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Today’s selection is an example of one of our Elevator Pitch Videos. It’s the least expensive and least involved of the types of videos we do, but it’s a great way for small business owners to get a quality “About Us” video for their websites.

CGO Wealth Management is in the process of creating a new website and thought it was important to incorporate a video. When I spoke with owner Claude Ohanesian for the first time, there was something that struck me about his message for prospects. He really wanted them to understand that he genuinely cares about his company’s clients.

I knew right away that video was going to be a good fit because that’s what video can do better than every other marketing platform. It helps convey feelings.

Adding authenticity to your website video

CGO Wealth Management delivers a genuine message during their website video.

“What we want to do more than anything else is give our people the comfort that someone cares about them.”

That’s what Claude said during our interview. As words on paper or on a screen, it looks nice enough. Do you get any emotion from it though? Probably not.

Now, try watching the video. It’s a totally different story. He sounds and looks sincere.

That’s the power of video. Reading the words don’t do them justice, but when you hear them coming from him they carry greater weight. It lends a whole other level of authenticity to his marketing.

Adding a genuine message to your website video creates a great first impression for anyone visiting a company’s website.

–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.

Video marketing is huge these days and more and more businesses are giving it a go on their own, so I thought I’d write about some of the mistakes amateurs tend to make.

First, I’m on the record here. If you’re with an established company and value your reputation, please find a pro to help you. The likelihood of you pulling off an amateur video that lives up to your good reputation is slim. Okay, that’s my disclaimer.

Now, for those of you with young companies or small businesses with zero marketing budget, here are some things to keep in mind.

• it’s not about the camera, it’s about the person behind the camera

Look… everyone has an HD camera in their pockets. Whatever you use as a camera is probably going to deliver a good-looking image. The key is picking the right person to operate the camera. Who’s a good still photographer? Who has a creative eye? Do they understand even a little something about composition and lighting? These are the people you need to think about.

• good pictures aren’t enough

Video includes both sight and sound, and nothing screams “amateur” like a video with beautiful images and crappy sound. Invest in a good microphone. If you’re having someone talk on-camera, think about the environment where you’re doing it. Is there competing sound somewhere in the area? Remove it, or remove yourself from the area. Your sound needs to be crisp with little or no background noise seeping through.

• know when you’re in over your head

 Producing quality video isn’t easy. If your experience isn’t going like you would have hoped, stop. Please stop. Whether you give-up completely or turn to a pro, that’s up to you. A bad video is just a bad idea. It makes you look like amateurs, and the last thing you want people thinking about your company is that you’re a bunch of amateurs.

So… that’s about it. I’m not a fan of most amateur videos, but if you have to do it… be smart about it.

–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.

The decision has been made… let’s do a video! Everyone’s excited, it’s a great marketing tool, it sounds like a lot of fun… then it happens. Someone asks, “How much do you think it’s going to cost?” Blank stares… because video production costs aren’t something many people are familiar with.

I mean, why should they be? Start surfing around to production company websites and you’ll have a tough time getting any sort of a rough idea (present company excluded).

I get it. It’s hard to gauge. When someone calls us for a quote, there’s a bunch of factors…

• how many shoots will be needed?
• how many cameras?
• how many interviews?
• how time is needed to create a script?
• how many days to edit?

These are all questions we’re asking ourselves as we listen to what the client needs. Once we have all the answers, then we can give an accurate quote.

You know what though… we’re happy to give ballpark estimates. As a matter of fact, clients who have been with us a while call for them all the time, and here’s why that’s a good thing.

Video production costs and an accurate budget

The problem a lot of people run into while producing a video is they usually fail to create a realistic budget. That budget gets set, then they scramble to find someone to create the video they want for that budgeted amount. This means a lot of times they have to settle for a producer they might not like, but it’s the one they can afford based on the budget.

What many of our clients do is call us before the budget is set so they have a better idea of what to ask for from the beginning. We give them a ballpark estimate, then they take that to the decision maker.

It creates a situation where there aren’t any surprises. It’s one thing for the manager or CEO to know in advance the project will cost about $5,000. It’s another thing when the budget is set for $2,000 and the team comes back later and says, oops, it’s actually going to cost $3,000 more.

Getting a ballpark quote is a great way to start a video project before it even gets rolling.

–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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The key is to sit down and really think about stories that will serve your customers, and I happened to find a really good example the other day.

Realtor’s Video content open house

I came across a YouTube channel for New Jersey realtor Sue Adler. It contains some testimonials and videos featuring properties for sale. No surprise there, but what I loved was a series of videos she produced on the various communities she serves.

Interested in moving to Millburn, NJ… there’s a video. How about Summit, NJ… there’s another video. There are five well-produced videos on different communities.

Think about what a great tool this is for home buyers considering different towns. They get a sense of the look and feel for each of them.

And you want to know what happens when you focus on producing professional content that’s relevant to viewers? People watch.

Her testimonials have some decent numbers… 600 views… 900 views. The community videos… 4800… 7200…10,400… 11,500… 12,700 views!

None of the community videos are “selling” Sue Adler, but they are all selling Sue Adler. You know what I mean?

important takeaway

It’s a great lesson for business leaders. Instead of thinking about how do we sell ourselves, try asking how can we serve viewers? What knowledge do we have surrounding our industry that people would find helpful?

It’s also something the entire team can work on. Get people to bat around ideas, especially those who are dealing with customers. They have first-hand knowledge of what customers are interested in.

When you start thinking in those terms, stories for your video content will start to surface.

–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.

Courtesy: Delta Airlines

I’m torn on something. Dare I event say it? I’m wondering if maybe Delta Airlines… gulp… should NOT do a PR video surrounding its recent public relations home run.

I know… I’m shaking my head even writing it. If you haven’t read the story, Delta CEO Richard Anderson is getting a ton of good press because he gave up his seat on an overbooked flight. He did it to make sure customers were taken care of first, even helping the last passenger with her bag and showing her to his seat.

He did still make the flight… sitting on a jump seat in the cockpit… but still… pretty cool. The women who got that last seat didn’t find out he was the CEO until after the flight, but she took to Facebook thanking Anderson for his gesture and it has gone viral from there.

Produce a video or let it fly?

Courtesy: Delta Airlines

The producer in me says Delta should be seeking out this woman and reuniting her with Anderson… creating a nice video surrounding the experience. The amateur PR person in me says they should just let it be. The social media whirlwind is authentic and can’t be beat… even by a well produced story.

Did I really just write that!? I mean, I have some AWESOME ideas for how to tell a great story around this event… I just don’t know how it would be received.

Any thoughts? I’d love to hear them?

–Tony Gnau

I feel like we’ve cleared a major hurdle in a way, only to run into a potentially bigger one. That second hurdle involves video production cost.

Getting over the first hurdle

Over one hurdle, on to another

video producers… it’s all on us

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The latest one comes from aviation giant Boeing. I was scanning my Facebook feed yesterday when I noticed a Boeing ad. It had a video player… no surprise that’s what caught my attention. The video was a straight-up PR video, and it’s really good.

What you do isn’t boring

There’s some pretty flashy editing, but the best part… it tells a really nice story. It’s a classic example for any business owner who doesn’t think what they do is interesting. In the hands of a quality storyteller, that just isn’t true.

Boeing tells the story of the winglet on the company’s new 737. Seriously. You know, that little upturn at the end of the wing. They devoted a story to that… and it’s interesting… not to mention they explain why it’s relevant.

They talk about the challenges of improving a popular, existing product (the 737)… they explain what a winglet is and what it does (improves wing aerodynamics)… and then why it matters you to you the viewer (saves fuel, good for the environment). That’s just good storytelling.

Tell us why your video content matters

I especially like the way they end with why it’s important. My mentor as a young TV news reporter was Steve Hartman at CBS News, and Steve used to always drive home to me that it’s always good to remind people why they’re watching… let them know why they story matters to them.

You don’t get that from a lot of corporate video content. Too much of it is, “Look at us! Aren’t we great!?”

What it should be saying is, “Here’s how we’re helping you. Here’s how we’re making a difference in your life.”

That’s good storytelling.

–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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“The Power of Video” is something I frequently write about here, but I love the way they broke it down…

1. Improve your search engine presence. Ranking videos high on YouTube and Google is significantly easier than ranking web pages. According to one calculation from a Forrester Research analyst, you have a 50x better chance of ranking video content (versus text content) on page one of Google!
2. Increase your reach. Having your videos on platforms where millions congregate will help spread the word about your business quickly. According to Facebook, posts that incorporate a photo or video generate 120 percent more engagement than the average post!
3. Improve your branding, trust and online authority. Simply putting a face to the name can lend authority to your business. According to a CMI survey, 46 percent of people say they are more likely to seek information about a company, product or service after seeing a video about it.

I know it’s stuff I touch on here regularly, but I think it’s worth giving it to you from a straight-up marketing perspective. These aren’t video producers. They’re marketing professionals. If the tactics they employee for their clients don’t work, they get canned. It’s in their interest to make sure the investments their clients are making pay off… and they recommend producing videos.

Why? It works. Everything they listed above it true. Search engine traffic… goes up. A company’s reach… expanded. Improved branding… increased trusted.

We believe in all of it so much, we asked our clients to tell us why they use video (VIDEO: How Video Marketing Help Us). Find out from them why they believe in the power of 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. 

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make when producing their corporate videos doesn’t have anything to do with the production itself. The mistake actually happens afterwards, but it’s a result of what didn’t happen before the first frame of video was shot.

The mistake is how the video is used once it has been produced. We’ve had plenty of clients who know they want a video, they think it’s something important for them to have, but they have absolutely no plan for how they’ll use it.

The default, of course, is we’ll put it on our website. Okay… that’s a good idea, but that doesn’t have to be the end of it.

Olden days

Back in the day… companies would produce a video, make a bunch of VHS copies, then send them out when a potential customer would request information about the business. Putting a video on the company website is today’s equivalent. Nothing wrong with that… every business should… it’s just there are now many other options.

Social media, email campaigns, blogs… they’ve changed everything, and they’re the way we’re sharing information. Why wouldn’t a business take advantage of all these new ways to pump out their message to the masses!?

That’s why before business leaders start discussing their video, they should first have a plan for what they’re going to do with it. Maybe the primary role is for it to live at the website. Great. Maybe a secondary plan is to share it via Facebook or Twitter. Fantastic! But that’s where the plan comes into play.

Once isn’t good enough

There are a lot of business leaders who think you share the video once on Facebook and that’s it. Okay, we shared it. Good enough, right? Wrong. You have to have a strategy for when and how often to share that video. Maybe it’s once a week… once a month… alternating days of the week and times of day.

The point is not everyone who follows you will be looking at social media when you decide to share your video. Which is exactly why sharing a video isn’t something you do just once and walk away from. The more you work on a strategy for how you’ll share it, the better the response will be.

Don’t know how to develop a successful strategy? Let us know. We work with all sorts of marketing and PR pros who can help.

–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.

Courtesy: billdaleyillinois.com/

Well… turnabout is fair play. Earlier this week, I blogged about a pretty uninspiring political video. It was produced by one of the many people running for governor here in Illinois. My post was non-political, but the video happened to feature a Republican. Today… the Democrats prove they can serve-up average storytelling as well.

Bill Daley is known to many around Illinois… especially Chicago. What the Kennedy’s are to Massachusetts, the Daley’s are to Chicago. The point is Daley doesn’t really have to introduce himself, but that name recognition also comes with a problem.

Storytelling and Trust

The Daley’s are the embodiment of the Chicago political machine. That’s not good downstate. Safe to say… Daley has a trust issue.

He announced his candidacy this week with a video (VIDEO BELOW) designed to turn that around. For me anyway, it fell flat and the reason is simple.

It features Daley clearly reading a scripted message from a teleprompter. He trashes the state’s current condition… not difficult to do… and positions himself as the man to change it.

Yawn. You know the thing about scripted messages? That’s how they sound. Scripted.

Speak from the heart instead from a teleprompter

I’ll take someone speaking from the heart any day over some finely crafted message. Whether it’s a politician or company marketing itself. It’s something I frequently promote to our clients. Some are a little concerned about giving-up a degree of control over their message, but I always tell them what they give-up in control… they get back in authenticity. That’s a big deal.

Don’t handcuff your people by forcing them to read or memorize copy that’s been written for them. Just sit them down, asked them some questions, and get them talking.

What you’ll get back is a genuine message that audiences will appreciate.

–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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