ABOUT:
Danelle Photography is the name I use for my freelance photography business, as Danelle is my middle name. I am seriously thinking about changing it to my last name because it has confused so many people for the past 10 years! Any helpful ideas on this issue would be most welcome!
Danelle Photography offers a range of photography services from small to large, to private and public events for birthdays, charities, corporations, political events, and more. I also dabble in head shots, food, pet and wedding photography. For some reason I really love photographing residential and commercial real estate the most and that is what I have decided to focus on. I just need a little help getting started on the 360° virtual tour side of it. If this addition to my photography services takes off, the way it is predicted to in the world of real estate, I would be happy to refund any donations once I begin to see a profit. All funding will go to equipment purchase and help paying for the software.
I pride myself in having a loyal clientele and would like to offer them affordable and efficient 360° virtual tours for their clients. Especially those sellers that aren't particularly keen on having strangers in there homes while they are not there, Not to mention the stay in place orders we are now under, meaning potential buyers are not able to freely spend a beautiful weekend day touring open houses. Instead I could offer them a 360° virtual tour in the safety and privacy of their own homes or backyards as these virtual tours will be viewable on all mobile devices, laptops, desktops, tablets and iPad's.
OVERVIEW:
To provide affordable, self guided, MLS compliant 360° virtual tours to local real estate agents, with a prompt turnaround and smooth integration. Thus lowering the price of 360° virtual tours for my clientele and others.
THE PROBLEM:
Cost.
After researching local and regional virtual real estate photographers, I found the average cost per tour to be around $350. Many real estate agents that I work with cannot afford this price as well as paying for still images, of which most are required to post on their MLS site.
Turnaround.
Not only do realtors have deadlines for posting images to their online listings, they are also fined if the property images are not posted by the deadline. So, waiting the average 1 to 3 days to receive their deliverables is neither ideal nor efficient.
Marketing.
There seem to be no cross-marketing strategies with the majority of virtual tour software available today. Most property videos are largely treated as stand-alone marketing tools. They are often not embedded into a single property website for the same property nor integrated into the agents mobile marketing system. Missing huge outreach opportunities by making the viewer specifically 'search' for a property tour.
THE SOLUTION:
Cost.
Thanks to some wonderful new technology I have finally found a way to efficiently photograph homes using a lightweight 360° camera and monopod. Along with a new software program that seamlessly transfers 360° panoramic images and automatically stitches them together saving me many woman hours of tedious post production time. Therefore allowing me to lower the average cost of virtual tours for my clients.
Turnaround.
With the use of this efficient new software I will be able to offer a prompt turnaround on deliverables. Allowing my clients to upload 360° virtual tours within hours of the photo-shoots end, without sacrificing quality. If need be, in a pinch, this software will enable me to use my mobile device to photograph 360° images, complete and upload a tour right there on the spot.
Marketing.
Although MLS will not allow photographers or agents to brand their virtual tours or videos. This software allows an embedded link to be used by myself and the MLS agent to upload the tour to their listing page, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc... with the agents name and listing office attached to the tour. This way if someone is viewing the tour on LinkedIn, for example, they will easily be able to contact the listing agent or the listing office, instead of wasting time searching an MLS site to find information on the listing.
HIGHLIGHTS:
An efficient post-production workflow allowing for a prompt turnaround and a below average price tag. Resulting in a seamless self-guided, MLS compliant 360° virtual tour embedded with the listing agents name and company for simple outreach marketing on all web enabled devices.
KEYS TO SUCCESS:
Marketing to current real estate agent clientele and their firms. Offering discounts for their first 360° virtual tour via hand delivered business postcards to local real estate businesses and other private and commercial businesses.
RESOURCES NEEDED:
(1) Insta360° One X Deluxe Camera Kit ….............................................................$558.50
(1) Insta360° One X Extended Selfie Stick (until monopod is available)............$69.00
(2) Insta360° One X Wide Temperature Range Batteries ...................................$58.00
(1) SanDisk 128GB Extreme UHS-1 MicroSDXC Memory Card...........................$30.99
(1) Bushman Panoramic Claremont Monopod V2...............................................$126.00
(1) Insta360° One X Battery Charging Station......................................................$39.99
(1) Year Software Subscription..............................................................................$156.00
TOTAL...................................................................................................................$998.49
Even though I do not have the Insta360° One X camera or the
'secret' software as of yet. I have spent hours upon hours researching
and studying the camera and software so that when I finally do receive
the equipment I pretty much know how to use it and can start
photographing much requested 360° virtual tours immediately.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:
With the current state of COVID-19 in the United States, I'm sorry to say, my finances are not much to highlight, especially since I just purchased a new camera, lenses, software and tripod to use for my real estate photography. The one thing I can highlight is that within 3 days I was asked by 5 of my clients if I could do virtual tours, which is the reason I am asking for funding. I really don't want the clients I worked so hard to attract and attain to move on to someone else who can provide 360° virtual tours.
So, I already have clients who want this service I just don't have the equipment or backing to pull it off at the moment. By the way, not only is viewing a 360° virtual tour something everyone can do without human contact, photographing homes for virtual tours is done with absolutely no human contact. This would be something I could still provide my clients so we can all continue to be productive during these trying times. Allowing buyers and sellers to achieve their goals as well. I believe I could break even within a couple of months depending on the market.
