Dear Valued OneKey® MLS Subscriber,

When you strategize for building your business, you might consider networking for new client leads, prospecting for new listings, or attending educational events. Another option for building your business is to brand yourself as a selling expert, marketing your listings and securing the next, by upping your game with Advanced Virtual Tours.

What are Advanced Virtual Tours?

The virtual tour has dramatically changed in recent years. When most agents think of virtual tours, they imagine a picture slideshow that shows the interior of a home, room by room. With the evolution and accessibility of high-tech cameras, virtual touring has become more immersive, more representative of the home, and more engaging. Homebuyers can tour a home as they choose, moving from room to room, fully immersed in the experience of the viewing.

Professional Service

To create a virtual tour, you'll need to invest in a virtual tour vendor and also in the services of a professional photographer. Find a photographer who has completed this work before or one recommended by the vendor. You'll need to consider the photographer's and vendor's turn-around time for providing a completed work, so the virtual tour can be added to the listing when it is goes live on the MLS and then syndicated across other channels.

Branding & Licensing

Read through the licensing agreement carefully to understand exactly what you're getting from your photographer and tour vendor. You'll want a branded version and unbranded version of the tour. Check for restrictions that may limit how you intend to use the tours. For example, can you use the tours after the home has been sold? Will the photographer have license to use the photos in any scenario? 

Build Your Business with Virtual Tours

By using advanced virtual touring, you're not only providing a more immersive experience for potential homebuyers, but you're marketing yourself as a tech savvy selling agent as well. Advanced virtual tours are the future of listing photography and incorporating them will help you make a more long-lasting impression on your customers.

Expand on each listing by virtually staging it in different styles to show the flexibility of the space and create a lookbook archive of all the homes you've virtually staged for your website and future customers.

If you don't have an active listing, you can still utilize Virtual Touring technology to build your business. Create a Virtual Tour of your office to post on your Google Business page, social media sites, and office website. Pair with a local business that may be struggling with marketing and offer your virtual touring and staging services as a way to network and create a larger presence in the community. With either of these options, you're demonstrating your ability to utilize the technology when that new prospect comes along.

How to Get Started with Virtual Touring

Technology novices are encouraged to research 3D and Virtual Tour Vendors, who specialize in these types of services and and see what they have to offer. Get started by looking into Matterport, the largest vendor in the Advanced Virtual Touring space, and let the latest advances in virtual technology help you market your business.