Refreshing Entertainment and Video Campaigns

Hello fans and viewers. I realize over the past few months I have posted several links to articles about video, video tours, video marketing, etc. Articles that spoke of new ways to promote yourself and/or company via the web. How Google is changing how they organize their search engine based on video or how Pepsi has decided to skip superbowl commercials this year and stick with internet advertising.

Well now I’d like to give you some of my own thoughts and observations. Over the last year I’ve mainly focused on helping realtors. Showing them there’s more than just virtual tours out there. I was met by all of them with an understanding that virtual tours and slide shows were just BORING. Awful, awful wastes of time. That doesn’t sell. So we set out to make mini trailers, sometimes documentaries for the house. And the response was overwhelming. People were being entertained. It was no longer sitting through 2 to 5 minutes of picture after picture with some annoying attempt at elevator musack in the background. Now people were watching PEOPLE talk about the house, their home, their community. This is what people want to know. If I’m moving somewhere, yes I care what the house looks like, but I also care what the house feels like. I want to know what the best restaurants are around this house. If there are any back roads I should know about. Parks to take my children. Or I want to hear about how fantastic my cookies are going to taste in my oven, or how amazing the sun looks from my porch as it sets every night. This is what is going to sell a home to me, just like a preview for a movie gets me to the theatre on a Friday night.

The same goes for finding an agent, or company, or attorney, or anything really. We’re humans. Our attention spans are dying quickly. I don’t want to go to website after website after website reading about you and why I should pick you, buy from you, support you. I want you to tell me. I want to get to know you. I want to type in your address, or better yet search for you on google, bing, yahoo and have a video to watch. A video of you addressing me, and telling me why you’re going to rock my socks. And if you have a video, well you’re already rocking them.

So we’ve done that. Laurel Tree has provided “Video Business Cards” and “video tours” to the greater Portland area for a year now and it’s been going great.

Now I’m thinking it’s time we take it a step further. Again, our attention span is continually getting shorter. We forget. We need constant reminders, new reminders of your company IN.OUR.FACE.[but don't be abrasive] Think of Geiko. Think of how obscure the caveman commercials have become, yet we all know what they’re about and what they’re selling, and more importantly they make us laugh. They’ve got a great….VIDEO CAMPAIGN. They’re constantly refreshing us, entertaining us, and reminding us of who we should go to with our car insurance. Or At&t with their Mother trying to get her kids to save their unused minutes. This is what sells. Refreshing entertainment. A campaign.

Now think of a “one hit wonder”. Come on. Do it. I bet most of you are saying “oh, what about that song, with that guy, who had that weird voice. You know from the eighties. It was a hit….for a couple of weeks.”

You see what I’m saying?

This doesn’t just apply to homes either. This is anyone trying to sell anything. The best way to reach your audience is through the internet and video. I’m not sure how to wrap this up or what my overall goal of this was, but I just thought I’d share my thoughts and observations.  Feel free to email me back [ laureltreeproductions@gmail.com] or  comment on this on my facebook page, twitter, etc and tell me your thoughts or how wrong I am. I enjoy a good debate.

That’s all I’ve got for now

Matt

http://www.outandaboutmarketing.com/2010

http://www.outandaboutmarketing.com/2010/01/web-trends-2010/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8&feature=player_embedded#

Video Marketing and how to keep your website alive

http://sba-daily.blogspot.com/2009/12/video-marketing-can-be-huge-boost-for.html

ATTENTION REALTORS: An article pulled from online showing the benefits of my service.

I’ve copied the article and added notes and highlights of the key parts. Enjoy!

While almost everyone uses online video, many marketing professionals have left this resource untapped in favor of more traditional, time consuming methods. For tech-savvy Realtors it can be a huge opportunity to advertise home listings and services prominently where other marketers have been unsuccessful. With so little competition for a huge viewing audience, Realtors who do produce videos can quickly generate attention, and rank highly in search engines for keywords in their market.
Online real estate video can generally be separated into two categories: podcast content, and promotional content. These categories typically attract different audiences, and can play off one another to produce a well-rounded video marketing campaign.
Podcast content should cover subjects that can regularly updated for viewers who want to stay current on their market. Such material might include new home listings, market trend reports, neighborhood reports, and mobile phone-ready home tours. Podcast videos are usually more dialogue-oriented and longer than promotional videos.
Promotional content is the more common form of real estate video production, and typically includes company descriptions, website introductions, and traditional home tours. These videos are generally shorter in running time, but more visual and eye catching than podcasts.
Quality control can go a long way in both podcast and promotional content. As real estate video has evolved, successful producers have learned to avoid things like static shots that simply pan from side to side or zoom in, cheesy background music, and vague, overly emotional language. Realtors need to keep in mind that people watch videos for entertainment as well as information, and produce accordingly.
Video’s popularity has not gone unnoticed by software developers and search engines. Google’s high-priced acquisition of YouTube was a clear indication of this, and a green light for the future of online video, prompting huge demand for video-related tools, services and hosting sites. Some of the more interesting developments in this area include video search engines that can parse dialogue and imagery, real estate video production companies and tools, and marketplaces which bring real estate agents and video producers together. Video mashups with other tools have also opened up new avenues for real estate buyers and sellers – one popular example is an application that combines home video tours and online mapping [I have this available under "listings" at www.laureltreeproductions.com] , allowing home tours to be searched on the map – but again, competition among Realtors is low here.
Coming up with an effective real estate video campaign may be a little harder than simply creating another webpage, but it’s worth every effort.

I found this article on the web today.

Is Real Estate Video The Way Of The Future?

The warning is clear: “[The internet buyer is] not at the information gathering stage they’re in the elimination process. If your listings don’t provide them with a tour, then your house is eliminated from the search,” portends RIS Media, real estate’s largest independent news and information service.

In today’s increasingly connected world, where over 80% of all buyers begin their real estate shopping on the Internet, you have just a split second to convince someone to linger on your advertisement, listing, or web page. Does your content have what it takes to make the cut?

Astonishingly, a whopping 86 percent of all website visitors will stay to watch a streaming media presentation, and these visitors will stay as much as 78 percent longer than they would if there was no video content available, according to Real Networks, a leading provider of Internet media solutions.

The Radisson hotel chain enjoyed an even greater gain when they added videos to their site, discovering that people are as much as 20 times more likely to click on a site with video. Their most explosive discovery? Where their previous visitors stayed on the site an average of three to four minutes, the average length of a visit involving video was 25 minutes — a 500% increase that translated to 36% greater monthly revenues!

Real estate agents who currently offer videos of their listed homes can hardly keep track of their success stories. “The other day, a woman called me from Connectcut to tell me she is determined to buy a waterfront home I just listed,” recalls Brett Slattery, a realtor with Keller Williams Realty who can be found at http://www.BrettSlattery.com. “I asked her if she had seen the virtual tour. ‘I can’t pull myself away from it,’ she said. Her excitement made it clear the virtual tour had mesmerized her.”

Lucas Lechuga, a realtor with Miami Condo Investments, has experienced similar gains from video. “I’ve sold properties through video where the buyer didn’t physically see it before making the purchase. Video to them did a whole lot more than picture slideshows could ever do.”

Those who have experienced Internet real estate video firsthand can easily tick off a laundry list of benefits that come in exchange for virtually little investment of either time or money. In addition to increased and higher-quality traffic, both buyers and sellers can enjoy saving time and money by exploring a larger number of homes in a mere fraction of the time it would take to visit each one in person. Videos can be shared with family and friends, as well as with other real estate agents. Video purveyors also enjoy a higher rate of repeat business, thanks to the added professionalism that such service provides.

Up until recently, virtual tours were considered the gold standard of online real estate showcasing, but that reality is changing rapidly. FutureOfRealEstate.com predicted that “2007 will be the year of the video,” and that foresight now rings true. Stephen Jagger, of Ubertor.com, shares that “a lot more agents are moving away from virtual tours and into video,” while Joel Burslem of Inmantv.com has claimed that “video is the next evolution of virtual tour.” Real estate agents on the cutting edge of Internet technology can consider nothing less than detailed online videos if they want their listings to be competitive in today’s online marketplace.

When it comes to factoring in the bottom line, video offers the advantage of not just maximum exposure, but also maximum selling price. According to the California Association of Realtors, Internet homebuyers spent over $80,000 more on average than traditional homebuyers ($403,752 vs. $321,950, respectively).

Real estate videos don’t just benefit potential buyers — sellers and realtors also reap the rewards it brings to the selling process. Sellers love only having to clean house once while still being able to showcase an immaculate interior on a daily basis. The security of a pre-screened video puts many realtors’ minds at ease, too, eliminating the fear of walking in on the kids “painting” the living room walls or the family Golden Retriever tracking mud across the formal dining room carpet. That doesn’t even begin to touch on the added convenience of avoiding the seemingly impossible: scheduling (and rescheduling) live tours at times that accommodate everyone’s busy schedules.

Successful agents have found the Internet video providers that have sprung up to assist the real estate market in transitioning into this new and exciting technology to be invaluable. Lechuga shares, “I get people from other cities, as a result, who are interested in real estate here because of the videos that I host [online].”

Kyle A. McMillan, Ultimate Service Sales Representative for Coldwell Banker Crampsie Realty, was also eager to share his success with Internet video services for a recent property that had languished on the market for almost three months and undergone two price reductions. “I have no doubt that [my] virtual tour was a large contributor to getting the listing SOLD. Within a week of getting the virtual tour done, the home SOLD for 97% of the asking price.”

There’s no two ways about it: offering a video of a home is the single best way to guarantee a potential buyer will consider your property.

As the number of Internet-savvy homebuyers continues to climb, and as our increasingly interconnected society leads to more and more long-distance relocations where viewing a new home in person is costly and inconvenient (if not impossible), the clamor for Internet real estate video will only grow louder. Real estate agents can either cater to this demand now, or face an endless string of unattended open houses and dissatisfied sellers as their listings are quickly passed over for those that include the interactive video advertisements essential for success as the industry adopts this new technology.

Belt vs. Social Networking vs. Googlenator

My belt broke today. Not completely, but its on its way out. Noticing this made me think about two things.
One, I’ve had this belt for a decade. I know. Kudos to Old Navy for not sucking it up on one product.
Two, it made me realize how much I forget about the little “necessities” in life. As I look at my broken belt I see how worn it is. Weathered leather, slash marks, self made holes from the times my diet and food consumption was lacking, and I thought why haven’t I bought a new one before now. Well, it’s simple. It’s the same reason I don’t buy tissues, or hand towels, or even hand soap. [ I use bar soap, calm down]
You don’t really need these things. I know, you’re going to play the “Well you’re a guy” card and that might be true even though I think part of the “manly” persona is making intelligent decisions.
Then I started thinking about how I’ve spent all weekend geeking out on the internet with social networks, and other websites I find amazing. Currently, www.xtranormal.com. Granted I’ve mostly used these websites to promote my business, but still. I find Google fascinating even though I’m pretty sure their Skynet and are on the brink of becoming “Self-Aware” [See foot note]
Its weird how unnecessary that is to me but yet I make all the time for in the world and when it comes to buying hand soap I just think of how pointless it is since I already have soap.
Maybe those two don’t relate at all, except that I’m just looking at the ridiculousness of my life as a whole.

Matt

1.Skynet is a fictional company from the Terminator movies who created the Terminator and eventually became “Self Aware”, and starting….if you don’t know the plot of Terminator then shame on you.

How to use video in 2010

Found a new site on using video in 2010

http://www.facebook.com/SocialMediaProfessionals/posts/197822069196

Video soon to be No. 1 Real Estate marketing tool

Hello

I recently came across this arctile in my google alerts that just made my day. I thought I’d share it with you guys.

http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/video-real-estate-marketing/2476/

Hello Viewers

Hello
This is Matt McCulley with Laurel Tree Productions and this is my first Blog. I figured I would take this opportunity to tell you about my company and what we provide for you.

Laurel Tree Productions is a Portland based video production company. We specialize in pretty much anything video, but our main work consists of Video Business Cards and Video Tours for Realtors and other business professionals.

Video Business Cards: This is a great way to show who you are, what you do, and why you’re the best at it either on your website, or enclosed in an email to potential clients. These take on many forms from you talking about yourself on camera, to you interacting with clients, to video testimonials from past clients or a combination of all three.
Some past clients of mine have made several videos such as one specific to buyers, one specific to sellers, a brief overview of what all they do. It just depends on what you think would benefit the most for you.

Video Tours: Notice we say video and not virtual. The boring slide shows and virtual crop videos with cheesy music just aren’t cutting it anymore. After talking to several realtors and watching countless virtual tours I’ve come up with a better approach. Let’s tell the house’s story and lets make something entertaining. Let’s get rid of the cheesy voice over and get the realtor on camera talking about the house, or better yet let’s have the current home owners sit down and talk about why they love the house, the best features, the neighborhood, and lets make something interesting to listen to and watch as we see this home. Then lets put it out there. Everywhere. Youtube, Vimeo, Viddler, your website, my website, RMLS [they've recently added a video tab and are encouraging it] Let’s generate more traffic and in return find a new owner for that home.

So, that’s us in a nutshell.

-M@