| Title | Description |
| Are You Intimidated by Video? |
Have you added video to your website? By 2014, experts predict that 90 percent of
all web traffic will be video. If you
haven't added video to your marketing strategy, you are missing out on a huge
opportunity to get more leads.
Many agents are intimidated by video,
says Bernice Ross, a real estate
coach and author. "They don't like
the way they look, they feel it's too hard to do a good job, or they're simply
too busy. In the meantime, they're spending hundreds of hours on Facebook
hoping to generate leads. Others are paying for Google ad words in the hope the
online advertising model will drive visitors from their site."
The lead conversion rate for video on YouTube
is 4 percent versus 1.24 percent for Facebook and .58 percent for Google.
You can't afford NOT to add video to your marketing tools.
How do I Make a Video?
Using your smartphone or tablet
is the quickest and easiest way to start.
This is especially true with listing videos. (Read:
Create Listing Videos Quickly and Easily)
"I have no trouble shooting videos
from my iPhone." says Ross. "The
challenge is what to do with it once it's on my phone." YouTube allows you to drag and drop the video
into their editing program. You can also
easily create a slide show from your pictures, arrange them in order, and add
music and captions.
To create an agent video, hiring
a video production company offers a more professional result with lighting,
editing and quality sound. Ross says
that if you can record a video with no errors, then you can use your smartphone
or tablet, but as she found, that is very hard to do. "The issue was the
editing. If I didn't get the video right the first time, editing was going to
prove to be more difficult than I could handle." she said.
"If editing is required," Ross
says, "it may be too much trouble for most Realtors. Hire a professional and
focus on your sales business"
Related: Video
Makes Your Small Business Seem Bigger |
| Are Company Values Important? |
Do customers actually care about
company values? asks Sonia Simone on Copy Blogger.
"A recent article from Harvard
Business Review (HBR) asserts that customers don't care much
about interaction with businesses - instead they feel most engaged (and buy
more) when they believe they share values with the
company." she says.
"Most marketers think that the best
way to hold onto customers is through 'engagement'
- interacting as much as possible with them and building relationships." says HBR.
77% of consumers said that they only
interacted with companies online in order to get discounts.
64% of consumers who said that
they have a relationship with a brand or company, cited "shared values" as the
reason. "Shared values build
relationships." says HBR. A shared value
is a belief that both the brand and consumer have about a brand's higher
purpose or broad philosophy. Only 13% of
consumers cited frequent interactions with the brand as a reason for having a
relationship.
So, what are the core values of your
business? "Sitting down together
and figuring out your values can be a silly corporate time-waster, or it can be
a meaningful and moving process." says Simone. What makes the difference? When Simone's company decided to do this, they
weren't trying to come up with a message to print on the side of a shoe
box. "We were trying to figure out our
own best selves. And that translates
directly into how we treat people - customers, vendors... everyone." she says.
But giving customers what they want
is also important, says Simone. "If
your values statement exists (mainly) to make you feel awesome about yourself,
maybe you should skip it. But if it helps you give customers exactly what they
want, the way they want it, you're probably on to something."
Read more at Copy Blogger.
photo credit: PerformanceSolutions |
| Commissions: Quality vs Cost Savings |
As a real estate agent, we are asked almost daily whether we would be willing to discount our commission.
"Don't ever discount your value!"
writes Chris
Nichols on Top 5 Real Estate Network.
"Someone who doesn't feel their services are worth every penny and would
give up some of their commission probably isn't the best (person for the job)."
What are YOU Worth?
"When a seller asks you to lower your
commission," says Bernice Ross,
real estate coach, "that usually means you haven't demonstrated your value."
How you handle your listings and transactions sets you apart from the rest.
Negotiations are the toughest part of
the home buying process and as a real estate professional, you are an expert at negotiations! You earn your commission when handling the
negotiations, contracts and making sure your client is well represented and
protected.
"Be willing to walk away,"
counsels Ross. Explain that a limited commission
translates into limited services, if they are willing to take less than the
best service you can offer, you probably don't want them as a client.
The bottom line is that you must
demonstrate your superior services in order to defend your commission.
Read:
Are You Worth
Your Commission? |
| The Value of Saying Yes |
Do you find yourself focusing mainly on
the problems facing you in business, life and leadership positions? Are you constantly "putting out fires"? It's
time to start focusing your time, energy and thoughts on the solution instead
of the problem.
Say Yes instead of No
Use these problems as a way to
offer different opinions and solutions, instead of looking at them as a
blockade to your goals. Avoid
saying "No" and say "Yes" instead!
"Much of the difficulty in getting to
"yes" is our mindset." says Chris
Nichols on the Top 5 Real Estate Network. He offers a few interesting thoughts from
explorer Lewis Pugh who swam in the most extreme conditions at the North Pole and
at the base of Mount Everest. "First, (says
Pugh) there is nothing more powerful than the made up mind. Second, just
because something worked in the past doesn't mean it will work in the future.
And finally, what type of mindset do I need to have to complete a task?"
"The real estate market is ripe with
opportunities disguised as problems." says Nichols. To be successful in
real estate, you must find the solutions and not focus on the problems.
Read the full article at Top 5 Real
Estate Network. |
| Create Listing Videos Quickly and Easily |
Are you using video to enhance your
listings? The internet is powered by
video these days and if you haven't jumped on the video bandwagon, you are
missing out on a huge advantage over your competition.
By 2014, most experts are predicting
that 90 percent of all web traffic will be devoted to video, writes Bernice Ross, real estate coach and
author. "YouTube alone garners 4 billion video views every day with the
average viewer staying online for 26 minutes. The bottom line is that using
video to market your listings is rapidly becoming as important as having photos
on the MLS." she says.
She offers these suggestions for
creating listing videos quickly and simply with your smartphone or computer:
Ptch
Ptch (pronounced "pitch") combines photos and
video from your phone or media from social networks, like Facebook and
Instagram. You can add captions, music
and special effects.
"This iPhone app is very easy to use."
says Ross. "It only took me about ten
minutes from the time I went to the app store, downloaded the app, and made my
first video. (Please note, this was not an actual video, but a slide show with
music that looks like a video, much like many of the virtual tour companies
provide.)"
Keynote or Power Point
Keynote and Power Point
programs offer more creative flexibility, but since you are building each slide with animation and text, it takes
more time.
YouTube
YouTube also has a video editor in which you can combine videos, shorten
clips, add text and music and special effects.
They also have an area called Creator Hub with
numerous tools to help you "supercharge your content".
Using video on your website and in your listings should be part of your
marketing strategy.
Read:
Video Brings Power to Your Website |
