I absolutely have to share this, even though it’s not my own marketing, nor is it for my own listing.
As technology continues to provide us all with better tools, no matter the industry in which we work, some people will take advantage, while others will continue the status quo.
Here’s a real estate video made for a house in Riverdale that I think is amazing. It speaks directly to the target audience: families with kids.
It’s fun, it’s different, and it’s a novel way to “tour” a house.
This is a unique house, in a unique location, and it will likely produce a buyer who is searching for something different.
So it comes as no surprise that the marketing for the property is also extremely unique.
Some people have called these “real estate lifestyle videos,” but I think this video is more than that.
If you’re going to do a video like this, you have to know your audience.
The first one of these videos came out three years ago. Remember the house on Cottingham? I’ve mentioned this several times over the last few years. Check out the video HERE.
The video showed a single-guy, coming home for the day, getting dressed to go out at night, and then he sees his dog, and decides to stay home.
It was a cool concept, and a cute story-line, but the target market for that video was way too narrow!
That house, and that location, appeals to a vast array of buyers. To narrow the video to just the single-guy, in my opinion, was short-sighted, and might have turned off downsizers, or a young couple with children.
Know your audience.
That’s the key when making one of these lifestyle videos to show off a property.
Know your audience.
And in Riverdale, it’s all about families, so the audience for this house, no question about it, is a young couple with kids.
The “Hide & Seek” video was an ingenious way to show off the home in a unique way, but the smiles on the children’s faces, and the playful nature of the video will resonate with the target market for the property.
This video almost forces us to ask, “If this is marketing, then what the heck were we doing before?”
When we were just putting up photos on MLS and doing “virtual tours” that were often just a slideshow of those very same photos, where was the actual “marketing?”
This video defines the term “marketing” as it speaks to a target audience, in the way that every product or service being sold ought to.
And did you notice the use of drones in the video?
This is going to be one of the biggest technological advances in real estate marketing in a decade.
Drones aren’t expensive, FYI. A few hundred dollars, maybe more.
The Toronto Star did an article about this last month. Check it out:
“The High Flying World Of Real Estate”
I have yet to use a drone in my marketing, but when an opportunity arises, I’ll be all over it.
Kudos to Suzanne Lewis from Keller Williams for coming up with the idea for this video.
I don’t think this house will be on the market long!
FrankyB
at 9:07 am
This is indeed awesome, and the house itself if pretty cool and lends itself well to the video and drone. The house is rumored to belong to a very famous Canadian musician (I won’t spill the beans, but let’s just say he’s also spent some time in Bobcaygeon) – so I wonder if the ‘creative thrust’ comes from him in any way.
All that said, these videos/slideshows are helpful, but ultimately I would say most buyers are forced to look at sometimes dozens of houses daily and so sitting through a video is not something they have time for – give me 20-30 pics in a large enough size to view them without having to click through each one and a floorplan so I can sort the wheat from the chaff.
Noel
at 11:06 am
The video has good production values, is cute and gives you a good idea about the home, but any agent or seller putting much faith in it doing much in terms of marketing is doesn’t really understand human nature and what motivates buyers.
While this video might get some people to go see a home that might not otherwise if they hadn’t seen the video, with attention spans these days almost no one wants to sit through an almost 3-minute long video. They will gladly click through a dozen pictures in 10 seconds to decide whether they want to see the place. Also, there is nothing in the video that would have impact enough to convince someone who saw the pictures and didn’t want to see the home to go see it. In fact there might be something in the video that would result in someone who wanted to see the house after seeing the pictures to not want to. Furthermore, decisions are made when someone tours the home physically, not when watching a video. In addition, real estate salespeople are going to recommend a house to their client irrespective of a video if they think it is suitable for the client.
Lifestyle videos as great to sell a brand. A home is not a brand. Each one is unique. These videos might help sell the brokerage or the real estate salesperson as a brand, but not the home. As such, it’s like an open house which invariably do nothing to sell the home but a lot to promote the real estate saleperson.
So it all sounds good and impressive on face but when you ‘go behind the scenes’ (not pun intended) it’s a waste of time and money to do these and more so in this hot market.
grasshopper
at 9:40 am
Nice video. The house has been for sale for a while, so maybe the video will be the marketing it needs.
My overwhelming impression was of stairs. It seems like each room is on a different level connected by stairs. Even the yard has stairs. I would like to see a floorplan to understand it all.
Blorg
at 4:27 pm
Yep, this house has been on the market for a while (since June-ish, it was on the MASH). And it is Gord Downie’s. But it wasn’t staged at all prior to this video (as far as I remember). It was kinda cluttered with wacky artsy fartsy stuff you’d expect to be in Downie’s house. And lavender paint.
Maybe people with 2.25m to spend on a place can’t imagine it without the tack? Shrug.
Blorg
at 4:30 pm
Oh it was originally listed at 2.495 in June. So price drop!
Kyle
at 10:26 am
I think the videos are definitely useful to many buyers. Not so much for the storyline, but the fact that it gives a much more realistic sense of size, light, layout and condition than a handful of HDR’ed photos does.
OriginalDan
at 10:27 am
Classy Vid! Corporations, NGOs and Governments use video to easily broadcast a message to audiences all the time, why shouldn’t agents use it as well?
A multi-million dollar house in Riverdale? Sorry everybody but I have to post this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaFamedaS1g
Diane Akam
at 11:21 am
Thanks so much for the compliments! I generally produce more corporate/broadcast video productions, so this real estate one was a first for me. Suzanne Lewis approached me about doing a video and we thought up the concept together. It was a pleasure to work with her and I’m hoping the home will be appreciated for the gem it is. It’s really a stunner. You can see more of our work at dnafilms.ca.
Noel
at 12:48 pm
How much did you charge?
Diane Akam
at 1:44 pm
Please email me to discuss what we can do for you. diane@dnafilms.ca.
Cheers,
Diane
Fro Jo
at 4:04 pm
Congratulations on a fine film. Works on every level.
Chroscklh
at 3:37 pm
You make most excellent film. Is good for to market house – congrat. How u market house if eastern european man take large family home and renovate/decorate with quite specific esthetic? I use much glass and expose stone which some say nice but also have taxidermy bear on all 3 floors – had to remove window crane lift polar bear to 3rd floor, cannot remove, must sell with house?!
Paully
at 8:17 am
That video works really well because the house looks to be impeccably done.
Now, I am imagining using the same concept for the completely gross condo that you featured recently, only in that one, the mice and rats would be playing hide and seek with the roaches and silverfish!
Real Estate In St Johns
at 8:45 am
An opportunity to find homes for sale you’ll love, listed on MLS today. Nlhouses was built as a one-stop real estate resource for all yours Newfoundland real estate needs.
Pape
at 9:09 am
This is Gord Downie’s house
Libertarian
at 10:53 am
If Grasshopper is correct in saying that the house has been on the market for a while, does that mean that Gord Downie is a greedy pig for asking $2.5 million for his house?
Here is a beautiful home in one of the most popular areas, but it won’t sell. What happened to….”it’s a hot market” and “lots of foreign money in Toronto” and “expensive homes are flying off the shelves”, etc.?
Was Mr. Downie using a crappy agent and changed to this new agent? If the new agent is so good and the house is so awesome, why spend money on the video (as Noel points out)?
Something has to be fishy.
Libertarian
at 4:51 pm
typo – $2.25 million
m
at 2:56 pm
I don’t usually watch R/E videos, but enjoyed this one. Seeing real people move through the space gives one a much better feel for what the space is like. And it was novel and interesting. It would drive me bonkers though if every listing tried to imitate this approach.
Steve
at 4:22 pm
“Here is a beautiful home in one of the most popular areas, but it won’t sell. What happened to….”it’s a hot market” and “lots of foreign money in Toronto” and “expensive homes are flying off the shelves”, etc.?”
Hmmmmm …… There are homes in my area who take a long time to sell as well.