Most sellers I speak to ask the same thing once they’ve decided to go ahead. “Do I need a video? What’s a 360 tour? Aren’t photos enough?”
Fair questions. Here’s how I’d think it through.
Why marketing matters to your price
Buyers decide whether to view your home on their phone. Usually in a few seconds, usually with their thumb already moving to the next one.
If the photos are dark, the rooms look smaller than they are, or there’s no floor plan, plenty of them never book a viewing. Fewer viewings means fewer offers. Fewer offers means less to negotiate with.
That’s where the money goes. On a £400,000 home, a 5% reduction to get things moving is £20,000 off what you walk away with.
Now the bit you need to hear. Marketing can’t rescue a home priced for the buyer you hope will turn up. Get the price and the presentation right together.
Photos: the one thing every home needs
Every listing starts with the photos. They’re the first thing buyers see on the portals and the thing they flick through before reading a word.
What good looks like:
- Taken by someone who does it every day, with a wide lens used properly, not stretched.
- Shot in the right light. Coastal and rural homes round here often sell on the view or the garden, so when the photographer comes matters as much as the camera.
- Rooms cleared, beds made, cars off the drive, bins out of sight.
- A floor plan. Buyers use it to work out whether their furniture, and their life, will fit. A listing without one looks like it’s hiding something.
- Enough images to tell the story, in the order you’d walk round.
If you only do one thing properly, make it this.
Video: when it earns its keep
Video shows what photos can’t. How the rooms connect. How the light moves through the house. What it’s like to step out of the back door onto the fields, or walk to the beach.
It’s worth it when:
- The setting sells the home: sea views, land, a big garden, a quiet lane.
- The layout is hard to explain in stills: barn conversions, split levels, cottages extended three times.
- You want reach on social media, where video tends to be shown to far more people than photos.
A short vertical cut for social and a longer walk-through for the portals usually work harder than one long film.
360 virtual tours: for buyers who can’t pop round
A 360 tour lets someone walk round your home on a screen, at their own pace, from wherever they are.
Round here that matters more than most places. Plenty of buyers in EX22–EX23 are moving from up-country, relocating, or buying a second home. A long round trip just to see whether the second bedroom really is a double is a big ask.
A tour lets them:
- Decide from home whether it’s worth the trip.
- Arrive at the viewing already half-sure, which tends to mean better viewings.
- Show it to family who can’t come along.
It also cuts down the “just looking” viewings. You’ll appreciate that if you’re keeping the kitchen spotless for every one.
It won’t replace a viewing, and nobody should buy without one. It just makes the viewings you do get more serious.
So which do you need?
- Every home: professional photos, a floor plan, and a description written for a buyer, not a brochure.
- Add video if the setting, the land or the layout is what sells it, or you want strong reach on social media.
- Add a 360 tour if your likely buyer lives a long way off. Here, that’s often.
More isn’t automatically better. Match the marketing to the person most likely to buy your home.
Where your home should be seen
The portals, Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket, are where buyers who are actively looking go. Your home needs to be there, and it needs to look its best, because it’s sitting side by side with everything else in the postcode.
But the portals only reach people who are already searching. Plenty of buyers aren’t yet. They’re scrolling Facebook, Instagram or TikTok on a Tuesday evening, thinking “one day”.
That’s where social media earns its place:
- It reaches people before they start searching.
- It travels. Neighbours share it, friends tag friends. A good local post can go further than you’d expect.
- It can reach out-of-area buyers by where they live and what they’re into, not just what they’ve typed into a search box.
- It’s where video works hardest.
The portals catch the buyers who are looking. Social media finds the ones who aren’t yet. You want both.
Five questions to ask your agent
- Who takes the photos, and can I see some recent ones?
- Is a floor plan included?
- Will there be video or a virtual tour, and how do you decide?
- Where will my home appear beyond the portals?
- Can you show me a listing you’ve marketed recently that you’re proud of?
A good agent will be glad you asked. If the answers are vague, that tells you something too.
What this means for you
- Get the photos right before anything else.
- Add video if the setting or layout is the selling point.
- Add a 360 tour if your buyer is likely to be from out of the area.
- Make sure your home is on the portals and on social media.
- Ask to see an agent’s recent marketing before you sign anything.
If you’re thinking about selling and want an honest view of what your home needs to go to market well, I’m always happy to pop round and chat it through.
Mat