The FORMULA 27 - The Tour Disc

Are you actively spreading seeds around your community? Seeds are anything that have a long shelf life and have a chance to sprout you up some new virtual tour business down the road.  In our line of work, seeds could be your active online craigslist ads that have links back to your website, your trade show handout CD’s, a glossy handout, a postcard and finally my personal favorite, the Tour Disc.  

Jim and I, as well as many other highly successful RTV virtual tour providers out there, mail a Tour Disc to the home seller once the virtual tour has been posted online.  The Tour Disc is mailed directly to the home seller as a gift on behalf of the listing agent and your virtual tour company.  When anyone puts the Disc into a CD ROM or DVD ROM a nice presentation begins showcasing the listing agent, your website and of course that specific virtual tour.

Tour Discs that are sent to home sellers have an amazing impact on you and your customers.  Do you know how many phone calls RTV gets from home sellers who have moved into their new homes and would like to have a copy of their virtual tour?  LOTS!!  

Homes are highly emotional material items that are the playground for many of our past memories.  A Tour Disc will cost you roughly .40 to create and will most likely bring you business down the road. Imagine being in business for two or three years and having your Tour Discs in over 1000 homes in your area.

Since we  get calls all the time from RTV dealers asking how to make these awesome virtual tour CD’s we decided to have a show that's 100% dedicated to the Tour Disc creation process.

Please join me at 7:00 Eastern on May 4th for The FORMULA 27 – The Tour Disc as we explore how to add this delightfully subtle marketing seed (and free gift) to your property marketing company.

See you on the show!


Sign up NOW in your TMS

Jason LaVanture
Are you getting my tweets? http://www.twitter.com/BlueLaVaMedia

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I Want to be a Purple Cow

It seemed I woke every hour on the hour last night anticipating the Halifax Entrepeneur Expo today at the World Trade Center in Halifax. My Nova Scotia Virtual Tour Company was going to be there and would be looking forward to several main stage speakers such as Gair Maxwell owner of The Seamless Brand and author of "Nuts, Bolts, and a Few Loose Screws" (I obtained an autographed copy!) Robert Steele President and CEO of Capital Corporation in Newfoundland and Owner of The Steele Auto Group and keynote speaker Richard St. John. A self made millionaire from Halifax and author of "The 8 Traits Successful People Have in Common". It promised to be an exciting day.

Gair Maxwell was the perfect choice to kick things off with his energizing and unconventional insight and approach to Brands. Maybe it was because it was first thing in the morning, and I was fresh and eager, but his speach impacted the most and his personal words to me will change the focus and way I conduct my future virtual tour business.

Gair said this: A brand is not a logo, nor a tagline nor an advertising strategy. A brand is a story embedded in the mind of the market. It is intangible. To illlustrate his point he showed the photo of the cool Mac guy and the geek pc guy. The story? Buy a Mac and you will be cool.
Branding is the tangible process of creating signals that trigger feelings. Great brands trigger an emotional response. He explained that you will get lost in the sea of service providers if you fail to offer a product or service that is remarkable, worth talking about and worth sharing. His analogy: in field after field of brown cows it would take a purple cow to be noticed. He called it Purple Cow status. Being remarkable. Different. Maybe, a little unconventional.

He said that boring, flat and dull was risky business. He encouraged us to build trust, a raport, a buddy-buddy relationship with our clients. He discussed ad campaigns that satisfied each of the senses: sight, touch, smell, sound and taste. He said an ad campaign was successful if you either loved it or hated it. That indifference was not a good thing and there was no middle ground. He encouraged us to be concentrated and grounded on principles that will always exist.

And finally almost comfortingly, he said the 5 year business plan is a thing of the past. As long as you can see 200m in front of you, you are okay. I can see that far! When he finished I knew. I wanted to be a purple cow!

After the session he made his way to the Tradeshow where I had an opportunity to introduce myself personally. "Hi. My name is Nancy Bain and I want to be a purple cow". He smiled, I don't think that was the first time he heard that. "What do you do?" he said. "I offer marketing solutions to Nova Scotia Realtors", I said. His reply, I will never forget. Ever. "I'm worried for you." "You will never be a purple cow if you only market to Realtors".

I had the most profound realisation in the moment. He was right. I had been limiting myself. There is an entire commercial audience, endless possibilities of future virtual tour, text message marketing, and web clients. I was thinking too small! In a few short words, with incredible insight he had defined my largest stumbling block. MYSELF!

If you want to be a purple cow too I recommend picking up his book, "Nuts, Bolts, and a Few Loose Screws" or visit his blog http://www.blogger.com/profile/17388875790959902168

It was Seth Godin who wrote the book Purple Cow. I bet it's worth a read too.

Nancy Bain
Supernova Studios
Nova Scotia Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour today: 902 543 2185
View our fan page at http://www.facebook.com/NovaScotiaVirtualTours

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Ask Jack - Owning the Trade Show

Hi Jack,

Our virtual tour company recently joined a local Realtor's Association and will be attending our first monthly luncheon with them in April.  This luncheon will be the first impression that many agents will gain and we want to be able to get something into the hands of each real estate agent.  There will be approximately 60 agents attending this luncheon and I would like to place some of our virtual tour marketing material at each person's seat.  Out of the virtual tour marketing material that RTV provides online that we can modify with our company info, what 1 or 2 pieces would you advise to be the BEST for this situation?

Obviously we will leave our business card which has our branding.  Would you advise a virtual tour brochure such as a 1 pager, a tri-fold brochure, or a postcard?  We want to make a good first impression and we are willing to pay for good quality printing- we are just trying to narrow it down out of all the options.

Thanks,

Mickey
 

Dear Mickey,

For this situation I would recommend setting up a situation that will drive those very people back on over to your website AFTER the event.  Use a small business sized CD from CD-Rom2go.com, the vinyl sleeves, and a printed paper or glossy label.

To see the model number of the Cd's, Sleeves, and labels that I recommend using please login to www.rockpointemarketing.com and click on the BRC, Setting up your Business, then on Setting your pricing.  Scroll all the way down on this page and look for the cost analysis page.  This page will have everything you need on it.

Once you have your CD's ready to go with your labels I recommend that you use www.autorunmax.com to create an impressive company presentation CD geared towards real estate.  You can find a very nice ready to go presentation on www.rockpointemarketing.com under the presentations section.  This is literally ready to go for you and comes highly recommended by me.  The presentation allows you to select a music clip that you would like your CD to autoplay with and also comes with ready to go loaded graphics. 


From here you will need to put in the following:

• Your real estate Power Point presentation that you have converted to video
• 
  
• A link to your online virtual tour company website
• 
  
• Your real estate fact sheet
• 
  
• Your real estate virtual tour InfoPack
• 
  
• Your floor plan InfoPack - If you're doing floor plans
• 
  
• Your Real Estate Flyer

Now for a grand finale! You should tell people that you're giving away 50% off to the first X # of people who put in that CD, click over to your website and register with you.  In lieu of a 50% off you can also do a Free Exposure Engine, Free Single Property Website, Free Elevated Shot, or Free Night Shot session.  The 14th person to register with you will be a 50.00 gas card.  Do whatever you would like to do but at the end of the day you really want them to come to your website and sign up with you so you can start email marketing to them. 

If you're really slick you can tell them that they can come to your website and register for your free Social Ignition course.  Whatever you do just make sure that you have a direct response mechanism built into your handout. 

Well, I really hope this helps! At the end of the day I highly recommend that you do CD marketing as opposed to handing out paper and flyers at these meetings since you can pack so much on such a nifty little CD!

Good luck out there!

Sincerely,

Jack

Jack is a fictional "Know-it-All" Character Made up by RTV
Amazing Virtual Tours - RTV ;)
National Virtual Tour Company

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New From RTV Marketing - Spring Splash

Virtual Tour Marketing Update:  April/May 2010

Postcards, catchy, to the point and effective.  People are inundated with numerous, emails, publications and work related documents to read.  These simple marketing postcards highlight the new HD virtual tours, the importance of being proactive and focusing on your community.  They require a minimal time requirement for the information to be conveyed and are eye catching.  This increases the chance that they will be read and remembered!

Landscaping services and gardening facilities are in full swing during the spring.  This two page flyer highlights the unique ability of virtual tours to showcase their stunning creations even during the bleak winter months. 

If you haven’t shared the exciting new technology of full screen high definition tours yet, then this is the flyer for you.  We are so excited to roll out this new technology and can already see it is transforming the virtual tour into an amazing experience.

Best wishes, Jill K. Sill
RTV Marketing
Virtual Tour Marketing
   
 Each month we strive to help you become more efficient and better connected to existing and potential customers.  Our marketing pieces are easily customizable and typically just require you to insert your specific company information and logo.  We recommend using Vistaprint for postcard printing and other printing needs.  They seem to have fast service and extremely great rates. Take a moment to read the text through and make sure your company can deliver the services delineated.  If you can't or don't know how to provide a service such a bird's eye view shots or nighttime stills, contact us and we can set you in the right direction.  If you have an idea for a piece, suggestions, or want to see something in the next few months send me an e-mail.

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Say Hello to New RTV Employees

As our virtual tour services, dealer network, and virtual tour technology offerings keep expanding we have added new staff to meet your needs.  Please welcome Megan and Melissa to team RTV.

Megan Ebersole will be joining us in the camera setup department and will be your contact for new camera setups, rotator settings, and more.  Megan loves photography and has been involved in film photography for over 12 years.  She also has recently made the transition to digital photography with a Nikon digital SLR.  She is very customer service oriented which comes from her involvement in retail and other industries.  We are excited to have her as part our RTV Staff and look forward to what she will bring to the team.


Melissa Vernon is our new digital imaging specialist.  She will take care of image editing and photo delivery for our Tour Track orders.  Originally from sunny San Diego, California Melissa moved to Traverse City 3 years ago when her husband was transferred to the local US Coast Guard air station. Melissa has a diverse background in the arts and photography has always been a hobby. She graduated from San Diego State in 2006 with a bachelor's in fine arts and a minor in psychology. Currently, she is finishing up a second degree online in web and graphic design.



RTV Virtual Tours
www.RealTourVision.com
Virtual Tour Software
866-947-8687 Ext 4

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Best Dallas HD Virtual Tours

If you are looking for the best Dallas Virtual Tours then look no more. Pro 360 Virtual Tours and Photography has now added Full Screen HD Virtual Tours to our product offering. Once you open one of our new HD virtual tours: http://rtvpix.com/RE-4869-XWX4XI-01, click the four arrows to the far right of the navigation bar to see this magnificent, 3 story loft with a rooftop deck overlooking downtown Dallas in Full Screen HD.

In the past many Realtor's shied away from full screen virtual tours because they took longer to load. This tour loads just as quickly as our standard virtual tour thanks to RTV for pushing an already great virtual tour technology even farther. We want to help you add one more tool to your bag of tricks. Show an example of our Full Screen HD Tour at your next listing appointment and see how eager the sellers will be to put their home in your hands.

For years our customers have enjoyed the benefits that 20 years of photography experience and top notch customer service can provide. Those amazing photos are now showcased in Full Screen with this tour. If you want to see if your photographer has taken a quality photo, blow it up to the size of your screen and see what happens. We think you will be as excited as we are when you view this new virtual tour and are able to offer it to your clients.

Call Pro 360 Virtual Tours to capture the best photographs of your next listing. We want to help you look your best online with high quality, Dallas and Fort Worth virtual tours.

Lisa Castro / Owner
Pro 360 Virtual Tours and Photography
www.pro360virtualtours.com
Dallas Fort Worth Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: 817-676-7176

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Must Love Blogs

Hello all you RTV virtual tour providers out there. I just wanted to say that blogs are a great way to boost your Google Juice as well as build quality back links to your virtual tour company website. So post on lots of relevant blogs (this one especially!!) as well as create your own virtual tour company blog and start blogging today.

That is where our Milwaukee virtual tour company can help you. For all the real estate agents and businesses out there, we have launched another cutting edge product, our 360 Image Blog. Now we are offering a blog page with custom domain name and everything setup for $100.00. A custom blog page just for you or your business!

It will rank on Google as well as give you an outlet to post anything and everything new and interesting about your business or listings. So there you have it another fantastic offering from Team 360 Image Media, and Real Tour Vision. Also don’t forget to view our stunning new High Definition Virtual Tours at South Eastern Wisconsin Virtual Tours, powered by Real Tour Vision. 

Sincerely,
Robin Duran
Team 360 Image Media
Milwaukee Virtual Tours
http://www.360imagemedia.com/                                                                                                        

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Adding Value to a Marketing Strategy

Hello RTV virtual tour providers. I want to tell you all about a virtual tour that I just did…

I was doing a re-shoot of a virtual tour I did a while ago…a long story short, the home had wall paper pretty much everywhere.  To each his or her own, but what it comes down to is that not everyone has the same taste in anything.  The owners had removed most of the wall paper and painted in a more neutral fashion. 

Now, obviously, neutrality is a good thing and their next step was promoting the brokers open by way of MLS.  The Owners are realtors, by the way.  A brokers open is a great tool for realtors involved in selling a property, however, solely listing the open house on the MLS will no longer cut it.

So, being a realtor myself…I suggested that they be a bit more blunt in their promotional efforts. 

They have the virtual tour, professional stills, and property website.  Why not get their monies worth and use these tools to directly promote to the local realtor population…make flyers, phone calls, send out emails…simply raise awareness in the community.  They can and should do the same thing for the public open houses.

I think I opened their eyes, because they had never thought of these approaches, but they make perfect sense…

Many realtors seem so hesitant to spend the money on these wonderful property marketing TOOLS, to me, because as far as they are concerned they are no better than the pictures they have been taking for years.  Now, if all you are going to do is put them online and forget them, they probably are, but, if you use them…

Give yourself the edge, find a company like our Philadelphia virtual tour company,  Virtual Vista that will go the extra step for you, providing a product high in quality and functionality…Virtual tours should give you traffic reports, should be able to be emailed, downloaded, and provide usefulness to buyers, such as, school, area, and mortgage information.

Property websites should be like an online brochure, incorporating virtual tours, pictures, property information etc…i.e. http://www.211HollandAve.com

Brian Castro
http://www.virtualvista.net/
Check Out Virtual Vista’s Blog
Follow Virtual Vista On Twitter
Philadelphia Virtual Tours

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A Rottweiler and Eight Days of House Hunting

This is a Three-Part Blog Leading Up To The Launch of a Colorado Springs Virtual Tour Company. It’s okay, go ahead and ask yourself the question.  I know I did.  What does a Rottweiler and eight days of house hunting have to do with virtual tours and Real Tour Vision? 

My wife is military and while she was deployed in the Gulf, she was notified of orders to Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Well if you know anything about the military you don’t do much about a military move where money is concerned because the time you buy that dream house or find that perfect place to rent, your orders are going to chance and you will have wasted a bunch of time and money.

Moving the blog along, when we knew the assignment was a lock and not changing, we called base housing to get placed on the base housing waiting list.  Much to our dismay, the company that owns the base housing on Peterson AFB informed us that our Chester (the Rottweiler) is of a dangerous breed and not welcome in base housing.  We went on to learn that most apartment buildings do not welcome dangerous breed dogs either. After consulting with several individuals, we decided we’d go ahead and buy because giving up a member of the family because he wasn’t wanted in base housing or in rental property just wasn’t an option.

We arrived in Colorado Springs on February 22 and my wife found out that our eight days of house hunting would start on February 25th.  Our real estate gave us a task of looking at about 80 MLS listings to narrow the search down to 15-20 properties within our price range and area we wanted to look at. Half of the listings from the MLS had three pictures or less.  My wife was furious with the listings and she had a valid point.   Without those pictures, there is no point to consider the listing.  After all, we had eight days to find a place to live.  She then hit me on the shoulder and said, “HEY, you don’t have a job.  You should take pictures for these real estate agents so I can see if I want to look at those properties or not.”  Little did she know, a seed had been planted.

Coming up next: "Eight Days And Counting...The House Hunt Is On"

Dan Derby Coming in April to Colorado Springs!
www.DanTheManMedia.com
Colorado Springs Virtual Tours

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The FORMULA Brings us Together

The Tuesday night virtual tour webinar was another awesome presentation by Jason LaVanture and fellow RTV dealers. The formula of surrounding yourself with positive people and you too will be a success is true. The tips given by the panel were great! I will incorporate these as I continue to develop my Harrison Virtual Tour business in the coming months.

I'm very excited about getting my postcards produced and mailed using the RTV Virtual Tour Marketing  standards. Going after top local agents and winning their trust is another direction I will take, thanks to the advice on this webinar. I am also realizing the importance of having both a local number and a toll free number. The list of tips could go on and on.

Last time I blogged about being an RTV newbie I mentioned being intimidated by all there is to learn. However, one thing I took away from this webinar is the fact that even Jason and the other top RTV dealers still find corrections on their sites that needed addressing. This truly is a “learn as you go” enterprise!

The virtual tour business will be ever changing and growing. As we move into the new HD tours there will be more to learn! What a great way to go through life…owning a business that offers such an opportunity!  As we journey down this road to building successful virtual tours I expect to stumble here and there, but am happy to know that there is so much support and advice along the way.

Buffy Crosby / Owner
Harrison Virtual Tours
www.virtualtoursuccess.com

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A Little HD Praise

Jason, Sorry I missed the virtual tour Webinar, I've been swamped. However, I just wanted to let you know that I love the new HD Virtual Tours. They look AWESOME!!!!!!  I have upgraded several of my virtual tours already and still can’t believe how easy it is. After you do a couple, it really only takes another 10-15 minutes to upgrade a tour to HD. You guys really hit a Home Run!!!  I'm on track to knock out a few hundred tours this year...maybe more.

I also did a little website for a local stone dealer and embedded a virtual tour on his site. Well I didn’t really embed it, I just framed it. Anyways I think it looks great and really is the High Light of the website.

Here is the address if you care to take a look.  http://www.lonesstone.com

Thank You for all your support. I still would like to see an Agency Virtual Tour Gallery if you are looking for any new projects.

Thanks again and Go Team RTV!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jim Kopcho / Owner
www.fullviewmark.com
Ohio Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: 740-624-3368

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If You Don't Ask the Answer is No

My father has many wise sayings but perhaps the one that has stuck with me most is “If you don’t ask the question, the answer is no”.  This simple advice has been invaluable to me throughout my life and most importantly in my career in sales. 

Living in the North Georgia mountains, we have decided to focus much of our initial prospecting for virtual tours on rental properties.  There are scores of cabins, bed and breakfasts and other vacation get-aways for us who would benefit from our services.  Getting started with a bang happened by chance. 

I had run to the grocery store to pick up a few things and saw a truck for one of the local rental management companies.  I tracked the owner of the truck down in the store and introduced myself and told him a little about Vision Quest Media.  I asked if I could set up a time to talk to him about doing virtual tours on his properties.  He mentioned that he and his wife had explored this in the past but it just never made it to the top of the to-do list.  I got his card and put following up with him on top of my to-do list!

After doing a little research on their web site, we realized that this company has over 50 cabins in the North Georgia area which they manage and market.  I got as much information as I could about their company from their web site and went in prepared to offer them an introductory price on 5 of the cabins just so that we could get started.  Not far into my presentation, I asked which cabins they would like to have us start with.  I managed to keep my composure when she said that she wanted us to do ALL OF THEM. 

The logic makes perfect sense…if they see the value in having a virtual tour on one of their properties, they would want them on all the properties.  But sometimes we set our expectations too low. 

The lessons learned from this are priceless…

•    We must walk into a sales presentation with a firm belief in the value of our services.  At Vision Quest Media, we know that we provide the best virtual tours in the industry.  Backed by RTV, we have access to the premier technology available in our field.  We were able to provide a package deal for them and will customize each tour based on the specifics of each individual property. 
•    While we offer a service, we must sell our service in order to make money.  To quote from the movie “Glengarry Glen Ross” we must “Always Be Closing.”  Look for opportunities everywhere you go.
•    Never leave home unprepared.  Have business cards handy at all times.
•    Remember that you never get a chance to make a first impression.  Realize that a professional image at the sales presentation won’t necessarily overcome an unprofessional image should you run into a prospective customer outside of a work environment.

To learn more about tour packages and pricing and for samples of our work, please  contact us today!

Paige LeFevre
Vision Quest Media
Order a virtual tour: 770-503-4493.

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What Can You Tell me About RTV?

Dear Sharon,

I'm considering starting up a virtual tour business.  What can you tell me about RTV?

Thanks for your reply,

Randy



Hi Randy,

I started with RTV 3 years ago this spring.  I bought the 200 tour package because I knew I would use them eventually.  I was buying my second 200 tour package in about 8 months.  I think I've bought a couple more 200 pkgs since then, not sure how many exactly.  It's a lot easier now because you don't have to purchase that many to get the $10.00 rate.  In fact after you do 120 tours you don't have to purchase tours in bundles at all.  As far as the virtual tours go they are very well received by realtors because they are THAT MUCH BETTER than the competition especially now with the HD Full-screen capability.

When I was looking for a company to go with, I went online looking for a quality product.  RTV had what I wanted and so much more.  I never expected their support to be so awesome!  Believe me, in the beginning I was calling "support" every day, several times a day for help.  I'm sure they thought I would never last but I was determined to learn the virtual tour system and do the type of quality virtual tours I knew I could.  The learning process took about 2 weeks.  

Probably what impresses me the most is their loyalty.  I can't count the times that Jason LaVanture has turned away interested people who wanted to start RTV virtual tour dealerships in my area.  Jason would even call me if the person was wanting to start a dealership anywhere in Missouri or Arkansas to make sure it wouldn't be infringing on my territory.  I think the "loyalty" issue is one of the things I most respect and appreciate about RTV.  I was a dealer for another virtual tour company before RTV and they did not show me that kind of loyalty which is the reason I went "shopping" for another virtual tour company in the first place (and took all my Springfield virtual tours and clients with me!)

Getting started . . .
I started part-time basically.  I had one "big-hitter" realtor and was doing all of her virtual tours on her high-end listings.  Other agents would see her virtual tours and want tours just like "Ethel's".  It just built from there.  I now have several "big-hitters" and lots of "little-hitters" and full-time work during most of the year.  In fact, my husband also helps with the virtual tour photography and my daughter-in-law helps with the stitching.  It may start out a little slow, Randy, but it will snowball if you hang in there.

In my market here in southwest Missouri, I have to be competitive with my pricing.  I only charge $75 for a basic tour, so, after the $10 I pay RTV for the tour hosting, I net $65 per tour.  I'm doing roughly 10-15 per week, so netting $650 to $975 per week.  In your market, you may have no problem netting $90-100 per virtual tour (maybe more).  Our selling season slows down considerably from November--February, then it takes off again.  At that time I'm lucky to have 2 tours a week.  Just being honest.

Please feel free to call me later this week if you have any other questions.  I wouldn't hesitate too long though.  You definitely want to grab your territory while its available.  Going with RTV was the best decision I could have ever made!

Virtual Tour Company Testimonial written by:
Sharon Wasson
Springfield Virtual Tours

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Giddyup With Tour Track!

There's not many (if any) virtual tour companies out there can say they give cold hard cash back to their virtual tour providers and provide work for them. RTV does just that with our ever growing number of national virtual tour accounts.

For years I can't tell you how darn excited I got when I got the opportunity to call one of our virtual tour providers and tell them I had a lead for them. Beginning in 2004 RTV started a program called Tour Track where we began acquiring national accounts to feed our virtual tour photographers jobs. To date we have sent out well over a million dollars back into our photography network and that just feels great!

If you're an RTV dealer and you need to catch some of the Tour Track cash give Jacque a call and she will be more than happy to point you in the right direction. Start making fat stacks with Tour Track today!

- Jason
RealTourVision Virtual Tours

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We LOVE RTV High Definition Full Screen

Hi Jason,

We are planning to expand our British Columbia virtual tour company real soon. In fact we are looking for more virtual tour photographers in other areas like Kelowna, all of Lower Mainland, Whistler, Squamish, Chilliwack, etc,. so if you will get any interest please let us know right away.

This coming week we will be purchasing 200 tours to take advantage of your 200 for 50 FREE. You guys are awesome! Our clients are thrilled with our new HD Full Screen tours, so we are ALL heading in the right direction! It really does make a difference! Our competition can't say that we don't have what they have anymore. The quality is AMAZING.

We just hired a new virtual tour photographer to work with us here in Vancouver, BC. Thank you so very much for letting us experience this journey with all of RTV. The help and support we get is just beyond what we ever expect it to be!

Best Regards,

Inna Kozar
Owner
Real360Tours
www.real360tours.ca

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The IMAGE 14 | Fantastic Filters

Last month in our Image webinar our participants chose photography technique as an Image topic they would like to hear about next. Better photography technique makes it easier to take great pictures and often speeds up the entire virtual tour creation process as well.

Bryan Peterson, a well known photographer and photography instructor for 30 years, shared a little bit about filters he uses in his photography. I started wondering what filters might work best in the virtual tour industry. I will test those this month and then share with you what I find out. Wouldn't it be great to get a beautiful blue sky without perfect weather or extra photo processing? What if you could eliminate flash marks on your ceilings?

Please join us Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 7 PM EDT and find out what fantastic filters can do for you!

Sign up for this event now inside your TMS!


Ben Knorr
Virtual Tour Photography
Order a virtual tour today: 866-847-8687
Nationwide Coverage is Guaranteed!

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Bidding Your Business and Commercial Virtual Tours

I just took a phone call from one of our virtual tour providers. He was working on bidding on a HUGE assisted living facility and was looking for my opinion. He certainly got it! Distributed by Tubemogul.

Check out my virtual tour pricing at http://www.bluelavamedia.com/business/

If you ever need help bidding out a deal just give me a shout!

Good Luck Out There!!!

Jason
RTV Virtual Tour Software
866-947-8687 Ext 4

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HD Tours Are Easy to Make

Hey Jason...I just wanted to let you know that I love the new HD Virtual Tours. They look AWESOME!!!!!!  I have upgraded several of my existing virtual tour already and still can’t believe how easy it is. After you do a couple, it really only takes another 10-15 minutes to add HD. You guys really hit a Home Run!!!

Thank You for all your support. I still would like to see an Agency Gallery if you are looking for any new projects.

Thanks again and Go Team RTV!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jim Kopcho
www.fullviewmark.com
Newark Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: 740-624-3368

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The FORMULA 26 | The Ten Minute HD Virtual Tour

Attention FORMULA Fans! We’ve got back to back FORMULA webinars this month so make sure to mark your calendars for April 13th at 7 PM EDT. While I’m away basking in the sun...Ben Knorr will be hosting The FORMULA 26, “The Ten Minute HD Tour”, along with Mike Thompson and Jim Blue.

If you’ve been scratching your head wondering how these guys are knocking out five and six HD virtual tours a day then this is your show. Both Jim Blue and Mike Thompson will be going over their own methods for quickly creating an RTV HD virtual tour.

Here are a couple of their HD virtual tours for you to check out:

Jim’s HD Tour:
http://rtvpix.com/RE-9515-ZXKMM0-01

Mike’s HD Tour
http://rtvpix.com/RE-1941-37G33Q-01

You can expect to get quite a bit out of this show so we really hope you can attend the live event. The Live Event will be open to the entire RTV network. Should you miss the live event you will be able to download it to watch at a later time in your Inner Circle area on the Webinars tab.

Get ready to efficiently knock out HD virtual tours this summer! I’ll miss you all and can’t wait to hear how the show went upon my return from Cabo.

Good luck out there!
Jason


Sign up now in your TMS!

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New From RTV Marketing

Virtual Tour Marketing Update:  April 2010
   
 Each month we strive to help you become more efficient and better connected to existing and potential customers.  Our marketing pieces are easily customizable and typically just require you to insert your specific company information and logo.  We recommend using Vistaprint for postcard printing and other printing needs.  They seem to have fast service and extremely great rates. Take a moment to read the text through and make sure your company can deliver the services delineated.  If you can't or don't know how to provide a service such a bird's eye view shots or nighttime stills, contact us and we can set you in the right direction.  If you have an idea for a piece, suggestions, or want to see something in the next few months send me an e-mail. 

 Ah Spring!!  It is an amazing time of the year when people historically feel more optimistic.  Encourage this optimism with the beginning of a new real estate season and the use of new effective technologies flyer.   

Best wishes, Jill Sill
RTV Virtual Tour Marketing

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The Importance of Professional Photography

There are two virtual tour photographers in our house…I am the virtual tour photographer who carries my digital camera everywhere I go just in case a Kodak moment might come along.  Because I am an amateur, most of my Kodak moments turn out to take multiple takes and last much longer than a moment much to the chagrin of whomever else happens to be in the picture.  Out of every 100 pictures I take, there may be ten worth keeping.  Those ten are wonderful for scrapbooking and posting to Facebook but other than that, not so much.  My degree is in Public Relations and my background is in real estate, marketing and sales.  If you want ideas on how to stage your property or a critique of your website, I’m your woman.

Greg on the other hand has a degree in photography and has spent over a decade working as a professional photographer and owning his own photography studio.  When he takes pictures, the picture has a purpose and a plan.  If he takes 10 pictures, there will be 9 that are wonderful.  And because he is a professional photographer, he rarely has to reshoot the same scene or subject to capture the image he wants.  He can see what the final product will look like prior to ever touching the camera.  His technical expertise extends behind the camera…he understands web marketing and analytics and stuff I just don’t have the patience to learn. 

His pictures are enlarged by a professional lab and are framed on the walls of our house…my pictures are printed at a kiosk in Wal-Mart and are in a scrapbook on our coffee table.  When it comes to YOUR Northern Georgia virtual tour from Vision Quest Media, I think it’s pretty clear who you want behind the camera.

I suggest any small business owner read the book, “E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber to gain a better understanding of this concept.  We have decided to harness our respective strengths to create a force stronger than the sum of our parts.  With enough tries, I could probably take photographs of your home for a virtual tour.  But by focusing my time on MY strengths, I allow Greg to focus his time on HIS.  The result is that our virtual tour customers get a product that is far superior to most of our competitors.  This seems so simple to me but it amazes me when a realtor tells me that they do their own virtual tours using some sort of photo stitching software provided for them by their company.  

When choosing a virtual tour provider, realize that not all tours or tour providers are equal.  Powered by Real Tour Vision, the leader in virtual tour technology, our Northern Georgia 360 Virtual Tours are a truly interactive experience that provide your prospects a real feel of the property. 

We would love to discuss your specific needs and show you the difference that professional photography  makes in showcasing your property or business.  Contact us at

Paige LeFevre
Vision Quest Media
Order a virtual tour: 770-503-4493.

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How to Build a Facebook Fan Page

You either love it or hate it, regardless, Facebook has become a necessary evil. I knew it was time this Nova Scotia Virtual Tour Provider got to "the bottom of it" when a google search for my company name Supernova Studios, turned up a fan page on facebook with the same name for a tattoo company in Istanbul!

The fan page, like everything in social media, can be built and done in a matter of minutes. That is, if you are not planning on having anyone look at it, connect to it, or like it. If you are, in fact, trying to give personality to your brand and connect with your customers, your Facebook fan page will take you substantially longer to create and will need to be maintained regularly.

Today, I'll give you the basics, to help get you started.

Think wisely when creating the name for you page. It is written in stone and can not be changed! I recommend using "geo keywords" in your title. Example: Supernova Studios, Nova Scotia Virtual Tour Provider

1. It can be a little difficult finding on Facebook where to begin a fan page, so you’ll have to go to the main (login) page for creating a fan page. You will see it at the bottom below "sign up".
2. You then have to select what kind of business you are, sign that you are authorized to be representing that business, and then create the page.
3. First things first, you’ll want to get your basic info on there. Click “edit the page” and scroll down to the information section. Click on the pencil and hit “edit”. They don’t give you a whole lot of room to be creative with this basic info. You’ll just enter info such as: website, address, and hours you are open. Nothing exciting.
4. Now you need a profile image. Yes, you can use your logo, but if your logo is a little boring and/or corporate, I’d recommend against it. Instead, I’d choose an image that represents your company or service. It’ll make the page a little more user friendly.
5. Add apps. Apps are the best way you can show your company’s personality. I’d start with the extended info app, as this allows you to create categories ie : favorite websites, blogs, interests, travel, etc and then fill out your answers. What’s neat about this is that you can customize your categories to fit your virtual tour business and your goals. A couple that I really like are: the “You Tube Box” where you can showcase your favorite You Tube videos, the “Favorite Pages” where you can show other Facebook fan pages that you like, and “Networked Blogs“, where you can feed in your latest blog posts into your fan page.
6. Check your publishing settings. Some people may disagree with me on this, but I don’t think you should send an update to all of your fans every time you do anything on Facebook. True, that’s a good way to get your name repeatedly in front of them, but it’s also a good way to annoy them and, possibly, have them un-fan you. Again, look at your goals for the page and choose the updates that you think are most relevant to your fans. Do your fans care if you made an update to your extended info app. Probably not. What about a new event? Yes, maybe.
7. Add photos. I wouldn’t recommend doing a whole bunch of product shots, or building shots, or logos. If you want to have one “about us album” go for it. But since this is Facebook and it’s all about people and interacting, I’d recommend your pictures be people too. Whip out the camera at an event, take pictures of your employees, or pictures with your virtual tour clients. Best of all, if you are able to have an event that your fans would come to, take pictures of your fans and then tag them. It will give your fan page added value.
8. Once you’ve got all this set up, go ahead and hit “publish” (it’ll be at the very top). Keep in mind that for the page to be effective, publishing it doesn’t mean your done. You are going to want to make status updates, upkeep event info, add new images when they become available, start discussion threads, respond to people who comment on your wall, suggest your fan page to your friends, and plenty more. It’s all fun though. I promise.

My fan page: Supernova Studios - Nova Scotia Virtual Tour Provider is still under construction and not published. I have "iframed" my entire www.supernovastudios.ca site. Very cool. I have also incorporated a “Welcome Page” with a call to action for new visitors.

Nancy Bain
Supernova Studios 
Nova Scotia Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: 902-543-2185

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Social Bookmarking has Changed!

I received a call today from Dave Hall from http://www.listingsolutions.com. Dave had some questions about whether or not you were actually building back links by using social bookmarking. In this little snippet I talk about the correct procedure you should go through to build back links using follow sites. Check it out! (Yes, I'm sitting on a body ball.)

If you're already an RTV dealer who has taken our Social Ignition program in the past you need to know that it has DRASTICALLY changed. You can retake the course by logging into your RTV marketing account at www.rockpointemarketing.com and sign up for that again. No membership is required and it's 100% FREE...just for being an RTV virtual tour provider. We love ya!

-"Stay Social"

Jason LaVanture
RealTourVision.com

Virtual Tours

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Customer Service Makes All the Difference

After reading a blog on great customer service, I was reminded of a recent amazing customer service experience with Real Tour Vision. I had a new camera that I needed to set up on my photo stitching software. It was Friday morning, I went through the initial setup process and it did not work properly with the standard settings and I had a major photo shoot on Monday morning - 3 hours from my home and I needed this new piece of equipment ready to go. I contacted the company, told them my issue and they immediately sent me the step by step processes I needed to follow to set up a custom file on the virtual tour software. After finishing my part I needed to send the files I created back to them for approval and creating a new file specific to my camera and lens. The process on their end would take 2-3 hours to complete.

I finished my part and sent at 4pm on Friday afternoon to Ben, the person I was communicating with all day. I didn't expect to see anything that day. To my surprise, around 6pm (7pm where he is located)I recieved a call and email from Ben that the file had been created and was ready for me to use. I would be ready to go for my Monday morning shoot. Ben and RTV went the extra mile for me on Friday afternoon, so that I could provide the top notch customer service to my customer first thing Monday morning.

Are the companies and individuals that you rely on to get your job done this responsive. Do you get a call back the same day or within a few hours of your email or voice message? How soon do they complete the job you need?

These are some of the things we make a priority when creating real estate virtual tours:

- All calls will be returned the day we receive the message - if I haven't answered your call and provided immediate response already.

-In most cases we are able to schedule your virtual tour photography shoot within 2-3 business days.

- You will receive your finished virtual tour product within 48 hours- we don't upload immediately since we pull every photo into photoshop to ensure maximum quality.

- Professional appearance and communications with you and your home owner-many times we receive the comment - "oh thank goodness it is you" - when we arrive at a photo shoot due to our professional appearance and actions.

What level of customer service do you receive? What level do you give your virtual tour customers?

Pro 360 Virtual Tours and Photography is a virtual tour provider for Dallas Fort Worth real estate and commercial businesses.

Lisa Castro
Pro 360 Virtual Tours and Photography
Dallas Fort Worth Virtual Tours
http://www.pro360virtualtours.com/

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My Journey to Virtual Tour Photography

What led me on the journey to the world of virtual tour photography?  A journey that would allow me to help people market and promote their property with virtual tours.  I spend many years just working a job, going to the office and at quitting time going home.  Just to get up and do the same thing the next day.  This is the same story most of us have lived.  A decision was made for me; my job was being moved to another state.  I like living in Florida, I like my home and friends.  I was too settled to start over, moving to a new state and continue just going to the office and at quitting time going home.  There has to be something better out there. What if I do not like it there?

This was the message, it was time to move forward and find something that I could really enjoy, where do you start?  My start involved soul searching, I was given the opportunity to start with a blank slate.  What do I enjoy?  What is important?  Is it something that I could make a living at and enjoy at the same time?  My background was insurance, my passion was photography.  Now how do you mix those together to create a profession that could be profitable financially and emotionally fulfilling?  I began with a home inventory business.  That is something that I knew was important for insurance purposes and involved photography, perfect.  Best yet it is providing a service that most people do not think about but is important.

I found the perfect opportunity, but I want more.  After researching opportunities on the internet I discovered the world of virtual tour photography.  What a wonderful tool to help people market on the internet.  There are so many services that can be included in a virtual tour to make it really stand out and be noticed.  Anything you want to sell or promote on the internet, a virtual tour is the one tool that can set you apart from everyone else.  When you want to find something, where is the first place you look; the internet of course.  What makes one site stand out over all the others?    When you find what you were searching for with clear and concise information and photos?  What better way than to display your property that the potential customer feels like they are there?

That is what a virtual tour can provide and that is why it was the obvious next step for me.
Now the next dilemma, where do you start?  I discovered Real Tour Vision virtual tour software and marketing system and everything I saw said "You can do this".  That is the start and again, I have found an opportunity that I can help bring people together, one person is selling a product or service and one person is searching for that product or service while enjoying my passion for photography and helping people.

Life just keeps getting better!! Thank you for joining me on my journey.  I would love to hear from you, maybe order a virtual tour and watch your business grow. 

Jo Sommers
http://www.jostreasures.com/
http://www.virtualtoursofcentralflorida.com/
Lakeland Virtual Tours 
Order a virtual tour: 813-625-1457

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