The property market has been riding high over the last few years, especially in Auckland. There are numerous anecdotes of properties getting snapped up in record time before other buyers even have a chance to think about placing an offer. So in this day and age of content marketing and increased video consumption, is video placed to overtake open homes?
From what I have seen so far videos for real estate marketing have been largely confined to high end multi-million dollar listings and dreadful “videos,” which are just montages of the photos that are already listed anyway. That’s not to say there aren’t some out there – Open Homes 24/7 are focused on this – but for the average property they are hard to find.
Property commentator Alistair Helm took to this very topic not so long ago on Properazzi, and had some very good points around buyers largely skimming listings and viewing the imagery as key. He also highlighted key points around the style of videos that should and shouldn’t be produced, ie not having sub-standard iPhone video tours with commentary like “This is the bathroom”. However, I disagree that video content will only have a part to play; I think it should be the leading role.
Real estate agencies need to invest in the future, the now – and when I say invest they don’t have to have full production crews. If Xero and other corporates can have in-house producers on varying budgets then there’s no reason why the likes of Ray White and Harcourts can’t do the same. And in the end, it’s the seller that pays for the marketing anyway so it shouldn’t be any skin off their nose.
As with any video content, they need to look to engage their audience. You can see by Wipster’s blog on different video strategies to employ through the sales funnel, that the awareness and decision stages are key areas where real estate agencies can capture their buyers.
They need to take a two prong attack to it:
- Create awareness around themselves and their brand enough to secure the listing
- Get the buyers to commit to view or buy through highlighting the product properly.
Telling a story about the property – their product as such – is vital. They need to involve the buyer and make them feel like they could live there. Things like showing the property within the community, capturing how the house could work for their lifestyle or family. Perhaps even get the current sellers to talk to why they love the house and how it has worked for them – a short user testimonial as such. There’s no reason why these videos have to be stale, with cheesy voice overs. They can be just as creative as any other product video.
And there’s so many ways in which to display these videos, that isn’t just online too. Increasingly videos should be replacing average listing imagery on the likes of Trade Me and Realestate.co.nz. And what’s to say videos couldn’t be a part of the marketing campaigns in real estate office windows? There are endless opportunities to add them into the marketing mix.
Should videos replace imagery based property listings?
With cheaper and more professional means in which to produce good video content, there’s no reason why video strategies shouldn’t be a dominant feature in real estate marketing. Virtual tours, where buyers can browse at their will, may even be the next point to think about.
Videos could be compelling enough that we get to a point where buyers start trumping others by placing an offer based off a video, (you’d hope subject to viewing of course).
