At Help-U-Sell Real Estate, we believe there’s a more fair way to charge our clients when we sell their homes than the traditional percentage-based commission. To explain our system and the way many traditional brokerages work when it comes to commission structure, we’ve created an informative video.
Video has been growing in importance as a marketing tool for the past few years, and 2013 promises to make the medium even more vital especially for real estate marketing. How can you take advantage of this trend?
We’ve compiled seven tips on what to do (and what not to do, especially regarding mobile optimization of videos) to create a successful video.
Avoid tiny text.
Use clear audio.
Put links to your website and related sites, such as your blog or a property listing, in the description.
Include keywords in the description.
Use close-up shots of interesting property features, neighborhood sites or interviewees.
Test the video on mobile devices.
Keep it no longer than 3 or 4 minutes, ideally 1 to 2 minutes.
Matt Kellam of Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty does a great job with the length, audio and keywords. Watch one of his recent videos of a property tour.
Not sure what to film? Try out this suggested content:
Property tours: If possible, record the sellers’ story of the home and focus on unique details of the property.
Neighborhood overviews: Give viewers a feel for the area and speak with local proprietors and residents about why they love the neighborhood.
Tips for buyers and sellers: Answer your most frequently asked questions (one per video).
Market updates: Share the most recent sales figures or give the latest interest rate information. Use graphs or other visuals to help explain the changes.
Client testimonials: Record your happy sellers’ and buyers’ praising you and your staff.
Do you have any other ideas for video content or tips for successful videos? If so, please share them with us.
[Special thanks to Inman News‘ Mobile Marketing Essentials webinar for a few of these tips.]
Matt Kellam, broker/owner of Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty in Chambersburg, Penn.
Matt Kellam, broker/owner of Help-U-Sell Keystone Realty in Chambersburg, Penn., takes a two-pronged approach to serving his clients and marketing their homes: tried-and-true basics and modern technology.
He opened his office in May 2005 and has learned a lot in the years since. “The basic Help-U-Sell system works,” he says. “Don’t try to fix something that’s not broken.”
One exception: He prefers to host open houses himself in order to capture buyer leads.
Personal contact is important to Kellam. He makes a point of keeping in touch with clients, past, present and future and encourages new Help-U-Sell brokers to do the same. “Be sure to be accessible to buyers and sellers,” he says. One of the benefits of running small office is that people can reach him directly on any given day. He’s also planning to put more energy into staying connected to previous clients and centers of influence this year.
For Kellam, the personal touch leads the way in client relations, but the Internet rules when it comes to property marketing. When he started out, he followed everyone else into print advertising, soon realizing that online was where his office needed to focus. Now, he’s creating video tours to help his sellers attract buyers. Having spent 20 years in radio, he says, “multimedia doesn’t faze me.”
Kellam films each house with a Sony Cyber-shot camera and uses Windows Movie Maker to edit the video. He records the audio separately using a headset and then adds the audio track to the video. He uploads the videos on YouTube and links to them on his site under the Virtual Tours tab on the property pages. One of his recent property videos shows both the exterior and interior and gives information about recent remodeling, last year’s property taxes and room dimensions.
He’s planning to phase out static virtual tours in the near future.
Help-U-Sell Real Estate’s online university, ProCoach-U, debuts early next year, but we’ve begun filming the lessons and we’re excited to share the first one with you. “The Elevator Speech” gives tips on how to differentiate yourself from your competitors and keep potential clients hungry for more information. Watch the video by clicking the image below.
Help-U-Sell Real Estate's ProCoach-U online university video preview is called The Elevator Speech.
The complete ProCoach-U program will contain integrated training videos covering nearly all aspects of the real estate industry in an accessible, modular-driven format. The program is free for any franchisee. Look for more videos coming soon.
