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BoxBrownie had two employees when I first learned about the company’s image editing and creative visual products.
The Australian firm, named after Eastman Kodak’s first consumer-level snapshot camera, now has 10 full-time employees, and 70 percent of its clients are in the United States.
Because of its growth and delivery of quality listing imagery, BoxBrownie did the opposite of what most growing companies would do: it reduced its prices.
Its image enhancement services are now $1.60 per photo, down from $2.40.
BoxBrownie does not require customers to sign any long-term agreement or commit to a subscription. It’s truly pay-as-you-go.
The company says it understands the fluid nature of real estate listings and doesn’t want to saddle its primary customer base with unnecessary long-term overhead.
“If you have the budget to hire a professional stager to actually stage a property, do it,” said Peter Schravemade, BoxBrownie’s strategic relationship manager.
If you don’t have that kind of budget, or simply need a better looking hero image for your listing collateral, BoxBrownie’s design team is an affordable alternative to actual staging at about $32 per image.
The company now has a few different virtual staging themes, such as modern contemporary, Scandinavian and urban industrial.
Item removal has also become a popular picture editing selection for agents.
A law in Australia allows homeowners and tenants to veto the publishing of marketing images that include certain personal items. Thus, image editing Down Under keeps agents from running afoul of the local constable.
“Our twilight conversions have also become very popular recently because it’s hard for agents to get photographers out to a house at dawn or dusk,” Schravemade said. He told me that the magic behind the company’s affordability and quality is the workflow it’s installed to facilitate product transactions.
“We’re pairing designers directly with customers. In a nutshell, that’s what makes it so effective. Whether you’re Keller Williams with 10,000 agents or Joe Realtor in rural Nevada, you’ll get the same quality and same service,” he said.
BoxBrownie’s staff represents a wide array of artistic talents, from CAD designers to Hollywood-proven 3-D animators and illustrators. The company also employs copywriters, offers completely custom image creation, background removal and aerial image editing.
In addition to working directly with real estate agents, the company has found a growing customer base in real estate photographers looking to reduce their commitment to editing.
Don’t kid yourselves: despite the litany of image editing apps and the professional quality of smartphone cameras, many real estate agents still stink at taking property photos.
Mobile marketing, portal advertising and social media posts require compelling visuals to be effective; you can’t waste your opportunities to capture attention.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe.
