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OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®



What Others Are Using: Multimedia Marketing Tools

Can't decide what to use? Here's what other real estate pros are using and why.
By Michael Antoniak June 2009

 

"Viral Marketing"

Name: Ted Mackel

Company: Keller Williams, Simi Valley, Calif.

Products: iMovie and Final Cut Express

 

“I’m a salesman, and have to make effective presentations,” Mackel says. Multimedia shorts, tours, and a video resume figure prominently in his viral marketing strategy. “Real video gives people a feel for property. I can send an agent 100 miles away a video and save them a trip if their client isn’t really interested.”

 

For tours of high-end homes, he uses a professional provider. The rest, he builds on his MacBook Pro with iMovie and Final Cut Express. “The next thing I’m looking at is how to get multimedia onto people’s cell phones,” he says. “For video tours to work, they’ve got to be available wherever people want to view them.”

 

 

"Simply Distinctive"

Name: Tami Bianco

Company: Coldwell Banker, Valparaiso, Ind.

Product: ZingDing

 

Bianco, a residential specialist, wanted an alternative to the standard virtual tour and stumbled on ZingDing e-cards on the Web. With this product, subscribers upload pictures, then build a brief presentation of photos, text, music, Flash animation clips, and other effects. Each production can be distributed by e-mail, posted to a Web site, or syndicated to social networks.

 

“A marketing manager once told me you have three seconds to capture someone’s attention, and this does the job,” she says. “I’ll add birds to the photos, put a fire in the fireplace, and send out something unique that no one else here is doing. It really catches their eye.”

 

 

"Keep It Brief"

Name: Matt Rains

Company: Keller Williams

Product: Reelproductions.TV

 

As the newly appointed Director of Technology for Keller Williams in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina, Rains counsels other real estate pros about the latest tools. Just a few months ago, he was a sales associate in the Keller Williams Atlanta partners’ office. While there, he recognized the power of multimedia. “Once you have a client’s attention with pictures, you’ve got to offer the next step, and that’s video,” he says.

 

Sample tours from Reelproductions.TV helped him win listings. “I’d show a seller a slide tour, and explain that’s how others would promote their home. Then I’d play a video and say, ‘This is what I’ll do.’ It worked every time.” His advice for other practitioners: “Remember multimedia is meant as a teaser to get people out to the house or to pick up the phone. Keep tours upbeat and short, 45 to 60 seconds. That will load fast and let them see what they need to decide if they want to learn more.”

 

 

Learn More: Photo Gallery  ׀  What You Need to Get Started  ׀  Glossary: Key Terms

 

 

Michael Antoniak is a journalist and technology expert with a focus on real estate applications. Antoniak also writes about real estate technology at his blog, RealTechTools. He can be contacted at antoniak@dtccom.net.