Inman News Article: Why You Can’t Afford to Skip Video Marketing

By the numbers: why you can’t afford to skip video marketing

There’s a huge untapped audience out there just waiting to watch your content

Kathryn Royster Contributor

Jun 30, 2014

Why Your Real Estate Video Should Like a Good Movie Trailer

A good movie trailer is a magical thing, showing us just enough to tease and excite us, putting us in a tizzy to see it. fans And just like a good movie trailer a real estate video should show just enough of the best parts (but not too much) to generate excitement so that the buyer doesn’t feel that they’ve seen the listing, but that they WANT to see the listing. A real estate videos job is not to satisfy the buyer, but to tease and excite, motivating them contact you to arrange a showing.

And – We consult with you so we know which areas to highlight that will generate that excitement. Contact us to discuss your listing.

Get More Out of Less Aerial Video

Often times we will see a video of a real estate listing that is exclusively aerial footage. And while some properties do look compelling from that perspective for a handful of shots, no property does well with footage that is exclusively birds-eye view. Here’s why, the viewer just can’t make a connection with the listing. Unless they are a superhero a person needs to be able to see the house from human eye-level to make an emotional “I see myself there” connection. That’s why we love aerial footage when it is incorporated into a ground level film and used to enhance the drama of the space.

Here are two examples of restrained, yet effective use of aerial video for real estate:

We work with the most experienced and professional aerial drone operators in the area to create compelling real estate videos. Contact us to learn more.

Finding the Spirit of the Home

When we arrive at a listing of yours for a film shoot we start with a walk through and in-depth conversation about the listing. How does the space flow? What are the highlights? What is the ideal buyer demographic? We get a feel for the home and what sort of pacing, music, and style will connect with the ideal buyer. Then we shoot and edit with that buyer in mind.

Another compelling feature of our videos is the editing to specifically chosen music to convey the proper feel. When we edit the video we don’t just lay the music over the video like most companies, we painstakingly edit the video TO the music, which makes a much stronger emotional connection.

Some Examples of Different Styles:

A cozy home with neat little details perfectly suited for a first time home buyer:

A hip, stylish home targeted towards a cosmopolitan buyer:

Targeted towards a traditional, upscale, family oriented buyer:

A bold, dramatic home for someone who wants to be impressed every time they enter:

A condo to attract a couple seeking a care free, European lifestyle:

What is the right tone and style for your next listing? Give us a call to discuss!

When to Go Polished and When to Go Lo-Fi

When considering the style for your company or real estate film it is important to keep in mind the perceived context of the piece. For example when someone watches a company overview video they expect and appreciate a polished piece. When they watch a product review they expect to see something a little more lo-fi. So keep this in mind when shooting a testimonial or anything that requires some “street cred”. Don’t let “from the heart” pieces start to look contrived. And for that matter when you looking to impress someone go ahead and impress them, use high end cinematography, sound, production value – the viewer knows the source and wants to see your best. When talking with your production company make sure to cover the basic style of the piece to be sure it will set the right tone for maximum credibility and impact.

5 Reasons Why Online Video is So Persuasive

5 Reasons Why Online Video is so Persuasive
by Susan Weinschenk, PhD

#1 — Movement in peripheral vision grabs attention – video online is movement, and so will automatically grab attention more than anything else on the screen. (More on this in Susan’s blog article, “…Peripheral Vision – Keeping You Alive or Channel Surfing?”)

#2 — Speakers and listener’s brains sync up – published research shows that the brain patterns of listeners synch up with the brain patterns of the speaker they are listening to. This means that a video of someone talking is going to be more powerful than just reading words on a page. (More on this in Susan’s blog article, “…Speaker and Listener Brains Sync.”)

#3 — Video compensates (somewhat) for the asynchronous problem – other published research explains how synchronous behavior bonds people together. “A lot of online communication is asynchronous — the communication is not occurring simultaneously in real time,” said Susan. “Emails, Facebook posts, twitter posts, are asynchronous. Chat is synchronous. Synchronous communication is, in general, more persuasive. Video can be synchronous (think Skype) or asynchronous (think TED talk or YouTube). But video does have the advantage of allowing you to hear and see an actual person, rather than the more removed reading of text. In this regard it is the most powerful of the asynchronous media.

#4 — Video can convey emotional information, not just factual – In Susan’s book, Neuro Web Design: What makes them click?, she talks about how important it is to speak to the emotional “mid-brain” if you want to get your message across and have your message be remembered. Video has the advantage (over just reading text) of communicating social and emotional information, not just facts.

#5 — Video combine all the powerful elements together – “The technology for video is finally getting easier and easier to create and integrate online,” says Susan. She mentioned that she’s a big fan of Video Genie , who’s new technology platform allows customers to easily make a video testimonial and post it to your site (you get to moderate it, i.e. watch it before it gets posted). “I’ve talked a lot (in books and other posts) about why testimonials and reviews are so powerful (it’s the principle of social validation),” she says. “Video testimonials are social validation on steroids. Social validation, brain syncing, emotional content… you just can’t beat this for persuasion.” Another interesting example to Susan is Vokle.com: “It allows anyone to host their own video talk show, live, with people calling in.”

About Susan Weinshenk, Ph.D.

What Makes Them Click 5 Reasons Online Video Is So Persuasive Susan Weinshenk is the Founder and President of the User Experience Institute. (Previously she was the Chief of User Experience Strategy, Americas at Human Factors International.) She has over 30 years experience in the field of human factors/usability/user experience (UX) – including as author, trainer, researcher, consultant, presenter, and developing user-centered methodologies around web design and e-commerce Her most recent authored books are 100 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People and Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click? . (She also has a companion blog at whatmakesthemclick.net and a podcast series on user experience.)

Is Your Virtual Tour Helping or Hurting?

You know what users dislike the most? Being misled. Being told something is going to happen if they click on a link but when they do something else happens. For example, say you are looking at real estate – you look at the pictures, read the description and you’re intrigued, then you see an icon with words like “watch the virtual tour” and you think “Oh great, video!”. So you click on it, but when the page launches you see that it’s not video. In fact, it’s just a slide show of the pictures you just looked at. You were expecting to have a richer experience but instead you were shown something you already looked at but with some scanning and elevator music. Would anyone click on a link that said “Click here to see the same pictures you just looked at but with some scanning and elevator music”? No, of course not, so we suggest providing users with an enriched, emotionally connecting experience with beautiful, high-definition video shot on location. And we’d be happy to help you with that, of course. In the meantime, check out the video we just made for a beautiful home in Madison, NJ. No, for real, it’s video!

Music Videos? I Want My YouTube!

Here’s a great article on the impact of music videos on YouTube:

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: August 22, 2013

A LOT has changed since 1984, when MTV first televised the Video Music Awards. Thirty years ago, record labels often spent millions of dollars on videos by top directors to promote the sale of albums. Then label executives would submit the videos to MTV and pray that the network would put them in its rotation.

Along with their disc-jockey counterparts on FM radio, the gatekeepers at MTV and rival channels like VH1 could make or break a song.

Not anymore. These days the Internet is the medium for music videos, and legions of music fans surfing the Net determine if a video becomes popular: YouTube, not MTV, is the platform.

It has supplanted radio as the main way American teenagers listen to new music, a survey by Nielsen shows. So musicians and directors angle to invent striking films with the potential to go viral, even as their production budgets have shrunk.

On Sunday night at 9, when MTV’s awards show is broadcast live from Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the first time, it will celebrate an art form that seemed to be in decline a decade ago but, directors say, has undergone a renaissance in recent years with the rise of YouTube and broadband connections. This change in medium has subtly altered the aesthetics of videos, too, freeing directors to take more risks.

The videos are more important than ever to the marketing of bands, label executives say, with directors constantly looking for some trick — a comic idea, a clever bit of storytelling, a dose of sexual titillation or a shocking image — to attract attention and persuade millions of people to watch the video repeatedly. A wildly popular video on YouTube, besides generating an additional stream of revenue for labels from ads that precede videos, often persuades radio programmers to champion a song, which in turn spurs sales of albums and singles, music executives say.

Though MTV continues to show videos on some of its channels, like MTV Jams and MTV Hits, it is now the YouTube hit that labels covet: hundreds of millions of views translates into a steady surge in album sales.

“We are in a true video revolution,” said David Saslow, the general manager of Atlantic Records, which has a nominee for video of the year in “Locked Out of Heaven” by Bruno Mars. Video, Mr. Saslow explained, has “almost never been as important as it is now, because if YouTube is the stereo of the day, when you go there, there needs to be a compelling and artful reason to stay there.”

Scott Borchetta, founder of Big Machine Records, Taylor Swift’s label, echoed Mr. Saslow’s point. “You put a flag up and say, ‘Hey, we are here,’ but you’d better have something compelling enough that it does go viral.” He said the old model, with MTV executives force-feeding the public a playlist, “has completely flipped 180 degrees.”

Stephen Friedman, the president of MTV, said that this year, longer cinematic pieces seem to be in vogue. “The story telling and the visual complexity is dazzling,” he said. “It’s ambitious in a way we don’t always get.”

Of the five videos nominated for video of the year, the one most viewed on YouTube, “Thrift Shop,” by the Seattle rap duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, cost the least to make, $15,000. Yet its comic tone and absurd images jump-started the career of these artists, persuading radio programmers to champion their song.

Another nominee for top video, “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, went viral online because its original version featured nearly nude female models prancing around a nattily dressed Mr. Thicke. That blatantly risqué ploy helped Mr. Thicke earn the first No. 1 pop hit of his two-decade career.

Two other nominees — Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors“ and Ms. Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble“ — are expensive and lengthy cinematic pieces by arty directors, one telling the story of a lifelong love with surreal imagery, the other depicting a disastrous affair in flashbacks. Mr. Mars’s video, by contrast, focuses on a live performance, a throwback to an older style.

In the Internet age, a viral video can advance a career, even without radio play. Psy’s “Gangnam Style” video made him a star outside South Korea before American stations started spinning the song. Many indie bands, like Atlas Genius, have been signed by labels on the strength of low-budget videos.

Along with the deft use of Twitter and Facebook accounts, YouTube videos have become critical to creating a band’s image.

“It’s all part of the business card, if you will,” said Jeff Rabhan, the chairman of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University. “It’s the music, it’s the image, it’s the video. That’s the band’s calling card.”

Directors speak of lower budgets but greater artistic freedom. They are no longer restricted to a three-minute format, nor do they need to worry about obscenity rules.

“Now we are on the Internet, and there are no rules, it can be real art,” said Anthony Mandler, who directed Ms. Swift’s video. For her song, Mr. Mandler went with a five-minute video that begins with a long soliloquy from Ms. Swift before the music starts, then features dozens of dark, fast cuts depicting flashbacks to an ugly affair with a cad.

Diane Martel, the director of Mr. Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” said record labels were exerting less control over the video content than they did in the 1990s. “I am free to make work I have a lot of control over,” she said. “At the top of the chain, you don’t have people trying to curate complicated, thoughtful work.”

Ms. Martel said the choice to use topless actresses in the first version of “Blurred Lines” was an example of that latitude: nudity is no longer off-limits. Interscope, Mr. Thicke’s label, never blinked at the idea, she said. Though the video has been criticized as misogynist, Ms. Martel said she wanted to portray the women as using the power of their physical beauty to mock the clothed male singers. She had them look with disdain at the camera.

“It’s a romp; it’s for adults,” she said. “They are actually ridiculing the men. It’s hysterical.”

Still, Ms. Martel and Mr. Thicke, knowing the nude version would most likely be pulled from YouTube and be available only on Vevo, made a second version, with the models in skimpy clothes. It is that version that is nominated for video of the year.

Philip Andelman, a director whose video for Duck Sauce’s “It’s You“ is nominated for best visual effects, said videos centered on a band simply playing a song are becoming scarcer. More directors, like Mr. Mandler and Floria Sigismondi, who made Mr. Timberlake’s video, are trying to tell stories. Some recent videos leave the band out altogether and use the song as the soundtrack for a short film with no dialogue.

Cameron Duddy, a director of Mr. Mars’s “Locked Out of Heaven,” said he pitched the singer on several wacky story lines. His previous viral video with Mr. Mars, for “The Lazy Song,” was a low-budget lark, featuring five men in chimp masks dancing with the singer in his bedroom. (It has had 411 million views.)

In the end, however, Mr. Mars wanted to present a hard-rocking image and opted for a grainy performance video. He and his backing band performed the song live dozens of times, playing along with the recorded track, so Mr. Duddy could capture the feel of a live performance. It was filmed on an old VHS camera, like a DIY punk video from the early 1980s.

“He wanted it to feel as if someone’s dad filmed it,” Mr. Duddy said.

Perhaps no video in the last year did more for a group than “Thrift Shop.” Shot on the cheap in Seattle at various thrift stores, the video became a viral hit on the Internet before the song started to climb the charts on FM radio. That success persuaded many station programmers to add it to their playlists and drove sales of singles, said Zach Quillen, manager of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

“We spent zero dollars to market that video,” Mr. Quillen said. “The music video was a commercial for the band.”

Mr. Rabhan of the Clive Davis Institute said: “If a video goes viral online, that will get you on the radio, and it used to be the radio that drove the message. What it speaks to over all is the notion that there really are no longer gatekeepers. MTV is not the gatekeeper. Record companies are not the gatekeeper. Fans decide what they want and like, and if they so choose, radio will follow, and sales will follow.”

Is Your Video “All About Me”?

We’ve all been cornered by this guy at a cocktail party – the guy who goes on and on about himself without once relating to you and your experiences. Underneath it all he just wants you to be impressed by him but that isn’t the result, is it? In fact you can’t wait to get away from him and tell anyone who will listen about the jerk you just got stuck with (and to stay away!).

So… you definitely don’t want your business to be like him, do you? Of course not, but unfortunately many overview videos out there are just that – what is sometimes called a “California Monologue” where someone goes on about themselves without once relating it to the listener. For overview videos to work they need to constantly relate how whatever feature of the business is being highlighted benefits the viewer. Keep relating it back to the viewer, how it will help them, entertain them, simplify their life, etc. For example if you talk about your years in business tie that to confidence customers have in you. If you talk about variety of products tie that to how every customer can find what they want. You get the picture. A good “Connector” keeps the listener in mind and constantly ties the topic back to them. Do likewise, and succeed with your overview video.

Article: Real Estate Video – It’s not OK to suck

Inman News Blog – Real estate video: It’s not OK to suck
Commentary: Affordable equipment, tools and apps set the creative bar higher, not lower
Marc Davison
Marc Davison Contributor

Sep 4, 2013

June 2013. 183 million Americans viewed more than 44 billion videos.

20 billion of them were ads created by national brands.

I’d like to inspire your brand to join the movement.

Inspiration

I’m a regular reader of Ad Age. I rabidly consume brand blogs and marketing articles dispensing the best of what the brightest minds in my field offer.

Video, a medium I’m passionate about, is often discussed. Ideas, techniques and advice dispensed in these publications differ greatly from the “it’s OK to suck” advice often presented in real estate.
Article continues below
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You deserve better advice than that.
True professionals seek to operate at their best. They continue to hone and refine their skills, their output and their team. Your video does not have to suck. Ever.

Bad videos kill a brand.

Decent videos aren’t memorable.

But great video is worth its weight in gold.

I’d like to inspire you to greatness.

Story

Forget rules. Focus on goals. Captivating the viewer should rank as your highest.

Storytelling is a construct brand marketers rely on to captivate. And video is now their chosen medium. Dove’s story of natural and inner beauty explodes through this video, positioning Dove as an agent of change that inspires women to feel confident about themselves.

Samsung’s story is simple and effective in this viral video built around a supernatural kid with razor-sharp aim. The product and brand are brilliantly positioned, and the viewer never feels as if he is being sold anything.

Videos don’t need to be epic. Or expensive. This six-second Vine from General Electric reflects the wonder and passion for science and discovery that lies at the heart of the brand.

The mistake real estate pundits make via their just aim, shoot and post advice is an insensitivity to how exiguous the result of that process brands you. The mere act of banging out a video without attending to modern practices, standards and attention to quality does not cast you as savvy, modern and progressive. Today, anyone can do that.

The truth is that the affordable equipment, tools and apps that we all have now set the creative bar higher, not lower, than ever.

View this six-second masterpiece created by an amateur on Vine submitted to Cavendish Hotels for its Valentine’s Day video contest. Compare it to these professional videos by Bacardi Rum or Oreo. It’s on par, if not better.

Juxtapose these brand stories and strategies against the typical video produced in real estate, which often entails agents touting their attributes, narrated home tours, or behind-the-wheel market updates. Given the subject matter the real estate brand marketer is gifted with — homes, neighborhoods, lifestyles — there’s so much more that could be done.

Ideas

Consider the examples above as a jumping-off point. As I’ve stated, to create the type of video I’m suggesting, you can’t follow a template. Be original. Local. Brand-centric.

Consider hiring a creative to oversee this. Someone with professional chops who can conceptualize, write, film, edit, curate and post great content.

Consider building a street team of local interns — skater kids, for example, paid to shoot, edit and submit slice-of-life videos for your website, Facebook, Vine, Instagram or blog.

You won’t regret this.

Idea No. 1: Local stories. Nest Realty, named by Inc. magazine as one of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies in America, launched five years ago. Video was a critical component to building this brand. Take a page from its “Love Where You Live” campaign told through people who reside in its local markets. Every broker in America should have a library of videos like Nest‘s.

Idea No. 2: Contests. Re/Max Results in Minneapolis hosts a film festival every year. Submissions are not relegated to “real estate” content. The story this tells is of a local real estate brand that supports local arts and culture. I love that. Check out the 2012 winners.

Idea No. 3: Home tours. Every home has a story left untold by typical home tours. Not the homes Raj Qsar and his team at Boutique Realty list. Through a simple construct and a few props, their videos tell the story of homes filled with life. They also scream sensitivity and flair about Boutique’s brand. The soundtrack makes it all that much more perfect.

Idea No. 4: Mini movies. You may recall this action drama produced for Neo Property of Australia that went viral in 2011. That same year, Los Angeles agent Eric Lavey took a less sensational and far more clever approach. He hired student filmmakers and produced mini films that would fit any agent’s budget. They’re simple, well done and stand out against all the basic virtual tours, still photos and basic home tours all his competitors make.

Idea No. 5: Local hangouts. Create 60-second videos of local hangouts, places and people. Cafes. Bookstores. Cycling and running trails. Places to view the sunset. An interview with a local golf pro. Yoga instructor. Dog trainer. I’d record local high school teams. Teachers. Principals.

Every one of these subjects serves one of your greatest needs: They give your viewers deep insight into the community. And they also become part of your viral marketing. What better way to disseminate brand vibe to locals than to capture their essence on video and promote them to your world?

Your video strategy doesn’t have to suck

The dumb-it-all-down movement in real estate is pandemic. This strategy aspiring influencers use to build affinity with the real estate agent community is beneath you and your profession.

Reject it.

True professionals seek to operate at their best.

They continue to hone and refine their skills, their output and their team.

Your video does not have to suck.

Ever.

Marc Davison is with 1000watt, a design, marketing and strategy firm focused on real estate. Reprinted with permission from 1000watt blog.
– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/09/04/real-estate-video-its-not-ok-to-suck/#sthash.9tahDH6u.dpuf

By the numbers: why you can’t afford to skip video marketing

About Susan Weinshenk, Ph.D.

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.Published: August 22, 2013

Copyright © Finite Visual LLC 2019

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: August 22, 2013