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I don’t know about you, but I’ve been getting a lot of Hootsuite ads popping-up in my Facebook feed. The most recent turned out to be a welcome one because it linked me to some fun video content and turned me on to the company’s YouTube channel.

If you’re not familiar with Hootsuite, it’s a platform to manage many of your social media accounts. It’s something I’ve been using for a while, and recently I’ve been doing my best to learn more about how to leverage it for T60.

I guess I just answered my question as to why I’ve been getting so many ads.

Hootsuite video content

Anyway, like I mentioned, in this case I was actually pretty happy about it because Hootsuite is producing some great video content. They feature customer testimonials, how-to videos, product videos, educational pieces, social media insights… holy cow!

The best part… they’re clearly professionally produced so you’re not going to sit through garbage.

The initial video that caught my attention was a testimonial from the San Diego Zoo. It’s just a great example of the way businesses can do testimonials. It’s every bit a promotion for the zoo as it is for Hootsuite.

After looking around the YouTube channel, I checked-out a how-to video. The one I watched was on the User Profile pop-up feature. I was totally expecting your basic screen capture video showing me how to use the function. I did get a little of that, but the video also had a fun and creative edge to it as well.

Takeaway

It’s great to see a company make a real commitment to quality video. It should also serve as a valuable lesson to everyone else. Hootsuite is a company embedded deeply in the content marketing movement, and they have access to big data many businesses can only dream of… and where is the company putting its energy and dollars?

Video.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

Okay… you have a video budget. Now it’s time to get some video proposals. Unfortunately, this is how it sometimes goes…

• client requests a proposal
• production company spends time preparing their ideas and putting them into a proposal
• client looks at the proposal, but the price is beyond their budget

Ugg. Has that ever happened to you? Probably… and not just with video. It’s a problem with just about any creative agency and it wastes everyone’s time.

The creative businesses putting together the proposal… the client waiting for the proposal to come back… and the client again because now they have to wait for an updated proposal or seek-out other companies. It’s certainly something that pops-up from time to time, and something I have blogged about in detail before. 

The solution to the problem

It just doesn’t work, but there’s a way to make sure it never happens again. Give the video producer your budget upfront.

Did I just write that? You bet I did. Tell them your budget upfront.

I know, it’s not the way we do things. Nobody wants to give someone a budget that might be more than what it takes to get the job done.

Here’s the problem though, there can be HUGE differences in video production costs depending on what you want done. If a company wants an About Us video, we could prepare a proposal that is $800 or $8,000. The price can vary that much, and as producers we’re trying to read the minds of clients as to what their budget sweet spot might be.

Another way to use your video budget

What’s the point? If you’re doing your homework you’ll be getting multiple bids, right? That ensures you’re not going to be taken advantage of because if you give three production companies your budget, you’ll get to see what all three will deliver for that price. If one is way out of whack, you’ll see it.

Now that’s a smart and time-saving way to get a creative proposal.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

 

 

 

I’ve been meeting a lot of small business owners lately who have websites… but no website video. There are a few reasons why I think they’re missing a huge opportunity. Here are a few reasons you need an About Us video.

First

There’s no way around it. When a website features a video, visitors watch them, and there’s no better way to create a good first impression than with a quality video. A company can have the most beautiful website on the planet, but at the end of the day it’s unlikely the site going to stir any emotion in visitors.

A video on the other hand is all about eliciting emotion. I’m not talking about making people laugh or cry. What businesses can achieve with a quality video is inspiring confidence in the brand, and putting the company in a good light so that it’s likable. And we all know we buy from people we like.

Second

It’s not as expense as they think. Business owners hear “video” and think money pit. Huge production teams eating up big budgets.

Well, I’m not going to lie… that can happen. The thing is if they pick the right producer, they’ll come in on budget and deliver a terrific story. Heck, we offer a nice package for less than $1,000. You can get quality storytelling on a budget.

Third

These business owners without website videos aren’t alone. That means the ones who choose to produce videos will have a leg-up on their competition. We’re all doing our best to set ourselves apart from the pack. A quality video is a sure way to do it.

We’re at a point where small business owners are going to have to take the next step. Ten years ago many were still in denial that they needed a website. Ten years from today a website video will just be considered an essential website component.

Which side of the trend is your business on?

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

Here’s a frequent problem many business leaders find themselves in at one point or another. Employees appearing in your marketing videos who then leave the company.

Oops. I hate when that happens. Talk about a predicament. As a company, do you kill the videos completely, or do you just let them ride?

I wish I had a simple answer, but it’s one of those… “it depends” answers.

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Suggestion from a PR/marketing Expert

This was actually a question tackled by PR/marketing guru Gini Dietrich in one of the past vlog segments we produced for Spin Sucks. She totally nails it, although I’ll add one thing to her comments.

Gini says unless it’s a rogue employee or someone who left on bad terms, it’s best to keep the video up as long as you have their permission. SEO value alone is a good reason for that.

How about this idea?

However, I’ll add a suggestion. Don’t kill the video, kill the employee. There might be a way to simply extract the employee from the video with some editing.

It’s not always going to work, but in a lot of cases you can simply pluck the person out and you’re all set.

Will it cost you something to do it? Again, it all depends. I know we’ve had cases on both sides with our clients. If all we need to do is pull out a couple of sound bites and it doesn’t impact the story? No charge.

On the other hand, if we’re pulling out sound bites and other video of them in the video… and finding replacement pieces of video… and tweaking the story… yeah… there’s a charge.

The good news is even in that scenario, it’s going to cost far less than producing a new video.

Who knew killing employees could be so easy?

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

There’s always room for improvement with your video storytelling. I’ve won Emmy awards, Telly awards and I’m still learning everyday. My lesson this week came via an actor.

Well, an actor/marketer/speaker/writer. Rob Biesenbach is a busy guy. I met him at a PRSA event a while back and we’ve stayed in touch. He’s dynamic and very insightful. He’s also the only guy I know who’s written a business book and has a profile on imdb.com… albeit a short one. :-)

Rethinking your labels

Anyway, I loved his most recent newsletter, “Market Yourself Like A Godfather.” He writes about a different way to tell your story. I encourage you to read the whole thing, but I loved a few of his bullet points about highlighting actions instead of labels…

• I’m low maintenance vs. I get my own coffee.
• I’m dependable vs. I haven’t missed a day in 7 years.
• Our quality is the highest vs. Our customer reviews average 4.5 stars.

Saying and proving your video storytelling

I really love those examples. How many times have all of us given our elevator pitches and mentioned labels? In video, we get away with it thanks to an old adage… say it, prove it. For instance, in our T60 elevator pitch video, I say we’re expert storytellers and back it up with a shot of an Emmy. Say it, prove it.

That’s good… but I like Rob’s point more, and there’s no reason you can’t combine his idea with say it, prove it. It’s making me rethink the way I talk to people about what we do.

Not to mention, I’m coaching business owners every week… helping them tell their stories. These are suggestions I’ll be keeping in mind. I might even give Rob credit… more than imdb.com does anyway.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

My daughter and I visited a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian this weekend, and it actually spurred a thought about video ROI. If you’re a business leader who still thinks video is a waste of money because people won’t watch, you’re falling behind the times. 

Actually, if that’s what you believe, you might not be a business leader for long because the next generation is hot on your heals… and its members all watch online videos.

This came to me as I watched my 2-year-old daughter roam from station-to-station inside the exhibit, using the touch screens and pressing the “play” button on every… single… video. There were about 9-10 of them scattered throughout the exhibit.

“my customers don’t watch videos.”

I know, I know… she’s 2-years-old. If you’re one of these business leaders in denial, you’re probably thinking adults are more mature and wouldn’t do such a thing. That’s not what the statistic tell us.

• Over 85% of the country’s Internet users viewed online video content in September 2012 alone. —Oracle | Eloqua

“The Executives I deal with don’t watch videos.”

Okay, now you’re thinking… that’s the great unwashed masses. I do B2B sales and deal with sophisticated business types. They don’t watch online videos.

You’re wrong… so wrong. This comes from a Forbes Insights report…

• Video appears to have evolved from a novelty into a mainstream method for executives to receive business information. Younger executives in particular appear more inclined not only to view video, but also to create it and share it over the business-oriented “social” Web. Their growing influence within corporate America is likely to make business-related video even more prevalent in the coming years.

That’s Forbes talking… not me the video producer. You know what’s crazy about that report? The date it was published. If you didn’t read that in December of 2010, you’re now two-and-a-half years behind the trend.

Video marketing isn’t slowing down. It’s picking up steam. Don’t turn a blind eye on the direction communications is going.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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I hate to keep picking on Illinois politicians… okay… that’s not true. I’m perfectly comfortable picking on Illinois politicians. They deserve it on a lot of levels. In this case, it centers on video narration. Small potatoes compared to the state’s $100-billion debt, but a good lesson for anyone producing a marketing video.

It’s a case of… here we go again. Democrats… Republicans… all doing the same thing and all missing the mark. Videos meant to sell us on them, only we barely get to hear from the candidates themselves.

It’s really quite maddening.

This time it’s a political newcomer, Doug Truax. He’s running for the U.S. Senate here in Illinois and he had a video produced to introduce himself to voters.

The video is over three minutes. That’s long for a web video, but not too bad. For me, video length is all about audience and the video’s purpose. In this case, I think three minutes is fine. Except for this one thing… we don’t hear from Traux during the first two minutes of the video. Instead, it’s your typical political commercial voice.

Ugg.

Why I’m not a fan of scripted video narration

If what you’re after is a carefully scripted message, narration is the way to go. However, if you you’re a business leader, here’s why I think you’re making a mistake. Your perfectly scripted and performed narration sounds scripted and performed.

The best marketing videos are the ones where people don’t feel like someone is selling them something. The video tells a compelling and authentic story. You loose the “authentic” part as soon as the audience hears the narrator.

Even if it’s only on a subconscious level, they know this video has been sanitized for their viewing. It’s no longer them discovering something new. It’s them being sold something.

You know how to stop that? Tell your own story. Go on camera and let your passion show. Drop the script, leave the teleprompter behind and speak from the heart.

That’s how you connect with an audience. That’s how you create a good first impression.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

No doubt… video production can get expensive. Unless you have an eye on video ROI. That could change your perspective.

We have some low-cost options, but if you want full-service storytelling it’s going to cost you at least $4,000. Some company’s don’t blink at that. For others, it’s a big commitment.

Return on investment is something every business has to judge on their own, but there are some statistics out there that can help guide you. Here are some I have come across recently…

Marketing Pros Find a Video ROI

Video ranks 2nd with marketing professionals (51.9%) as the type of content with the best ROI.  |  eMarketer

People Act After Watching Videos

About 46% of people say they’d be more likely to seek out information about a product or service after seeing it in an online video.  |  Oracle

Video ROI even touches top executives and decision makers

65% of senior executives have visited a vendor’s website after watching a video.  |  Forbes | Insights

Video Isn’t Easy

The highest percentage of marketers (49.8%) describe video content as “difficult to create.” (cough, cough… which is why it’s good to hire a professional video storyteller)  |  eMarketer

I’m not here to tell you people will watch your video and immediately line-up to buy your product or service. What I will say is if you tell a good story, you’re going to put yourself in a good light… making it easier for people to buy from you.

Video is a great way to create a good first impression. It can help endear you to your prospects, and we buy from people we like.

That’s the power of video. That’s a good return on investment.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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I’m a big fan of YouSendIt.com. T60 has had an account with the company for years. We send some pretty large files to our clients, and YouSendIt.com is how we’ve always done it… until now.

That’s because YouSendIt.com has changed its name to Hightail.com. The company has been mentioning the name change for a while, but just recently it made the switch official.

Like many clients, I was wondering… why? Well, Hightail leaders made a very smart decision… they told us.

I mean that literally, they told us. They produced a video and explained the idea behind the name change.

The reason isn’t important. You can find out for yourself by watching the video. What’s important is they used video to its fullest.

Keeping clients informed

First of all, they didn’t owe an explanation to anyone. It’s their company. If they want to change the name, they certainly can. But knowing they have a loyal following, they knew there would be questions so why not clue people in?

Second, they could have posted an open letter to customers at the website or sent everyone an email, but they took it a step further by creating a video. This allowed them to personally tell everyone what was going on. We got to hear it straight from them.

I love it… such a great idea. Not only is it an accessible way for people to get an answer to the “why” question, it also humanizes the company. We get to see and hear from Hightail’s leadership and share in their passion.

I’ll tell you what the video did for this client… it satisfied me. I heard their reasoning… accepted it… and changed my web browser bookmark.

From my end… happy customer. From their end… mission accomplished.

Something to keep in mind the next time you have big news clients might be interested to know.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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For some businesses it’s a question with an obvious answer. Where do we shoot our marketing videos? The office, the factory, the places we do our work. But what if you’re a small business owner without a fancy facility? Well, in many cases the answer remains the same.

This week I’m blogging about some of our most recent videos, and passing along valuable lessons illustrated by each. Today, it’s RS Design Studio.

Marketing videos case study

Randy Shingledecker is the man behind the company. He’s an interior designer, and one of his big questions as we got started on the video… where should we shoot it?

I asked him where he does his work and he mentioned his office. Okay, check. He also mentioned all the stores he visits looking at products. Now we’re getting somewhere.

I asked a little more about that and he likes to take clients with him on some of those missions. See how this is taking shape? We were producing one of our Elevator Pitch Videos for him (typically about 60-seconds), so a couple of locations was plenty. I also loved the idea of getting out of the office.

You don’t need a fancy office

A lot of small business owners are worried about looking that way… small. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told, “We don’t have an impressive office or anything.”

My response is always the same. “So what.” In the hands of a good professional storyteller, they’ll make something work. It doesn’t have to be deceiving viewers into thinking someone’s bigger than they are. It’s about putting them in the right environment to tell their story.

Having a big factory or a highrise office is great, but they’re not essential components to creating a compelling marketing video.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.