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TV commercials Resources |
The Real Estate Video Craze
Google recently bought internet video mini-giant (run by a mere 60+ employees) YouTube for .6 billion. YouTube is about 18 months old. .6 billion in 18 months.
Do you think Google believes video is a big deal?
Right now, you can upload your own real estate video to Google or YouTube, let them pay for the bandwidth costs, make your video searchable, write compelling copy (optimized for the search engine crawlers) and even provide a written transcript for download (more search engine food). And you can do it all very quickly and very easily.
That's a big deal.
Rather than try to convince anyone about the power of internet video, I am assuming you already believe there is something important going on, or that you are at least curious. So let's jump right in...
You're about to see an explosion of video onto the real estate marketplace. To get the biggest benefit, you need to move early and quickly. Because most of your competition will probably completely get it wrong...
What they won't get for a while is that internet video is NOT TV. It is not "Free TV Advertising" rather than internet video. Remember that and you will go far online.
TV is a passive medium. People sit in front of the box and they get zapped with a message. Their minds switch off and they go into a trance. It's a very passive state.
You can already find quite a few Realtors uploading their TV commercials to YouTube. They probably spend some money creating a commercial that has little chance of doing anything other than taking up space on Google's servers. You know those commercials... the ones that showcase a listing for 2.5 minutes with a serene soundtrack running in the background. At the end, you see the contact information for the agent up on the screen. The agent is silently thinking, "Please call me. Please."
Video is different. It "looks" like TV and so people will naturally be attracted to it (that's good news folks), but video is active, it's interactive... and that interaction is immediate.
The latest stats show that internet video is not just the domain of the 18-24 year olds wasting time at their day jobs. If you look at market penetration percentages, 35-49 year olds are the biggest users with 30.8% of them viewing internet videos.
We're going to be covering a lot of video stuff in the future. For now, here are some suggestions about very effective ways to jump in and get started.
========================== Free Samples For Everyone ==========================
Video can be the perfect sample machine...
If you've ever been in retail, one of the best ways to get people to buy your product is to give them a free sample. Why do you think all of those people in aprons setup stands in grocery stores handing out little cups of Keebler's latest cookie?
If the product is good, people will buy more.
The product Icy Hot went from startup to 13 million in sales in 18 months because of free samples. They gave an excellent away and people continued to order it.
But as a Realtor, how can you give a free sample?
Video...
Show people what you do... That's your free sample.
Most average folks have no idea what goes into creating a successful real estate transaction. Apart from what they actually see you do and hear you say, they don't have access to seeing inside your head as you make decisions, think about negotiations and draw on your skill to get them from point A to point B.
So show them...
I wrote an article sometime ago about the great copywriter Claude Hopkins. The point of the article was that he took a floundering beer company (Schlitz Beer) from 9th or 10th in their market to first in about 18 months.
He did it simply by telling the complete story of how they made their beer. The water quality process... the barrels, the aging... all of it.
The funny thing is, it was a story that any beer brewer could have told. It's just that Schlitz was the first one that actually did.
There is a huge amount of power in being first.
Tell your story... and then upload it to the world.
========================== Pump Up Your Testimonials ==========================
One of the most effective uses of video is to create video testimonials to display on your website.
Complete "mini-commercials" for your services.
Just sit down with your client and ask them to tell their story. Some people might be camera shy at first, so it is important to put them at ease and let them do all of the talking.
You could even host a client appreciation even where you get someone to go around with a camera and shoot as you talk to your happy clients. Have a few open ended questions ready to go to help lead them, but other than that. Let them be themselves and take the testimonial where they want it to go. That's where the real meat will be...
Imagine having 10, 20 or 30 video testimonials on your website. Do you think that might be powerful?
========================== Pass It Around ==========================
It's viral...
When's the last time someone took a postcard from your mailing anad passed it around to 30 or 50 (or 500) of their friends?
When's the last time that someone recorded a great TV commercial and sent it to you. Or even a certain TV program?
Video is viral. Google and YouTube made it drop dead simple for your video message to spread.
And with much of the internet population absolutely enamored with Google and YouTube and willing to spend hours sifting through anything from a geeky teenager brushing his teeth to reruns of Seinfeld (corporate productivity rates have got to be suffering from this :), you've got a very interested audience.
One of the biggest opportunities hiding something like this, when a topic gets national press for a day or so is that it makes it much, much easier for you as a marketer of real estate to connect with your prospects. You can join the conversation that is already going on inside their head.
It is always surprising that more folks don't do this, because there is always, always, always something going on in the mainstream that you can attach your marketing message to that will either get attention or make people curious to take a look at what you are offering.
So my biggest tip for you right now when it comes to internet video is just to get started. The coming video craze is already here. What are you going to do this week to hop aboard the train?
Go get yourself a free Google Video (http://video.google.com) account and a free YouTube (http://youtube.com) account and start experimenting.
Jason Leister, the Real Estate Technology and Marketing Guru, helps real estate professionals market their businesses.
Visit the Real Estate Technology Guru to get the free monthly eZine, PROFIT, and receive a FREE copy of "The Truth About Real Estate Websites and Search Engine Optimization."
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Leister |
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