The Tyrannosaurus Rex no longer rules the world, but it has a chance to take over the real estate game thanks to Charlotte Realtor Jonathan Andrews who donned a T-Rex costume during his latest listing video.
Andrews, who works with the Hornet Realty team, started his foray into video-making a few years ago, and over a month ago he launched a weekly video series called #LivingInCharlotte, which showcases local businesses and business owners.
While he’s made a number of listing videos, Andrews felt that kicking the videos up a notch — showing his true personality like he does in #LivingInCharlotte — was an important step forward:
“I’ve done plenty of listing videos where I walk through the home giving a play-by-play tour, but our natural progression was to take these videos to the next level,” he said.
“We bounced ideas back and forth that ranged from dressing up like Grandmama, an old Charlotte Hornets reference, playing different characters living in the home, and finally landed on the T-Rex outfit idea.”
Andrews and his video production partner Joe Robba decided they would film the tour as they normally do, with no acknowledgement of the puffy, bright red T-Rex outfit Andrews wore throughout the house.
Of course, he threw in a little reminder for buyers to make a quick offer before the listing became “extinct.”
Andrews said the shoot only took a few hours, but the ROI has exceeded his expectations and has brought extra attention not only to the listing but to his creative marketing style.
“Feedback has been unbelievable,” he says. “A number of people have commented about how great and creative the video is. It’s certainly been much stronger than any other video I’ve made.
“But most importantly I’m receiving calls from people wanting to tour the home of this dinosaur video they saw on Facebook,” he added. “That’s a new one for me!”
Andrews almost didn’t post the video because he feared people wouldn’t think it was funny, but his courage paid off — something he thinks real estate agents who experience a little stage fright can learn from.
“I’ve learned that by putting in a little extra work, you can stand out from the crowd and ultimately deliver a much better level of service for your client.
“In terms of video, there’s not a ton of quality real estate content being created outside of the normal HGTV or DIY network type stuff, and that content is on a national scale, typically not local to you,” he said.
Leading marketing expert Gary Vaynerchuk says real estate agents needs to be the “digital mayor” of their local market. Andrews has taken that advice to heart by finding new and creative ways to market himself and his local real estate business.