“If you’re not doing video, you’ll be out of the business in 5 years!”

That was over 10 years ago when I got my license. One of the first training courses I attended outside of my brokerage. The speaker went on to say that agents who do video would push the rest out of the business. Hindsight is 20/20 but quite obviously he was wrong.

Video is powerful when done well

I’ve heard this about video marketing and so many other trends in the industry. Don’t get me wrong, video is a powerful tool that when done well can change your business. I’ve used it a lot over the years and it has served me very well. So has blogging, so have podcasts and so have many other methods of content creation and distribution.

There are teams doing 100+ deals a year, and you can attribute a lot of it to their video marketing. One of the most successful agents in Canada, Mark Faris of the Faris Team, you could argue got there by leveraging high-quality video marketing. There’s way more to his success than just video, but that is a key pillar.

You can also find successful agents like Melanie Piche and Brendan Powell, who run the BREL Team in Toronto. They do so mostly through blogging. There’s video in their marketing, but blogging is their key pillar.

But it’s overrated

Video has become one of the most overrated silver bullets touted by – well, let’s be honest – people like me. Not everyone needs to make videos. You can run a successful business without ever making a single video. There’s a time and a place for it and for some, that time might be never.

Picture this: a few months ago before it got blocked, you saw a news story on Facebook. You thought it sounded interesting and wanted to get the whole story. You click on the link and instead of a written article, it’s a 3-5 minute video. How many times do you just exit because you just wanted to read (or skim) the article?

Consider changing situational preferences

Some people prefer to read, some prefer to watch, while others change their preferences based on the situation. Sometimes at home watching the big screen and scrolling on your little screen, you’d rather read so there’s no noise interrupting.

In an ideal world, you’re doing a mix of all different types of content. When you’re getting going with your content marketing, pick one and focus on it. If you’re a great writer, then write. If you’re not comfortable on camera but love speaking, do a podcast. Over time, add in a mix.

I’ve heard speakers talk about this strategy for SaaS companies. Pick one offer, and present it over one channel to one audience, until you make a million dollars.

Find what works for you, grow, then diversify

There are lessons in that for real estate, too. Pick a way to grow your business that works for you, and then double down on it. Don’t get distracted by shiny objects and that new shiny thing you heard about.

As you grow, you’ll need to look at diversifying. I firmly believe any agent can get to 30-50 deals a year through a single method done well. It’s about finding the one that works for you. If you hate doing something, it’s going to feel like a grind. You’re better served doing the method you enjoy.

When done well, video marketing can blow up your business. For the people who put a lot of effort into video and grow their business, it’s because they spend hours doing it. They’re always looking at how to improve it.

Do you know what else could blow up your business if you put consistent time and effort into doing it better every day? Almost anything.

Video can be powerful and I’ll continue to use it, but you don’t have to.

Let it go if you need to

If video has been this daunting thing you felt like you have to do but keep putting off and it’s stressing you out, consider this your permission, as Queen Elsa of Arendelle would say, to just

via GIPHY

(That one was for my daughters.)

Next time, one of my favourite topics: why some of you don’t need to post to social every day.