2008 will be the year real estate video breaks out. I really believe that.
Check out this video from We Rock Chicago.
Risa Weiss, of Prudential Preferred Properties in Chicago, is the Realtor behind this video and she hit a home run, in my opinion.
What makes it good?
Mainly it was well shot and visually interesting (using diverse camera angles and locations). As a result, it kept me entertained – though the intro went on for about 45 seconds too long, jump ahead to 1:15 to get to the good stuff.
Best of all though, the video was not a hard sell – rather it gave me a great feeling for the vibe of the neighborhood and showed me some of the highlights of why I’d want to live there. In many ways, it reminded me a lot of some of the early Turnhere neighborhood profiles.
Unfortunately, on a technical side, it looks like the video was uploaded at a smaller resolution than the WellcomeMat player can handle, so the picture is small. That could easily be remedied with a new export though (video should be a least 320 pixels wide, 480 wide for their new player).
One thing I liked was that Risa cleverly included her herself, her branding (and signage) in the video in a way that was really non-intrusive.
But here’s the kicker really; most importantly, the video showed me that Risa knew the area intimately and was the neighborhood expert. If I were considering a move to Wicker Park, after watching her video, I’d definitely be giving her a call.
Couple her production with a good video syndication strategy to make sure the most people possible see her video (see Rethinking Real Estate Video Marketing Strategy), embedding it in a keyword rich blog post, like she has already done (and maybe paring back the intro) – Risa is definitely on to something. Nice work.
