How can you sell your car, your home, your piano—almost anything faster? Upload a video and add it to your online sales ad! Experts say it’s a genius marketing idea, e to sell stuff and make extra money, especially in this economy. From cars, boats, homes and even lawn mowers, violins, pianos you name it, people are letting videos, “sell their stuff” for them. Buyers no longer have to look at only a picture and wonder: “Does that thing run?” “Is that instrument off key?” “What does that car’s interior look like?”
Nathan Turner from Harrisburg, PA just uploaded a video and linked it to his ad to help sell his 2006 Jaguar. “The first time I ran the ad without the video I didn't really get the response I was expecting.” But now inquires about his Jag are revving up! “I got a lot more people calling about it emailing it brought a lot more traffic to the ad.”
Industry experts say the number of video links appearing in sales ads is growing! A recent YouTube search showed “for sale” videos for about: 600 lawn mowers, 1300 musical instruments, 19,000 cars and 31,000 homes! What are the tricks of the trade to make your video stand out? We consulted the automotive experts at Edmunds.com:
- Keep it simple
- “Walk around” what you’re trying to sell
- Be sure to narrate it
- Keep the video under a minute
- Shoot in an attractive location
- Don’t mention price in the video, since that could change
- Don’t be a comedian
Philip Reed from Edmunds says simple narration really helps. “You feel like you've already met the buyer; if you hear the narration you may feel comfortable with the person.” Reed warns be sure to stick to the facts and , “Don’t try to get too fancy, and don't try to be too funny because what you find to be funny might be ridiculous or cheesy to somebody else who's watching the video.”
But before you upload sales videos like these be careful! Don’t reveal too much about your location! Your recording device may have GPS, which could electronically “geo tag” or embed your location so others could find it online.
Aryeh Goretsky from ESET Computer Security says be sure to turn the GPS off! “You’re leaving a trail of where you've been and posting that on the Internet. That could have all sorts of repercussions.” Check the instructional manual for your video camera, digital camera or cell phone to see if it electronically embeds location information in video. Details on how to disable the GPS should also be in the manual.
Not many of the widely known classified ad websites allow you to upload videos. So many post their sales videos on widely known websites like YouTube and just add a link to the ad. That way buyers can click on the link knowing they aren’t going to be sent to a sketchy site.
Nathan says he hopes his video, shot conservatively and cautiously, will soon help make him big bucks! “It just creates the excitement, as if they're looking at it in person.”
