Professional Practices Feature
7 Types of Video that Every Professional Realtor Needs to Make
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When does a team member need that extra boost of support, trust, or encouragement? When does a prospect or customer need to feel seen and valued? You need to identify those spots, be present for them at that moment, and ensure that there is a human experience throughout your message. That’s how you can truly connect with the person on a human level.
– Ethan Beute, Chief Evangelist at Follow Up Boss
Real Estate is Video-First
In 2024, using video for your clients and your business is table stakes if you’re a professional Realtor. No longer a differentiating extra, clients now expect to work with Realtors who are comfortable using video for their listings and their business.
The great news is that you can enact a video strategy for your business that complements the way that you already work. The 7 videos below can fit into any Realtor’s practice, and the downloadable resources and links will help you get past the hurdles and the uncertainty of getting started.
First, a note about YouTube
Your videos should be on YouTube.
I would recommend to any new video creator that they put YouTube at the heart of their video strategy. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and all of the others are great and you should be there too if you have the bandwidth, but here’s why YouTube is King:
- YouTube is a search engine rather than a social media platform. In fact, it’s the second-biggest one in the world. The first is YouTube’s parent company Google. People go to YouTube when they want to learn.
- The value of a video on YouTube grows over time as more people see it. On other, social media platforms, your video posts, might be seen by a few people, and then it’s gone downstream unless you repost it.
- YouTube videos are easily embedded in your website, meaning that you don’t need to repost or re-publish across different platforms.
Video messaging isn't about video.
Real estate is a human business.
The point of using video in your Real Estate practice isn’t to master the medium; it’s a chance to inject humanity back into your communications in a world where we are expected to scale and grow our business.
What do I mean by that?
- As Realtors, we can be pulled in many directions when we are busy. We need tools so that we can scale our ability to serve clients without sacrificing the level or consistency of our service.
- Face to face communication has always been the gold standard for communicating with our clients, but it doesn’t scale. Video conferencing is the next best, followed by phone, but they have similar problems. Text doesn’t transmit tone of voice or body language, which is most of your message.
- Video allows us to transcend time and space for our clients. We can be where they need us, when they are ready to interact with our message.
- Video allows consistency in messages that you often repeat.
- Video gives clients and potential clients a chance to know, like and trust us before they ever meet us.
- Video scales from one to one or one to many.
Video 1: Your "Why"
This is an important video. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it can be depending on produced you want it to be. I would say focus on the message rather than the presentation to begin with. You can have a powerful message with just a simple talking head video.
This video attempts to hit a lot of points for the viewer:
They KNOW what we do and that we’re a team
They KNOW what we believe in, our approach, and the ones that LIKE us can self-select.
We demonstrate our knowledge and commitment to learning, which helps the viewer TRUST us.
Does this video resonate with you? Would it help you choose to work with us?
Video 2: What are other people saying? Video testimonials.
Having someone else vouch for you is way more powerful than bragging about ourselves.
Video reviews take the regular Google Review (still get those too!) and add body language, nuance and tone of voice to show our best advertisements to someone who is just like our target client. This is an awesome tool for attracting the right kind of clients, because it’s the clients that you really vibe with that are going to agree to give you video testimonials, just like Matt and Melissa did. This is a KNOW, LIKE and TRUST play.
Video 3: Be a knowledge broker.
This is a short video that answers a very common client question. Karim does a lot of these:
They’re short
They’re easy to script and shoot
We have a formula for making them
They answer common questions, which saves time and helps clients LIKE and TRUST him.
They see his face over and over, which helps viewers KNOW him.
Video 4: Show that you care. Client event videos.
If you’re doing any kind of client appreciation event, get it on video and then share that video as widely as you can.
Here’s what that does for you:
- By sending it in a “thank you” message for the clients that attended, they’re reminded that you care enough to build a relationship that goes beyond the transaction.
- By sharing it on social media or a newsletter, you resonate with people who appreciate the kind of Realtor that you are. You attract more clients to your events and to your business.
- Video and the story that it tells is easy for your clients to share. I know for a fact that my clients use the story of my events when they refer me as a differentiator.
Video 5: Creating trust and calm with Seller process videos.
My favourite role as a Realtor is that of an educator. I was an elementary school teacher before I entered Real Estate and I love the opportunities to teach and guide.
Video allows you to be a teacher 24/7. Instead of repeating your message to each client, a version of your best teacher self is available whenever they need it.
Does that replace the need for one-to-one communication with your client? Of course not, but I’d rather spend that I do have with my clients focusing on what’s specific and important to them in the moment, not on the generalities of the sale process.
Great places to use video in the sale process might include:
- Sending a 1:1 video along with stats for your client’s listing every Thursday afternoon and asking if they’d like a follow-up call.
- Creating a stock (or bespoke) video to go with a “What’s Next Email” at each stage of the listing and sale process. Tip: This can be an amazing way to get reviews and referrals if you tend to be uncomfortable asking.
- Creating a Seller process page on your website. Being in videos makes it feel much more personal to new clients rather than a list that they can Google anywhere.
Video 6: Defining expectations in the purchase process for your Buyers.
Homebuyers, especially first-time homebuyers, often have no idea what to expect when they look for a home. They don’t know how the process works, and they don’t know how to choose a great Realtor from a bad one.
Videos that explain the purchase process can help with the following client questions:
- How do I select a Realtor or a Lender?
- When in the process do I need a deposit? A lawyer?
- How much is a normal amount to negotiate off of the purchase price?
- Do I just call the listing agent when I go and see a house?
Tip: Get these videos in front of as many people as possible! In a sea of sameness, you’re putting a face and voice out that potential clients can get familiar with.
Video 7: Show your professionalism by explaining the paperwork.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of a part of Real Estate that’s so simultaneously important to do and such a waste of my time as explaining paperwork to a new client. Obviously, this is crucial and it can’t be skipped, but video can make it so much more efficient and better for our clients.
By recording explanations of each of the commonly used forms and making them available, you will:
- Save countless hours in a year that you’re not repeating yourself.
- Have the best, most detailed version of your explanation available to your clients and prospective clients 24/7.
- Be able to focus on your clients’ “specific to them” questions and use their time efficiently.
What next?
Our industry has known about the benefits of video for years. I hope that if you’re new to Real Estate, or if you’ve arrived here somehow still on the fence about video, that I’ve given you a nudge in the right direction.
Incorporating video in your business in a smart way will open up time and opportunities for you while improving your client service, without necessarily adding cost.
Here are some next steps that you can take:
- Pick one of the video types above and decide how to incorporate it into your business. Then go shoot and publish it. I’d recommend the forms videos, because they’re easy to make, they last a long time and it’s very easy to see how they save you time. If you focus on one video, it’s much more likely that you’ll actually do it than if you make a grand plan to overhaul your business.
- Decide who you’re learning from. Tons of Realtors already do video well, and many are excellent and generous teachers. I’d recommend Brad McCallum (Calgary), Tom Storey (Toronto) and Jason Pantana (US, Tom Ferry’s ecosystem). You don’t have to get to their level yet (or ever) but you can draw inspiration from them instead of starting from scratch.
- Steal my ideas and use them. If you found any of this useful, I invite you to take a look at my team’s wiki (click here) and copy/borrow whatever you’d like. Not just video, but all of my team’s standard operating procedures are there. If you love or hate something in there, let me know!
- Connect with colleagues. Grab a friend and start shooting together. Email inspiring creators for ideas. Want to talk about the basics? Email me anytime at nick@nickfundytus.ca or call me at (613) 209-1827. We all go further when we work together and share ideas.
3 Ways to actually get making video
1
Choose one type of video and do it today. Grab your phone, a tripod if you’ve got one (or hold it in your hand) and shoot. Upload to YouTube and publish. Done is better than perfect. You’ll naturally improve as you go along.
2
Steal ideas from people who are already doing them. Your clients won’t know that you’re copying, and probably wouldn’t care if they did. As Tom Ferry likes to say, R & D doesn’t stand for “Research and Development,” it stands for “Rip-off and Duplicate.”
3
Make video part of your “soft prospecting” and block time out for it. Every agent on our team has responsibilities that include making at least one video a week, on a specific topic, by a certain day. It’s a pain for the first month, but now it’s easy and part of the routine.
4
Get over yourself. No one cares if you don’t like the way that you look or sound on camera. You’re not creating video for you, you’re creating it for your clients and prospective clients. If you think of video as a generous act of service to others, you’ll realize that the flaws don’t matter so much. You’re not perfect, and your audience will connect with you better when your guard is down.
5
Outsource the parts of making video that you hate. You need to be in your videos, but tools and professionals exist to assist you with everything else, from scripting to research to shooting and editing. My own production went way up when I realized that it was cheaper in the long run to hire someone to edit for me rather than do it myself.
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