85% of clients prefer to work with a realtor that uses video marketing. -2018 National Association of Realtors, survey
Here is the bottom line for you, as a realtor, first. Video really speaks to people!
My name is EJ Gordon. I’m the co-founder of ListingView. I’m also a realtor working in an area north of the city of Toronto called Muskoka. A place of spectacular beauty that has become one of North America’s most sought-after cottage communities. Multi-million dollar properties abound. I’ve been lucky to have sold a few of them. And I’ve also sold many other very special waterfront properties in Muskoka along the way. For now, for better or worse, I’ll be the main contributor to this blog.
During my time in real estate, I’ve always been intrigued with how the top realtors worldwide marketed their listings; and, as importantly, how they communicate with their buyer clients. About ten years ago, I noticed a big change in how some top realtors were utilizing their websites. More video was being embedded. Professional, cinematic-quality videos started popping up on many leading realtor’s websites. I started calling, and some were kind enough to indulge my queries. They all acknowledged the power of video in eliciting (buyer and seller) engagement. They started telling me about sending links to these professional videos in their emails to clients. And I got very excited! That was until some of them started telling me what they were spending per month on these elaborate cinematic videos! Also of concern was that, for most, the pro videographer maintained control of the video, both artistically and from an ownership perspective.
Now I’m a big believer in getting what you pay for, but of course, there are budgetary limits for most of us. I didn’t, in those days, see any alternative to using expensive pro videographers. Nor any way to achieve complete artistic control, or even to do a video when I wanted. (think weather related issues)
In those days DIY videos didn’t appeal for two main reasons.
1. The smartphone cameras were just OK, getting better but not quite there yet. So smartphones were out. 2. This meant if you wanted a quality video that you had artistic control over, you needed some pretty expensive equipment. Pricey and fragile cameras, gimbals, lighting systems etc etc. weren’t really reasonable to contemplate learning or caring for. And learning how to use them was not really an option, time-wise, for me either.
As the years rolled on, and the smartphone’s cameras got better and better, I started thinking about DIY videos far more seriously. About six years ago, I approached someone to help me build a video editor app specifically designed for realtors. Something easy to use, intuitive, for those of us tech challenged (like me). Suffice it to say that first attempt didn’t go too well. The app was glitchy and didn’t have any where near the features that I had asked for. So I gave up the DIY video mobile app dream for a while. Then I gave the project to the person (my ListingView business partner Todd Smith) who has since developed an amazing video editor app for us. And not only that! Todd has paired the app to a hosting service that is every bit as good as Vimeo, actually, we think it’s better! He built the app out exactly as I had asked him. ListingView is intuitive and easy to use for non-tech people in creating a promotional video for your listing. And the upload to our ListingView website’s hosting service is seamless. The playback resolution is at a higher level than that of Vimeo and our upload speed is faster. The ListingView video editor app is free to download and use. And we’ve made the hosting service so affordable at about half the cost of a basic Vimeo account with similar storage. So you get both the ListingView video editor app and the ListingView hosting service for less than half of what you’ve been paying Vimeo!! Not bad eh?
If you want to sell your listing, create several ListingView videos and put them up everywhere. On TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms, put one on MLS, your own website, your brokerage’s and all you need is our ListingView app for that. To send a personalized video to a buyer client you’ll need a hosting service like ours. The bottom line…make your listing ubiquitous in the marketplace.
With ListingView, all you need is your smartphone. (we are working on the Android version, for now you need an iPhone.) If you do a bunch of videos, you’ll increase buyer engagement, guaranteed! If you take any level of care in capturing the various video clips with your smartphone’s camera, you’ll be fine. Our ListingView app and our hosting service will do all the rest, in minutes! No need for a computer, or to go back to your office, you can sit in your car with your phone and do this!
Try ListingView Video… you won’t regret it!!
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