The Best $150 You Will Spend This Decade: How to get started with Video Marketing for Realtors and Mortgage Agents
As 2020 kicks off a new decade and we look at where a realtor, mortgage agent, or anyone who needs to sell their personal brand can stand out without breaking the bank, it’s video marketing - it takes about $150 and a doer vs a thinker mindset to make it happen.
If you’re still procrastinating with video, perhaps you need to see the data once again.
Real estate listings with videos receive 403% more inquiries than those without video.
According to the National Association of Realtors, 36% of people use video as a key informative source during the home search. Realtor.com estimates as 2020 as the peak year for millennial home buying while 45% of mortgages last year were with people ages 21-38.
These stats should not surprise you and you’re likely reading this article because your coach, kids, and self-conscience have been badgering you to start to make this a habit -they’re right. However, it’s very tough to know where to start and this can get expensive and take lots of time.
Before talking about why it doesn’t need to be expensive and how it can be streamlined easily, let’s discuss why this will help you in the short to long term.
Most professionals these days have tried some form of lead generation and likely had a lot more terrible experiences than great ones. Leads never seem to be qualified to buy and when they are, they grind down your commission. Wouldn’t you rather be treated like a trusted advisor rather than an order taker? If you’re in the latter category, Zillow and RateHub are eating your lunch and you need to stand out with customer education and supreme service. Here is a quick anecdote of a local mortgage broker who embraced video and attracted quality leads and top-producing referral partners in their first 90-days.
Case Study:
Level Up Mortgages is run by a new mortgage agent who needed to establish a personal brand quickly to be taken seriously by online leads, referrals, and new centers of influence. They looked at video marketing to make the right first impression and educate their growing community of leads that were coming through Facebook video ads and social media.
They simply ordered the most basic video equipment on Amazon and started to carry around a compact video kit to their regular meetings and events - this kit cost $150.
By carrying the kit around with them, they did what was sometimes impromptu interviews with interesting referral partners and knowledgeable teammates to both learn and educate their databases. They even streamlined customer FAQ’s for both their referral partners and themselves into a YouTube video series where with the click of a button, you can answer customer questions in a flash, sometimes before customers even know what the best questions to ask are.
This is a “give before you get” mentality and as a result, people are treating the team at Level Up Mortgages as authority figures. What they now find is that leads come in more organically, and are much less shielded about talking with you. They focus less on asking you about rates and more into tapping into your knowledge, and ultimately, trust.
Doing lead generation or hunting down referral partners without allowing them to screen you before your call, will always make you work 10x harder than you need to and simply will sell you short.
Ok. You get it. You need to get on this! Now what?
Action Steps:
Think about what kind of videos you want to focus on. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Listing videos
Interview past clients for a testimonial and advice for other buyers
Market updates
About Me video
Interview a prospective referral partner
Whiteboard educational videos
Online webinar videos
2. Make sure to determine which social media channels you want to promote these through and in what formats (remember that every channel has different dimensions and timespans).
3. Invest in the following Amazon gear needed to do proper interviews, whether you want to start on a budget or invest properly.
What Video Gear to Buy
$150 Budget: Using your Phone
A dual microphone ($50): https://amzn.to/2v4B6Zo
A tripod for your phone ($27): https://amzn.to/2uZxCHq
An LED light dimmer ($55): https://amzn.to/37aB40f
Extra LED light batteries ($30): https://amzn.to/2TDjVbv
A light stand ($40): https://amzn.to/2uigWuh
$2000+ Budget: Using Professional Gear:
A fancier dual-microphone ($130): https://amzn.to/369iCU8
A Label mic ($243): https://amzn.to/2RueysB
A camera stand ($180): https://amzn.to/368Ccjv
A professional video camera ($1369): https://amzn.to/30CiOKy
A lighting kit ($215): https://amzn.to/2sD5vgo
What you will realize as well is that using this gear is simple and setup can take as little as 5 minutes!
Learn how to do basic video editing online or hire someone to edit your videos professionally.
If you want to hire someone, this can be more affordable than you think if you can get coaching on how to best organize your notes and work with your video editor.
The above is easy to procrastinate on and do require a commitment to do research and weigh out your options so make sure you map out a gameplan to tackle this before you buy gear that you might never actually use.
Your personal brand is what will help you keep more of your commission. You don’t have to rely on cold lead generation. You can increase conversion rates of leads and prospective referral partners looking for someone by showing that you’re organized and creative.
If interested in getting coaching or hiring support to help you throughout the process, feel free to email paul@tangoo.ca to join the waiting list below.