The current crisis has made it necessary for marketers and sales professionals in virtually every industry to come up with new ways to interact with potential customers. Your potential buyers are no exception. I imagine that this must be a frustrating time for people in real estate sales. Trying to work around traditional selling methods is a challenge. That said, there are workarounds, and their effectiveness might just surprise you.
I’ll admit, some of these suggestions are easier to implement than others, but please keep two things in mind as you read. First, 2020 has taught us (among many other things) that necessity is still the mother of invention. If not invention, it has at least forced implementation of selling methods that were thought to be too risky a year ago. Second, many of your competitors still think they are. This provides you with an opportunity that they might be passing up: to impress your audience (and potential buyers) with your persistence and out-of-the-box way of doing things.
I’d like to start out with a few emerging strategies and then offer some advice on how to get things done and done the right way for success. I’ll add one more thing to keep in mind here, too: Good help with content creation is available to you. I’ll have more on that later.
Static Images
This is the easiest, most cost-effective option, but it is also very basic. If you decide to go this route, keep several things in mind. For starters, the images need to accomplish two things at the same time: stop the viewer from scrolling and provide an accurate depiction of every part of the property. We aren’t talking about an average listing. We all know there are ways to make a property look better. For a virtual open house, you have to be willing to let people see the literal big picture.
Next, you can get around some of the less-appealing aspects of a property with more appealing support content. Write descriptions for each photo that draw attention to the most appealing features in the image. Get the reader to zero in on the things that are most likable, and it will direct their attention away from the flaws.
Finally, keep in mind that serious buyers will eventually at least visit the property, and anything you wish you could hide in pictures will be noticed. This goes for both the initial walk-through and, possibly, the inspection. Don’t leave people to feel as though they’ve been tricked. It’s all right in this instance to let some of the less-desirable bits show.
Video
You could basically cut and paste all the information in the above section into this one, but I’ll add a few more tips. Video quality matters here. Ask yourself if the video you shoot would give you the information about the property you’d want and need to reach out to a real estate agent. Is the lighting consistent? Are you conspicuously diverting attention from certain areas of the property? Again, thoroughness is key. You want to attract serious buyers.
What can be even more important is what you say. You want to ad-lib as much as possible, but you also want to be sure that you present your thoughts and observations in a complete and concise way. For this reason, I recommend scripting at least some of your commentary and use those parts to highlight key points. Using text titles to attract attention to those key points onscreen is also a great strategy. Get potential buyers thinking about the details you deem most important.
Live Walk-Throughs with Q&A
Just like with any showing or open house, a live walk-through allows you to interact with potential buyers in real-time and even interact on platforms like Zoom. As with any other video-based open house, you need to be thorough when showing the property. The tendency on live video is to show more of your face than the background. In this instance, the “background” matters.
That being said, do be sure that you are showing the property and showing your face. Making eye contact, even virtually, builds trust and makes people feel more like they’re actually there with you. A live walk-through is typically 100% spontaneous and ad-lib, so be sure you know enough about the property going in to not have to juggle a phone, briefcase, and notes all at the same time. If necessary, have someone with you who can wrangle the things you need to complete the event.
Effective Support Content
Any event that you schedule or host should be well advertised. This is why support content is a vital part of any event, in person or virtual. As I was preparing to write this post, I started brainstorming what a successful campaign for a virtual open house would look like in my own head. From the standpoint of responsible marketing, here are a few pieces of content you should consider assembling beforehand:
Email — With all the changes that the internet has gone through, email is still the most effective way to reach people. It’s more direct than social media and feels more personal, especially with the right subject lines and personalized text.
I recommend staying in contact with your list all the time and, in particular, delivering a pre-event sequence for your virtual open house. A three- to five-day sequence just before the event is optimal. Be sure to include reservation links and RSVP links for live events in your emails to better gauge engagement. Your RSVP link can even be tied to a landing page with info on the property and surrounding area.
Social Media — Please don’t neglect your social audiences. If they’re following you, they’re either looking to buy or have enough interest in your business to like and share your content. Channel all posts and pages related to the open house through social media to capture a larger audience and get a bigger response. Also, list RSVP links in your post descriptions with calls to action to tap or click to reserve a spot.
Press Releases — Every property deserves at least a brief press release when it goes on the market, even more so if there is something significant about it. Historical properties, strategic commercial properties, and the like should all get the press release treatment.
LinkedIn Profiles — If you haven’t updated yours recently, I suggest doing so and also linking to it in all your promotional material.
If you need help with any of the above, contact us. BeezContent is a custom writing service that specializes in real estate content creation. Let us show you how our support content strategy can make your virtual open house a success.
