I was recently listening to Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership podcast about his no gossip policy, and it really hit home for me.

The discussion turned to company culture with podcast moderator Chris LoCurto interviewing best-selling author Jon Gordon. Not only have I worked in worked in good and bad cultures, I’ve also seen how a company can leverage its culture as a sales tool.

Case Study

Electri-Flex is a suburban Chicago-based company that specializes in producing electrical conduit. The leadership and employees there are passionate about their product, but maybe even more so about their culture.

We produced their company video. They wanted something their sales team could carry with them to show prospects what they’re all about, and culture is the focus of the video.

My initial reaction to their pitch was skepticism. Then they started telling me how important their culture is to sales. It’s a family business. They treat their employees like family, so the employees treat customers like family.

Everyone has bought in, and it fuels the entire company.

It has been a while since we produced that video. Since then, I’ve pitched the idea of featuring company culture to a few other prospects, but nobody has been willing to bite. I wonder why more business leaders aren’t willing to put their culture front and center for customers to see?

Maybe it’s because they need some work on that end of their company.

–Tony Gnau

Last Monday, I basically declared it “Video in Public Places Week.” Then, I went on to completely blow-off the idea and not write about video in public places the rest of the week. Today, I’m writing about video in a public place, but I’m not declaring it “Video in Public Places Week.”

I know, right? Get it together Tony!

Well, this was one of the posts I was planning last week before the last Twinkies got in the way.

It’s a video kiosk I noticed while walking to a Chicago-AMA (American Marketing Association) event. I spotted it outside a realtor’s office, and it featured videos of all sorts of apartments for rent around the city.

I stopped to check it out and was pleasantly surprised. The videos weren’t anything special, but they were decent. Just video of the apartments set to music, but they shot actual video. A lot of real estate videos are simply slide shows of still photos attempting to pass themselves off as video. These were the genuine article.

I’d be curious to hear from the realtor as to how effective the kiosk has been. If the idea was to catch my attention and get me to interact with their listings, I guess it’s mission accomplished because that’s exactly what I did.

It’s no wonder. That’s where video excels. It catches the audience’s attention, then reels them in. The key is to find the right type of video and make it work for your business.

–Tony Gnau

Here’s a recent email from my wife you might find interesting…

Honestly, you’d think as your wife I’d be fully sold on the power of video, but I’m still a little skeptical at times.  This experience has perhaps pushed me over the limit to understanding “the power”.

You might be asking yourself, “What ‘experience’ is she talking about!?” Well, I’ll tell you.

It started last year

Last year, Mrs. G’s alma mater sent out a holiday email that contained a fun video. It made quite an impression because she said when she got this year’s email she opened it excited to see what they put together this year.

Only problem… no video. In Mrs. G’s words…

Just a longish note (didn’t even read the whole thing).

What we can learn from this experience

First, look at the impact last year’s video had on her. She told me flat-out, she was looking forward to this year’s email. That’s the power of quality video. Do a good job connecting with your audience and people will crave your content.

Second, look at the negative impact when you produce a good video, and then don’t follow it up with more. She didn’t even read the rest of the email. It was discarded.

This is why I constantly encourage businesses to look for opportunities to produce a series of short videos instead of one long video. The more quality videos you produce, the more likely you are to build a following… people craving your content.

Mrs. G “gets” it now. She was hooked after one good video. Imagine the impact when you produce a whole series of good videos. Imagine the brand loyalty you can build when you make video an important part of your marketing strategy.

That’s the power of video.

–Tony Gnau

Monday, I basically declared it “video in public places” week. The next day I passed on posting anything due to an early shoot. Today, I’m not posting anything on video in public places.

Someone clearly needs to teach me a lesson on following up on my promotional teases.

Well, timeliness… breaking news… they trump promos!

My shoot yesterday was familiar and unusual all at once, and it was certainly good lesson material. It was a b-roll shoot for  big company… familiar. But it also involved shooting video of something I never imagined I’d ever shoot. Twinkies. Possibly the last Twinkies ever purchased.

Hostess is bankrupt and closing shop, so that means the iconic treat is going away. Monday afternoon I got a call from a PR pro working for the agency representing JEWEL-OSCO. The grocery chain had just found out it was selected to receive the last shipment from Hostess, so they planned to put the snacks on the shelves the next morning at 5:30 a.m.

They knew this was going to generate media interest, so they wanted a b-roll package they could send to the TV folks. Picking up on the lesson?

They found out about the shipment, and one of their first instincts was to make sure they shot video. In JEWEL-OSCO’s case, it’s big time local and national media coverage, but it doesn’t have to be that to warrant a video shoot.

Is your company doing something noteworthy for customers, your industry… heck… for your own employees? Video is a great way to highlight it. You’d be hard pressed to find a medium that brings things to life better than video.

JEWEL-OSCO and their PR people know it. Now you do too.

–Tony Gnau

I feel like I should declare this “video in public places” week. I’ve been noticing video in some interesting places recently.

The first one I’ll highlight is a video I saw playing at a restaurant. Now you might be saying to yourself that isn’t all that unusual. You can walk into tons of restaurants and see TVs everywhere. What made this particular restaurant interesting was that I wasn’t at the restaurant. I was walking by.

It featured some flat screen TVs in the windows facing out, and they were playing video shot inside the restaurant. Shots from inside the kitchen, the dining area, and of course, shots of the food.

Standing out in a crowd

I have to admit, it caught my attention. The restaurant is in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. For those of you unfamiliar with Chicago, this is in the heart of downtown and one of the city’s main nightlife districts. There are restaurants on every street, every corner.

Pretty easy to get overlooked in a place like that, but the video made the restaurant stand out. At first I thought it might be a tacky indicator that this wouldn’t be a nice place to eat, but after peaking inside it looked like a nice, high-end restaurant.

My point is simple. Video is an attention grabber. The owners could have put up a giant photo of their food, but I would have walked right by. Instead, they chose video and it worked. They got my attention.

You can do this too

This isn’t just a tactic restaurants can use. Any business wanting to grab prospects attention can use video to do it. Whether it’s someone walking by, or surfing through the internet. Good quality video stands out.

Now, I’m sure the restaurant’s owners would have loved for their video to inspire me to stop in, but I had already eaten dinner. Video can only do so much.

–Tony Gnau

I love creativity, and in some case creativity can actually be when you steal… err… borrow… err… pay homage to another person’s idea.

My wife sent me this video the other day. One of our favorite shows is HGTV’s House Hunters. It also appears to be a favorite of the folks at Disney because they created a short parody of the show set to Beauty and the Beast.

Take a page from disney’s playbook

Businesses can use this sort of thing as inspiration. What are your favorite shows? Check that… what are your audience’s favorite shows? You don’t have to do a straight-up parody. Sometimes using the same production techniques works as well.

One of T60’s videos that jumps to mind is a recruiting video we produced for the Bloomingdale Police Department. The opening sequence is a total homage to the opening for each episode of the FX series, The Shield. We produced the video years ago, but I still love that opening to this day.

It just goes to show you, never underestimate how other people’s ideas can help drive your own creativity.

–Tony Gnau

I tend to email myself blog ideas, but occasionally they get pushed aside in the shuffle… doomed to a sad existence inside my inbox. But all is not lost! I cleaned out my email last night and found a gem.

Razorfish is a marketing giant, and I got to visit their Chicago offices early this summer (for this video). That’s why this Ad Week article last month caught my eye.

Video highlights innovation

Razorfish leaders have created a whole room dedicated to video and digital technology, helping them create demonstrations for clients. It looks pretty cool, but I like their promo video even better.

I know, me liking a video about video!? Shocker.

Anyway, the video is nice. It’s pretty flashy storytelling, but look at the subject matter… it’s flashy so the style is a good fit.

Promotion minus the sales-pitch

I just love the whole idea of a creating a video to promote things a company is doing that bring value to clients. This video is certainly about Razorfish, but it doesn’t feel that way because it’s so focused on showing how their innovations can help clients.

That’s how you do it folks. Focus on the audience. Lesson learned courtesy a marketing bigwig.

–Tony Gnau

Video can be pretty magical. First and foremost, it’s a communication tool, but maybe its most powerful ability is the way it allows your audience to emotionally connect with you.

As a young TV news reporter, I was frequently confused when people would approach me and start a conversation like we were good friends. At first, I would question myself, wondering if this was someone I had met before. After a while, I came to understand that these are people watching me every night. I’m a part of their lives, a trusted friend, even though we had never met.

You can be that to your customers, prospects and employees. The more they see and hear from you, the more they feel like they know you. The more they feel like they know you, the more trusted you become.

That’s the power of video.

–Tony Gnau

I went to log on to Facebook over the Thanksgiving holiday and received a welcome surprise.

Facebook has long featured a video on its login screen, but it’s usually some sort of motion graphics video demonstrating Facebook features. This time, however, it was some quality storytelling.

Facebook Storytelling

The social media giant has produced a segment called, Facebook Stories. It’s a series of videos highlighting some of the uses for Facebook.

I loved the first one I saw about a fish scientist (video: Speeding Up Science). The first half is all about what this guy does for a living, and then they hit you with the innovative way he’s using Facebook.

Smart plan for any business

This is something everyone can learn from. Find the people who are using your products or services, tell their stories, then how you’re helping them.

It’s “selling” without sounding like you’re selling.

That’s the power of video and storytelling.

–Tony Gnau

I watched a video over the weekend that jumped out at me. It’s for Project: Living Well.

Here’s what I liked about it. Clearly professionally done, visual storytelling and I love the way they integrated graphics.

The last part is what I’d like to focus on because we get a bunch of requests from clients wanting motion graphics videos. This is the perfect alternative.

Look for a Motion graphics alternative

I think motion graphics can be effective, but they can also be exhausting. A 1-2 minute video with all sorts of text to read and graphics zooming on and off-screen can be a bit much. A video like this one makes good use of the graphics while still telling a visual story.

Just because you want to use graphics doesn’t mean you have to scrap the idea of shooting video. The two can complement one another quite well.

–Tony Gnau