If you run a real estate business, how useful is video marketing to you?
Is it really so effective that you can’t ignore it? Or can you get by without it?
These are great questions. And we’ll tackle all of them right now!
In today’s article, we’ll show the growing importance of video marketing for real estate brands. To do it, we’ll examine the many ways the market has changed… and not in a good way.
Fun!
The importance of video marketing – in 5 harsh truths
In many ways, operating a real estate business right now is more challenging than ever. There aren’t enough properties on the market. You have to compete not just with people, but platforms and even Artificial Intelligence. The housing market has slowed its growth to an absolute crawl.
The good news is, your competition is feeling the squeeze, too! If you can navigate the harsh realities of the market, you can still come out on top and succeed. And video marketing can help you do just that.
Here’s how…
1. You need powerful, affordable lead generation
Referrals are great. But let’s be honest: they aren’t enough.
Even if every single client you’ve ever had shouted your name (and contact info) from the rooftops for every friend, family member, and coworker to hear, it wouldn’t fill your sales pipeline.
Not all these people are in the market to buy or sell a property. Not all of them want to work with a real estate agent. Not all of them meet your criteria for a high-quality lead. Not all of them are from the area you operate… and so on.
You don’t need us to tell you how unreliable this is.
You need a different method to generate high-quality leads for your real estate brand. And video marketing offers just that – a channel of lead generation that you can scale and tweak as much (or as little) as you need to meet your goals.
Here are just a few ways you can use it to attract real estate leads:
- Video advertisements to drive traffic to your website and convert it into leads…
- Retargeting ads to capture the visitors who don’t convert at first…
- Property/neighborhood “tours” to attract leads who aren’t ready for an in-person showing…
You get the idea. Your potential clients tend to actively search online for content that solves their problems and brands they can work with. Video marketing offers a great way to grab their attention – more consistent than sitting around waiting for referrals, and cheaper than paying $100 per lead to middlemen like Zillow!
2. Reaching the right prospects with the right message got harder
Thanks to rising real estate prices and low wage growth, your pool of potential clients has shrunk. Not everyone’s property is a good sell. And not every buyer has the money – or is eligible for financing.
This isn’t your grandmother’s real estate market… literally!
This means, it takes a little extra to identify and reach high-quality prospects. You need an effective way to qualify leads, motivate them with a compelling message, and persuade them to take the next step.
It’s hard to overestimate the importance of video marketing for completing these objectives – effectively and at scale. Through video, you can…
- Qualify leads with a carefully crafted message that speaks to your ideal clients – while driving away everyone you don’t want.
- Address objections and concerns the viewers have about working with you – to make sure that as many prospects as possible make it to the next stage.
- Segment buyers and sellers early on – real estate is a two-sided marketplace, and tailoring your message to each side from the beginning will help you succeed.
It’s hard to know for certain if a prospect is the right fit for you. You can’t meet everyone in person and talk to them, even if you did only that 24/7! Video solves the problem neatly – by letting you craft the exact message you want and deliver it in an engaging, authentic way.
3. You have to define your competitive advantage – loud and clear
Of course, identifying the perfect prospect is only half the battle.
You also need to convince them to work with you – and not the dozens (if not hundreds) of your competitors who would be over the moon to have them!
What makes your real estate business special? Actually, this question should read: what makes you the better option for your ideal prospect, specifically?
- Maybe they are determined to buy property in one specific area, and you have more listings there than any of your competitors. Or you don’t – but your listings are superior!
- Or maybe they are selling a unique property – unappealing to a regular buyer, but worth a lot to the right person. And you have the expertise to help them get the highest price.
- Or perhaps they just want to sell – or buy – as quickly as possible, and you have a proven track record of making fast deals that are still fair.
You get the idea.
The name of the game is not to be the best at everything – you can’t. Instead, it’s to offer your potential clients something they want… and doing it better than your competitors can. Not even 10 times better, but just enough that your target market notices!
And to make sure they notice, you want to use video marketing. Something as simple as a “Why choose us” video on your About page can help to differentiate you from other real estate brands. And it lets potential clients know that you can get them the results they need!
4. Educating clients is key (and video is your best bet)
Making sense of the real estate market is hard – for buyers and sellers.
Your clients have to make the biggest financial decisions of their life… while knowing next to nothing about the process, how the industry works, or things to watch out for at different stages.
And there’s only so much you can do to help. Some things you can take off their plate entirely – like chasing down buyers or finding listings to look at. But for the stuff you can’t solve single-handedly, you will want to educate your clients on how to approach it.
(Want to know what happens if you don’t? Watch literally any episode of “House Hunters” and weep.)
And video happens to be one of the best teaching tools in existence! Here’s a couple of examples of how you might use it:
- Let’s say that your client needs to apply for financing before they can buy a property. Their success is in your best interest! So you can make a how-to video that walks them through the process: checking if they’re eligible, submitting an application, how to talk to the loan officer, and so on.
- Maybe your client wants to move cities, and they need to choose a good neighborhood. That means a lot of researching online, driving around, walking around… You can create a video or a series of videos that highlight what’s good or not-so-good about different neighborhoods. Then your client can skip the research and have a short-list of top choices to explore – meaning a whole lot less driving and walking around!
A good rule of thumb is: think of a challenge that your leads, prospects, or clients might face and you can help with, and make a video on the topic.
The importance of video marketing for educating clients is huge. For starters, videos like these make your job easier. To continue with our examples from earlier – if a client can get financing, or choose a neighborhood they’re happy with, then the deal is more likely to happen. Which means you’re more likely to get paid!
Plus, educational videos show your credibility and expertise to potential clients – and they help to address any objections and concerns they might have about working with you. Which means more leads and more qualified prospects for you!
5. Hiring is more important (and more challenging) than ever
There’s more to running a real estate business than getting clients. One of the biggest challenges you can face isn’t about clients at all…
…it’s about hiring.
It’s about finding great candidates, persuading them to work for you, and keeping them. OK, this is more like three challenges rolled into one!
Fortunately, you can solve all three key problems related to hiring with – you guessed it – video marketing:
- You can find high-quality candidates with recruiting videos. They can be general-purpose, or specific to a given job opportunity. Very few companies do this, and it’s a great way to instantly separate you from other potential employers.
- You can persuade them to apply by differentiating yourself from other real estate brands. You know, just like you do for potential clients (see #3) – but this time you have job applicants to win over! Use the power of video to sell them on working for you.
- And you can retain new hires with onboarding and training videos. These will help them get better at their job, which is good for you for obvious reasons… but it also increases job satisfaction and makes new employees more likely to stay with you longer!
Of course, hiring great people goes a long way to grow your real estate business, too. Working with top performers has a way of leading to more clients, more lucrative deals, less money wasted on re-hiring, and more efficiency across the board!
How would video marketing help your real estate brand?
Let’s talk and find out!
Get a free audit of your video marketing strategy by The Draw Shop experts. Give us 30 minutes of your time, and we’ll show you how exactly you can use video to grow your business:
