your business. They call you, email you, tweet and facebook chat you – all in the hopes of meeting with you. All so they can give you {essentially} the same spiel “our escrow officers are great” “we can help you grow your business”and so on.
11 years in title. I used to chase real estate agents around. I hate to admit it but I used to be one of those title reps that called, emailed and facebooked real estate agents with the messages above. Notice I said “used to”. Not anymore and not for some time.
Do you like to be cold called? SPAMMED with email? Direct mail? I’m guessing – NO! Yet so many real estate agents do this to consumers. While it may be fine now and then, a real estate agent can only “check in” with their database or sphere of influence so often before they start to HATE YOU:
“are you or do you know anyone considering buying or selling real estate? If so, do you have a real estate agent you would refer them to? My business is built on referrals. A referral to a fried or family is the highest compliment I could ever receive.” Sound familiar?
My business changed 4 years ago. 4 years ago I started this website, MyTitleGuy.com, formerly MyTitleGuy.net. 4 years ago it was a labor of love, it did not generate a lot of business for me as the Phoenix metro real estate market was dominated by REO and then short sales. Real estate agents didn’t need a lot of help with marketing so they didn’t look for help. They didn’t look for me.
Today, it’s a business and a labor of love. I love writing, I love stating my opinion. I love being controversial. I filled this website with valuable content I thought my ideal client would look for when they had a need. Not why “I am the best title rep EVA!” or “my escrow officers are epically awesome” {they are by the way} but “how to get found online”, “how to identify your ideal client” “identifying your USP” “How to use video in your real estate business” “How to optimize your videos”.
My phone started ringing. It was what I teach in my real estate marketing classes coming to fruition. “Create the content your ideal client would look for when they have a need and they will find you”. As the Phoenix real estate market began to shift, began to stabilize, as REO began to slow – real estate agents needed help shifting their real estate marketing. Where did they turn? The Internet. Consumers, real estate agents, everyone goes to the Internet for 2 reasons. 1} Gather Information 2} Solve a problem. Who did many of them find? MyTitleGuy.com.
I became a resource to real estate agents, not just here in Phoenix but across the country. Across the world. I’ve been contacted by real estate agents from Vancouver to Miami, Ireland to Singapore. Title companies and real estate attorneys across the country, Philadelphia to Hawaii. One of the ways I help them find me is with my video’s. Today 50% of all my leads come from my video’s. In this post I want to discuss the benefits of video in real estate
Benefits Of Video In Real Estate
Video makes us smarter. Humans retain 58% more information when we are shown HOW to do something – visually. If you were making a new dish for your family, would you prefer to read instructions from a recipe book or watch a video of someone making it?
Video builds trust and rapport. Studies have shown that people are more likely to like and trust people they have seen in person – even in video marketing – than people they have only spoken to on the phone or through email.
Video is emotional. Video conveys so much more than text or pictures. We are more likely to laugh, cry, be happy or sad by something we see than something we read. If a picture says 1000 words, video says – them all.
Video is fast. We can convey a message is a shorter about of time with video than text. It could take another real estate agent 20 minutes to convey their value through text whereas that same message can be conveyed almost instantly through video. This is especially important given the immediate gratification, world we live in. As consumers attention spans get smaller you need to grab their attention immediately. Video does that.
Video is believable. You are more likely to believe a video message than one comprised of text or pictures.
Video uses more of our senses. We naturally believe in what we can hear and see. It is easier for our brains to process. These visual cues in a video can convince us of the appeal of a product or service. A home for sale or a real estate agents knowledge and experience.
Video Is Purple Cow. Every real estate agent has a website. Some real estate agents have multiple and some real estate companies has hundreds or even thousands of them. That is a lot of competition. Everyone has a website but not every real estate agent is using video in their real estate business. Nationally, less than 2% of real estate agents are using video. Video is different. In a sea of links on the 1st page of Google, Video sticks out like a sore thumb. Video is Purple Cow.
Video Gets Found. Video is 57% more likely to make it on the 1st page of Google than text alone. I have multiple videos on the 1st page. If you were looking for information about Phoenix, about a subdivision, a home for sale, the buying or selling process, short sale, REO – would you click one of the 9 links that all look the same or the video?
For the real estate agents that leverage it, video will get your message across faster and more convincingly than any other medium
Video is not the future
Video is not the future, it is the here and now. The present. I’ve never been shy about speaking my mind so for the real estate agents out there contemplating whether or not they should embrace video, know this: leads go to the best marketers, not necessarily the best real estate agents. Embrace video or risk being irrelevant. Adapt or Die. Video is uniquely suited for the real estate industry. Video is not just visual, it’s emotional as well.
I shot the video below for a client last week. Which message is more appealing, compelling or conveys more VALUE: “This 3 bedroom + den home for sale in Villa Hermosa at McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona is beautiful. This home for sale has a beautiful, open kitchen complete with granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and wood floors. Mature landscaping, pool, spa and french doors!”
Or the short video below?
What about “Shadow Inventory“? Some real estate agents in Phoenix believe there is shadow inventory, that banks are holding mass amounts of properties that they will eventually be dump onto the Phoenix market at once. This belief has some consumers on the fence, believing if they wait to buy a home in Phoenix there will be more choice, less competition and lower prices. In reality, the converse is true. You could write an article, facebook post or tweet about it, trying to sway consumers that now is the right time to buy a home, that prices will likely continue to climb, that there is no magical stash of homes banks are holding OR you could make a video like the one below that demonstrates this with real numbers – visually. Which one would you respond best to? Which one do you think your ideal client would respond to?
The Old Days
In the old days, the only medium available with these benefits was television. Those were the old days. Today you can leverage something better than TV, where more and more consumers are turning – YouTube. Unlike TV, the ultimate form of outbound marketing, where a message is sprayed to the masses in hopes that someone that sees it will have a need for a product or service, video is inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is creating messages that only a specific audience would seek out. This is what I do. I target a specific demographic of people – real estate agents – by creating the video content I believe they would look for. How Am I Doing? Regardless of HOW you got here, I can guarantee it was not through a postcard or flyer, bus stop ad or billboard. You likely found me through an inbound marketing channel: Google, Yahoo, Bing, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, StumbleUpon, Google + or maybe someone that cares about you and your business sent it to you. Regardless of how you got here, welcome!
Unlike other forms of media, your ideal client can find and consume the content you create at anytime. Day or night. Weekends or holidays. 24/7. All you have to do is learn how to create valuable content your ideal client would look for when they have a need, make your message valuable enough to watch and include a visual call to action. Go HERE, do this for THIS value.
I go to bed ant night wondering how many people are on my website, watching my videos, reading my articles, signing up for real estate marketing tips. I wake up wondering how many leads I got the night before. Think about that. Unlike other forms of marketing, a properly optimized real estate video can work for FREE and FOREVER driving your ideal client to your real estate website. If someone finds you, YOU ARE THE EXPERT.
Takeaway
There is a right way and a wrong way to use video in your real estate marketing. It starts with making a message a consumer would see value in. One that helps them gather information or solve a problem. You need to make videos that they want to see, not necessarily what you want to make. Hate to break it to you but NO ONE is scouring the internet looking for an ABR, CRS, GRI, e-Pro Phoenix real estate agent with 25 years experience who is number 1 in his/her office. Consumers won’t care about you until you give them a reason to. Video can do that. If you are a real estate agent in Phoenix I can help you with all aspects of real estate marketing with video. Messsage, Delivery, Tools, Technique, Optimization, Editing, Syndication. WordPress, Screencast, IDX? That too. All you have to do is fill out the form below. Adapt Or Die.
