Video marketing is incredibly important. Numerous statistics show how the inclusion of video boosts click rates in emails by 65% and explainer videos make people stay on your landing page for 2 minutes instead of 8 seconds. Videos work. They're a great way to connect with the users instantly and on a more personal level. Instead of being just another agent, real estate video marketing turns you into someone that they trust and know.
Historically, videos were limited in scope. You might have one or two on a YouTube channel or maybe have a couple of links in an email. That has all changed. With Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and your website, videos boost each channel's efficacy with fresh, exciting content. Real estate video marketing was once a nice-to-have. Now videos are essential for success in your marketing plans.
As video professionals, we work with real estate agents within Florida who have heard the power of video marketing but aren't quite sure what that all encompasses. When do you need videos, and what videos will help you? How do you make them? Do you need them shot professionally? How do you host these videos and include them in your marketing campaigns?
These are all great questions! If you're a real estate agent looking to leverage the power of video marketing to boost your brand, let's first look at what types of videos there are and how they will help you, as an agent, obtain more clients and close more deals.
9 Valuable Real Estate Video Marketing Types You Need To Know
There are many different types of videos that people can make. If you wanted to do so, you could make a two-hour feature-length film to put on your website, but it won't help you win prospective clients.
There are nine types of videos that you will need in some capacity in your real estate site if you want to maximize the efficacy of your real estate video marketing.
Brand Videos
What separates you from the rest of the real estate agents within the state? Are you more attentive to buyers' needs? Do you know the area exceptionally well? Do you have the tenacity needed to seek the best deals possible for your clients? There's some trait that you have that makes you unique and will entice others to contact you for their real estate needs.
For a corporation, brand videos seek to explain the values and benefits a brand brings. For example, Apple might have a brand video highlighting their attention to detail and environmental sustainability. If you run a real estate brokerage, you might highlight your group's values, some of the deals you've done, and explain why people should choose you.
If you're a single real estate agent, you can still create a brand video! This video will focus on personal branding. Why should buyers and sellers use your services? These videos are your time to connect with prospective clients and let them know who you are and why you'll work for their best interests!
Typically, brand videos go on your website. They can also go in welcome emails and communications to give buyers and sellers a chance to get to know you!
Expertise Videos
Buyers, especially those who are not from the area you serve, value knowledge the most in their real estate agent. They want to see agents who know the area well, will help them understand the buying process, and will help them interpret essential documents (like what the CC&Rs are for a condo). Buyers have a lot of money riding on their decision, and they want to know their agent will help them avoid making a catastrophic mistake.
Sellers have a different set of requirements. They want to know that you'll be able to sell their property for the highest dollar amount possible and that you'll be able to sell it fast.
Both requirements create fantastic opportunities for expertise videos. In these videos (which are excellent for YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and email blasts), you can show your knowledge on one particular topic. Some agents do these videos showcasing how much they know about the area (something like "the top 5 hottest spots in Miami to buy a condo"). Or, they might do a video going over the home buying or selling process.
This type of real estate video marketing establishes your credibility as an expert who can deliver results for both buyers and sellers.
Customer Testimonial Videos For Real Estate Video Marketing
These videos work well for agents. If you can have a video showcasing happy buyers and sellers, you'll develop instant credibility with anyone looking at using your services. Customer testimonial videos don't need to be particularly in-depth. Even something as simple as "John walked me through each step of the process, ensuring that he answered every question I had." Seeing someone else satisfied with your services will make others more likely to inquire with you.
Last Sold Videos Or Listing Videos
You can have a video that highlights some of your most recently sold properties or properties that you're actively trying to sell on the market right now. These types of videos showcase your selling skills.
As evidenced by the recent coronavirus outbreak, videos and virtual tours can sell homes as buyers feel relatively confident in putting down an offer even though they haven't seen the property in person.
Having these videos can go in your real estate video marketing emails and other communications with buyers and sellers. They're some of the best evidence of your skills as an agent!
Personalized Messages
You can create customized videos to send as part of an email or text to a new or former client. In these videos, you would address them explicitly by name, and provide them with guidance.
For example, you might send out one of these videos to a former client and say something along the lines of "it's been a couple of months since we last looked at some properties. I wanted to update you with two homes that I think would be of particular interest to you because I remember you said you wanted a home with a large back yard. If you're still interested, please contact me!"
These videos have a few benefits. First, they show a level of dedication and devotion that current and former clients won't find with other agents. Second, they allow you to quickly and succinctly address clients on a personal level. The best part is that you don't need to make a call and try and catch them at a good time. Whenever they have time, they can watch your message!
Explainer Videos
Have you noticed that when you browse websites, you frequently see a video on the landing page "explaining" what the product does, or the service is? Video marketing professionals call these videos "explainer videos" because they help the buyer understand more about what you're offering.
For real estate agents, this video might be a short introduction to the areas you serve, how to search for homes on your site, and how to get in contact with you.
These videos must be relatively brief to be quality real estate video marketing tools. Research has indicated that the optimal length for an explainer video is about 60-90 seconds. Below 1 minute and there probably isn't enough content to help people. If the video is above 2 minutes, though, people's attention spans quickly fade. Videos above 2 minutes have a paltry 47% retention rate, which means that less than half of the people will watch the video to the end. Longer than three minutes, and you're dropping below 40%. Keep explainers short and sweet!
Event Videos For Real Estate Video Marketing
As a real estate agent, you probably have some events that you host for current and former clients. Many agents will have a barbecue or an ice cream truck as a way to keep in touch with clients. Many times, these events can keep your name at the top of people's minds so that if they do want to buy or sell, they will give you a call!
The next time you host one of these events, capture it on video and use it in your promotional messages. You might post the fun day of festivities on Facebook with a light-hearted note. People frequently enjoy watching these events, and it can be a great way to keep your name at the top of people's minds!
Live Streaming
Live streaming has become a fantastic way to connect with people. All major social media platforms support it, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! You can pick a time and topic, notify your clients, and start a live stream. Generally, people choose current event topics, or they have a question and answer session, so your live stream might be you talking about mortgage rates, housing availability, or something pertinent like that.
Current Event And Blog Videos
Many real estate agents opt to have some form of a blog to discuss various market conditions. For example, at the time of this writing, interest rates are near historic lows, and many agents are writing about how that will impact both buyers and sellers.
Videos that accompany these blogs (or vlogs if you elect not to write anything) are a great way to explain to potential clients what is going on with the real estate industry as a whole and how it will affect them. With videos, you can showcase your content succinctly with precise graphic accompaniments instead of trying to explain the concept in a blog post. It's a great way to show that you are on top of all the latest real estate trends!
Real Estate Video Marketing: How Do These Videos Work Together?
As you might sense, these videos are not standalone entities. You cannot add an explainer video to your site and expect miraculous results. Instead, they're a marketing area focus whereby each footage piece plays a vital role in your real estate video marketing strategy.
When considering which videos you want to make and in what order to make them, you should first think about your "sales" funnel. In marketing, a sales funnel is a natural progression through which you take prospective buyers to convert them into paying customers. The landing page for your funnel might get someone's contact info. Then you can send them a follow-up email with a coupon about buying widget X or a helpful tip. Some customers will act upon that, while others will need further marketing to move them through the funnel.
Real estate is no different, except that instead of buying a widget, people are buying or selling a home. However, the core concept remains the same. You might start with buyers wanting to see a house or two that they found online. You then work with them to learn their needs and help them get pre-approved. Then, you see some homes together and help buyers write fair offers. Some buyers won't find anything they like and will decide to try again later. Other buyers will have difficulty finding financing, but their situation will have changed.
Traditional Sales Funnels And Real Estate Video Marketing
In traditional sales funnels, there are six distinct stages before getting to the purchase phase. Each one applies to real estate agents.
Awareness: The first stage is when you're trying to get someone to know you exist (or, to be aware of the services you provide). If people don't know you or your offerings, they can't buy anything! If they like what they see, they'll contact you. Video offerings: Expertise, personal brand, event, and live streaming.
Interest: Someone has displayed some interest in what you have to offer. Maybe someone filled out a form on Zillow and got routed to you. Or, perhaps they're looking for agents in the area to sell their house and happened to find your site. At this point, you have a lead. The subsequent steps in the funnel are to try and convert that lead into a successful transaction. Video offerings: Client testimonies, featured areas/homes sold videos, personalized videos, and current event videos work well here.
Consideration: The prospective client is considering you. They've done a little bit of research (maybe read a review or two, or they looked at your website extensively), talked with you a little bit, and now they think you'd be perfect to represent them! Video offerings: Case studies and client testimonies, targeted expertise videos.
Intent: The buyer or seller has confirmed that they want you to be the agent that represents them for their real estate transactions. Video offerings: current event, currently on the market, and live streams.
Evaluation: You and the buyer or seller continue to work together. Buyers continuously evaluate agents, how they're doing, and what they contribute. Sellers assess how well the agent is working to sell the property. No video offerings necessary as you'll be working closely with the client.
Purchase/Action: Assuming you work well with the buyer or seller, eventually, they will buy a home with you, or you'll sell the property successfully!
Real estate video marketing works with each stage of the funnel process.
Awareness
For the awareness stage, videos demonstrating your expertise and personal brand help get the word out there that you are a fantastic real estate professional who will be able to assist clients with their housing goals and aspirations. At this stage, people might be searching for things like, "where's a good place to live in Miami?" If you have a video on YouTube or your site showcasing the top 5 places in Miami to live, this content will answer their question and make them want to contact you. Video is a fantastic medium to explain the answers to these types of questions because it's so visual. Instead of a long blog post, you can have a short video showcasing your favorite spots and why.
Expertise videos also help. They might be searching, "how can someone get a home without a down payment in Miami?" If you have a video detailing all the first-time homebuyer programs, FHA loans, VA loans, etc. this type of content will raise awareness of your services. It will transform the prospective client's thinking from "there's no way I'd be able to afford a home" to "wow, I didn't know these programs existed! Let me contact this person and see if they can make homeownership possible!"
Interest
At the interest phase, the prospective client has given you some contact information. At this point, all you might have is an email or a phone number. The goal of this phase is to keep interest levels high. It's worth noting that those planning on taking immediate action move very quickly into the next stage, which is when they are actively considering you. For many people, though, they're just exploring. Maybe a prospective seller wants to have an idea of what their home would be worth if they were to sell. They haven't committed yet, but they are exploring options.
Videos that showcase client testimonies are incredibly powerful here. When prospective clients see someone else bragging about your services or explaining how you helped them obtain some tricky financing, this is what makes people go on to consider having you as their agent. Videos that showcase homes, what you can get for different levels of money in each area, and so forth, are also popular. The idea is that you want to get people excited about buying or selling with you helping them along the way.
It's worth noting that some people will go from being a hot lead fully intending to buy or sell, back to being merely a lead that was interested. If the buyer doesn't find a home they like or the seller can't sell their property for the price they want, now might not be the right time, but they may want to try again in the future. If you've been an agent for a little while, you probably already have clients that are on your email list but not actively engaged with you!
For these people, the goal of real estate video marketing should be to explain why the situations that caused them to stop looking or selling in the past are gone. Personalized videos work well here. If you send an email or text with a quick video explaining to a previous seller that home prices have gone up, that's going to resonate loudly!
Consideration
In the consideration stage, your goal is to get them to go from considering you as their real estate agent to selecting you to represent them. The critical component of this stage is targeting. You should ensure that you focus all messages, so they're relevant to prospective clients in this stage. Similar case study videos work well. For example, if the potential buyer has a low credit score, a video showing how you got someone else with a low credit score into a home would help. Targeted expertise videos also work. Continuing with the same example, you could send an expertise video you have on "how to get a mortgage with a low credit score."
By providing prospective clients with highly relevant and targeted information, you can move them to the next phase!
Intent
The buyer or seller is now determined to use you as their agent. At this point, you don't need to sell them anymore! The intent of the videos in this stage is purely informational. You want to keep clients engaged and knowing what's going on.
Current event videos are a fantastic way to accomplish this! You could potentially include them in an email, showcasing how mortgage rates and down payment requirements are changing people's ability to buy homes, for example. You'll be working closely with the client at this point, so there aren't a significant number of videos necessary. However, it's still nice to send something out, so the next time you meet or discuss a property, you can also talk about how these events will impact their journey!
Post-Purchase
There's also a post-purchase phase where the client moves. At this stage, they're uninterested in moving again, but they very well could be later. You'll want to keep their contact information and send them the occasional video (maybe a brand video or a fun event you had or will have).
Where Should You Start With Real Estate Video Marketing?
Using some of the above real estate video marketing strategies will boost your brand and provide additional exposure with significant benefits. The evidence attesting to that fact is substantial.
Let's suppose you would like to have one of the above videos for your site and other marketing materials, and that you would want to set up the marketing pipeline so you can take full advantage of these videos. Where do you start? What's involved in making one of these?
While making videos requires substantial work, fortunately, there's a marketing process that you can follow. It is applicable whether you use a professional video company or not.
Determine And Segment Your Audiences
As mentioned, above there are seven steps to the traditional funnel. You'll first need to look at your past and present leads. Categorize them appropriately into which stage of the sales pipe they are. By seeing this breakdown, you will spend your time and energy wisely.
Figure Out Which Videos You Want To Shoot First
Given the immediately tangible benefits of explainer videos and personal brand videos, those are typically the ones that agents should shoot first. They're fantastic to upload on your site and YouTube as they have immediate SEO benefits. They're also videos that you can point to when people contact you.
After those categories, usually, the next best videos are client testimonials. Seeing positive reviews from real people will give prospective clients confidence in your ability to deliver. You're going to want each of these videos to highlight a particular skill of yours.
Next up are expertise and current event videos. Think back to what questions buyers and sellers often ask you. Each of these questions would make a great, short video. For example, you might have a video detailing the importance of a pre-approval and why it makes your offer stronger. Or, you might have a video about how low today's interest rates are in comparison to previous decades.
Pick a few (say, five or ten) that you want to shoot first to give you something on which you can focus.
Write A Script
Sometimes professional video companies will help you with this, but you should jot down some notes or write a full script for what you want to say in each video. Keep the videos short. Anything above 2 minutes is too long unless you are making expertise videos where people expect them to go longer. Since most people speak at approximately 120 words per minute, you should keep the scripts of your videos to 250 words or less.
Start Filming!
A professional video company will give you the best results when it comes to videos as they have the necessary equipment and lighting to produce top-notch videos. However, there are some videos that you will do yourself (like live streams, e.g.). For those, ensure that you have proper lighting, that you have professional attire, and that you don't have anything distracting in the background. You may also wish to invest in a quality webcam and microphone, so you don't sound and look like a FaceTime video!
For videos that will go on your website and be a regular part of your promotional materials, you will most definitely want those to be professionally-filmed. You're going to want to make an incredible first impression, and having the best lighting, equipment, and expertise when making these videos will go a long way to making you stand out!
Start Incorporating In Your Real Estate Video Marketing!
Now that you have segmented your audience and you have videos that target each segment use your videos. Post your explainer, client testimonial, and brand videos to your site and YouTube. You can use your expertise and personal brand videos with your real estate video marketing strategies on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Create email lists for each stage of the funnel process. Sort each of your contacts into these lists and attach the relevant videos when you send out emails. Be consistent with your emailing and provide people with a way to unsubscribe if they no longer wish to hear from you!
Real Estate Video Marketing: Videos Not Optional
In the past, videos were optional when it came to marketing. Nowadays, prospective buyers and sellers expect to see videos. Part of their popularity is their versatility. You can put your videos on every single marketing surface you have. From social media to your website to LinkedIn, you can use videos on each of these mediums, typically with resounding success.
There are nine video types that you need to know about that each fit in one of the funnel stages. The goal of each video is to advance prospective clients to the next stage of the funnel while providing them with genuinely helpful advice along the way. Videos cannot be overly "pushy." Potential clients will walk away if they are. Instead, focus on providing real value through your expertise and knowledge. Buyers and sellers will respond favorably to videos posted with this intent.
While the world of real estate video marketing may seem complicated at first, most of it is getting it set up and finding a rhythm that works. With enough practice and consistency, you'll discover which videos resonate with customers. You'll keep those, and with enough time, you'll have a healthy repertoire of emails, videos, and other promotional content that will advance prospective clients through each stage of the funnel.
Leverage video marketing to give you a bump in search engine rankings. You'll also increase bounce time, and make your site more attractive for potential clients. Tap into the power of video marketing to boost your website, brand, and reputation in many ways!