Show Don't Tell - Essential Elements for your Promotional Video

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS

Customer testimonials are one of the most powerful trust signals you can use in your videos. When approaching customers to be in the video, make sure you're upfront with the amount of time it's going to take out of their day. It's better to under promise and over deliver, so if it's going to take an 1/2 hour then tell them it will take 1 hour. Testimonials always take a little longer than expected because of the factors involved with video (ie. mic check, lighting adjustments, etc).

Tips: Give your talent/customer a gift card or bottle of wine after to show your appreciation of their time and helping you with your video project.

Avoid making a commercial

People are expecting your promotional video to just be another commercial. Be different in your approach and provide professional advice and/or tips instead.  

Tip: Share helpful information and you will position yourself as being an authority in the industry because of your thought leadership.

SET UP YOUR INTERVIEWS

If you can shoot the interview on the location of the business and have an interesting background then it will help with storytelling.

Tip: Shoot the interview before or after business operating hours so it isn't noisy or busy. 

CONSISTENT BRANDING

If the company already has other promotional material produced (ie. brochure, website, etc) then its a good idea to consider using the same font type and colour scheme in the video to be consistent across the board. 

Tip: A simple animation to the company logo in the video will go a long way.

Include a CALL TO ACTION

Guide the viewer on how to respond after watching the video. Keep the call to action message simple and you will have a higher likelihood of response. For example, "Contact us now to arrange a free consultation!".

Tip: leverage annotations on YouTube by adding a clickable link to appear on the video.

Preempt your viewers questions

If you have already identified the main misconceptions your customers have when deciding to purchase your product or service then create a video preempting those issues.

Hot Tub Company Example

Customer Misconception: 1. it's expensive, 2. it will tear up my back yard, 3. my wife will say NO.

Make your video about: 1. promoting your payment plans, 2. your company takes care of the installation and clean up, 3. health tips for women to use hot tubs. 

Sound is just as critical as picture

When speaking on camera make sure you are using a lapel or boom to capture good audio. Consider including professional voice over (V/O) can make the difference of your video standing above the rest. Consider using V/O in the introduction of video and for giving the call to action at the end. The audio is so clean and professional it really will draw your viewer in to the video and also leave them with a clear message when you finish.

Tip: Online services like VOX offer voice overs for as little as $200.

LESS IS truly MORE

Don't try and pack too much in to the video. According to Visible Measures, 45% of viewers will stop watching after 1 minute and 60% by 2 minutes.

Tip: If you can effectively accomplish your message in less time then do it. 

Starting your own video production company - set yourself up for success in 6 steps

Brian Hunt & Marc Landry, Collingwood

1 DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB

Like any new business, it will take time before your production company becomes profitable. Realistically, you might need to develop your business on the side while having a regular job with a paycheque. As you get busier with PAID video work you can throttle back on your other job. 

Tip: It can easily take 2 years to get your business off the ground.

2 FREELANCE FOR OTHER COMPANIES

Freelancing gives you real-life experience working with clients with less risk to yourself. It's generally easier too since you just need to show up at a particular time to shoot. There are lots of emails and phone calls that happen during pre and post production which you won't have to deal with. 

Tip: Taking low or no pay jobs at the start is OK assuming you are getting rich in experience.

Shooting BTS, Toronto

3 PLAN FOR THE FAMINE

In this industry there are times when you will have an overflow of work and other times there is none. Being able to survive through the feast or famine is critical. As you get more seasoned, you'll begin to anticipate these seasons and stay busy investing in your business in other ways during the shoulder seasons. Build your social media, write blog posts, work on a passion project, take a crash course on business, travel, etc. 

Tip: For many video production companies in Canada, Spring/Fall/Winter are OK months but the busiest will be in the Summer.

4 YOU HAVE TO PAY TO PLAY

You will need to purchase equipment to get started obviously (ie. camera, lenses, computer, etc).  But more than just equipment, invest in yourself as a business skills by attending marketing events or trade shows. Business skills are intangible assets which are hard to quantify at first but ultimately will help you get more work in the long run.

Tip: Hire a business coach on a bi-weekly basis to help you think big.

5 Be Helpful

Maintaining a good reputation in the industry is paramount. It only takes one bad experience and that news will travel around quickly. However, if you are known as being a helpful company people will call you again. 

Tip: Be brave and ask your clients at the end of the project to provide feedback on working with you. 

6 STAY CUTTING EDGE

Volunteer on larger scale productions to see what the pros are doing. By placing yourself in these situations you'll also shoulders with industry professionals and get to play with equipment you normally wouldn't have access to.

Tip: Watch online tutorials like Lynda.com to learn new shooting and editing techniques.

Planning For a Promotional Video - 7 Steps From Start to Finish

Video marketing is, arguably, the most effective form of online mass communication that you can do. It may or may not come as a shock to you, but all businesses, small and large, need to start using video – consumers demand it! 

1 Meet your production company

Start off strong and take the time to establish a relationship with the person producing your video. You're going to spend significant time together for the next while over email, phone calls, and shooting days, so you might as well start this relationship off on a good note. If it isn't possible to meet face-to-face during the pre-production stage, then plan to meet over video chat.

Tip: this is also an opportunity to learn if you even want to proceed with working with this particular company and, in all fairness, they are wondering the same about you. 

“Using the word “Video” in an email subject line boosts open rates 19%, click-through rates by 65% and reduces unsubscribes by 26%.”

— Marketing Tech Blog

2 Use a reference video

When you approach a production company, inevitably the question of "What type of video do you want?" is going to come up. It's helpful to have a reference video on hand to show them. A picture says a thousand words and also goes beyond language barriers (terminology professionals use in the production industry can feel like a foreign language sometimes). From that reference video they will be able to give you some feedback right away and tell you what is possible and what isn't on their end. This is also an excellent opportunity for the company to bow out if they realize they aren't confident producing material at the level you require. However, they might also be able to tell you the approximate cost for a producing a video at that level, which might force you to ground your expectations. 

Tip: If you're not sure where to start, see what your competition is doing for video.

3 Ask the right questions

The most popular question always seems to circulate around cost but it shouldn't be what you lead with. First you want to make sure the production company is even capable of delivering up to your expectations: creative quality, turn around deadline, etc. Also, if you're asking the production company for creative ideas upfront it's common for them not to disclose their brilliant ideas until a deposit has been collected. That is simply to protect them from having their ideas taken to another company to produce the video.

Tip: Fast, Good or Cheap. You can only pick 2. http://www.sixside.com/fast_good_cheap.asp

4 Contingency planing a.k.a. set a rain date

If part of your production requires shooting outdoors you're going to want to set a rain date. If the shoot can reasonably fit indoors, and you can obtain a reservation for a back-up indoor location, that might be your best solution. 

Tip: Most production companies need at least 24 hours notice if you need to cancel or reschedule.

5 Shooting at your workplace

Usually, it's a good idea to shoot at your workplace for a couple of reasons. First, it cuts out location costs (ie. studio fees) and more importantly, it helps with the storytelling of the video.

Tip: If you're not sure if your workplace will work, then plan for a location scout. They will be able to tell if the space is suitable for setting up equipment, surrounding noise (ie. loud AC unit), power accessibility, lighting, etc. 

6 Keep your edit changes simple

Sometimes an editor will show you a rough draft giving you an opportunity to make any necessary changes before the final version. Usually, simple changes are possible without incurring additional costs. For instance, perhaps you would rather a different shot be used in the video and you know they already have it shot, then ask if it's possible to use it instead. Whenever possible, any special requests you have for the final piece should be brought up in the pre-production stage. 

Tip: If changes are necessary make sure you mention all of them in 1 note, which is simple and easy to understand.

7 Getting your video out there

Marketing distribution is a crucial step but probably the most over looked. Usually, when you finish production you've exhausted your budget. Research and plan ahead so you can promote your video on the appropriate channels when it is is complete.

Tip: Facebook ads are one of the best ways to market your video to a targeted audience.

Rethinking Your Time As A Entrepreneur - 3 Things You Need To Know

Entrepreneurs don't have to feel alone

As an entrepreneur you know there aren’t many books written to fit your exact situation - it can feel like you're alone on a long journey. We need mentors to speak into our lives - others who are a bit further ahead than us. I have a film mentor Brian Hunt, a whole life coach Mark Anderson, and other entrepreneurs pouring into my life. After having a conversation with a friend and Chief Experience Designer at GenesisXD I decided I needed to change the way I spent my time. Philip Yan suggested I split my time into 3 equal categories: shoot, edit and manage social media. I snuck the espresso part in myself. And if you're not in video production, insert your own practice in place of shooting and editing.

Embrace change

Maybe splitting your day into 3 equal parts is not realistic. Most of us shoot on location all day and other days we have nothing going on. Or maybe it's more like we have on/off seasons. That’s what life is like being self-employed - it's feast or famine. However, you can look at your day/week/month and plan to spend equal time shooting, editing, and managing online presence. Get out of your comfort zone and try changing the ways you've always done things. Don't worry, you're not committing to 'forever'.

A balanced approach

If you're like me you tend to be unbalanced and spend too much time in one area. For instance, if you spend most of your time shooting then you are going to have a backlog of editing to do. Or maybe you spend too much time in front of a computer screen and need to get out there and shoot. Either extreme is not healthy and is going to hurt your business in the long run because you'll fall behind in the other important areas.

Shoot - edit - manage social media

Remember, this variety is what attracted you to the job in the first place! Getting to shoot on location in a factory one day is interesting. If you had to shoot in a factory everyday then you might be looking to change careers. Chances are that's not the case and you'll be shooting somewhere different the next day. Other days you might be sitting in front of the computer editing videos to share with your network. If you had to sit in front of a computer and edit for 8 hours a day everyday then you might not be excited either. Same goes for managing your social media though. You might be excellent at video production but if you aren't communicating that to the world through social media then I'd argue there is lost potential. Learning how to share with your followers what you're doing will only remind them of your services when they think of video. Entrepreneurs thrive off the variety and that's why we get excited about what we do.

In my opinion, being a entrepreneur in a creative field is really the best job in the world. The problem is when we have an imbalance. As a freelancer in video production you need to have discipline to manage your time between shooting, editing and managing your social media because no one else is going to do it for you. 

Have suggestions for future topics? Let me know.