Getting your name, brand, services, or product out there is the most difficult objective for businesses and the entire purpose behind marketing, but there’s several ways to go about it. For a competitive edge all you have to do is follow the technology. With drones now legalized for commercial use, aerial video and photography is opening up entirely new channels of marketing.
Visual Marketing
Statistics from Q1 of 2017 show that visual content is 40 times more likely to get shared on social media. This means that users engage with visual information more than any other.
For example, real estate listings with videos get 403% more inquiries than those without, yet according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), only 9% of real estate agents use videos. That’s a major discrepancy considering how new drone technology has vastly reduced the cost of aerial videography. At some point only major corporations and film studios could afford it, but now it’s a marketing medium that’s accessible to any business.
Aerial shots put your product, location, or services in a unique perspective that most people don’t see often, creating visual content that both stands out from the competition and provides a different set of relevant information. In this shot below, the value of the home from a ground shot looks the same as any other, but from the air you can see the home’s proximity to the river immediately raising its value and appeal to potential buyers.
Deb Harper a realtor for DL Jones said on a recent listing of hers “the aerial video was seen by a buyer in Minnesota and they wrote an offer after 4 days on the market site unseen except for the video, I expected the sale to take much longer because of the location, the video did it and in record time”.
"We use video to attract merchant tenants to our shopping centers, without this flowing organic medium its hard to convey location, space and access to our prospective clients”
- Greg Davis Senior VP of Shopcore
You can see both video examples at Extreme Aerial Productions, a top of the line aerial photography and cinematography service that boasts highly skilled pilots and videographers.
This isn’t surprising, seeing as how MLS Statistics reports that homes featuring aerial footage sell 68% faster than homes without.
When it comes to conveying the power of video we talk about how long people watch and the messaging of the video to keep client engagement. There is no better visual to explain to a potential customer what the product is, what you do and most importantly how you do it to keep them engaged and that much more interested.
“When bidding on jobs in our industry people know what the end product is, but not how it comes to be. Using video explains and actually shows customers what we do, how we do, and why we do it the way we do - there is no better medium in helping us win more customers and that’s why we rely on video especially from an the aerial aspect.”
- Kevin Somerville of Buesing Construction
Video Marketing
Whatever your industry the power of a moving, breathing, medium such as aerial combined with ground footage to tell a story is the best and most unique way of presenting visual content that will capture your audience’s attention and interest. Static ads, magazines, and billboards just can’t compete and often cost more as well, especially given the evolution of current drone technology and filming capability.
Every smart phone can play it, every internet provider now offers a streaming source, so video content can be gobbled up by consumers at an alarming rate, as can the ability to share the content “go viral” as it were.
"Our biggest challenge working with Home Owners Associations, was to every month justify our value to the residents and the board. Until using video" DJ Wood owner of Tierra Madre Landscape said DJ went on to say “Homeowners assume what they didn’t see didn’t happen, that because they didn’t see us do it the grounds must keep themselves clean and swept, trimmed and watered!”
After producing a video for DJ showing how many trees, miles of pipe and tons of gravel were needed and explaining in the video what the 10 full time staff just for this one community does each day, the Board approved their extension of a contract as opposed to opening it up to bid to other firms.
Their story is eye opening and was caught entirely on film. To see how aerial footage captured their message, check out their video.
Studies show that four times as many customers would rather watch a video about a service or product than read about it.
"As a pool builder, home owners will invariably get frustrated as they want to play in their pool NOW! That changed when we used video to communicate how the pool process works, why delays occur, and how owner changes impact the delivery of a ready pool” said Brian Smith of Caribbean.
"We use video to help explain the process but also at trade shows, on our youtube page and when clients call in to show what a pool looks like moving, the sounds of the water from the scuppers, the color changes as the led lights work, and how smart automation works in action. We have made several more sales and saved some sales by sending out videos so the client can have that “ah ha moment”.
Bottom line, businesses that use video grow revenue 49% faster than business that don’t.
Most business are spending way too much on static ads, because it's the norm and easily justifiable as it's what you have always done. You cannot survive in today's market without a good video strategy just as you did in the old days with your yellow page ads and local magazine rep. The good news is for its reach, efficacy and long shelf life it’s an inexpensive medium and well within most business budgets unlike a couple of years ago.
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