Video Marketing: Taking Your San Carlos Listing to the Next Level.
August 28, 2012
Photos Are Not Enough.
How your home appears online is one of the most critical factors in generating a buzz of excitement about your home to prospective buyers. Why? Because thanks to the internet, online is where probably 95% (or more) of them will first see your home — and that critical first impression is often the difference in whether they decide to jump in the car and come out to see it…or take a pass. Even if your home isn't the exact fit with what they're looking for, if it looks spectacular online, they're going to show up and check it out. It's exactly that kind of buzz that drives up the demand for your house.
Until recently, marketing homes online was limited to just posting a few still-photographs on the MLS. But the MLS only recently increased the number of photos that could be included with a listing from about a dozen to a max now of 25. And if you've looked at enough listings online, you know that the quality of these photos varies pretty widely from a few do-it-yourself iPhone photos to a well-lit professional shoot. The evolution of single-property websites and panoramic shots allowed agents to create a central “location” for information and additional photos of the home. But while usable, these sites are generally static.
The bottom line is that photos alone, no matter how spectacular they may be, don't give the buyer a true feel of the spatial essence of a home. To the contrary, the clever use of a wide-angle lens can make any tiny room seem downright palatial! Overhearing a potential buyer say “This house looks nothing like it did in the pictures!” is usually not something a listing agent wants to hear.
“VideoTour”: The Next Level.
Clearly, something new and exciting is needed to differentiate your home from the rest of the other listings that are competing for the same pool of buyers. That's why I'm pleased to announce the creation of the White Oaks Blog “VideoTour” — now a standard feature for every one of my listings. What's a VideoTour, you ask? Take a look at my two most recent ones that we created:
What makes a VideoTour so unique is that utilizes a clever blend of HD video and high-resolution still-photos to turn a standard ho-hum virtual tour into an exciting multi-media event. The platform is totally flexible, so it can be tailored to the unique characteristics of your home. And the video portion is completely portable so it can be uploaded to any video site such as YouTube (which also happens to be the world's second largest search engine), as well as on the White Oaks Blog. Here's a good example:
httpv://youtu.be/JsIwvAgPURI
The Neighborhood Matters, Too.
Another unique factor of my VideoTours is that they also sell the community, not just the house. Despite what we may think, not every buyer out there knows all the intimate details that make San Carlos (or Emerald Hills) a special place to live. Creating excitement about the community is almost as important as the house itself — especially if a buyer is considering other cities in their search.
And since the structure of the video is modular, it's easy to vary the community shots on your particular VideoTour so that they don't all appear to be the same. There are enough interesting things to shoot in San Carlos that can't be captured in a 2-3 minute video segment.
Step Up Your Marketing.
So if you're ready to take the marketing of your home to the next level, let's talk about doing a VideoTour for your home. After all, you've spent a ton of time, effort, and money getting your house to look like a million bucks (and hopefully, to sell for that much too!) Shouldn't your property marketing be able to keep pace?
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