Apartment owners and managers are fighting tooth and claw to dispel the myth that multifamily living is unfriendly to pets, a longstanding motivation that has driven pet-lovers to become homeowners.

A recent Apartments.com survey, released a week before National Pet Week, fund that 75 percent of renters surveyed today are pet owners, compared to 43 percent in 2012.

Half of the pet-loving renters surveyed by Apartments.com would like to believe their fellow apartment residents also adore their four-legged companions.  Fortunately, it turns out they are not far off, as nearly 60 percent of renters who do not own pets said they still enjoy living around others with pets.

“Nearly 80 percent of our survey respondents live in a pet-friendly building, indicating both landlords and residents without pets are increasingly recognizing that pet owners are, for the most part, responsible and respectful neighbors,” said Tammy Kotula, public relations and promotions manager, Apartments.com. “However, more than 60 percent of the renters also said they faced some level of difficulty in finding accommodations for them and their pets. Fortunately, renters can tailor search results to only show apartments that allow their beloved furry friends on websites such as Apartments.com.”

Slightly over half of appraisers in a recent survey expressed a degree of confidence in the housing market and nearly half reported appreciating home values in their markets.

Some 54.7 percent of appraisers said their level of confidence is mildly or moderately strong, while 24.9 percent were neutral. The survey was completed by United States Appraisals’ nationwide panel of residential appraisers.

“Appraisers tend to be realistic, focused on their local markets and unmoved by news stories and national numbers,” said Aaron Fowler, President of United States Appraisals. “We believe they provide a good gauge of the status of the housing market. After the last few years, a mildly strong level of confidence shows some definite improvement in appraiser attitudes.”

Opinions were slightly rosier regarding home values. Some 46.2 percent reported a mild increase in values in their area. Some 15.6 percent were seeing a moderate value increase, while 24 percent were neutral. Despite somewhat tepid feelings on the market in general, most appraisers reported increased order volume: 26.1 percent saw mild increases, 17.8 percent saw moderate increases and 18.5 percent reported significant volume increases. Only 15.3 percent of respondents reported any reduction in their order volume.

Comments from the survey:

“Improving, people seem tired of waiting.”

“Significantly more activity at middle and upper end of the value range and the supply of existing housing is down significantly as well.”

In the past few years, as owner of a video production company, I’ve noticed a real shift in what clients are requesting. A few years ago, it was mostly the typical sales pitch video. But, now clients want more. They’re looking for ways to connect with their audience, to use emotion, and to create a lasting impression. This is a promising trend for all of us in the professional video industry. Below are a few reasons to embrace the trend of storytelling in videos.

1. Storytelling sets us apart as video professionals in a world where anyone can shoot and edit.

As professionals, we strive to do a much better job than our clients could do just setting up a camera and reading a script. New editing software and cheap digital cameras make everyone a video producer. But, once we hone the craft of telling great stories, our clients can’t really emulate that. And, they don’t want to spend the time it takes to master the art.

Use humor in your stories

2. Storytelling videos are much more likely to be shared online

Sales pitch videos, though they certainly have their place, aren’t really likely to be shared online. But, when you create a humorous, interesting, thought-provoking, or problem solving video, people will share it. Consider this example.

My company, Marietta Video Productions, got a call from the owner of a commercial painting company. He wanted us to shoot one of his restaurants being painted. When he told me the restaurant was The Big Chicken, one of Atlanta’s iconic landmarks, I asked him to let us tell that story, not just shoot some video. He agreed and arranged to allow us to interview a couple of others involved in the project.

The result was a really fun video that accomplished the goal – a great response from the people who mattered – his clients. They didn’t just watch the video, they enjoyed it, laughed at it, and shared it. The video helped to create a deeper alliance between him and his customers. It portrayed him as a caring, creative, and fun guy who really goes above and beyond for his customers. It also gave his customer’s a deeper understanding about what sets his company apart from his competitors.

3. Storytelling videos can be very efficient and can help you get the sale.

Some clients have a really tough time narrowing down the points they want to make in a script. The process of developing a script and storyboard can be very time consuming.

All clients want to bring too many ideas and thoughts into a video while still keeping it short. And, if the client can’t really articulate their vision, and they’re relying on you to come up with what they want, sometimes, you can lose the sale.

I’ve learned over the years that when I tell a client we will develop their story from conducting interviews instead of creating a script and storyboard, it eases their stress. The client trusting you – the video producer – to pull out the best portions of the interviews and keep the ideas concise gets the ball rolling and helps you land the sale.

The process is simple. We do interviews, preferably with the client and the business owner. We send the audio files to a video transcription company, such as CopyTalk™. We get the transcripts back in a couple of days and write the stories completely from the interviews, just like a news reporter does. I use information in the narration, and I use the interviews to convey opinion and emotion.

Keep in mind, storytelling does not have to be expensive for your client. We use stock video in some cases and build the story around what we can find. In most cases, it’s much easier and less time consuming than developing a script and trying to get clients to say something that’s scripted rather than the conversational style of an interview.

In the Data Center video below, we used stock footage for the opening scene. We told the story through the eyes of our client’s customer, and we developed the script from the interviews. This video achieved its goal as well, helping our client “connect” with their prospects. It’s helped them close several key sales.

Storytelling seems to be the buzzword right now in video. It’s not just the interview style of storytelling clients want. No matter how you tell the story, whether using interviews or a script, keep in mind, the components of storytelling such as emotional characters, a fun or dramatic plot, and engaging settings are more likely to land a great response and be shared online.

The YouTube Creator Blog is talking about another significant change to how you view YouTube in the future: the homepage feeds will soon be showing more than just one video, and perhaps there will be use for all that white space now.  Actually, some of you might already be able to see it.  When I go to my page, I’ve got my dose of SourceFed and sxephil up at the top of the sub box and there are three videos shown in the box rather than just one.  So, just another little change many of you will see or have already seen and in the ever-changing world of YouTube, I guess they’ve done worse.