I'm going to get right into it. I can't sleep. I have to be up at 7am tomorrow morning.....Eastern time. Which is 4am where I come from........which is EARLY!!!! I was up at 3:30am Pacific time to fly to Atlanta today :-)
I want to get some of the thoughts I have on video out of my head......maybe then I can go to sleep.
The top five selling video cameras on Amazon are Flip Video Cameras. Why? because they are affordable, they are simple, and they get the job done. I want something I can jump right into and have no problem using.........it would appear so does everyone else.
What are the major hurdles to starting to use video now? Cost? They have dramatically dropped. Afraid to learn the technology? We have hundreds of innovators here who will take the lead, learn how to do it, and then show you how.
Google and Yahoo are both incorporating video results into their universal search results. The time is ripe to be ahead of the curve!!
You are a good agent, You preview the listings you show your clients. This weekend you have clients in from out of town (or from in town, doesn't matter) and they want to see 8 homes. You have talked with them at length and you understand that an open kitchen plan is important for the wife, the husband needs space in the garage to build shelves for his tools and the kids need a big back yard. Last year you would have previewed these homes and convinced them that only 6 fit what they wanted. You knew it was only two, but they really wanted to 'see' the other four. This year you took video of every home, sent it to them in advance and you all have determined there are only really two homes of the eight that fit their needs. Let's say the time it took me to prepare the videos to send them made the time you would have saved yourself showing the additional four homes a wash..........IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU......IT'S ABOUT THEM........you saved them the time of visiting four extra homes.
ActiveRain has a video editing and hosting solution coming soon. We have 5 ActiveRain members set to start testing it tomorrow. Our community is going to teach each other how to succeed with video. Why? Because that is the culture here.......we help each other succeed.
What kind of videos can you make? The video business card is an easy one. You're going to need one in the future. Client testimonials. Let your satisfied clients tell your next client why they should work with you. Your listing presentation. Put it out there so people know what to expect when you walk in the door. A CMA. You always come up with the right price, correct? Show them how. Local neighborhood information. You know why people choose to live in your community, show the next person who may choose to live there. This one has SOOO many possibilities. Parks, schools, businesses, tourist attractions, views, recreational options............it's almost endless.........(and I would venture to guess that you probably have a few more ideas in your head right now)
The video platform on ActiveRain will allow you to embed links into your video so that you can supplement that video by sending your viewer back to your written evaluation of what they are watching.
Videos will be just as important in servicing the people that are already committed to working with you as they will be to earning the business of the next client. You must learn how to add value. Be their eyes. That is valuable!!
13 year old kids are making videos and uploading them to youtube. It is not hard!!
The videos you shoot are not movie quality. They are AUTHENTIC. People want authentic. If someone is going to buy a multi million dollar home from you, for goodness sake......pay to have high quality video done. If your buyer is a Gen Y first time home buyer.......he doesn't care about the production value.......he just wants to see the place from the comfort of the couch in his apartment. Understand that!
Tomorrow I sit on a video panel at the RETechSouth conference in Atlanta. I am not a video expert. But I do believe that video is the marketing wave of the future. I also believe that the members of ActiveRain have the unique position to band together and pull each other to the forefront of this marketing revolution. Together we will teach each other. Together we will mentor each other. Together we will critique each other. Together we will figure out how to utilize video to make the experience of our clients better. Why? Because that is our culture and our clients deserve it!
(You just got an unedited stream of my thoughts for tomorrow. No links, no pictures, just thoughts. I am not even going to read over it. I'm not going to put it in any order. I just needed to get it out of my head so I can go to SLEEP!!)
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