Category: Marketing

How to get started with video marketing

Anne Ewasko Leave a comment

Video-enhanced real estate listings generate 403% more interest than those without, and while video marketing is extremely powerful for agents, it remains highly underutilized.

According to the NAR Research Group’s 2021 Technology Survey, 37% of participants claim they use video in their marketing, while 27% admitted they don’t. The other 35% said they are not presently using video for marketing but plan to do so soon.

For agents still putting off video marketing, it’s not too late to get started in learning to create high-quality video content for each property you list and to market it yourself.

Four advantages of using video marketing

  1. The facts are self-evident. Customers are increasingly interested in videos more than other mediums, such as text and photographs. You will generate leads, beat out competitors and showcase your properties and services in a visually striking manner.
  2. One of the most important aspects of real estate is trust. Helping clients buy or sell a home entails winning their trust and demonstrating your integrity. Video can be used not only to showcase an agent’s skill or property, but also to build trust — thus building a good relationship with potential clients.
  3. Time is money. And with the initial investment of your time to create your marketing videos, it will pay off, as you can reuse them again and again to promote your business, saving you time in the long run.
  4. Google and the other search engines love videos, and with fresh content, your website will rank higher and higher as you go.

Getting started

A wide variety of tools is available for creating videos. If you are a beginner, I’ve found that WeVideo works best. It is easy, fast and flexible. You do not need prior experience or sophisticated equipment to create fantastic videos with WeVideo.

Advantages of WeVideo

The free online video editing application combines the ease of use of a simple editor with the functionalities of professional editing software. You can quickly upload videos and begin editing them in the storyboard thanks to its JumpStart feature.

It has an easy-to-use interface and dashboard that allows access to all features with a single click or through drag-and-drop.

With a paid subscription, you have over 1 million videos, stock images and audio clips at your disposal. You can also integrate a wide range of media resources into your project.

It gives you the ability to work on high-resolution videos up to 4K Ultra HD, allowing you to provide your audience with an unforgettable experience. And, because these high-end videos take up a lot of space, the software includes cloud storage, where you can keep all of your data, including ongoing projects.

WeVideo syncs all of your work across multiple devices, ensuring that everything stays in sync even if you work on a project on multiple devices.

Create videos on any device, including Chromebooks, Macs, Windows machines and smartphones. In addition, WeVideo mobile apps for Android and iOS smartphones allow you to edit videos on the go.

After you’ve finished editing, you can share your work with the rest of the world directly from the app on social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube.

Disadvantages of WeVideo

WeVideo offers practically everything you need for editing. However, it lacks some advanced features that professional video editors frequently use. For example, picture-in-picture, multicam editing, support for 3D and 360-degree videos, LUTs and other features are absent.

More advanced options

WeVideo is great for beginners, but if you need something more advanced, there are many available, though you will need some prior experience to navigate through some of them. Here are a few of the better ones:

Adobe Premiere Pro CC
Shortcut
HitFilm Express
Final Cut Pro X
Lightworks
Corel VideoStudio Ultimate
Blender

The bottom line

Our real estate industry is one of the few sectors with significant video potential yet to be exploited. As a real estate agent, you’ll find that video offers a level of value that images and text simply cannot match. So, start making use of videos today and take your business to a new level.

Anne Ewasko is a veteran Realtor in the Chicago area and a longtime techie. Visit her at anne.luxhomechicago.com.

Stand out in any market

Special Contributor Leave a comment

by Krista Mashore

The real estate industry is beyond crowded — it seems like agents are popping up everywhere and taking aim at your clients. So, how can you cut through all that noise to stand out? You’ve got to become an expert marketer.

Marketing equals attraction

Wondering how you can stop chasing leads and start attracting them? The answer: with a strategic plan and commitment to taking imperfect action. It’s scary but will give you so much momentum … compared to thousands of leftover promotional magnets and sitting idle at open houses. Here are some strategies I used to sell over 2,400-plus homes in my career.

Become the authority

When you’re looking for a service, don’t you want the expert? Don’t you want the top surgeon or the financial planner who wrote the book on financial planning? What you’re looking for is the recognized authority.

First, be recognized. It doesn’t matter how amazing you are if no one knows about you. You need your whole market to know you! Next, be an authority. Many agents slide by with the minimum knowledge they need to get the job done. An authority not only becomes an expert, they also share their expertise.

How? Through strategic video marketing, sharing binge-worthy real estate and community-related information, getting it in front of your ideal audience and positioning yourself as the local expert.

I’ve written four bestselling books, spoken on stages and shared my knowledge by answering questions my audience didn’t realize they had. I became my community’s expert.
Serve, don’t sell

Stop “selling” yourself to people and focus on serving them. Stop convincing, start contributing. When you provide valuable information, they’ll see and understand just how terrific (and different) you really are. When you serve them without asking for anything in return, they’ll trust you, like you and choose to do business with you.

Serve through the valuable information you share. Serve by giving back to your community. Serve by helping promote other businesses in your community. You can do all of this without sacrificing your business. And you’ll end up with local fans that will stop you in the middle of the street asking, “Hey … aren’t you THAT real estate agent!?”

Be unique

If you want to stand out from the crowd, you have to do things differently. Part of branding is about who you are. Are you funny? A local coffee shop or brewery supporter? Want to save local shelter animals? You’re discovering your niche …

You might be wondering, “If I niche, will I lose out on other business?” Not at all. With every video or marketing piece you develop, you will continue to grow your brand as the local real estate authority. Your niche will help you save money, stand out and develop specialized knowledge.

Get started by choosing what you want to focus on. Rural properties or condos? Vacation properties or fixer-uppers? Then starting thinking about who you want to work with. First-time buyers? Retirees? Investors? All of these unique qualities should show up in everything you do, from your business cards to your website to your marketing brochures.

But always be ready to adapt. During the recession from 2007 to 2009, I made myself known as the “Foreclosure Queen.” When the market got back to normal, that identity no longer served my brand — it actually hurt me. I lost luxury listings because no one wanted to list their seven-figure home with the foreclosure expert. So, I adapted. I rebranded myself by using technology to market higher-end homes and became the “Digital Marketing Queen.”

Give awesome service

Doing the bare minimum will never escalate you to top producer. Constantly ask yourself, “How much more value can I give?” Think about all areas of your real estate business. I teach my students to infuse expert marketing throughout the complete sales cycle of their business; which includes areas like branding, lead generation, lead nurturing, conversion, fulfillment, delivery, re-listing and referrals.

Do you have a strategic plan for outstanding and differentiated service in each of these areas?

I’ve seen my students leverage these strategies and achieve incredible results. And guess what … You can dominate your market, too, by becoming your local authority who is unique, gives awesome service and focuses on serving, not selling.

Krista Mashore is a best-selling author and the founder and CEO of Krista Mashore Coaching.