What is a mistake that many, many agents are making? What are they doing incorrectly that, if they didn't make this mistake that I believe, even not just agents, but in any business or any industry, exactly what would help them to be more successful more quickly? And, even if you're a professional, this advice absolutely works for you, even a local business.
What's one of the biggest mistakes that agents are making across the country that I found from interviewing so many of the top agents across the United States?
Video Marketing For Real Estate
Here's what I'm noticing: A lot of them are not utilizing video.
Video is so, so important to be using in your marketing strategies because it helps people to get to know you. So, video is absolutely crucial.
I want you to just think about and remember how important it is for you to be using video in your marketing strategies. Did you know that 80% of all web traffic in 2019 is going to be video? 80% of all we traffic. That's just a huge, huge number, isn't it? Last year it was around 70%. So, it continues to increase all the time.
93% of businesses reported that they're gaining new customers as a direct result of using video.
That stat comes from The first stat I said actually came from Sysco. So, these are true, real stats, I'm not making up, that researchers are utilizing and finding out to let you see, as a business owner, as local agent, as a professional, just how important it is to utilize video in your marketing efforts.
Did you know that, on average, that people spend 2.6x more of their time on a page when it has video on it? I mean, 2.6x they're more likely to spend on a certain page when they see video on that page. So, what does that mean? It means that you need to start utilizing more video.
Did you know that one minute of video is equivalent to 1.6 million words?
That's crazy. Just one minute. And, viewers retain 95% more of a message when they actually watch it. What does that mean? That means when they watch a video, they retain 95% of it. But, when they're watching … just reading something, they only retain 10% of it. So, it's super, super important that you're utilizing video.
Video helps you to break down barriers. It helps you to be seen.
You also become known as the expert authority in your area. It works in any industry, especially if you're doing it on a local level. Because, it's easier for you to get in the minds of your consumers because you live in the area, you can talk about the area. And, you can talk about what's really important and relevant to them specifically, if that makes sense.
If you are thinking, “I'm not good on video. I don't like to do video. I'm afraid of it.” I'm gonna tell you, you gotta start. Because, those statistics are just absolutely insane.
Good videos actually increase brand awareness by 139%. 139%.
You are a brand. If you're a professional, or you;re an agent, or a lender, or a local professional, you're a brand. You are a product. You are a service. If people are much more likely to interact with you and recognize your brand, or your product, or service, or utilize it more, or use it more, and remember, you're a product, doesn't it make sense that you should be utilizing video? You want more business. You wanna be busier, right? You want to be able to connect with your customers? You do it utilizing video.
Social videos generate 1200% more shares than just text alone. 1200% more shares than just using a text that has images on it. That's a big deal when you're doing social videos, right? So, it's important for you.
Everybody wants free search. You want free search! When you use videos on Facebook, you have 135% more organic reach. That means you're not even paying for it. That's amazing. 135% more organic reach just by utilizing video.
What is this saying?
If people are much more likely to engage with video, to engage with you, shouldn't you be using it?
Do you wanna be busier? Do you wanna reach more customers? Do you wanna break down barriers? Do you wanna be seen as the expert authority in your industry? Video helps you do it. And then, also, properly exposing it does a really, really good time as well.
56% of customers believe that a company should have video on their website. That's from Forbes.
If you don't have video on your website, it's time to start.
You can just start by just utilizing this. You don't need to worry about having fancy lights, or any of that stuff. You just need to utilize your cell phone. Make sure you have a nice background. Make sure the lighting is okay and that there's no crazy noises going on behind you. Just start shooting. It's really as simple as that.
I know it's hard. Some of you are just so worried about it. But guess what? Don't you notice it's happening more, and more, and more? Why is that? Because it works. It's truly effective. That's why more marketers are actually utilizing video, because they know that it's actually helping their business grow faster. They're making more revenue. They're reaching more customers. They're reaching more clients.
Your job as a local professional, as an agent, as a lender, as an attorney or a CPA … As any local business or any local professional, your job is to do what? It's to be seen, to be heard, so you can be known. Your job is to break through all the noise, right? Your job is to stand out as a local professional. And, if there is a lot of competition, the best way to do it is this.
Now some of you are thinking, “Well Krista, I'm not like you, and I'm not comfortable on video.” Or, “I'm not comfortable being social.” Are you comfortable talking about your content? Are you comfortable talking about your product, or service, or what it is that you … Are you comfortable helping people and giving tips and advice? Just think of it like that. Just stick a big head or something, or a ball, right where your camera is, and just talk to that ball. Or, pretend like you're talking to just one person, your mom, or your dad, or your husband, or whatever it might be, or your dog. And, just pretend like you're telling them about your product or service. You're telling them about something that's happening in the community. And, just start talking. And then, just keep on doing it over, and over, and over again. And before you know it, it'll be super, super simple.
Think about the first time you wrote a contract. How long did it take you? Like two hours!
Now you can do it in five minutes because it's gets easier and easier over time. When I first started doing video, I was terrible. I couldn't stand it. I remember having to do about 50 takes, and then the video guy had his friend there.
I make mistakes. It's okay. People want you to make mistakes, because it shows that you're human. People are put off by perfection.
Did you see that?
People are put off by perfection. So, don't be perfect. That's okay. I'm human. I'm normal. It's okay for you to be too.
Social Media For Real Estate
Mistake number two, what is the second biggest mistake …
What are you doing to help you not succeed?
This is not just for real estate agents, it's for every single business out there. If you are a professional, a local professional or business, this is a mistake that most businesses, real estate agents, lenders, CPA's, accountants, insurance agents, attorney's, doctors, lawyers, that they're not doing enough of to actually be more successful. What is that? It's they're not properly utilizing social media.
They are under utilizing social media, and if they are utilizing social media, mistake number two is not they're using enough of it. They're not using enough social media, and they're not utilizing it correctly.
If professionals are utilizing social media, they're not utilizing it correctly.
They're not running out to their ads manager account, they're not retargeting, they're not creating lookalike audiences. They're just boosting, they think boosting is enough. If you're just boosting, you're not able to do anything with those analytics, you're not able to see what people are doing, and then see who’s watching, and whose interacting, and whose engaging. Then, you're not able to retarget to them, and to send more information that's similar to the first thing that you sent them.
If you properly utilize social media, you're able to do all of that.
You can actually target people specifically, that have interacted with your videos. Now remember, mistake number one was not utilizing enough video. Mistake number two, is not utilizing social media. How not to succeed as a real estate agent, how not to succeed as a local professional, is not utilize social media correctly. It's imperative.
Do you know that people are going on social media insanely?
There's 2.23 billion people just on Facebook alone. The average person goes to Facebook 17 times a day, and spends over 50 minutes a day just on Facebook. Imagine how powerful Facebook can be when you're properly utilizing it, and you're actually utilizing it correctly. You need to think about something, Facebook is a business. I'm not just talking about Facebook. We also believe in Instagram is very important, and YouTube. Although I will say, pick your platform. Pick one and really master it, know how it works correctly, and really, really learn it to the best of your knowledge.
Utilizing social media, you gotta think about this. Imagine if you throw a video, or an ad out. You can then see exactly how many people watch the ad, you can see how long they watched the video, and then if they watched the entire thing. You can see if they've watched 10%, 50%, or whatever it might be. Then you can say, “Okay, I'm going to create another ad that's similar to the one I did, with the similar kind of information. I want all the people that actually watch this ad, then to see my next one.” You're bringing them down your funnel, you're retargeting to them.
Then by the time you get to the bottom, it's very, very, those people are very serious because they've continued to go down your funnel. The more that they see you, and the more that they're showing interest.
Get people that are showing interest in your subject matter. Again, know, like, and trust factors are being, are established. Showing yourself as the authority, and it's just amazing.
Mistake number one was not utilizing enough video. Mistake number two, not using enough social media. Social media, think about it, you're on social media right now. Think about how powerful social media can be utilized for you to then generate your brand, for people to get to know you, how you can then actually put ads for people to actually see.
Facebook's a business.
They want your money.
If you're just posting on your business page, if you're just posting on your personal page, only about three percent of people are actually seeing you because Facebook wants you to pay to play. They want your money. If you want people to actually see you and engage with you correctly, you're going to have to pay for them, and do it through your ads manager account, and properly utilize it.
Grab Their Attention
Most people are doing what's my home worth. I get it. What's my home worth, it's a great thing to do. But a lot of times, they're giving away the farm. Meaning instead of just saying what's my home worth, you can find out how homes in this certain subdivision are selling for 7% higher than in any other homes in Brentwood. Or you can say, “Hey, this home had 17 offers and sold for 5% more than any other house in the area. Find out why.”
Do something like that.
Or find out why this home sold. Find out why we had. Don't just say what's my home worth, try to figure out what it is that you can offer without giving away the farm.
The idea is to grab people's attention, to reel them in, to get them want, asking for more, to get them to want to give you their information. That's the idea. But if you give everything away, then they're not gonna have a reason to want to look for more. To want to call you or to reach out for help.
They're not gonna want to investigate more of what it is that you are offering because you're already telling them. What you want to do is you want to make sure that you'll always give as much information as value, but don't just tell them everything. Try to see what kind of copy that you can be utilizing in your marketing to get people to want to act more, to give you more information, to give you more of what it is that they are doing.
The biggest mistake that agents are making not to be successful is they're giving away the farm without trying to extrapolate more information from the people without trying to get more value.
Don't make the mistake. Don't give away the farm. Try to get people's information. Try to get people to give you as much information as possible. Really think about what words you are using in your marketing.
What is your copy like? Are you using descriptive words? Are you using words to provoke someone to take action? To make them want to go to the next level, to make them want to click, right? And it's getting harder and harder to reach people because there's so much marketing on Facebook and on other social media sites that we're using. So how do you stand out above the noise?
The idea is to use proper copy, proper images to get people to want to take the next action. If you are staying and doing the same thing everyone else is, they're not gonna click because they're seeing it all the time. You need to give them a reason to want to find out more.
Why?
I want to know how they got 17 offers. Or I want to know how that house sold for 5% more. I wonder how much it sold for. I didn't tell you. Then they have to click and then they'll find out more.
Google My Business Reviews Are King
If you don't want to succeed as a realtor, do not get online reviews.
It is that way for any business or profession.
Getting online reviews:
People are going online. According to the National Association of Realtors in 2017, they said that the average person interviews 2.6 agent. One of the things that I find is that many times people are going online when they're interviewing me and they're interviewing me and other top producing agents in my area.
How are they finding us?
They're finding us online.
They're going and looking at Zillow for reviews. They're going and looking at Yelp for reviews. They're going and looking on Facebook pages for reviews.
You need to get reviews. Whether you're a real estate agent or a local business or professional, you want to get as many reviews as possible so people will look, be able to look out for you and they'll be able to trust you more.
What do online reviews do?
It shows people that you're doing business and you do it well! It shows people that people enjoy working with you.
People realize they need to get reviews. They'll ask for reviews one time. Then they won't ask again for a year. What happens is they'll get a bunch of reviews in one month and then they won't see any for 12 months. That's not what you want to do. You want to make sure that you put the review request in your CRM, in your action plan, in your workflows.
Here's the thing:
Don't just ask one time. People are busy! They want to give you a review because they love you and they think you're awesome, but what happens is that they get tired and they forget and they're moving. What you have to do is you've got to ask again later!
One of the best ways to ensure that you get a review is when you go to the closing day when you give them their gift, you can say “Hey, do you mind writing a review for me? Let's pull out your phone right now.”
Another way is to send a video text message and make sure the links are in there. If you send a video email saying “Hey, it's Krista. I hope you enjoyed working with me. I know it's been about three months. Today's 90 days since you've been in your home. It's your 90-day anniversary and I know you've been so busy, but I really want to help other people. I love my job. I love what I do. Many times people are looking online for reviews so in order for me to be able to help more people and assist more people and help more homeowners, do you mind writing a review? All you have to do is click these links below.” Even give them examples of things that went well in the transaction for them to use in their review. Make it easier for them.
Boom. Done.
Another thing to do is to do a contest. You can create a contest where you say “Hey, I'm going to enter you in a drawing if you give me a review” and remind people “Please, please give me a five-star review if you feel I did good service because people don't think of four stars as good.” You need to actually tell them exactly what you want them to do. “Here's a five-star review. Here's the links below.”
Now, just know it takes a little bit of time, but not much time at all. After you continue to get more and more and you ask, it gets easier and easier and easier. Some people are afraid to ask for reviews because they feel as though what if they say something negative or whatever. If someone didn't like you and you didn't do an excellent job or they're just kind of a negative Nelly, then don't ask them. Only ask the clients that you know that they were happy, you provided a good service, they had a good outcome, and they love you. Ask those people for reviews.
You might be thinking “Well Krista, I'm new and I don't have anyone to ask reviews for.” You've had other businesses. You could have people give you a review on Facebook and also on Yelp from past clients that you've worked with or past professionals or coworkers that you've worked with.
Make sure that your reviews are honest. Make sure that they did actually work with you. Don't ever lie.
Another way to get reviews is to have a party and then say “Okay, everyone. You've worked with me in the past and you love me. Do you mind doing a review for me?” Have them sign on right there from their phones and tell them they'll be entered into a drawing at your party to win something really cool that you have and tell them to do a review.
Reviews matter. People are looking at them. They're searching for you online.
Offer Your Clients Value
What is mistake number five? It's not offering enough value to your clients where you have to cut your commission.
If you are not offering enough value and you're not showing what your value add is, then that's why you have to cut your commission. If you generate enough value and you are serving your clients to your highest potential, offering them things that no one else is, then you don’t have to cut your commission.
What kind of things can you do to show value? You need to show them your marketing plan. What is your marketing plan? How is your marketing plan different? Are you utilizing social media? Are you creating campaigns on social media, on Facebook, on Youtube? Are you properly utilizing your campaigns?
You can show them the national association of realtors shows that only 16% of agents actually are utilizing social media. For my personal research, I have found that only about 1% of agents are even actually doing it correctly, and I show my clients that. Here's an example of social media done wrong, and here's an example of social media done right? Do you see how I end up getting 150,000 views and 200 hours of people watching my social media campaigns and looking at my properties?
Why?
Because I properly do it. It's a matter of showing your clients what makes you different, why you are better.
Are you using digital marketing strategies in your marketing? Where are people looking? Online!
They're online, they're on Facebook, they're on Youtube. Are you properly showing them that you utilize strategies in the way that buyers and sellers and clients are looking? People are online. Are you able to show that you're online and how you're utilizing that correctly? Are you using craigslist in your marketing?
Show them why. Do you have a text capture software on your signs? You should. Why? Because if you've got a text capture shop where that takes you right to your website and then what happens is if you utilize it properly in sends you an email with that client's contact information, with that buyer's contact information.
“Mr. Seller, don't you see how important that would be if somebody is actually texting on your house? I know that's a qualified buyer. I'm the best person to talk to them because I am the one that knows anything and everything about your house.”
Does your property have its own website? It should. Are you utilizing multiple pictures, are you utilizing professional videography, professional photography? Those are the kinds of things you want to be able to show them. Are you utilizing SEO, search engine optimization, are your property showing up higher on Google and on the websites? If you're utilizing what we teach on video repurposing then you absolutely would be. When you show your clients that you're going to see my name pop up all over the place.
Why? Because I utilize search engine optimization and something what we called video repurposing to generate as much interest in your property as we can. When you start showing sellers this information and even buyers.
Why should buyers work with you?
With buyers, I mean we have access to all these different houses. We have the means to show them and get them in when they want, making ourselves available at all times. I mean you should never tell a client that you cannot show their house.
Do you offer as a seller free staging or semi-staging. We do! We do free semi-staging and we bring in our own pictures and tchotchkes and doodads.
What do you do? You hire a stager and say, hey, would you mind charging me $35 an hour to give a two hour consultation? Those are the kinds of things that you want to do to give more value to serve your client to the best of their ability. All of these things are going to help make them more money and give you more exposure because you are doing what you should be, which is absolutely serving your client to the best of your ability.
Are you target marketing? Are you target marketing buyers? Properly utilize social media and we target market buyers. What that means is, is it a buyer looks at a house three months ago, we now can target market to that buyer and we can show them a house that's very similar to yours.
When you properly are utilizing social media and your targeting and your recharging and you're creating lookalike audiences. When you know about this stuff, you can actually show your seller why it's so important and why it's imperative for them to do it. These are the kinds of things that you want to talk about and teach your clients what makes you different from everything else, because you are setting not only yourself up for success, but you are setting them up for success.
Creative Landing Pages
Are you creating landing pages? You should be!
Landing pages are imperative. Utilizing landing page software and creating landing pages to capture someone's information and then stick them into your CRM.
Why are lending pages so important? Because I utilize landing pages to actually get more buyers for your property. And then what happens is it puts them into my software so I automatically know to follow up within them on real evolve campaigns and workflows so we don't miss any buyers.
If you continue to show your clients your value add you will not have to cut your commission, you will not have to. The average commission price is different in every area. Sometimes it's 6% sometimes the average commission is five. If the average commission is six, charge six and give more value. Don't cut your service, you're cutting yourself short and you're also cutting your seller short because you're not offering them as much value as you can and that's hurting them and their bottom line.
When it comes to the target marketing too let them know we're searching where buyers are. We've done a research on your house, who's the potential buyer, where are they coming from? Who's moving into the area, who's moving out of it so that we can properly market to get as many buyers as we can.
Utilizing digital marketing strategies and finding people the way that they're actually working is imperative to you. We can show sellers why we utilize different software and why that's important to them. Bring it back to them. Bring it back to their bottom line.
Did you know, according to the National Association of Realtors home buyer and seller report that 67% of buyers will actually walk through a home they saw online.
I let them know about how open houses do not work and that's what we don't do them. It helps me Mr. Seller, but it does not help you. But if you want to do open houses, you can kind of spin that. You can say here's how open houses might help you is that your neighbors will, will hear about it. This is really the truth. Your neighbors will know about the open house and they'll come see it. And if they know somebody that actually wants to purchase a house, they can tell them about it. So that's how it would help them, which is really the truth because we all know to believe only helps us in most cases.
Displace that rumor that open houses or the only time that out of town buyers can come see it. No. If an out of town buyer says, Hey, I'm three hours away, I'm coming in. Then you as a selling agent and have that duty to go show the house to anybody. So just because you're holding an open house, that's not the only time that people can come see the house.
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