I had several conversations this past week with real estate photographers that re-affirmed my belief that real estate photographers can create more opportunities for themselves if they don’t define their job as just a still photographer or just a videographer. Yes, this requires a broader set of skills but, what’s new? Success in any field requires a broad set of skills.

What Realtors need is help and expertise in real estate marketing. Still photos are the central piece of real estate marketing but other major parts are video, property flyers, property brochures and web marketing. Think of your real estate photography business as a real estate marketing business where you create the the central ingredient (Photos) AND you create the actual products that the Realtors do the marketing with (Flyers, Brochures, Tours, web sites). As a Realtor, here is a significant time savings if you minimize the number of vendors you have to deal with. If Realtors can get everything they need for their marketing from one company, they will.

I’ve done articles before on doing flyers, brochures, tours and web sites but I want to talk about Internet marketing services. Most Realtors don’t even understand how much Internet marketing services help sell their listings let alone know how to do it (just like Realtor understanding of Photography). Here are some ideas for internet marketing products to add your service offerings:

1. Integrating flyers, brochures, tours, hangman signs and web sites: The simple act of having the home tour URL on the for sale sign, on the brochure or flyer is incredibly important. This allows a buyer to stand in from of the home, pickup a flyer that has the tour URL on it and tour the home later or on the spot if they have a smart-phone. This seems like a no-brainer but hardly anyone does it. Offer a service of putting a rider sign on the for sale sign that has the URL of the home tour you provide.

2. Craigslist.org has effectively replaced newspapers in the US. As a result, agents need to be putting all their listings and open houses on craigslist.org. Real estate ads on craigslist only last 7 days so they have to be reposted every week. I’ve heard of quite a few RE photographers that provide a service to create enhanced postings with vflyer.com or postlets.com keep listings posted on craigslist. I know, this may sound tedious but it increases the exposure of the listing enormously.

Continue reading…

By Larry

Source: Photography For Real Estate.com