Selling residential property is a competitive business these days. Home prices have recorded shock falls of 18% over the last 12 months, according to figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association. With the central bank introducing steep interest rate hikes to combat rising inflation last year, the fast rise in borrowing costs has squeezed affordability for many buyers.
All of this makes it even more important to focus on the most effective marketing tools and strategies to get properties sold. Homeowners and real estate agents know that putting their effort into presenting a home for sale can make all the difference to attract the right buyers and achieve the best price. But appealing presentation and visual content in your marketing tools should be priorities before a prospective buyer walks through the door.
These days, digital marketing is where it’s at. Long gone are the days when property details consisted of long written descriptions with too much detail and not enough visual content. In today’s online marketplaces, buyers are looking for compelling information presented in a concise and attractive package, so they can make decisions quickly. And with an average internet attention span being only 8 seconds, you need to get to the point fast. Which is another way of saying that great visual content has never been more important.
Why every property listing needs a floor plan
Let’s start with a simple yet non-negotiable visual every property listing should have: the floor plan. Buyers now routinely expect to see a floor plan showing the room sizes and overall layout of the property. It’s a quick and convenient way to check whether the house or apartment fits their purchasing criteria and helps to understand the flow of the space.
Research has shown that buyers will be more likely to make an enquiry to view a property if they’ve been able to see a floor plan first. In fact, 93% say they would look longer at a property listing if there was a floor plan, while 20% would totally ignore properties without one. Getting a professional floor plan drawn up shouldn’t be a huge deal – there are many software packages that realtors can use, as well as specialist providers offering floor plan services.
The benefits of offering virtual viewings
While a floor plan is an essential starting point, how much better would it be if it could be animated in some way? Lucky, then, that there is software available to create 3D virtual tours. These are realistic simulations of the property’s interior, with navigation tools to enable the buyer to walk through the building virtually, without having to leave their computer.
Virtual viewings can be used to great advantage as a visual marketing tool to show buyers around the property without them having to physically be there. Whether for reasons of time, convenience, health or geography, buyers can engage with the listing and get a good insight into what the property offers, which helps with decision-making.
Making the most of photography and videography
When it comes to marketing real estate for sale, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that investing in professional imagery and gaining a further edge to your visual content is money well spent. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and if you want to grab the eyeballs of a real estate buyer, stunning property visuals are the way to get their attention fast. Make sure you choose a photographer who specializes in real estate photography and knows how to take pictures from all the right angles, showcase the property’s best features and sell the lifestyle.
But to really stand out from the competition, you need to go one step further and use moving images: high-quality professional videography is the holy grail of property marketing. It offers the best opportunities in terms of accessibility, interactivity and engagement, enabling realtors to reach greater audiences than ever before, boosting enquiries and, ultimately, sales.
Research would suggest that if a picture is worth a thousand words, a 1-minute video is worth 1.8 million words. Combining movement, sound and text, videos pack a powerful punch, delivering information that the brain can process thousands of times faster compared to plain text. And when it comes to retention, video viewers retain 95% of the information as opposed to 10% if the same message were delivered in writing. Which is a roundabout way of saying that, if you only have a few seconds to engage a potential buyer, video should be your medium of choice.
An actual video tour (as opposed to a virtual tour) is surely the next best thing to an in-person visit. Video tours may well have kept the real estate industry afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic when social distancing measures meant physical property viewings couldn’t take place. In Canada, video tours were fast becoming the norm for attracting out-of-province buyers, particularly in Nova Scotia where real estate agents were heavily targeting Toronto-based buyers looking to permanently relocate.
But even now that the world is pretty much back to normal, real estate videography remains a powerful marketing tool to engage prospective buyers, wherever they may be.
Using video marketing for your real estate business
Finally, let’s not forget that the power of video marketing goes far beyond property listings; it can also work to promote real estate businesses that are looking to grow and engage more with their clients. 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, according to the latest data, while consumers spend an average of 100 minutes per day watching online video, which translates into more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic.
Using engaging visual content on your website is a great way to stay connected with customers, build brand loyalty and boost repeat business. Did you know that websites with a video on their landing page are experiencing conversion rate increases of up to 86%, and that businesses using video marketing on their site can increase their revenue growth by 50% compared to those who don’t?
Put simply, visual content is one of the best sales and marketing tools you can use. Whether static or moving images, computer generated or taken in real life, the commercial rewards of using great visuals for the residential real estate sector are there for the taking.
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