We ran in to Doug Williams (http://www.realtordoug.ca/) of RE/Max Crest Realty (Westside) last week.  We produced a video for a Coach House in Shaunessey back in June.  Unfortunately, the listing ended up expiring without a sale.  Doug mentioned that the sellers insisted on pricing the home too high making it difficult to sell.  Here is an excerpt of an email that I sent to Doug:

I thought I would pass along some statistics that we track from our server logs.  Your video was viewed 2309 times in total. We determined this amount by looking at the number of times your video file on our server was downloaded by visitors to our website.  I have further broken down the views by month for you to analyse the effectiveness of your own personal marketing efforts.

June – 450
July – 792
August – 919
Sept – 142
Aug – 6

Doug mentioned to me that he thought the pictures were a better marketing tool for the listing.  People can take the time to view the pictures in detail.  Great pictures can really flatter a house.  However, video markets both you and your listing. 

Often, I look through Westender (WE) magazine at the ads in the real estate section.  The ads all mention a listing or two, but are largely placed to get a realtors name out to the general home buying public, essentially raising brand awareness of who you are as a realtor.  How does someone who places an ad, determine the effectiveness of that ad in relation to money spent? 

I do know that for about $150, over 2000 potential clients were able to see Dougs name, picture and contact information on their computer screen for the 2 minute duration of the video.  I think that by using video to market the agent as well as the listing you do something that print ads cannot do, capture the attention of your audience for a long period of time.

Video can attract potential buyers that may have glanced over your listing.  The video is not only a representation of the listing, it is a representation of the real estate agent.  In the public’s eyes, realtors who employ video as a marketing tool are seen as progressive, innovative and willing to use all avenues to promote their listings.