Video as a Lead Generating Machine with Karin Carr

Today we welcome a special guest, Karin Carr, the Amazon bestselling author of, "YouTube for Real Estate Agents," and founder of the Video Boss Agent Academy. With over fifteen years of experience as a REALTOR®, Karin has become a sought-after speaker on video marketing, and she's here to share her expertise with us.

In this episode, we'll explore video as a lead-generating machine and how Karin fell into the YouTube video niche. We'll learn about the competitive advantage of using video, the difference between leads generated through video versus traditional lead generation sites, and how agents can cut through the excuses and get started with video marketing.

Karin will also share her thoughts on the key elements of creating a successful sales funnel with video, including calls to action, landing pages, lead magnets and auto-responses. We'll discuss the importance of increasing visibility and building meaningful consumer relationships, as well as the biggest mistakes agents make when incorporating video into their marketing plans.

Finally, we'll dive into Karin's popular Market Update LIVE! and discuss the value of hyper-local market update videos. If you're looking to expand your business with video, Karin's book, "YouTube for Real Estate Agents," might be a great place to start.

So sit back, relax, and join us as we decode the power of video marketing with Karin Carr.

Transcript

Reggie Nicolay: 0:09

Hello and welcome to Decoding Real Estate a podcast from Realtors Property Resource. I'm host Reggie Nicolay. Joined by my co host, Genie Willett. And we have a game changing show for you today as we explore how video marketing can give your real estate business a huge competitive advantage, including creating a sustainable lead source.

Genie Willett: 0:28

This is everything. Buying leads from the top sites can be crazy expensive, and REALTORS® can quickly get priced out. But video marketing is something anyone can start even on a shoestring budget. It's just about consistency.

Reggie Nicolay: 0:43

And who better to walk us through than today's special guest, Karin Carr, Amazon Best Selling Author of YouTube for Real Estate Agents, and the founder of the Video Boss Agent Academy. With over 15 years of experience as a REALTOR®, Karin offers a wealth of knowledge. And honestly, I think her book should be required reading for all new agents.

Genie Willett: 1:03

It was so insightful, I found myself getting ideas for our video content here at RPR. And I think what our listeners will likely appreciate most is that she breaks down the benefits of video marketing. So clearly, which actually reminded me of when we go to conventions and run into members that have been listening to Decoding Real Estate or the wow factor, they often come up to us with such excitement and they're so eager to meet us, you can really create a personal connection with people through video.

Reggie Nicolay: 1:31

That's always such an awesome feeling. Now imagine you're the REALTOR®, you're creating that video content. Now your prospects are excited to see you and they run into you. I mean, honestly, it's one of the superpowers that come along with video marketing. Let's not wait any longer. Join us now for our interview with Karin Carr. Karin! We're so thrilled to have you on the show today. I can't wait to get into our conversation and I can't think of a better place to start than how you first began creating real estate videos.

Karin Carr: 2:08

Well, thank you so much for having me. It's kind of funny, it was it was really accidental. I had moved several times I got licensed in Northern California, we moved across the country to be closer to my family. But then my husband got transferred a year after we got there. And then two years later, he got transferred again. So we went from California to South Carolina to Atlanta to Savannah, in four or five years, that was kind of crazy. And as you know, every time you start over in a new market, you may as well be newly licensed again. It's literally like, you know, the first time I wrote an offer, when I got to Savannah, I had to tell the listing agent, like don't go look me up in the Georgia Real Estate Commission website, because you're gonna think that I just got licensed last Tuesday, really, I've been I've been licensed for over 10 years. At this point, I know what I'm doing, I promise, I'm not a newbie, and it's not going to be a terrible transaction for you. But they don't know that they have no idea that you know, you sold tons of houses in your previous market, they just don't know. So I had no business coming in. I had nobody to work with. And I figured, well, I've got lots of time. What if I started making YouTube videos? I mean, what else have I got to do? And at worst, it'll just be, you know, something to do with my time. But what if it could actually be kind of effective? Why not? So I started making YouTube videos, very sporadically. I had no content calendar, I had no strategy I didn't. I didn't have any specific upload schedule. And I would just do it when I had nothing better to do. And then one day, I got a phone call where the guy said, Oh my gosh, I can't believe you answered the phone. I feel like I'm talking to a celebrity. I feel like I know you already. I've watched all of your videos. We're going to sell our house in New York, were moving to Georgia, we want you to help us. And at that moment, it was kind of like oh, you know, the heavens parted and the angels began to sing. And it was this huge aha moment. When he said, I feel like I know you already. So unfortunately, he was moving to Atlanta and I had just moved to Savannah. So I had to refer him out to someone else because I moved five hours away literally the week before, but now I knew that it actually was going to work. So I said, Okay, I'm in a new market yet again, nothing to do. I will make one video a week, I'm going to commit to six months, I will have zero expectations. I'm not even going to consider stopping until the six month mark just so that I can have some actual data to you know, make an informed decision. Well, by six months, I was getting almost all of my business from my YouTube channel. It was kind of insane. And after a year, I went to my broker and said, I am so insanely busy. I I don't even know what to do at this point. I need help. What should I do? And she said I think it's time to form a team. So it boggles my mind that one year after relocating to a brand new city where I knew two people that lived there, my mom and dad, and they were not going to be selling their house anytime soon that I went from that to having to expand because I had so many inbound leads coming in that I couldn't service them all myself. And $0 of that came from ad spend.

Genie Willett: 5:18

That's amazing. You briefly touched on this, but can you walk us through the difference between leads that you buy on third party sites versus leads that come in through your video content?

Karin Carr: 5:28

Oh, my gosh, I love that question so much. Because back before I discovered YouTube, I was running a ton of Facebook ads. So I would run these ads. And I would spend anywhere from like $500 to$1,000 a month. And at the time, that felt like a lot of money to me. And I would run these ads of like, hey, get a free list of all of the single storey homes in Canton, Georgia. And I would get these people who would opt in for the list. And boy, I could not convert those people into clients to save my life. Now part of that was probably my poor sales skills. But a lot of it was that they couldn't they were not ready, willing and able, they were not credit worthy. They didn't have good FICO scores, or they were just, you know, oh, that house looked pretty. So I clicked on the ad, but they really didn't have any motivation. So I felt like I was just flushing money down the toilet. I was getting all of these people into my database, who would not answer any of my emails, who gave me fake phone numbers who did not want to talk to me. And they would never convert, like, I could nurture them for five years, but they would never convert into a client. But when I get the call from someone that says, Oh, my gosh, I watched your YouTube videos, they have already chosen you. They don't even interview any other agent most of the time. In fact, the first good solid lead I got after I moved to Savannah, it was a seller lead. He had gone to my website and he filled out the How much is your home worth page on my website? So I called him and said, Hey, I got this, this form you thinking about selling your house? And he said, Yes, I found your YouTube channel. I've watched all of your videos went to your form, your website filled out the form. We're thinking of selling our house and moving back to Florida, all of our family is in Florida. We're the only ones here in Georgia, I think it's time we're going to do. So I went over to his house and I did my whole song and dance. Right? I gave my whole listing presentation. And you know, I'm doing it on my iPad so I can show how tech savvy I am. And you know, beautiful graphics and all of the things and at the end, I said, Okay, so, you know, break into me gently, who else am I up against? Who else are you interviewing? And they said, Nobody, like we picked you. And at that you could have heard a pin drop because I was so flabbergasted at that point, I must have been in real real estate. 12 years, maybe I've never had that happen before. I had literally never had a come list me phone call. Unless it was, you know, my sister's next door neighbor. And it was a done deal. I never had somebody just pick me off of the internet and say, I want you to be the person especially when we had not ever met before we'd never met in person we'd never spoken by phone until he filled out that form. And it was just the follow up phone call. So then the next phone call was like that, too. It was another seller come list me. He was in the military. They were PCSing to Fort Eustis. We got to sell our house fast. I want to buy a house when I get there. But I can't have two mortgage payments. And you are military. And so you get it and you know, we want you. I said Who else are you interviewing? He said, Well, we've got three different people that we are interviewing. And I said, Okay, understood, like, I'm not going to force you to make a decision. I shook their hands, I got my car, I was not even out of the neighborhood. And he called me back and said, Oh, who are we kidding? Can you just come back and we'll sign paperwork now. And I laughed so hard when I got there. He's like, I felt like we really should interview three different people. But we don't want to, we just want to pick you. And that's the power of video. Because when you are on camera, and they see you and they hear you, they are getting to know your personality. If they don't like you, they are not going to call. But that's fine. There's no rejection. It's not as though they call you and say, you know, Karin, I was going to hire you to list my house. But in the end, I just really don't like you that much. So I'm not going to like they don't do that doesn't ever happen. So if they don't call you don't know that they didn't call, there's no rejection. All you get are the calls where they're like, oh my gosh, you were amazing. I love you. It's a great ego boost. Let me tell you, when every person that calls you feels like I'm doing them this huge favor by agreeing to take their business.

Reggie Nicolay: 9:33

What's incredible about that story is you know, your videos are essentially nurturing these, these prospects and you've gained this celebrity status in their eyes in a way where we all feel like when we see somebody that we've watched for a while and and I know that feeling and it's it's amazing. You're actually just looking to talk with them and connect and then maybe if you have an opening in your schedule, you could represent us, you know, what you may know that's

Karin Carr: 9:57

Exactly how I've had people say like I'm not I don't have a huge budget. I know, I know my sales not going to be huge. But would you please take me on as a client anyway, they act as though, like me agreeing to give them these morsels of my busy time is just the most precious thing in the world to them. They never, they never argue about commission, they're not looking for somebody who's just gonna give them a rebate at the closing, like that is not their primary concern. Their primary concern is that I like you, I trust you, I feel safe, I feel that you are competent enough to help me with this transaction, and that we're going to have a good time doing it. And that hopefully, I will be able to make it a fun transaction and not the most stressful thing that they've ever gone through.

Reggie Nicolay: 10:43

You've done such a good job of painting, the value of video marketing and your real estate business. But you know, there's some folks that are sitting there on the sidelines, they're peeking in, and they've got excuses. They don't have enough time, or they need to get a haircut or they need to, you know, buy some new technology because maybe their cameras not the right one. I mean, what's what's your take on that? when's the right time to get in? And, you know, any advice for someone just trying to get the first video created?

Karin Carr: 11:12

Right? The best time was 20 years ago, the second best time is right now. So it's that old analogy of when's the best time to plant a tree right? 20 years ago would have been the best time to plant the tree. But if you didn't think ahead to do that, then today is the best time. Listen, you're gonna stink at the beginning, there is no getting around it. I am, I have a friend who is big into Tik Tok, she's trying to talk me into doing Tik Tok videos, I am terrified to post a Tik Tok video because that is not in my wheelhouse at all. And I hear that people are really mean on Tik Tok, and they tear you apart in the comments. So me, who's somebody who has filmed like 500 videos in the past couple of years, even I am nervous about doing that. There is no way to get over it, except to do it and do it over and over and over again until it's not scary anymore. So you just have to decide how important is this to you? I will tell you that video marketing is free. And it is the single most effective lead generation strategy that I have ever tried in the 17 years that I've been a licensed REALTOR®. And it doesn't cost me any money. So does that sound appealing to you? If so you have to decide that it's worth being uncomfortable. And it's worth trying something that's scary, because you will not die of embarrassment. You will not die of mortification and you will not die if somebody I had somebody in the comments on a YouTube video recently tell me that I looked like the female version of Eric Idle out which, oh my god. And then I looked at the video, I'm like, dang it, they're kind of right. There was picturing the old Monty Python skits where he's dressed up like an old woman. And I'm like, Well, I do have a long face. And I'm pale. And I now have gray hair. So I kind of see it. And originally when I made videos, if they had said something like that, that totally would have hurt my feelings so bad, it would have been like, dang, okay, where's the line, I'm gonna have to go console myself with a big glass of red wine. But now, after so many people telling me that they love my videos, that the few people who say they don't, I don't care, it's fine. You know, I'm over. Now you can have your opinion, you're wrong, clearly. But if that's your opinion, that's fine. Just don't watch me go watch somebody else. So you have to decide that it's worth it, and then decide that yeah, it's going to be very uncomfortable. And I'm going to feel super vulnerable and awkward. And the good news is it doesn't last forever, because the more you do it, the better you get. And the technology totally does not matter. When I started I recorded everything on my iPhone, I think I had a six plus at the time, or my iPad, and only because the screen was larger. So if I had notes, I could actually read the notes from six feet away without having to put my glasses on. So use your iPhone, your Samsung Android, whatever you got, it's going to be just fine. I would say get a microphone doesn't have to be a big fancy microphone, it could be a $30 microphone off of Amazon. If you're going to record into your computer with your webcam, you just get one that plugs right into your computer with a USB port. If you're going to record with your phone, you get one that plugs into the iPhones jack or the headphone jack or Bluetooth earbuds. It really really helps to have an external microphone with the camera like all of the cameras are good now they all shoot in 10 ADP, you don't need 4k In fact, I would say if you're you know my age and older don't go with 4k nobody see that that close 1080 P will be just fine. And then that's pretty much it. You're going to just talk to the camera as though you were speaking to one person pick like your neighbor down the street who said hey, can I pick your brain? Let's go to Starbucks. I'm thinking about buying an investment property. I've no idea what the heck I'm doing. Do I really have to put 30%? Down? Like, could I just take you out for coffee and ask you a whole bunch of questions. So you're talking to that one person who you know, and you know very well, it's not going to be scary to have that conversation with them, like, you know, this person and they're not, they're not grilling you to try to see if you're, they're going to trick you with answers so that you get them wrong, like they genuinely want your help. There's nothing scary about that. Train yourself to think of the camera as that one person who just needs your help. It's not, it's not anything to be scared of. And then when you start uploading these videos, no one is going to watch them, like you, if you have a brand new YouTube channel, no one's gonna see them, they don't know that your channel even exists yet. And that's fine, because this is when you are learning. So I don't really want a huge audience watching me crash and burn. It is perfectly fine that when I put these videos up, they're gonna get 10 views, 20 views, like on a good day, you're oh my gosh, I got 50 views on this video what happened? I don't know what happened. But you know, and then eventually, you get better and better and better. And by that time, the YouTube algorithm is like, Okay, now people are starting to like these videos, they start to show them to more potential viewers. By the time your videos start to get found, you're 100 times better than you were when you first started. But truly, the only way to get over that initial hurdle, is to just do it to just make yourself do it and Promise yourself that it does not have to be anywhere close to perfect. Like I heard Marie Forleo say once B- work, it doesn't have to be an A plus a B- is just fine. Just get it up there. It's good enough, good enough to help somebody and then move on and go make the next one. And the faster you can do that. So make 5, 10, 20 videos, the faster you can just get the all those videos cranked out and put on your YouTube channel, the sooner you will get over that initial hurdle. So now when I sit down to edit videos, like I do not care what my voice sounds like, I don't even give it a second thought. That's that's what my voice sounds like. It doesn't bother me anymore. I don't agonize over except I you know, I did record a video the other day and I had something stuck in my teeth and I didn't know it until I sat down to Edit was like are you kidding me? It looks like I had black beans for lunch. This was not cool. But you it was not live. I get to edit the video so I can edit that part out where nobody will see it or I could just rerecord it again, it will be totally fine.

Genie Willett: 17:33

Okay, so now you've created your videos consistently. You've got them on YouTube, and you're slowly building a base of followers. How do you turn this into a successful sales funnel? How do you actually convert viewers into clients?

Karin Carr: 17:47

I love that you said sales funnel, makes my little nerdy marketers heartbeat faster. It really is a funnel. So here's the problem that I see. Most real estate agents think that it is commercial time when they make a video for YouTube. It's like, "Hello, did I mention that I am a CRS and a GRI and I have so many designations and I sell so many houses. And I am really awesome. But enough about me. What do you think about me?" Like that's what most people do on their YouTube channels. And I don't understand it, because I don't enjoy watching commercials. In fact, when I go to YouTube and a commercial starts to play, I wait 5 4 3 2 1 And then I hit the skip button so I don't have to watch it. And that's not why I'm there. Like I did not go to YouTube and say, Gee, I would really like to watch a whole bunch of sales pitches. Now that's going to be a good time. Like nobody wants that. But for some reason. That's what salespeople are real estate agents seem to think they think that it is I've got to advertise. I've got to promote myself. Yes, but we can do it in a way that is not quite so obnoxious. So instead, I think about who am I trying to reach with this video, when I created my channel, it was people who are in the military who are coming to Savannah to be stationed at Hunter Army Airfield. So they are military. They are moving here from out of the area. They don't know the Savannah area very well at all. And hopefully they're going to be buyers. Maybe they've decided I've been living on post all of this time. But now that I'm getting to Savannah, it's really inexpensive to live there. We could actually buy a house. And one of my very first clients was in the Coast Guard. He bought new construction for $192,000. The guy thought he had just like won the jackpot, right? $192,000 I forget what his mortgage payment was going to be. It was ridiculous. It was like $1,500 a month. And I think his base allowance for housing was more than that. So basically, he was getting to live in this house for free every single month and not have to pay for it. So that's who I was targeting with my channel. Every video that I make has to speak directly to that person. So what would someone in the military who is moving to Savannah need to know I can talk about VA loans I can talk about the funding fee I can talk about what the seller can pay for and what the buyer is not allowed to pay for If I can talk about the Can I buy a fixer upper? Can I buy an investment property? Then I can talk about? What's it like living in Savannah, I can talk about the pros and cons of living in Savannah, I can talk about things to do here and why it's such a fun place and places you can go on vacation that are within a two hour drive from Savannah, I can talk about buying and neighborhoods and like anything. And the thing that's really funny, this, I totally just went off on a tangent, but that very first lead that I got was a seller who was not in the military. The second lead I got was also a seller he was in the military. But the first two leads I got were not the people that I was targeting with the channel. And it didn't matter because the more views those videos got, the more YouTube pushed it out to other people as well. So I still got seller leads even though I was making videos for buyers. But I digress. So then I'm making these videos talking specifically to that person. And my personal philosophy is just the Gary Vee Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, you gotta give, give, give, give, give, give some more, and then ask. So I make the video, giving them all kinds of great information, expecting absolutely nothing in return. And maybe every third fourth fifth video, I would say something like, if you're thinking about moving to Savannah, I have an awesome relocation guide, click the link below, go over to my website and download it. And that sends them into the funnel. So they go to my website, they fill out the landing page to get the relocation guide, they get it delivered to them, immediately they go into my CRM, it starts a whole follow up nurture campaign, I get an email that says Ding, ding, ding, you have a new lead. And then I call them and say, Hey, Joe, I saw that you downloaded my relocation guide. Are you thinking about moving to Savannah, and then they have the oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm talking to you a conversation. So it really turns into not only leads, but really, really good, qualified, motivated leads. Sometimes they're not ready to move for a year or two, like I've had lots of people say, I think we're going to relocate there when we retire. And that's not for a couple of years. But and then I have other people that are like, I'm going to be there next month. So we're doing something right now. and everywhere in between. So they really turn into amazing leads, but not if you're saying call me call me Call me. Here's my phone number. I'm gonna have my phone number flashing on the screen. And here's my logo, my brokerage logo as well. Did I mention you should call me oh, by the way, I have a house for sale that I mentioned that I sell houses, I have houses for sale, let's let's give you I'm selling this house, anybody want to buy this house? And when I go on social, that's all I see. It's about the listing, the listing the listing the listing all of the time, what if we stopped and we actually gave them some information that they wanted. And they didn't feel like we were just trying to sell them something all of the time, I feel like it, it makes them let their guard down and lets their walls down. And they actually become more receptive to what you are saying. So they don't feel like you're a salesperson. And then when they decide it's time to pull the trigger. They call you because you've shown yourself to be trustworthy and not obnoxious.

Reggie Nicolay: 23:13

It's such good advice, you know, because, again, education and you're showing your value you're giving to get it makes a lot of sense. I think the only thing as a new agent where I'm looking at this, I might be a little fearful that when I open up YouTube, I'm competing with all of YouTube, and I really loved hearing your take on it that you know, that's not the case. When you start looking at you know who you're talking to your niche and your local area. You're not actually competing with as many people as you think are you out there?

Karin Carr: 23:43

No, not at all. It's really interesting how the YouTube algorithm works because they show you videos if I am the viewer, they are showing me videos that they think I will like based on my previous watch history. And so I give this analogy all the time. There is a guy that has a channel in southern Utah he he's a tow truck guy, he pulls Jeeps out when they go out to Moab to go rock hauling and they get stuck in the cracks. He goes out he pulls the Jeep out my husband watches this channel every single night and I'm like how how many Jeeps do you need to watch get towed out of the cracks before it's no longer entertaining because you watch it literally every single night when I go on to YouTube I will never be serviced one of Matt off roads recoveries video because I don't watch that. I will be shown videos that I watch I watched chicken or watch videos about chickens raising chickens in your backyard. And you know stop coloring your hair, let your hair grow gray and how to deal with humidity and better editing techniques and you know social media marketing and what is the what are the interest rates doing like it shows me videos that are relevant to what I have searched and what I have watched in the YouTube newsfeed based on my previous watch history, so the only people who will ever watch your YouTube videos are people who are interested in the topic. And this is one of my favorite things about YouTube. It's really mind blowing when you think about it. If you get 50 views on a video that was about, I don't know, the savannah quarters gated neighborhood in pooler, Georgia, I get 50 views, okay? 50 views is not a lot. But all 50 views were from people that were interested in Savannah quarters in polar Georgia. So even if I got one phone call from that, that turned into a client at a 50 views, those are not bad off no right. Versus I'm not I'm not competing with everybody on YouTube, I am not competing with Mr. Beast, I am not competing with PewDiePie. I'm not competing with the the guys that like run around mansions shooting each other with Nerf guns that my 10 year old son watches all the time. I'm not up against those viewers. That's not what they're looking for. They will never be shown one of my videos. But if somebody types in anything to do with Savannah or real estate, you can be darn sure they're gonna see my videos.

Genie Willett: 26:10

You mentioned a few already. But let's circle back to the top mistakes you see agents making when incorporating video into their marketing plans.

Karin Carr: 26:19

Well, one of the big mistakes we've already talked about, and that was being way too salesy, so just don't don't anything that you've been taught to do, do the polar opposite on YouTube. And it will probably be more effective. It truly is. If if you sound like you're coming across with a sales pitch, they will leave the video within the first 10 seconds and never watch you again. So you're just destroying any chances you had of working with that person. So don't. The second thing is pretty much along those same lines. And it is. Hey, everyone, welcome back to my channel. My name is Karin Carr. I'm a real, I'm a real estate agent in Savannah, Georgia with real broker and then today we're talking about that. So I told them that I was a REALTOR® and who my brokerage was in the first 10 seconds of the video, I am convinced that what they hear is, Hello, I am an annoying salesperson. And I'm now going to give you a sales pitch for the next 15 minutes, buckle up, it's going to be fun. And they don't want that so they leave the video. So if we can stop doing that, and instead start the video with some sort of compelling hook something that will grab them and keep them wanting to know more. So let's say that your video was about is is it? Is it still a hot seller's market? Or is it too late because now the interest rates have changed. And so you're going to make a video where you're talking about what's happening in your market. And you could open your video instead of saying, Hey, everyone, welcome to my channel. I'm Karin, I'm a REALTOR®. You could say something like, are you thinking about selling your house in Savannah, and you are worried because interest rates are sky high? Yep, you should be worried because things have changed drastically, you need to know what to do if you want to get your house sold in less than six months. Let's do this. And then you talk about your things. So you had to give them something that was like a little bit controversial, a little bit salacious, a little bit of like scare tactics, because we know that people's are motivated by going toward pleasure and away from fear. And unfortunately, the fear thing seems to work a little bit better on YouTube. So you say something scary at the beginning of the video, they're gonna click on it and watch it, then you give them the information. So we don't want to trick them into clicking and then talk about something totally unrelated. We're going to talk about exactly what we said in the beginning of the video, so that they feel like you're giving them the accurate information. And hopefully you are reassuring them that no, you didn't wait too long. It's not a terrible time. But we do have to do things differently, you're probably not going to get 75 offers in the first 48 hours like we did last summer, things are different. Here's what we need to do to adjust, blah, blah, blah. So you're just really trying to be entertaining on camera. And that is a skill that comes with practice, we do not come out of the womb, being great at coming up with an opening hook. Like it doesn't happen that way it comes with practice. And the more you do it, the better you will get and you don't even it's it's not even that you're coming up with it off the top of your head, like I literally will make a list of opening hooks. And I'll write down 15 of them. And then I'll pick the one that I think sounds the best and then that's the one that I say in the video. You don't have to come up with it off the top of your head. You're like planning what you're going to say in this video. Don't feel like it has to be perfect. They want you to be real on camera. If you swallow or you cough or you stumble over your lines, it's fine. You can keep going you could take it out if you wanted to in the editing process, but you could keep going as well. Just don't Ah, you know, when you're doing a live stream, people are coming on and you're like, hey, Carol, hey, Joe, how's it going, you're chit chatting with people that are in the live stream. Unless you're going live. That's really annoying. So don't use a free don't use a live stream that you did before. And like upload it to YouTube, because now I'm watching it back, I'm not live. And it's very easy to lose their attention. I don't I don't need to see all of the chitchat, just get to the point, please. And then always have a really great call to action at the end of your video. And for me, I like it to be watched another video. So I've just given you all of this information about why this is still a great time to sell your house. But do you know how to come up with the list price? Or are you just pulling that off of Zillow? No, this is how we determine what your list price should be. Watch this video next. And in that video, we're going to tell them how we come up with the asking price for your house. So you're giving them like valuable piece of info after valuable piece of info after valuable piece of info. And then you say I want to know what your home is worth go to my website and fill out this form, I'll tell you exactly what it's worth. So they feel like oh, this person was so helpful. They're giving me all of this great information. They're not trying to shove anything down my throat that I'm not ready to buy. And then eventually they call you. And when you ask them. Did you call anybody else? Are you interviewing anybody else? They say no, just you.

Reggie Nicolay: 31:29

It's a dream.

Karin Carr: 31:30

It is really?

Reggie Nicolay: 31:31

Yeah, it is. I love this. And you mentioned a type of video that I did want to circle around a little bit live video. And you also mentioned market updates in your last answer. And so this is the next question I because that RPR we have introduced these new charts and graphs. And as marketers ourselves, Jeannie and I, we've been thinking well, these are bound foundational marketing components for video, you know, they talk about the type of market or different roll ups for neighborhoods maybe on like the median list price or days on market or change in volume, you know, something like that. And so we're just wondering, like, what's your take on real estate market videos? I did see you had a live video with a group of your teammates. I thought it was a really fun format. There was different context coming from everybody, you know, their ache, but I mean, what's your overall thought on market update videos, and I'm using data like I mentioned,

Karin Carr: 32:26

Let me start by saying if you know the DISC profile, I am a high AI. So market updates to me are mind numbingly boring, I do not love doing them. And I put them off for a very, very long time. Unfortunately, sellers love market updates. But you got to figure out how to make it interesting. They don't necessarily know all of the jargon and the acronyms that we're using on a daily basis. And I see a lot of people that will make a market update. And they're saying, you know how many houses sold, how many went pending? How many are active on the market, but they don't say what that was compared to the month before. So is that good? Is that bad? I don't know, I don't really have any context. I don't know what the market absorption rate is as the consumer. So if you're gonna give them the data, I like to give it to them. So that I'm telling them why it's relevant for them. So if I say, you know, last summer, the days on market was 17 days, like literally, we would put the house on the market, we got a million offers on it went under contract, and then it closed in no time. Now our days on market is 60 days, that is a huge difference. What does that mean for you? Well, if you are the buyer, it means this if you are the seller, it means this. So I love to give them that data. And if we've got all of those charts and graphs from RPR that we can put up on the screen, give the people something to look at while you're explaining what it is. That's wonderful because they don't just want to look at my face talking for 15 minutes straight and give them some diagrams and charts and pie charts and all of that stuff to look at that makes your video much more entertaining, and watchable. They like that. But I also say just don't go too crazy with like the stats, because you're going to lose all of the people that are like me that are the highest, you know, we want to like, talk about the feeling and the emotions and stuff like that. And if you go deep down the rabbit hole of the stats, you're going to lose me so I tried to just think of a happy medium, how can I appeal to as many people as possible with the information that I'm giving them, but I love that idea of just you don't have to go to the MLS and pull all of these this data, just go to RPR and use theirs instead. And by the way, they're going to look 10 times better than anything I could make on Canva. So I'll just use that instead. And then as far as live streams live streams are great if you already have a fairly large audience. If you don't, I feel like it's not really beneficial. At the very beginning, so let's say I create my new YouTube channel. It's brand new. I have five subscribers. And it's mostly like my mom and my husband and my cousin that lives in another state. And a few people from the office, I don't have a huge following. If I go live, no one's really going to see it except the five people that were already subscribed to the channel, and even then they're not all going to watch it. So you're going live. And you can see a big fat zero in the upper left hand corner. And it's really demoralizing for me to be live and be like, nobody is watching. This is so embarrassing, and then it's hard to keep your energy up and act like you're talking to people when you know that nobody is there. So once you get a fairly large YouTube channel, then it's a great time to start live streaming, but I wouldn't do it. If your channel is brand new. I would go live on the other channels, the other platforms where you already have a fairly good audience. I hear that going live on Tik Tok is going to be like the next big thing because not many people are doing it yet. So if you're already on Tik Tok, go live over there. Go Live on Facebook Live on Instagram. I wouldn't worry too much about YouTube Live though until you have a larger audience. That's just my personal take on it. It advice.

Genie Willett: 36:16

This has all been so great. I know I already want to dig deeper into making video content. For those agents looking for some more guidance on expanding their business with video. Should they start with your book YouTube for real estate agents?

Karin Carr: 36:29

Yes, that would be wonderful. Please do it is on Amazon or it is in the the National Association of REALTORS® store in the bookshelf. It's called YouTube for real estate agents learn how to get free real estate leads and never cold call again. You can follow me on my YouTube channel. It's youtube.com/karincarr. And it's all just tips for agents that want to use video this way. Feel free to watch as many of those as you need. I do challenges periodically online i i have a coaching program like I love to talk about this stuff. So if you need more help just I'd say start with my YouTube channel. That's probably the easiest place to start.

Reggie Nicolay: 37:12

Yeah, there is a wealth of information on that channel. I could have a lot of fun digging through all that content. And I loved about the book all the assignments and the way you took it. It's really it's like the ABCs to getting started. So very helpful. For anyone looking to get some traction with video. We can't thank you enough for being our guest on Decoding Real Estate this month and we hope to have more conversations with you in the future. But for now, thank you for giving our listeners tips on how to get started with video in their marketing.

Karin Carr: 37:43

My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. This is great.