How FPV Drones Are Changing Real Estate Marketing

To stand out on listing platforms, the real estate industry needs unparalleled property layout showcases and cinematic footage.

This blog explores the multifaceted ways drones are changing property marketing, and how your digital marketing strategy can leverage this newfound approach to video production.

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Understanding FPV Drones

For over a decade, the real estate marketing industry relied on standard camera drones, like the DJI Phantom or Mavic series. While decent for getting aerial shots from up high, such as roof condition and property lines, they were limited in how they could move. They were initially designed for smooth, slow pans and tilts, which are structurally flawed for indoor drone tours of a property due to a reliance on GPS (Global Positioning System). This made the drones ill-suited because of their size and open propellers, posing safety risks to occupants.

The inclusion of FPV drones minimized these limitations by offering drone pilots manual, acrobatic control that could stream a low-latency feed from the drone to the pilot's retina. The hardware innovation of ducted propeller guards, which kept the blades safe as well as the environment, allowed for 'continuous shots' or 'flythroughs' - a continuous, cinematic shot that can traverse across the locality, through the front door, and back across the patio.

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How FPV Drones Are Changing Real Estate Marketing

Cognitive Mapping and Aerial Storytelling

The biggest marketing advantage of FPV drone footage is that it helps lessees visualize the property's floor plan. Traditional listings often feel like a puzzle - you see a photo of the kitchen, the living room, and the balcony, forcing you to mentally stitch it all together.

FPV drone footage eliminates all the friction by showing the property in motion. Flying from the modular kitchen into the wooden decor of the dining room, for instance, provides a 'spatial narrative' that connects all the different spaces, so you can get a sense of the flow and layout of the home. This is especially valuable for properties with open-concept homes or complex architectural designs where traditional ground-level photography fails to convey the relationships between different floor levels and indoor-outdoor transitions.

Moreover, a First Person View drone camera replicates the guided experience that often comes with physical property walkthroughs. It forces online viewers to pay attention to the key selling points in the order that the property management company wants prospects to see them. This level of directorial control makes all the difference when it comes to building value and making the property feel more appealing.

Finally, the speed of an FPV drone camera creates a sense of energy and vibrancy, turning a virtual tour into an immersive piece of entertainment. This makes people more likely to watch it until the end, and that's exactly what Flymark's clients have reported: over 48% increases in leasing inquiries, and a 35% rise in website engagement.

Interactive Property Tours & Showcases

It's no surprise that drone technology is driving a shift in virtual property tours to keep up with recent property listings. Over recent years, there has been a trend of interactive property marketing where real estate sellers interact in real-time with potential lessees and build an online community while doing so.

For high profile luxury properties or one-off commercial property events, real estate companies can live stream an open house from the air. This means people worldwide can tune in, ask questions, and get specific views of a place, which does a lot to boost customer engagement and create immersive client experiences.

Having aerial views and drone-powered remote virtual tours is key to attracting out-of-state or international customers. Property video tours give them a bird's-eye view of a property, without needing an expensive plane ticket. For real estate companies, this means broadening the potential market for any home and accelerating the decision-making process.

As we've explored, the evolution of drone technology is opening up new possibilities for the real estate industry. We can soon expect drone captured data to be merged with virtual and augmented reality headsets so that buyers can get a real feel for a property - "walking" around it from the comfort of their own home, no matter where in the world they are.

We'll also see more drones being equipped with LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) scanners, which are capable of producing accurate 3D mapping of properties and land, making it a lot easier to create detailed virtual models and near-perfect architectural renderings.

Advanced Property Inspections & Assessments

While the stunning visuals that drones capture are certainly a major draw, the real power of drones lies in their ability to actually help inform marketing and sales strategies by providing some truly useful data.

Drones provide a safe and easy aerial property survey of roof damage, chimneys, and high-rise structural concerns. The detailed, 4K resolution aerial footage can point out major issues early on, protecting buyers (renters) and sellers way before the deal closing.

For developers and those working with large tracks of land, using a drone to do surveying and site analysis can be a game-changer. They can quickly offer detailed topographic maps and 3D models, which are crucial when it comes to planning, development, and selling undeveloped land sites.

Market Visibility

In a digital-first market that has transitioned from desktop portals to social media platforms, video formatting has had to change from horizontal (16:9) to vertical (9:16) ratios. This adaptation to video editing fitting vertical screens has brought a lot more than cropping - it's brought a reimagination of composition and flight paths.

Drone operators are not just executing wide horizontal pans - they're also taking the drones on vertical movements – flying straight up a high-rise building or swooping down a spiraled staircase. This style of flying matches up with how video plays on a phone, making the height and depth of a scene really pop, rather than just showing width.

Moreover, FPV drones are really efficient at getting through tight spaces, like a hallway that fits in a 9:16 frame. The "tunnel vision" effect of a hallway makes potential customers feel like they're part of the speed and action, especially on a mobile screen.

Your target audiences on social media don't stay engaged for long. Vertical drone edits are typically fast-paced and cut to different shots every 2-3 seconds to keep the viewer interested. This is a big contrast to the slower pace of a YouTube virtual tour or the cinematic video pacing of your website.

Flymark runs an audit to help you understand where your video assets can be implemented across multiple digital channels. We also edit and format the video content to fit multiple social media content formats.

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Flymark's Real Estate Video Production

FPV drones have changed the way real estate companies market their properties. They provide compelling visual narratives that emotionally appeal to potential customers by creating 'feel-it-first' user experiences. Additionally, FPV drone footage is the perfect 'stop-the-scroll' solution to the short video formats we see on social media channels these days. Investing in high-quality drone video marketing solutions can not only drive more inquiries but also enhance your brand reputation by creating engaging visuals.

Flymark uses a combination of FPV drones and handheld videography to create a unique virtual property experience for your customers, which drives website traffic and healthier leads.