Property Videography
Introduction
A video is an important ingredient of a property listing, arguably more effective at showcasing one’s home and stimulating buyer attention, interest and engagement than photos and words alone; yet is underutilised and underappreciated by many and seldom incorporated in listings. Here I discuss the reasons why incorporating a video in our listing can place our home in a stronger competitive position over competing listings and properties that do not include videos.
A video can make a big impression of our home on buyers
This section will cover property videography from a marketing perspective, and not from a technical perspective, as the marketing aspect of one’s home is our one and only focus, and the technical aspects of property videography are beyond the scope of this guide.
A good portion of the discussion, tips and recommendations covered on property photography would also be applicable here - but with property videography, we’re kicking it up a notch!
A video is an important ingredient of a property listing. In fact, a video can make a big impression of our home on buyers, arguably even more so than photos, and our job is to make the best impression possible! After all, our home is competing with other properties on the market, so it’s always a good idea to put our very best foot forward!
However despite the big impression that a video can bring, videos are seldom incorporated in property listings - all the more reason for a video to be incorporated in our property listing for a competitive advantage!
Why should we incorporate a video in our property listing?
According to Rightmove, property listings with videos receive on average 36% more views and 31% more leads than those without.
A video can go a long way to enhancing the appeal of both one’s listing and home!
A video can be more effective at showcasing one’s home in its full glory compared to simply photos and words alone. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million! (A minute video is worth 1.8 million words to be exact!)
Although a video is optional and not a requirement, the choice to include one in our listing is strongly recommended to help boost buyer interest and engagement over competing listings without one. And in a market where competition is fierce and buyers' time and/or attention are short, it’s imperative to make the best use of the tools available to us in order to stand out from the crowd, especially the tools that are underutilised and underappreciated by the competition!
Click here to see an example of a short video tour of a property.
A video can be an effective medium for storytelling
A video is not simply just a visual aid for showcasing one’s home. In fact, a well-crafted video can be an effective and engaging medium for storytelling, driving the visual narrative of the property!
It’s important to keep in mind that although logic plays a large part in the buyer’s decision in choosing their next home, that buying decision is nevertheless driven more by emotion than logic. As discussed in a previous section, at every stage in the buyer’s search, the buyer looking at a property will try to visualise themself living there as the litmus test for deciding whether to move onto the next step (in this case, to make an enquiry and book a viewing).
Buyers will indeed try to imagine themselves their ideal living and lifestyle conditions and surroundings. Although facts (such as property features and specifications) are certainly important and greatly influence the buyers’ decision, buyers buy into the visual story and narrative (of the property and the area), not just facts. After all, story and narrative triggers emotion, facts trigger logic.
Our job is to tell the best story and narrative rather than simply present facts and images. A video is a visual medium that can be the most effective at bridging the gap between the offerings of our home with the buyers’ emotion - in particular, the emotion that’s triggered by visualisation and imagination!
Visual storytelling and narrative can set our home apart from the competition
In a scenario where properties in the same area are similar to one another, it can be quite the challenge for one property to stand out from the rest. In such a scenario, our home may be similar to competing properties in the same area. If we were to market our home simply based on the facts of the property, then we leave buyers little choice but to base their decision on facts and logic alone.
And if buyers view no significant difference between one property to another (since similar properties will more or less offer the same or similar features and/or specifications), then logic dictates that their buying decision will lean towards the property with the lower asking price, meaning that we’d have to reduce our asking price to be competitive!
How can we set ourselves apart from the competition in such a scenario?
We can present our home differently to the competition through the means of visual storytelling and narrative. While the competition may choose to market their properties based on facts; we can choose to utilise visual storytelling and narrative to convey the style, character, and uniqueness of our home that cannot be adequately conveyed with facts alone!
So even if our home may be similar to competing properties from a factual or technical perspective; style, character and uniqueness can certainly set it apart from the competition!
If we choose to present our home showing off its style, character or uniqueness, then buyers are likely to find it appealing, even though it may be similar to competing properties.
Essentially, we are presenting another perspective of our home that buyers can base their decision on other than logic, which can save us needing to reduce our asking price to be competitive!
Why wouldn’t competing properties be as appealing as our home even though they may be similar?
If the competition chooses to market their properties based on facts alone, then they wouldn’t be able to adequately convey the style, character or uniqueness of their respective properties. If those properties are indeed similar to one another, more or less offering the same or similar features and/or specifications, then no one property is any more appealing than the others, especially if there is no other perspective presented of those properties to be able to base one’s buying decision on other than just facts alone!
A video can enhance our home’s perceived value
Although a video is indeed optional and not a requirement, the choice to include one in our listing shows buyers that we’ve gone the extra mile to present and showcase our home. Value is about perception. If it’s apparent that we’ve taken a great deal of care and attention towards the presentation and marketing of our home, then buyers are more likely to:
Perceive our home as being more valuable than competing listings/properties that have not gone the extra mile.
Be more excited about our home over competing listings/properties that have not gone the extra mile.
After all, value isn’t just found in the product or service itself - it’s also found in its presentation and marketing!
If a video is indeed available, it can normally be found in the body of the main property listing, and is usually one of the very first things that buyers will click on.
MAIN LISTING ON RIGHTMOVE WITH VIDEO
Videos can be more effective than photos
Whilst photos are a fine way to showcase one’s home, there’s only so much information that can be conveyed with just still images. Not only are videos able to make use of both visual and audio (i.e. music) to tell the story and narrative compared to just visual alone with photos; videos can also make use of more creative and complex editing techniques to bring one’s home to life, offering buyers a more immersive experience and captivating their imagination, enabling them to envisage what it would be like to live there as their next abode! (More so than what photos are capable of)
Photos can indeed tell a story and narrative, but does so triggering the sense of sight only. Videos, on the other hand, can tell a story and narrative triggering the senses of both sight and sound, making for a more immersive experience and being more effective at captivating one’s imagination!
Videos are the preferable medium
It’s also important to bear in mind that the buyers’ time and/or attention are only getting shorter, so we only have a mere matter of seconds to grab their attention. Thanks to online platforms (in particular, social media platforms), people are further conditioned to prefer consuming content through short-form videos over most forms of media. And so, not only are videos an effective way to showcase one’s home, it can be said to be the preferable way for buyers!
And as we are marketing our home on online platforms such as Rightmove and/or Zoopla, it makes sense to adapt to people’s preferences for consuming content.
According to Rightmove, only a third of property listings have video content available. And so, if we choose to incorporate a video in our listing, then we will already have at least one advantage over the competition that fall into the approximate 67% of total listings that do not include videos!
How do we produce a video?
Producing a video can be done DIY or with a videographer. With some simple filming and editing tricks, even a DIY video recorded on a smartphone can appear relatively well-produced at minimal cost; though understandably, the production quality and expertise will not be on par with a video produced by a videographer. And the more expensive one’s home is, the higher the expectation is (from buyers) for top-notch production quality and expertise.
If we do decide on a videographer to produce a well-crafted video of our home for our listing, the investment could very well be worth its weight in gold, as it can mean the difference between no buyer interest to some buyer interest, or some buyer interest to strong buyer interest! And it can especially mean the difference between no offers to good offers, or good offers to better offers!
Getting in touch with me
If you would like to discuss with me about incorporating a video in your listing, click here to get in touch with me and let’s have a discussion!
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Credit goes to Rightmove for the images used in this section