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So, you've decided it is time for a video strategy—congratulations! There are so many ways to use video to help improve your property management marketing strategy and educate and delight your viewers.
Whether you are making DIY maintenance troubleshooting videos for tenants or showing owners how you protect their investment, a video is an opportunity to embrace the inbound methodology and take your property management website a step further than your competitors.
Making a video is a bit daunting for some people, though. No matter how comfortable you may be talking to an owner on a sales call, the fact is that there is someone responding to you and giving you a bit of feedback throughout the process. When you're making a video, it is much more one-sided—and for some people, that idea is so uncomfortable that they never start!
Thankfully, you're not alone: we're here to help! We've got your back; whether it's our Geekly Media Academy property management training courses or sales and marketing videos, we've done a bit of everything. Here is an outline of the process that goes into creating a high-quality marketing video so that you can rock your production like a pro!
1. Start With a Plan
Creating, editing, and producing a video can get costly quickly—especially if you need to hire help for any of those steps. As with pretty much every other plan with a budget, this generally calls for a "measure twice, cut once" mindset.
- Eliminate the problem of too many ideas and too many cooks in the kitchen.
- Figure out the purpose of your video from the start.
- Is this a training video that follows a process?
- Is this an explainer video that walks owners through the process of getting to know you?
Video is great—but if you are making a property management marketing video for the sake of having a video, you probably won't end up with a clear and compelling call to action. Figure all of that out in the beginning for the best results.
2. Create Your Script and Storyboard
This can be as simple as using two columns in an excel sheet. In one column, write your script, and in the second, write what imagery you want to accompany that script.
Tips for writing effective video copy include:
- Using plain, easy to understand language.
- Keeping your content short, sweet, and to the point.
- Telling the viewer why they should watch the whole video.
- Reading it out loud: does everything make sense to you as a viewer?
3. Figure out Your Gear
Thanks to modern technology, most of us have a cell phone camera that is good enough for simple marketing videos.
- Get a ring light with a tripod and phone holder, a Bluetooth remote to control the camera functions, and a USB microphone.
- Most of the influencers on social media use that exact setup to create videos that keep people clicking.
- Practice a few times to get comfortable with the settings and how everything works.
You're probably not going to come right out of the gate with the perfect video on your first take. That's okay! Practice makes perfect.
4. Lights, Camera, Action!
Time to record! There are two ways to do this:
- If you are willing to use some simple editing tools or have a partner like Geekly Media, you can shoot for the edit.
- If you are not planning on edits, you'll need to capture everything in a single take, which can take a few tries.
Generally, one either takes more time on the recording side or the editing side.
If you're planning for edits:
- Leave some space at the beginning and end of the video and each clip, so the editor has room to work.
- Mark great takes so they're easy to find without watching through everything.
- You can do this with a hand in front of the camera.
As a bonus, check out this blog from HubSpot that deep dives into video editing software for the do-it-yourselfers reading this post.
5. Decide Where to Host Your Video
You went through a lot of work to create a marketing video; you're going to want to know whether it was worth it—and you know that by tracking metrics. For that reason, we recommend hosting on HubSpot if you are a HubSpot CMS user and YouTube if you aren't. We recommend HubSpot for HubSpot users because the reporting is built-in, and you don't have to open yet another window to learn if your video was effective.
If you're not a HubSpot user, then YouTube should be an easy choice. YouTube is the most popular third-party video platform out there—and they track metrics for embedded video as well as videos played on their site.
Check those metrics! Compare them to your other videos, and look for trends in data.
- Do your users always drop off around the one-minute mark? Shorten future videos.
- Do they drop off in the first 10 seconds? Work on your hook in your intro.
- Data will help you continuously improve until you're a video master.
If you would like to learn more about the video services we offer as part of our property management marketing plans, schedule a consultation with Geekly Media! We'd be happy to talk with you about options to fit every property management company's level of growth.
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