Lights, camera, action! Use of video in property marketing

At the turn of the century property marketing was all about traditional newspaper and magazine advertising, in conjunction with trying to get editorial features from the main publications.

The weekly push was to have properties ready to be placed in adverts in the weekly property supplements which generally were issued on Thursday and repeated on Sunday. These adverts were very expensive (typically a quarter page advert in one of the mainstream Scottish newspaper property supplements could be around £550 plus VAT (the equivalent of over £1,200 plus VAT in today’s money!), which is a lot to pay given that exposure was very much hit or miss and when the vast majority of these publications would be in landfill (before recycling) by the end of the following day! To augment their profile, agents had to court contacts with property editors in order to get the best features in the publications, with great prestige resulting when a property was featured on the front page of the publication.

The noughties saw the progression of the internet and the establishment of property search portals, which changed how people search for properties beyond recognition. Newspaper advertising has slipped away as the internet search engines have come to dominance. However in many ways the listing “directory style” nature of the search engines has made it more difficult for those with properties that have something special to differentiate themselves from those that are more standard. The advent of social media has allowed agents to have much greater personal involvement in promoting each of their new instructions. This promotion has evolved significantly in recent years from agents reposting their internet listings of properties with still images, to use of videos with walk-through “Kirsty & Phil“ style commentary of the property. Some would argue this detracts from the property itself, but what it does is add commentary, allowing the agent to mention key features and specifications, giving the viewer more insight than a traditional walkthrough video.

Accepting that videos are part of the future of property marketing I have taken part in various videos over the last few years, which started with me presenting myself to the market using iPhone footage in various locations in Fife culminating with a clip showing me flipping tractor tyres in the hallowed grounds of Duffus Park, where I played rugby for the Howe of Fife RFC in the 90s. This production was very much a lockdown project filmed by my son, but whilst unashamedly amateur, it did generate a lot of chatter and broke the mould of agents hiding behind their property instructions and corporate brands. Since then and thanks to the enlargement of the Galbraith marketing team we now have the ability to do our own filming with high quality productions which provide a great platform to promote the properties we market. With the direction of the Galbraith marketing team I have since taken part in various videos describing the market as well as a video presentation of Kingfisher Place, a luxury modern house near Broughty Ferry.

Great time and attention was taken on the setting, lighting and sound quality in addition to editing and making the content interesting and bite size enough for the target audience. Whilst I am sure bucket shop productions will continue to flood social media and agents’ websites I am pretty sure that agent led video will take greater hold in the years ahead.

If you are thinking of selling and are interested in video productions and how the Galbraith marketing team can help you sell your home please do get in touch; it might just give your property the competitive edge. n

Dominic Wedderburn 01334 659 980

With programmes such as Grand Designs and George Clark’s Amazing Spaces now a wellestablished part of viewers’ TV diet, many will be wondering how they get the opportunity to construct a home for themselves that satisfies their aspirations for something exciting, striking, thoroughly modern, and overall completely unique to them.