Do you want to take your real estate marketing to the next level?
If yes, you may want to look into video marketing as a powerful tool for lead generation and connecting with your ideal target audience.
Therefore, in this ultimate guide, I will explore everything you need to know about real estate video marketing – from what it is to its benefits and statistics to create your own video marketing strategy.
So get ready to learn how to leverage the power of video to showcase your properties, for example, and stand out in a crowded market.
What Is Real Estate Video Marketing?
Real estate video marketing is a type of content marketing, which in turn is a subcategory of inbound marketing.
In other words, content marketing is part of a wide field of inbound marketing, and video marketing is again a subcategory of the latter.
While real estate videos used for video marketing can be very helpful and provide value to seller and buyer prospects, it has the same goal of generating real estate leads and establishing your real estate brand as a side effect.
You can use it to promote and market properties, homes, or real estate services.
This involves producing, editing, and sharing videos showcasing properties or providing valuable information to seller or buyer prospects.
Other real estate videos include neighborhood and community videos, property tours, education, and testimonials.
But there are many more, as you will later learn.
Okay, lead generation may be one reason for making all the effort to get into real estate video production.
Still, there are other real estate lead generation methods (my article).
So why do you want to use video in your real estate marketing in the first place?
Let’s dive in…
The Impact of Video Marketing on Real Estate Marketing
There are general benefits of video marketing, but also industry-specific ones for real estate.
Let’s start with the general ones that also inform the industry-specific ones.
General Video Marketing Benefits & Statistics That Can Be Translated to Real Estate
Before you get into this time-consuming endeavor (compared to the written word), you should know about the benefits and statistics.
I already wrote an in-depth article about whether video helps sell real estate here, mentioning several benefits and statistics about its effectiveness.
In this article, I came to an affirmative conclusion (yes, it helps sell real estate) based on various statistics.
Why?
- The retention rate is higher.
- Consumers prefer video when learning about a product or service
- Revenue can grow 49% faster
- Landing pages with video can increase conversion rates by 80%.
But let’s see what has happened since I published the above article.
I found additional statistics in a broad study by wyzowl confirming and amplifying the above benefits.
A significant majority of video marketers, approximately 96%, have reported that video marketing has been effective in improving user understanding of their product or service.
This translates into video helping sellers and buyers better understand your real estate services and, of course, the “product” of the respective property for sale.
Another 91% have acknowledged that video marketing has helped boost website traffic, while 90% have found it helpful in generating leads.
So you can use this traffic generated from YouTube videos and channel it to your real estate landing pages to generate leads.
In addition, 87% of video marketers have confirmed that video marketing has increased sales.
And a substantial number of video marketers, 92%, believe that video marketing provides a positive return on investment.
However, the same study also found reasons why some don’t do video marketing, which likely applies to real estate video marketing.
Approximately 42% of video marketers spend an average of $0 to $500 on video production.
Depending on your experience with video creation on YouTube, you may need to produce about a hundred videos first.
Why?
As the saying goes, the first hundred videos are usually not the best.
So you will invest this time/ money to get a successful real estate content marketing campaign running with videos that gradually improve.
This may not be viable for someone with a tight budget and only a little time available.
Yes, you can produce real estate videos with a low budget.
Besides a budget, you may also need quite some time to produce them (if you don’t want to, just hit the record button and start talking without a plan).
The large “time-sucker” here is the time to edit the videos.
For instance, I spend almost one hour editing time for one minute of video.
The Direct Impact of Video in Real Estate Marketing (5 Statistics)
Now, things get pretty interesting, especially when considering the current situation of a seller’s market.
You will likely have a competitive edge if you create listing videos.
Why?
Only 9% of real estate agents create listing videos.
Suppose you have trouble generating seller leads and signing a listing contract with a seller.
In that case, you may want to introduce video in your marketing mix.
Why?
Most homeowners (73%) prefer to list with a realtor who uses video.
On top of that, most homebuyers (51%) also use YouTube as their preferred search engine, and even more (58%) expect to watch a video of a home they are interested in.
However, take this latter number of 58% with a grain of salt since I couldn’t find the original source for a study.
7 Realtors Successfully Using Video Marketing
To inspire you a bit about what is possible, I found several realtors already successfully using YouTube as their main marketing channel.
This article from PropertySpark included 50 if you want to dig much deeper.
However, for this article, I picked seven to analyze their content a bit deeper so you get an idea of the type of videos they produce.
Palm Beaches Paul
Paul’s channel features diverse content that explores life in Florida, especially around the Palm Beach area.
He hosts videos covering real estate, tours of different communities, highlights of local attractions, and aspects of the regional lifestyle.
The content primarily aims to inform and offer insights to those considering relocating to or visiting Florida while also highlighting the unique culture and amenities of the area.
Oliver Graf TV
Oliver’s videos showcase interviews, dialogues, and expert perspectives from accomplished individuals and leading real estate professionals.
They delve into various subjects, such as real estate investment, sales and marketing tactics, business expansion, negotiation methods, and success tales.
Julieniz Báez
Julieniz’s videos include vlogs, daily life experiences of a real estate agent, business tips for agents, and information on acquiring a real estate license.
Additionally, her channel features videos about planner hauls and study sessions geared toward preparing for the real estate exam.
Myra Creely
Myra’s channel creates content covering various home building and real estate topics, including constructing a new home, purchasing a property, entering the real estate profession, and successfully passing real estate exams.
Nicole Connell
Nicole’s videos span a diverse array of subjects, including obtaining real estate licenses, realtors’ commission structures, expanding social media presence for real estate experts, daily life vlogs from a realtor, updates on the market, financing strategies, cold calling techniques, and advice for novice real estate agents.
Her channel also features content on personal developments and lifestyle topics.
Jeremy Mateo
Jeremy’s channel mainly focuses on creating videos about real estate, entrepreneurship, and personal finance.
Its content includes discussions on purchasing and selling properties in Hawaii, investment in real estate, house flipping strategies, credit handling, and guidance for achieving success as an entrepreneur.
Chris Kwon Realtor
Finally, Chris’s channel offers a diverse range of real estate-related videos featuring property walkthroughs, updates on the market, and advice for buyers and sellers, along with occasional vlogs that delve into the real estate sector and share personal experiences.
Developing a Video Marketing Strategy for Real Estate
There is little difference between developing a video marketing strategy or, interchangeably, developing a general real estate marketing plan (as discussed in my article here) or a content marketing plan.
The outline and the framework are similar, and you also ask questions like the following:
1) What are your goals?
2) Who will you target (the target audience)?
3) What is your value proposition?
4) What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?
In the YouTube context, these are questions related to your overall channel strategy.
But then you also ask more specific questions regarding the real estate video content you want to produce:
5) What video content should be produced to align with your target real estate prospects? This ties into the customer journey I discussed in my article about real estate content marketing.
6) How much video content is needed at which time to reach the goals?
7) What will be the time cost and, or monetary cost per created real estate video? This answer highly depends on your experience with video production. Starting out, it may take much more time, for instance, to get things going.
8) Which metrics and performance indicators will you use to measure the results?
9) What must happen to quit the content marketing channel of real estate video?
I recommend the book Quit – The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away by Annie Duke in this context.
Because when you define the “quitting-condition” initially, you may run into the risk of sunken and opportunity costs (source).
Many forget this, especially in fields where you have to deal with more uncertainty.
What comes next?
Based on the above plan you create, you can work out the tactics as the next steps by answering all these questions.
This is where all the different real estate video ideas for your content, the right equipment, etc. come into play.
This leads me to the real estate video types or formats you may consider.
17 Types of Time-Tested Real Estate Videos That Captivate Audiences
Sure, here’s the revised list categorized for clarity, with a concise explanation for each video idea:
Property Showcases
Voice-Over Video Tour: Guided property walkthroughs narrated for added context and information.
Drone-Tour: Aerial footage showcasing properties and their surroundings from a bird’s-eye view.
Renovation Before and After Series: Highlighting property transformations pre and post-renovation.
Architectural Spotlight Videos: Focusing on unique architectural elements of properties.
Celebrity Home Tours: Tours of high-profile and luxurious properties.
Educational and Informational Content
Listing Videos (Educational Promotion): Informative presentations of property listings.
Housing Market Information: Updates and analysis on real estate market trends.
Market Trend Analysis: Detailed examination of current trends in the real estate market.
The Selling Process Explained: Step-by-step guide detailing how to sell a property.
From House Hunter to Homeowner: Documenting the transition from searching for to owning a home.
Buyer/Seller How-To Guides: Practical advice for potential property buyers and sellers.
Investment Property Analysis: Evaluating the potential of different investment properties.
Home Improvement and Maintenance Tips: Tips and tricks for home upkeep and enhancements.
Community and Lifestyle Focus
A Day in the Life: Documenting the daily activities of real estate professionals or homeowners.
Local Area Spotlight: Videos that showcase the unique features of different neighborhoods.
Neighborhood Stories and Myths: Exploring cultural tales and histories of local areas.
Best and Worst Schools: Discussing educational institutions in various neighborhoods.
By the way, I grabbed most of the above real estate video ideas from my article about 254 real estate content ideas.
Since real estate video marketing is just content marketing in video format, you could get even more video ideas by just “recycling” these 254 content ideas I already discussed in this article.
Bonus: 7 Popular Video Formats on YouTube…Some Can Be Applied to Real Estate
I discussed this topic in my article “What to Talk About in Real Estate Videos – 8 Ideas “.
Below, I provide you with the different real estate video types available depending on your marketing strategy or plan (it ties into question five from above).
It is based on the typical video types published on YouTube; not all can and should be applied to real estate.
Unboxing Videos (for Real Estate?)
Regarding e-commerce purchasing decisions, unboxing videos can be beneficial as they show how a new product arrives at home and give a first impression when unboxed.
This helps reduce the risk of unpleasant surprises for potential buyers and can also assist new companies in promoting their latest products.
Applying the same format to real estate, as with smaller physical products, is challenging to envision.
Therefore, rather than doing it precisely as described, we can extrapolate the concept of this video format a bit.
For example, it could be used in the context of a completely new home or construction, where you and buyer clients document in a video how they receive the new keys and explore the different spaces.
Challenge Videos
These videos feature various creators taking on the same challenge in their unique ways.
Interestingly, viewers watching these videos are suggested other videos with the same challenge.
Participating in such a challenge could help expand your reach to viewers of these videos.
Alternatively, you could create a challenge and see if other creators will participate.
As for whether this type of video could be used for your real estate business, I wouldn’t say “no” outright, but it depends on the specific challenge.
Taking part in certain challenges could carry the risk of damaging your reputation.
Therefore, if you can’t find the right challenge, you might want to create your own.
The challenge you participate in should also have some connection to real estate.
Haul Videos
Creators in haul videos usually showcase various products they acquired for a specific purpose, depending on the topic.
Can this type of video be useful for your real estate business?
Yes, but it would require extrapolation.
One idea could be to create a video suggesting different interior design items that new home buyers could purchase within a certain budget.
Favorite and Best Of Videos
This video format helps potential buyers decide by giving them an intimate look at the product.
Can this type of video be applied to real estate?
Yes. For instance, a realtor could present various software tools to estimate the value of a property.
Alternatively, a real estate investor could showcase their preferred tools for finding deals and obtaining seller contact information.
But it could also be the typical listing video, just that it’s a special one for featured listings.
Gaming Videos
Creators of gaming videos typically record themselves playing various games live and provide commentary, tips, and tricks.
However, this type of video may not be suitable for real estate because it’s difficult to adapt the format to this industry.
Only a few games would relate to real estate in a way that could be beneficial.
Therefore, the options for using this format will be limited in the case of real estate.
Comedy and Prank Videos
This type of video is pretty straightforward – the creator films themselves doing a comedy skit or a prank, often using a hidden camera.
Can this type of video be used for your real estate business?
Like with challenge videos, finding an idea that won’t harm your real estate business is important.
However, prank videos may be more difficult to execute.
Who would be the target of the prank?
One idea could be to have someone else prank you and record it.
For example, your partner could work with a potential home buyer and the seller of a property.
When you (the realtor) arrive at the property, you may be denied entrance for ridiculous reasons.
Or, the buyer could arrive with a suitcase full of cash and require you to “kiss the ring” (mafia-style) to proceed.
These are just some brainstorming ideas, but as you can see, there may be potential for such videos in real estate.
Product Review Videos
The final type of video helps viewers make purchasing decisions by reviewing certain products, highlighting their pros and cons, and explaining their costs and how they work.
Can this type of video be used for your real estate business?
Absolutely, it’s the most apparent format you can use for property listing videos, for example.
Sure, you can’t do it the same way as when you deal with small physical products.
Still, you can create a variation of it by showcasing different properties in a certain way.
You could do the standard property listing video. Still, if you specialize in smart homes, you could do walkthroughs comparing different smart home systems.
You could also focus on reviewing different features of a house, such as alternative energy systems, security systems, property management services, and more.
When you look at all the formats a bit deeper, you will realize that there are only three formats on YouTube: educational, entertaining, and connection-style (e.g., Vlogs) videos.
That’s all you need to remember.
The nice thing with videos is that you can go at them using many angles and get pretty creative.
8 Best Practices for Real Estate Video Marketing
Once you know your real estate video strategy, you should have a content plan and know how many videos are needed.
The best practices in this section are related to video production economics. It also informs the costs and required time investment (see question seven from the beginning).
Here is a short checklist for real estate video marketing best practices:
Keep It Short and Sweet
Your prospects’ attention spans are likely short, so keep your videos under two minutes.
However, the duration is less important than you think (read more in my article here).
If you manage to keep them engaging with storytelling, there is no particular limit.
Highlight Your Unique Selling Proposition (e.g., positioning as an expert)
What sets your property or service apart from the competition? Make sure to showcase that in your videos where you find it suitable.
Use Professional Equipment and Editing
Invest in good equipment and editing software to ensure your videos look polished and professional.
So, you may need to create a budget for the proper equipment for higher-quality production.
The camera is less important than the audio, though.
And if the content is subpar, the best equipment will not save the video you create.
If you are in the luxury real estate niche (my article), you may take the production quality even up several notches to match the higher expectations of more demanding buyers and sellers (e.g., great drone videography)
To favor increased watch times and conversion rates, you also want to edit and add visuals, sound, and calls to action (CTAs)).
Create a Script and Storyboard
Use storytelling to be more engaging and cause more emotional reactions.
To avoid making too many cuts in the post-production when the video is edited, you also want to be well prepared and use a script.
Optimize for SEO
Use relevant keywords and tags to optimize your videos for search engines.
This also includes using clear and concise titles and descriptions.
You may also want to analyze your competitors in this context to learn which topics to cover and which ones to omit or ignore.
However, the YouTube algorithm works differently than the Google Search algorithm. So, taking the same approach as you may do for Google Search isn’t a good idea.
If you produce a good video, it may be suggested to various audiences, and being found via YouTube’s search is not that important.
Provide Value
Your videos should not only showcase your properties or services in a promotional manner but also provide valuable information to your viewers, such as market trends, information about the location, tips for home buyers, or advice for homeowners (see my long list of real estate content marketing ideas here.
Use a Variety of Video Types
Mix up your video content, such as property walkthroughs, expert interviews, and client testimonials, to keep viewers engaged.
You can get additional inspiration from the video formats I discussed above.
In this context, you may also double down on what has worked for your channel so far when you look at the video analytics.
This means making more of the videos that have worked and stopping doing videos that have tanked.
Promote Your Videos on Multiple Channels (DON’T)
In the older version of this article, I recommended sharing your videos on social media, your website, and other relevant platforms to reach a wider audience.
However, I wouldn’t do this anymore, save maybe embedding them on your website and sending them to your email list.
Why?
Let’s say you blindly share your videos on social media channels.
In that case, you will likely confuse YouTube’s algorithm, which already finds the ideal audiences and suggests your videos to them.
When sharing your videos wildly, you run the risk of people who actually aren’t part of your ideal audience watching your videos barely and then disappearing.
This may hinder YouTube’s algorithm in optimizing your video reach with the right audiences.
Real Estate Video Marketing Metrics: Measuring Success
All the effort to create real estate videos for your marketing campaign may be in vain if you don’t measure if what you do is working and brings results.
How else will you be able to know when you should quit…? Or how to steadily improve the videos you make.
So, which metrics should you track?
A bit more than half (61%) of video marketers say that leads and clicks are metrics by which they measure the ROI, according to this study.
Some more say they use the number of video views as a success metric (source).
So you want to track at least:
- Views and engagement
- Conversion rates and ROI
- Audience demographics (does your video content reach the seller or buyer prospects you intended to target?)
You may also want to read my article here regarding key marketing performance indicators.
And suppose you are unsure whether real estate video marketing is the right lead generation method for you.
In that case, you may want to learn about “The Ultimate Real Estate Lead Gen Strategy & Performance Suite,” which can help you avoid starting with marketing channels you shouldn’t have started based on your goals, constraints, and conditions.
This article has been reviewed by our editorial team. It has been approved for publication in accordance with our editorial policy.
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