What to Include in Your Listing Media Package (And What's Actually Worth It)

Every listing is a marketing decision. The media you put behind it determines how buyers experience the home before they ever set foot inside — and how sellers feel about the agent they hired. Getting that decision right isn't complicated, but it does require understanding what each service actually does and which listings each one is built for.

We've shot thousands of listings across the Brainerd Lakes Area. Here's how we think about building a media package — and how you can use that thinking at your next listing appointment.

Photos Are the Foundation. Treat Them That Way.

Buyers form their first impression before they step inside. Your photos are the showing. That's not a metaphor — it's the reality of how people search for homes today. The first exterior shot in search results determines whether someone clicks. The interior photos determine whether they schedule a visit.

What separates photos that convert from photos that don't has less to do with equipment and more to do with preparation and standards. Before a single frame is taken on our shoots, every home gets a walkthrough — blinds adjusted, clutter removed, furniture aligned, frames straightened. These aren't things sellers catch. They're things buyers feel without knowing why. A room that looks clean and spacious in photos holds attention. One that doesn't gets scrolled past.

Composition discipline matters too. Camera height in kitchens, framing that establishes depth, three-wall shots that help buyers understand space. These decisions happen on every shoot because they're built into how we work — not because someone asked for them.

Professional Listing Photos are included in every package we offer. The photo count scales by tier, but the standards stay consistent.

Sellers watch what their agent does. Showing up with a media team that clearly takes preparation seriously is one of the simplest ways to build seller confidence — before the listing even goes live.

Drone Photos: The Right Height Explains the Property

Drone photos aren't about flying higher. They're about choosing the right height to explain the property. That distinction matters, and it's the difference between aerial photography that helps buyers understand a listing and aerial photography that just documents it from above.

In the Brainerd Lakes Area, drone photos earn their place on listings with water access or lake views, properties on hills or elevated lots, larger parcels where lot comprehension matters, homes with outdoor spaces worth showing from above, and any listing where proximity — to town, trails, parks, or boat landings — is part of the value. When location is the story, drone photos tell it.

The composition choices are what make it work: low-to-mid altitude perspectives that show the yard and setting, angles that place the home within its surroundings, and shots that highlight what makes the property distinct rather than defaulting to four wide-angle cardinal directions.

Drone photos are included in our Essentials Plus, Pro, and Portfolio packages and are available as a standalone add-on when drone is the only service needed.

Video: Photos Show It. Video Makes Buyers Feel It.

Many agents who book great photos haven't yet seen what a well-produced listing video can do for their listings. This is where we see the biggest shift once agents start using it consistently. Buyers who watch a listing video before a showing arrive differently — they already understand the layout, they've formed an impression of the home's character, and they show up ready to decide rather than still figuring out if the listing is worth their time.

The value in video isn't about length. It's about how the home is shot, paced, and edited. A video that's edited to move is different from a video that just plays. That difference is what makes buyers want to schedule a showing.

Basic Video

The Basic Video is a clean, professional listing walkthrough designed to show buyers how a home flows. It's included in the Essentials and Essentials Plus packages — and for agents who haven't used video before, it's a strong starting point. It helps sellers feel their home is being marketed beyond photos. It gives buyers context they can't get from a photo gallery.

Pro Video

The Pro Video is built for listings that need more attention. It's highlight-driven rather than room-by-room, more intentional in how it's shot and edited, and designed to hold buyer attention through pacing and visual quality. It includes drone footage. When you want your seller to feel like you went above and beyond — and you want buyers engaged before they arrive — this is the video that does it. Included in the Pro Package, available as an upgrade with Essentials Plus.

Premium Cinematic Video

Not just a listing video. A marketing statement. The Premium Cinematic Video is our highest level of presentation — built for signature listings where the media should reflect the same care and intention as the home itself. Agents use it to win trust, stand out, and attract more listings like it. Included in the Portfolio Package.

Social Media Reels

Your listing video and your social media reel serve two different audiences on two different platforms. Listing videos are built for MLS and listing portals — buyers who are already searching. Reels are built for Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube Shorts — buyers who weren't searching, but are scrolling. The format is vertical, the pacing is fast, and the goal is to earn attention before someone decides to keep moving.

For agents active on social media, a reel can reach buyers that Zillow never would. Every package now gives you the choice of a listing video or a reel at the same price — and you can have both.

A listing reel posted to Instagram Reels or Facebook Reels can reach buyers in Minneapolis, Chicago, or anywhere else who follow local real estate content, interact with similar posts, or simply happen to be scrolling. That reach doesn't happen through MLS alone.

The Zillow 3D Tour: Give Buyers a Reason to Come Back

Buyers don't make decisions on the first click. They compare listings, revisit favorites, and look again before reaching out. The Zillow 3D Tour gives them a reason to come back to yours — because they can walk through it on their own terms, from their couch, at 10pm, as many times as they want.

It's not a novelty. It's a buyer exploration tool. The tour lets people move through the home room by room and understand the layout in a way that photos alone don't allow. It comes with an interactive 2D floor plan that connects each room view to the floor plan layout. For out-of-state buyers or anyone making a purchase decision remotely — which describes a significant portion of Brainerd Lakes Area buyers — it can replace an in-person visit for the purposes of narrowing a search.

Included in the Pro Package. Matterport is available as an upgrade for agents who want the most polished walkthrough experience.

Virtual Twilight: One Image That Changes the First Impression

The exterior hero shot is the image at the top of your listing in search results. It's often the only thing standing between a buyer clicking or scrolling past. A virtual twilight photo transforms a daytime exterior into a dusk image — warm sky, lit windows, a mood that stands out in a feed full of midday shots.

Good light doesn't happen by accident. When we can't schedule a real twilight shoot, virtual twilight gives agents a visually distinct exterior image that holds up against listings at any price point. Included in the Pro Package and available as a standalone AI edit.

The Marketing Kit: Everything in One Place, Ready to Use

We handle the media. The Marketing Kit handles the deployment. Every package includes a branded property website that hosts all your delivered media — photos, video, 3D tour, floor plans — at full quality, with no access barriers and no compression. There's also an unbranded version built for MLS attachment.

Beyond the website: pre-designed social media graphics in multiple formats, ready to post the day the listing goes live. Print-ready flyers and brochures for open houses and buyer packets. Everything is built around your branding and ready to use without any additional setup.

The property website alone is worth paying attention to. Zillow pulls media from MLS and compresses it. Your property website shows the full-quality work exactly as delivered, with every asset in one place and a lead capture form built in. Agents who share that link — in emails, texts to buyer's agents, social posts, print materials — give buyers a better experience of the listing than any portal provides.

The Marketing Kit is one of the most underutilized tools in our delivery. Agents who use the property website link as their primary listing share link — instead of a Zillow URL — give buyers a materially better experience of the home. That difference is noticeable.

Matching the Package to the Listing

The Essentials Package is our baseline recommendation. Professional photos, your choice of a listing video or social media reel, and a Marketing Kit. For most average residential listings, it's the right foundation — a professional presentation without unnecessary additions.

The Essentials Plus Package adds drone to everything in Essentials. For any listing where location and surroundings are part of the value — which describes the majority of Brainerd Lakes Area homes — drone makes the package more complete. Both the video and reel include drone footage automatically.

The Pro Package is built for comprehensive buyer engagement. Photos, drone, a Pro Video or Premium Reel, a Zillow 3D Tour with interactive floor plan, a virtual twilight photo, and the full Marketing Kit. For mid-range to upper listings where you want buyers to have every reason to engage — and sellers to feel fully confident in how their home is being marketed — this is where the package starts earning that outcome.

The Portfolio Package is for signature listings where the media should be as intentional as the home itself. Full-coverage photography, real twilight photos and video, a Premium Cinematic Listing Video, a Premium Reel, and an Agent On-Camera Intro. Reserved for the listings that define what you do — and the sellers who expect that level of care.

What you bring to the listing appointment tells sellers how you'll market their home. Bring the portfolio that closes it.

The Point of All of It

Every service in a listing media package feeds into one of two outcomes: impressing buyers in the market, or winning sellers at the listing table. When those two things are working together — when buyers engage deeply with a listing and sellers see an agent who markets with real intention — that's when the media is doing its job.

Understanding what each service does, and which listings it's built for, puts you in a position to make that decision intentionally. Not every listing needs every service. But every listing benefits from the right ones.

Motion 46 Media serves realtors across the Brainerd Lakes Area, including Brainerd, Baxter, Nisswa, Pequot Lakes, Crosslake, and Walker. View our full package options at motion46media.com.