I know, we all need the portfolio shots. We covet them to some degree. These, as much as price, will often help show off our work and decide if we get the job, if competition gets it, or if anyone gets hired at all! So I wonder, as a professional stager, how are you showing off your work?
Do you use the tyical before & after series?
These are great for showing how staging can bring a room to life. They help with size, scale and purpose of the room. They can help show off features of rooms to be better than they are even...
Have you thought about using close ups?
Strictly from a portfolio standpoint, which of these is more interesting to look at? Which of these actually shows your work (Ok, in this case my work)? When your clients are looking to see what you use in a home, what kind of furniture, art, accessories, etc which will give them more info?
Both sets have a purpose. I like to use the last shot as features on my website - we don't use any stock photography anymore. Routinely we change up the photos that our sites feature. We keep the looks fresh.
Lastly there is one other portfolio tool you should be using...
We use this on our website to show off the homes we have currently staged. This way when clients really want to know what we do in their pricepoint and with their style of home we can show what we are doing right now! This is another point of reference for our clients. Providing all three of these portfolio projects and looks helps them to know exactly what we offer - it takes the guess work out of it!
So... what's in your portfolio?
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Melissa Marro, a published artist, now turned staging advocate and national speaker speaks her mind about real estate and the home staging industry. In her 'no holds barred' approach, audience members find real answers to the industries pitfalls and learn how to overcome them with tried and true information and guidance. With marketing as her passion, she turned a small home based business into one of the nation's largest home staging and training facilities. Selling her successful home staging company in January 2012, Marro is now a full time speaker and instructor for Staging And Resign and Real Estate Staging Association (RESA)'s trade events.
For more information on having Marro speak at one of your real estate functions, please contact her at 843.619.1593 or email at marro.melissa@gmail.com
I love the video! Great Job! Shows clients what you can do!
Melissa, I hadn't thought about using close up shots. Thanks for sharing.
I've been so bad about this, because I take a full room shot, I try and take the same angle for the after, but the details get totally lost!
We tend to mix them up. Some close, some far, just depends on the room and the accents. We need to put more videos on our site. It's on the list and hoping it will be up soon. Kym
very well done, Melissa -- your presentations and your staging! I do not like using before photos of occupied homes; seems my finished work is what matters. great post!
Nanette - Thanks so much!
Donna - I love using the close ups. I call them my 'artistic' shots.
Cindy - We try to take all the after angles, then any exceptional views for MLS shots and then close ups. We probably take close to 100 shots of every vacant we stage. Then we do a lot of editing at the computer.
Kym - mixing it up is great! That's what we do also. We've gotten great feedback from agents and potential clients about the way our active staged properties page shows. It provides a lot of info for the prospective client and then advertisement for the seller.
Karen - I do understand your philosophy about owner occupied. The other presentations (close up and RES) would still potentially apply for you.
I try to use all of the above. One my website I use the RES for all of my properties, past and present because they can also tell a story "Sold in 1 week" etc..
Melissa, great post. I use all of the above. There seems to be a need for having examples of each depending on the situation.
Great topic, thanks for the inspiration!
Beautiful work and photos. You gave me some great ideas.
I tend to show before and after photos during my presentation, they seem to have the most impact.
Joyce
Connie - we considered doing that as well. Since we are a high volume staging company we couldn't figure out a way to really keep it up. I wish I had thought of it in the beginning though!
Michele - good to see someone else who thinks the same way! If nothing else, it keeps it from being boring.
Tom - you are welcome. The portfolio blog you posted today is one of the ways we use the varying shots (but obviously not the RES).
Joyce - Before and afters are great for realtor presentations on the big screens, but sometimes using the 'artsy' shots are great as sidebar photos where you are bulleting something else.
Marissa,
Great post again -
RES is a wonderful tool and has really changed the way we display our portfolio. We are about to launch an upgrade to our website and are using RES to populate the gallery page. We've gotten lots of great feedback from people who have seen it and customers seem to respond to it better. Now that you can download shows to video, that makes a real difference.
I also agree with changing the angle and field of view - mixing up the photos makes for a more diverse and 'stickier' portfolio.
Happy home staging!
Marissa,
And I thought I had a lot of RES. Wow! You have been a very busy lady. Great work. How did you get your first staging job? Did it take off from there? Always looking for success stories. Thanks
Hi Melissa,
I usually show my portfolio to my clients while we are taking pictures of their homes. I do not have a video camera. What is RES? Is that a video program that you use or something else? I am taking better pictures all of the time. Although, I do agree that "close ups" can add a little more than the distance ones that sometimes follow the before picture. That is where you get the most impact we have been trained, correct? Thanks for sharing your tips with us!
Have a Colorful Day!
Does it cost a lot to do the video? It really looks great and I agree that it is an excellent tool to utelize on a website. Thanks for sharing.
Thomas - I haven't tried to download to video.... going to have to check that feature out! thanks!
Dee - Those are just our active staged properties. I've been using RES for over a year so there really are A LOT of them!
Irene - www.RealEstateShows.com (RES) It is the little mini movie that you see above. Just click play now to take a tour of the unit we staged downtown.
Lisa - not very expensive at all - $125/yr for unlimited shows. They are also super simple to put together!
I think on a website or marketing literature - where the picture itself isn't very large, that your second set of photos is more impressive. Where there is more room, such as 8x10 photos in a portfolio, I think the first set of photos is essential to use.