Australian businesses are devoting more of their marketing budget to online video than ever before, as viewing trends skyrocket with latest statistics from YouTube revealing a staggering three billion views every day. Once seen as “new technology”, video has fast become a favourite for marketers with its capacity to engage viewer attention, drive brand awareness and boost SEO.
Research from the US shows people spend 75% more time on websites with video, and 85% of consumers go online before making a purchase. This could be why 57% of marketers plan to increase video advertising in 2012, according to recent statistics from Digiday.
Video production company Visual Domain is riding this wave of popularity, having grown to a staff of over fifty to cope with demand.
‘We’ve seen enquiries triple in the last six months,’ says Daniel Goldstein, Director of Visual Domain. ‘Many businesses are posting weekly videos instead of newsletters, and there’s strong interest in company profile videos from business owners needing a more effective way to connect with their market.’
In Australia, real estate has been one of the first industries to embrace video, and agents are experiencing dramatic results: listings with video receive 403% more enquiries on domain.com.au than listings without. Melbourne real estate group Jellis Craig was one of the first companies to adopt video technology as an integral part of its property e-marketing strategy. CEO Nick Dowling says:
‘In addition to visiting traditional information channels, purchasers are increasingly going online and looking to digital content to research the market. For us, video marketing is a powerful way to drive sales for our clients. Not only are purchasers more engaged with our property listings, they are also reaching a larger audience because viewers tend to share videos via social networking sites.’
Demand for online videos has also skyrocketed from small and medium enterprises in retail, health, finance, leisure, hospitality and tourism. Many businesses are making use of video for internal purposes, such as training staff, presenting products and answering frequently asked questions.
Several key benefits of video are driving this surge in popularity. Video is more engaging than photos or text; using the emotive power of sound, vision and graphics to deliver key messages in a personable and attention-grabbing way. From a branding perspective, video is also useful in boosting recognition, improving SEO and communicating brand values using tone and style.
With online media consumption habits gaining momentum, video is anything but a passing trend. YouTube stats confirm that 400 million videos are watched daily on mobile devices, and this has tripled in the last year. Social video campaigns delivered 8 billion views in 2011, which is predicted to double again this year according to digital marketing experts at econsultant. Within 2 years, global online video ad spending is predicted to explode from $1.97 billion to $5.71 billion.
Guest Author: Daniel Goldstein, Director @ Visual Domain
12 Comments
Dave Platter
Great post, Daniel. Thanks for sharing. I’m amazed at how quickly video has become cluttered. What I mean is that almost any video search comes back with so many results, and so many of them are mediocre, that it’s easy to give up.
Have you got any advice for an agent / agency on how to create videos that stand out from the clutter and also are above average in quality?
Jeroen van de Peppel
Hi Dave,
Some advice an agent using video marketing could use is to include Keyword rich captions and subtitles in their videos on Youtube. It’s quite simple to do and adds some raw text to the video for Google and other search engines to crawl and index. Check out this page for “How To” http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=100077
Daniel Goldstein
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your comment, and apologies for the late response. Here are some golden rules to ensure your video stands our from the crowd – for the right reasons!
1. Image quality – ensure you are shooting quality images by using a tripod and DSLR camera. Wide angle lenses, lighting, and fluid pan/tilt head are important too, but stable and sharp images are basic necessities. No hand-helds!
2. Audio quality – dodgy audio is avoided by using lapel mics and minimising background noise. Make sure you speak in a loud and clear voice. Music should complement the property style – for example, rural retreats suit acoustic guitar, whereas inner-city apartments suit more contemporary beats.
3. Short and sweet. Most viewers tune out after 2 minutes, so keep your video focused on just a few key selling points and don’t worry about shooting bathrooms or laundries unless they are spectacular.
4. Speak in confident, short sentences and don’t ramble. The editor will take care of rearranging your voiceover into logical order, so there’s no need to read huge swathes of marketing copy over and over if you make a mistake.
5. Relax and have fun! The best videos are where the agent shows the viewer through the property in the same way as you would in person. So don’t be afraid to make it personal, demonstrate your favourite features, and share a story about the property or a little joke. It’s far more engaging for the viewer.
Your video provider should be able to walk you through the process from start to finish, so you are comfortable in front of the camera and fully understand the possibilities (such as including photos, graphics, etc). All this and more can ensure your videos impress your clients, confirm your expertise and attract the maximum number of viewers.
I hope this is helpful and best of luck with your videos.
Dan
John
Excellent post Daniel. I have to agree as VMA have been preaching the use & benefits of online video marketing for years.
Lisa Tremolada
Hi Dave. I have a compiled a report specifically for real estate agents on 24 ways to use video in your real estate business. Its available at http://www.realestateonlinevideomarketing.com. I’m sure this will give you some inspiration to use videos that will give you a huge point of difference to your competitors. If I can help please let me know. Lisa
Greg Vincent
Great article Daniel.
Video is such an inexpensive, ‘Largely-Untapped’ medium for agents to create an engaging marketing message out to their potential clients.
Some are using it very well and are achieving great results, yet many haven’t ventured down this path at all???
Video is great for helping to build a “Trustworthy Digital Footprint” and displaying Non-Verbal communication so that clients can get to “like — know — trust” an agent before they even get to meet them.
I did an interview with Kevin Turner recently for REUNCUT.com around this very topic and how powerful video is and the amount of leverage an agent can gain from video. During the interview we were both left wondering why so many agents weren’t embracing video.
Love to hear some thoughts from you Daniel + B2 readers/contributors as to why you’d feel it is that the mainstream of agents aren’t embracing video as yet?
Is it cost? Lack of strategic approach? Don’t understand the audience ROI? Or perhaps even a little bit of Stage-Fright?
Daniel Goldstein
Hi Greg
Thanks for your comment and apologies for the belated response.
You’ve hit the nail on the head when it comes to agent resistance to video – it’s a variety of factors. I find there are three common ones:
– Cost isn’t so much an obstacle as ‘perceived cost’ – come agents assume video will be expensive, without realising it can be cheaper than some photography.
– Stage fright – definitely! It’s important to choose a video provider who takes the time to ensure you’re comfortable in front of the camera. Also, timid agents don’t realise they can use a professional voiceover or music and graphics to achieve a perfectly successful video without appearing in it.
– Time constraints – agents sometimes say they can’t devote 30 minutes to filming a video. However they don’t realise that the video can save them hours in wasted open-for-inspections! The video works 24 hours a day, reaching the maximum audience and reducing the need for multiple inspections by filtering out time-wasters.
Although there are various reasons agents may be initially reluctant to embrace video, there’s no denying its effectiveness. So we will continue to see an increase in the number of videos, and the number of agents regularly using videos, well into the foreseeable future.
Dan
Shane Dale
Video is great however I believe floor plans are more useful to all parties, the buyer and the agent.
Saves time, saves hassle – suits everyone, and suits 99% of properties..
Even an ordinary or even unattractive property makes a great floor plan.
Big beautiful homes need floor plans evn more, as they cant be conveyed in the usual handful of photos.
So IMHO the priority is – Photos, Floorplan, Video/virtual tours etc
Regarding the uptake I would suggest that video production costs are simply viewed as too high.
The same reason not everyone uses professional photos.
Those agents wishing to go the extra mile and improve their profile and marketing should definitely use video, its an easy differentiator if you can get the VPA or are ballsy enough to fund it yourself to get the listing! ( not many are!)
Lisa Tremolada
Video equipment these days is very inexpensive and you can produce near professional results yourself. You don’t even have to be in front of the camera to have a high quality video. I think that agents simply don’t know where to start with video and they presume it’s going to be a costly exercise. The other thing is that agents need to think outside the box. Advertising properties is not the only use for videos. There are lots of other ways real estate agents can use video to increase their profile and to position themselves as the expert in their area. Very easy to do, using video.
Topic Simple
Great article. My advice to Dave on how to create videos that stand out from the clutter is to think about making them more animated… literally! Animation can explain things very well and is much less common than video.
Glenn Batten
The new Ted-Ed series highlights this very well as they use video and animation together to provide a better online experience. http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDEducation
Peter Watson
VIdeo is obviously another great marketing tool when looking for that extra arm of advertising to give your business the edge.
My tip would be to make sure you don’t ‘cheap out’! Make sure you are using a reputable company to produce your video and always ask to see previous work.
If you go for the ‘quick and easy’ approach, it might actually back fire and give your business the opposite effect of what the video is actually for.