video for real estate
There are 2 kinds of real estate agents: those using video in their real estate business and those that will be – soon!. For those of you nodding your head saying “I’m not using video in my real estate business!” I’m talking to you when I say – Yes you are or you will find yourself irrelevant and ultimately invisible. There are many benefits of using video in real estate.
Can you imagine working with a buyer or seller that didn’t have email? While you may try and find another way to communicate – phone, fax etc, most consumers would never even attempt to communicate or ultimately work with a real estate agent that didn’t have email. It would be a sacrifice, it would make the process of buying or selling a home harder and longer and it would ultimately cost them, time, money – both.
You will be using video not because YOU want to but because the CONSUMER is demanding it. Video will be tomorrow what email is today. To prepare real estate agents in Phoenix for this reality, we teach a video marketing series called “How To Use Video In Real Estate”. The series, focuses on cameras, microphones, editing software, video topics, video length, optimization, syndication and more. I wish I had a class like this when I started using video in my business 4 years ago… It would have saved me a lot of time, money, frustration, embarrassment and mistakes.
If you are going to start using video in your real estate business you will make mistakes, it’s normal, its natural, its human – lets talk about 7 real estate video marketing mistakes and how to avoid them.
Real Estate Video Marketing Mistakes
- Spending a lot of Money. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to start using video in your real estate business. The best camera to use is the one you have right now. SONY Handcam, Flip Mino, Kodak Zi8, Kodak Zi10 even your cell phone or laptop web cam – use what you have. DO NOT buy another camera. Not yet anyway. Treat video like getting in shape. Before you spend thousands on a personal trainer you get a gym membership first. You test the waters, see if you like it, if you can do it. Once you commit, once you see results, that’s when you get the personal trainer. Same thing with video. Start small and work your way up.
- Not Doing It. Once you get your camera you have to do it. You have to make real estate videos. Way too many real estate agents get caught up in what someone else thinks. Normally it’s a competitor – what will X agent think? WHO CARES! I started using video in my title business certainly before any of my competitors in Arizona and likely the country. If I cared what this or that title rep thought or this title company or that one, I NEVER would have done it. I simply didn’t care what anyone else thought about me. I knew where consumer behavior was going, I knew where the market was going and I wanted to be prepared for it.
- Not having an ideal client. I’ve learned, many real estate agents are early adopters of technology. Look at QR Codes. Many real estate agents had QR Codes on their business cards, for sale signs, direct mail, without giving any thought to how to use them correctly. Most simply linked to a home page that did nothing for the consumer but create another step – now they have to scan some obscure code with a smart phone to go to a website when they simply could have typed the URL into a browser. I see the same thing in real estate video. Real estate agents making real estate videos without any thought to WHO they are making them for. You need to know who or what demographic you are targeting when you make a real estate video. This will determine your message, demeanor, body language and ultimately your success. If you are making a real estate video for someone facing foreclosure you will want to lower your voice, space out your words, show empathy and understanding. Not start off with a smile and say “Sooo you are facing foreclosure”.
- Not Doing Research. Before you make a real estate video you need to do research. You need to know who you are making the video for and what they would look for online. To do this you need to know their problems, their pain points and their questions. What would someone look for online when looking for a way to save their ARIZONA home from foreclosure? What would someone look for when looking for a 4 bedroom in Chandler near Tarwater Elementary School? What would a doctor or nurse relocating to Arizona look for if they were taking a job at John C Lincoln or Chandler Regional Hospital? You can try and guess or you can do keyword research. There are a host of tools out there but I recommend Google’s Keyword Tool in part because it’s FREE! Google’s keyword tool will tell you IF people are looking for what your keywords are, (what your video is about), how many are looking, even where they are.
- Talking About You. OK… I start all the real estate marketing classes I teach by saying “I’m going to challenge your belief system, what you know to be true – for some of you it will be uncomfortable; my intention is not to embarrass or hurt you but to help you. Is that OK?” Once everyone agrees I tell them what I am going to tell you right now: NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU. They don’t care that you are a great real estate agent, that you are an ABR, CRS, GRI, Top Producer. They don’t care that your brokerage is #1 or that you sell more homes than anyone else. They don’t care because YOU HAVE NOT GIVEN THEM A REASON TO. No one is looking for you because they don’t know you even exist. To the overwhelming majority of consumers a real estate agent is a commodity. Most can’t tell where one real estate agent ends and another begins. Especially when many say the same things – “Search the MLS like a REALTOR, Call for a free CMA! So you need to stop talking about you. This is a challenge for many real estate agents because somewhere along the line the real estate agents were told THEY were the product. You are NOT. Consumers are looking for homes not necessarily real estate agents to sell them one. Step on a new car lot… are you looking for the car or the sales person to sell it to you? Most real estate consumers will find what they want online and then reach out to the closest real estate agent to help them. If you want to be that real estate agent you need to stop talking about yourself and start talking about things consumers actually care about.
- Self Doubt. I’ve learned humans are motivated by 2 things. 1) Looking GOOD 2) Not Looking BAD. I see way too many real estate agents do things to look good. As a society I think we care way to much about what others think about us, even though we don’t know them and they don’t know us. This leads to self doubt. If you are looking for self doubt, look no further than the camera pointing at you. This is where you will without a doubt find it.“What am I doing?” “I’m so dumb” “I’m ugly” “I’m Fat” “No one cares what I have to say” “I keep making mistakes, I’ll never get this right”. You need to know that I went through all of these, ask anyone who makes videos, they will tell you they went through them too. Anyone that says they didn’t is LIEING TO YOU. You need to know that when it comes to real estate videos, all the consumer cares about are THE WORDS COMING OUT OF YOUR MOUTH. How you are going to HELP them, buy a home, sell a home, avoid foreclosure etc.
- Not Having A Strategy. If you think you are going to make one real estate video and be a rock star you are likely kidding yourself. You will need a strategy. The strategy starts with the content. What will you make videos about? How often? How Long? What is the point? What do you want the consumer to do? You will need to create content on a regular basis. I suggest a schedule. Block out some time 1 day a week, this will be your video time. You need a strategy or you simply won’t do it. Life will come along and you will get sidetracked. Plan to work and work your plan – remember? I know this article is about the 7 video marketing mistakes but here is another, consider it a bonus. And its a HUGE bonus too because without this all the rest may not even matter….
- Not Embedding Your Videos. I see real estate agents making videos and leaving them on YouTube. YES this is where you want your real estate videos but this is not the only place. YouTube IS the 2nd largest search engine, it IS owned by Google, so you definitely want your real estate videos there but you don’t necessarily want your ideal client to watch them on YouTube. Confusing right? All of your real estate videos should be hosted on YouTube and then embedded in your WordPress real estate website. Your website is where you want consumers to watch your real estate videos. Your WordPress real estate website is your HUB. After they watch your real estate video on your website, what else can they do? Search for homes? Learn more about you and what you do? What problem you solve? Watch other videos, read your testimonials and articles, they can also FILL OUT FORMS on your website, these are LEADS.
Takeaway
The best time to start using video in your real estate business is now. Just do it. Sit down in front of your Flip Mino, Koday Zi8, Web cam – whatever and make a video. I’m telling you now, you are your own worst critic. You will without a doubt CRINGE when you see yourself on video. This is natural. Everyone goes thought it. If you don’t like your video, the way it turned out – simply don’t share it or upload it to the Internet. If you are in Phoenix, you can come to Grand Canyon Title’s real estate marketing classes. We will tell you everything, {well almost everything}, you need to know and then we will SHOW you how to do it at our real estate marketing workshops. All you have to do is come and learn. Did I mention it’s FREE? What are you waiting for? Get out there and start making some killer real estate videos! Join my facebook fan page for more real estate marketing tips and other stuff.
