Is there really a way to determine the ROI of video marketing?
If you’re somewhat human, one of the biggest concerns to getting started with a real estate video marketing strategy is analyzing the return on investment. Real estate video marketing is NOT lead generation, it is branding and conversion.
If you were to invest in a lead generation strategy such as buying leads, it is very easy to determine a monthly ROI with it. You either received a return on investment or you did not. There is a difference in advertising vs. marketing and video is marketing.
Yes, video will generate leads, but I don’t consider it a lead generation strategy, but more of a branding and conversion strategy. The truth is you will NEVER be able to measure a direct ROI on your videos, but you’ll just know and feel it’s working.
Let me get a little deeper….
I must get asked this question 5 times a week at least and it’s virtually impossible to answer because of what I’m about to tell you.
Video is the MOST impactful and fastest way to build a strong personal brand people know, like, and trust, but it’s impossible to track for what I’m about to tell you.
How We Use Video & Content Marketing To Find Clients
Let’s take my brand, Real Estate Marketing Dude for example. I create content consistently and distribute it to real estate agents, lenders, investors, and anyone else willing to listen to me.
Some of my content is through my Real Estate Marketing podcast, which publishes every Saturday. Both are forms of media, one being audio and the other being video. Both are forms of communication and both are being done consistently to the same audience.
Every week, I get people just like you to schedule a demo with me to check out my marketing and video services. The very first question I ask everyone is, how did you find us?
Virtually everyone of them says the same thing, “I’ve been following your podcast or videos for a while and I’m finally getting around to reaching out now”.
I don’t know which video or piece of content caused them to schedule the appointment, but I do know that they saw the videos prior to scheduling with me.
I don’t know which video did it, but I do know that it’s just a combination of consistent communication over time.
However they first find me it’s because of content, mostly video content, but it’s more of a dating process.
You Can Use Real Estate Video Content The Same Way
The strength of using video in your business works because it’s the most impactful way to communicate. It’s easier use video to build stronger relationships and referral sources with people you already know than meet new ones!
People who are doing a lot of video are making bigger waves than those who are not, it’s just that simple. Our business is a giant popularity contest at the end of the day as people work with people they know, like, and trust.
How Communication From Person To Person Works
Video makes a much larger impact than any additional form of communication
- 90% of communication comes in the form of body language and tonality.
- 10% of communication is what actually comes out of your mouth (people don’t remember 90% of what you say)
- You cannot express tonality and body language on direct mail, email, or any other channel as good as you can on video
Conclusion: Video is most impactful way to get your message out. You can deliver email not through video and in some cases even direct mail. If you logged onto social media in the last 2 days you’ll notice that everything is video.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”People don’t remember what you do, they remember why and how you do it” quote=”People don’t remember what you do, they remember why and how you do it”]
When people decide to hire a real estate agent, work with a lender, or sell their house to an investor, the ultimate decisions is based on whether or not they like you PERIOD.
So even though it’s nearly impossible to calculate a direct ROI using video, this exercise that will get you close.
Step 1-Determine Your Monthly Real Estate Video Marketing Costs
The only way to determine the ROI is to determine how many videos you are going to do each month. You can then see what your monthly cost of video will be.
Do you want to create video content consistently or sporadically (like for listing videos for example)? Once you can narrow down your monthly budget for creating real estate videos, you can move on to step 2.
Step 2- Multiply your monthly Real Estate Video Marketing Cost x 12
Let’s talk some numbers and get tangible on actual costs vs. ROI so you can make a more informed decision. I can’t stand when people talk in theory so let’s get mathematical.
We are going to use the costs of hiring a Real Estate Marketing Dude for time sake.
If you were to do 2 videos a month that would run you $649/month. If we multiply that by 12 months, we end up with an annual cost of $7,788.
Step 3- Determine How To Distribute Your Real Estate Videos
You can create the best videos in the world, but if you aren’t putting them in front of the right people, there’s not point.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”You don’t generate business creating videos, you do it by distributing them.” quote=”You don’t generate business creating videos, you do it by distributing them.”]
This is how I recommend distributing your video content.
- Video Email to your database 2 times a month
- Post on all your social profiles 2 times a month
- Upload and optimize to your YouTube channel 2 times a month
- Multipurpose everything back on your website with a blog post 2 times a month
- Run ads to your database 2 times a month
If you followed this plan, do you think you would become more referable? We like to say that the only time it doesn’t work is when people don’t like you.
It’s a channel in which you communicate through and the reason it’s so damn powerful!
- It is a fact that 10-15% of your friends, family, Facebook friends, IG followers, and Linked In connections are moving this year.
- It is also a fact that 100% of them know someone they can refer you to.
- Over 72% of consumers close with the first agent they meet with.
- Over 80% of ALL closed transactions come from referrals, repeat clients, or from people you personally met (open house, sign call, etc.).
National Association of Realtors FACTS
Step 3- Annual Cost Analyzation
Once you have determined the cost, you can make a good judgement if it’s worth it.
Would you spend roughly $8,000 a year to make sure everyone you knew was reminded of your existence?
Do you think you could generate more referrals over the next twelve months?
Let’s use this for an example. If the average sales price in your market is $300,000, yo will break even if you generate one client.
So when people ask me what’s the ROI of real estate video marketing my response is simple…
What’s the cost or negative ROI of not doing it?
Here’s another great article that might help you determine the ROI on video