The Art of Visual Marketing

Being a good real estate agent means a lot of things.  A successful real estate agent must not only be a tough negotiator, but also an expert at marketing, a people person, and much more.  As a real estate agent, I'm constantly looking to improve all aspects of my skill set.  Often, to achieve that goal, I look outside of the real estate industry to learn new lessons and for inspiration.  Recently, I came across this video on YouTube from McDonalds in Canada:

Behind the scenes at a McDonald's photo shoot

It's truly amazing to see the lengths that McDonalds goes to in order to make a single hamburger look perfect in their advertisements.  It starts with them cooking the patty just right and then it must be placed on th bun just so.  The cheese is added and melted into just the right position with a heat gun.  The pickles, onions, and condiments are placed ever so carefully on the burger before the other half of the bun is added in just the right place so that all the toppings can still be seen.  It doesn't stop there though.  Once the hamburger is photographed the photo is digitally edited to remove any remaining flaws.  One phrase from this video truly stands out to me: "we want to show the product in it’s best possible light."  Getting a peek behind the curtain and seeing all the effort and time that goes into making a single hamburger appear "in it's best possible light" was truly amazing.

Your real estate agent should also be putting the same level of care into making sure your home appears "in it's best possible light."  As a real estate agent, I would never dream of walking into a home and immediately start snapping pictures with my phone.  Just like the McDonalds hamburger, your home needs to be put together just right.  All the furniture should be staged just right to appeal to the largest audience of buyers.  Pillows should be fluffed and clutter removed.  Next, your home should be photographed with professional level photography equipment and finally those photos should be digitally corrected for color, contrast, etc.  Then and only then would I feel that your home has been presented in its best possible light.

Why go to such efforts?  McDonalds puts so much time and money into making their hamburger appear perfect to draw people into their restaurants.  I go to the same lengths with your home for the same reason, to draw people in.  When you're searching for a real estate agent to market your property how would you like your home to look?  Like the hamburger from the McDonalds magazine ad or like the burger they actually serve you in the store?