The commercial real estate industry is complex and highly competitive. From Class A+ iconic skyscrapers in Manhattan to smaller office buildings in Phoenix there’s tremendous pressure on commercial brokers to get space leased and buildings sold. Using video in commercial real estate marketing can give your promotional efforts that extra edge you need to succeed.
The majority of commercial real estate prospects use the internet to research property listings. Therefore, it makes good business sense to include video as part of your online commercial real estate marketing mix. Video in CRE marketing can wow your prospective client and help set the hook for an in-person meeting.
6 Key Reasons Why Video Marketing Is Important in CRE
There are six important reasons why video marketing is more effective for promoting your commercial real estate listings online:
-
- Videos are immersive to the viewer: A prospect doesn’t have to be on site to understand the look and feel of your property. Virtual tours and 3D property imaging let buyers and tenants visit your property online anytime from the convenience of their home or office.
- Video marketing offers unlimited content options: Listing, testimonials, and biographies are three examples of the almost endless variety of content choices you can create for your commercial property video marketing.
- Social media loves video marketing: Internet listing sites like CommercialCafe are great platforms to upload your CRE videos with your listing. Sites such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube are all good channels on which to follow up, as they are all home to forums and threads for real estate discussion.
- People prefer to watch instead of read: A recent survey by HubSpot noted that 54% of consumers prefer to watch marketing videos rather than read text or view images. Commercial real estate video marketing gives your prospects what they want and provides an engaging alternative to the stagnant marketing efforts of your competition.
- Measuring the effectiveness of videos is easy: Analytics for each piece of content make it easy to track and understand the impact of each commercial property video. Three analytical metrics that make your CRE video marketing more effective are when viewers stopped watching, how many times the video was shared, and what your call-to-action percentage was.
- Commercial real estate marketing videos increase conversions: CRE marketing videos can have a positive impact on potential tenants, buyers, and sellers and increase the chance they’ll do business with you. According to Google, using videos is a key way to influence consumer purchase behavior. For example, about 40% of YouTube users watch a product video before deciding to buy.
15 Types of CRE Marketing Videos You Can Create Today
Video marketing for commercial real estate isn’t just about promoting your listings online. While listing videos are definitely popular, there are also 15 types of commercial real estate videos you can create to boost your online marketing efforts:
- Listing videos – posting virtual tours of your commercial property for sale or for lease are by far the most popular, but don’t stop there,
- Interviews – success stories with past and current clients, as well as industry professionals such as lenders, architects, and interior space designers,
- Blog post recaps – put a video at the end of a complex blog post, to summarize the key points of your article,
- Buyer, seller, and tenant advice – explain industry jargon and commercial real estate terms such as triple net leases, or the pros and cons of coworking office space,
- Special offers – market analysis reports to prospective clients or extra incentives for tenant improvements from your motivated landlord client,
- Local business reviews – highlight local brands and services that make your available space more attractive,
- Explainer videos – tell the story of yourself and your track record, the team behind you, and the wide reach of your real estate firm,
- Neighborhood reports – let your prospects know about what makes the local market or submarket a great place in which to do business,
- Case study videos – step-by-step review of how you helped a client lease, sell, or buy commercial real estate space,
- Brand promotional – what makes your company special and your firm’s history of success in the commercial real estate industry,
- “How-To” videos – online searches with the words “how to” have skyrocketed by 70% over the last few years, so posting videos like these increase the chances that yours will become top-clicked for your unique niche topics,
- Market activity updates – being the first to post videos on major transactions or new developments demonstrate to prospects the depth of your industry knowledge,
- Team culture – profiles of your support staff and team members let clients put faces to names and voices they hear,
- Year-in-review videos – review successes from the current year and the commercial real estate investment opportunities that the new year will bring,
- Event reviews – commercial real estate conferences you’ve recently attended and what your clients should know about the events and your relevant industry takeaways.
How to Use Drone Videos in CRE Marketing
Drones are among the newest proptech tools in the commercial real estate industry. Here are three ways to use drone videos in your CRE marketing campaigns:
- Panoramic videos of pre-construction sites and coming soon videos for showing where a building will be located on a site,
- Drone videos showcasing future views from an office suite in the property to help with pre-leasing efforts,
- Construction updates – provide investors and stakeholders with real-time visual reports of the development progress being made.
People Are Visual Creatures
Using video in commercial real estate marketing creates a new level of experience for your clients and prospects. CRE videos make it easy for people to explore your listing, offer a better way to actually feel the dimensions of the space, and make prospects feel like they’re on an in-person tour of the property.
Adding commercial real estate videos to your marketing mix also make it easier for you to build a solid brand image for your business.
A video only has to be created once, then it can be distributed a countless number of ways – through social media, commercial online property listing sites, your personal website, and more. The more views your video has, the quicker you’ll become the go-to resource for commercial real estate in your market.
