Selling homes by dancing in fallen leaves at a local park, drinking flaming cocktails with friends and shopping at local boutiques isn’t your typical marketing approach—but it works for Tacoma REALTORS® Marguerite Giguere and Anne Jones. Giguere and Jones refer to themselves not as business partners, but as “community marketing partners.”
“Video is an easy way to introduce yourself to your community,” the women said. “Not only that: video can attract buyers who are thinking of moving to the community from other states and cities.”
That’s why Giguere and Jones make time to shoot videos around town, podcast, and promote their city via social media: to connect with buyers and bring a different twist to marketing. Giguere specializes in downtown Tacoma real estate and is a sought-after industry speaker, blogger and skydiver. Jones is also a sought-after industry speaker, blogger, and a working listing agent.
What Works
The duo shot their first video, got viewer feedback, and incorporated viewer suggestions into their next two videos. “People said all we did in our first video was drink, spend money, and shop,” Jones said. “We took that feedback into consideration when we shot our next video.” They danced in the leaves around a popular tree in a local park.
- What’s in the city is essential to the video. Shoot areas you know well. Shoot everything from coffee shops to parks to different neighborhoods. “You do this all the time,” Jones said. “You put people in your car and drive them around and show them around. Buyers ask, ‘Where do you shop?’ ‘Where do you like to go?’ and ‘Where are the best coffee shops?’ When you’re trying to sell a home in a community, you try to refer clients to what is nearby.”
- Shoot more than one video. Don’t be afraid to add podcasts, as well. You don’t have to post video daily, or even weekly, but keep a steady drip of videos coming. Giguere and Jones have separate YouTube channels, but each shares the same video on their channel.
- Be yourself. Don’t act one way in the video and another in person. Your video personality should be your day-to-day personality. If you’re not a bubbly, exuberant comedian in person, don’t act that way in the video.
The Benefits
Giguere and Jones both noted that their videos appeal to people who like their personalities and want to work with them because of the video. “This kind of marketing creates a steady flow of really good clients,” Giguere said. “If we were spending a couple of thousand dollars a month on various realty sites, we’d get about the same amount of traffic; however, with the videos, people are reaching out to us personally. They make a choice to work with us based on the video and already really like us.” That makes for better client relationships and better success. The decision to work with Giguere or Jones is based on the client’s active desire; Jones elaborated that “you’re not just somebody who answered an email off of the internet. You’re a real person that they were attracted to, and typically it’s vice-versa.”
The videos also give Giguere and Jones a starting point to strike up conversations with new clients and find out what attracted them to Tacoma. “Tacoma is seen as sort of an industrial town, and the videos show a different side,” Giguere explained.
Videos are easy to share. Most people won’t share a MLS listing, but they will share a video of Tacoma. The cost of producing a video may run from $500-$1,500, depending on the experience of the film crew, your editing needs, and whether you can shoot/edit things yourself, but the cost is “so worth it.”
“Burnout is a real part of this business,” Jones said. “Agents who are at the midpoint of their career burn out. bring in people who like us, who come to us for us.” That means work stays fun, because the people they meet and attract are fun and friendly.
How-To
If you’ve never shot video before, determine your budget, then contact some pros. Find out what they’ll charge to shoot, edit and produce a six- to 10-minute video.
- Don’t do a hard sell. Giguere and Jones don’t even mention that they’re real estate agents in their videos. They do, however, display their website links and contact information at the end of the video.
- Ask permission. If you’re shooting the interiors of shops and attractions, ask the owner’s permission before the shoot or when you arrive.
- Don’t worry about a structured script. You don’t have to script everything down to minute detail. Create a loose script: “We’ll go here, shoot some scenes of us walking in the park…,” e, and then be open to what happens as you go. Trust your videographers to let you know what works and what shots to take. Talk to them prior to the shoot to get an idea of what they think.
- Focus on the city and neighborhood attractions. This might mean shooting the outside of a school, malls, parks, grocery stores, boutiques, bars or restaurants. Think of the things your clients ask you about when you’re doing a tour.
To learn more of Giguere and Jones’ community video tips, watch the full webinar. For more free real estate education, including best practices, visit Secrets of Top Selling Agents. Be sure to sign up for the upcoming webinar, “Facebook for Sellers,” featuring Leigh Brown, on March 15 at 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT.
For more information, please visit connect.homes.com.
For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.
