Courtesy: Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines posted a really cool story yesterday on its blog. It’s about a customer who tweeted during a flight about a terrific flight attendant. They promised to always fly Southwest if the airline would do something nice for the woman.

By the time the plane was on the ground, Southwest officials were at the gate waiting for the flight attendant with a present from a local bakery.

GREAT story! Things like this aren’t going to pop up all the time, so businesses need to have their antenna up to spot them. As much as I like the blog post, this had the potential to be a GREAT video.

Now, Southwest’s people had to think fast on their feet to do what they did.  Unless they had a veteran video producer on hand, shooting a good video might have been too much for them to handle here.  The lesson for PR and marketing teams is to be on the lookout for these opportunities. They might not always deal with such a quick turnaround.

Using a quality storyteller to creating a video in situations like this would be a great way to connect with an audience… making them feel like they were part of something special.

–Tony Gnau

Client testimonials are a great way to show prospects that you’re a trusted company. Posting a quote on your website is nice, but producing a video sends an even stronger message.

Don’t take my word for it. Companies like Bank of America invest in testimonial storytelling. The financial giant is producing a series of videos in multiple cities highlighting how it’s helping local businesses.

I discovered the series through an ad on Facebook. It jumped out because the ad featured one of our clients, Northern Illinois Food Bank. A series like this provides an obvious benefit to Bank of America. Having clients talk about their situations and how the bank has helped them is a nice promotion for the bank, but there’s another benefit as well.

The Bank of America clients that are featured get a healthy dose of free publicity. What a great way to honor clients and foster the relationship with them.

Client testimonials are a win-win for both organizations that take part.

–Tony Gnau

Videos may inform, they may educate, but words on a page or screen can do the same thing for less money. The reason smart marketers choose video is because video is much more likely to stir emotions and connect with an audience.

Looking for an example? Look at how college football programs market to their fans.

One of the biggest upsets of the weekend involved USC knocking off #4 Oregon. The Trojans create a video to show the team before every game, and they also share it on YouTube for all their alumni and fans.

Normally, it’s simply highlights set to rap or rock music, but this week USC kicked it up a notch. They took an inspirational speech by defensive line coach Ed Orgeron and spun it into a video that stirred emotions. The Trojans aren’t often the underdogs, but the school’s video team played up the role to perfection.

Good written content paired with music and beautiful images… storytelling at its best. Businesses need to pay attention. Video is a way for companies to connect with clients and prospects.

Could words alone have done this? Maybe. But I challenge anyone to tell me they’d be more effective than this video.

–Tony Gnau

Google Music is set to take on Apple’s iTunes. I watched the company’s promotional video and couldn’t believe what I found.

It’s strikingly similar to Apple’s promotional videos. Company employee, white backdrop, product shots… heck, it isn’t similar… it’s pretty much the same thing.

Why do this? Did Google just like Apple’s style and copy it? Is there some sort of secret subconscious effort to draw in Apple customers? Or was Google just plain lazy?

I like Google. I use a lot of their applications, but I don’t know the answer to that question. It could be something else entirely. Whatever the reason… it’s just weird.

–Tony Gnau

I went to PRSA Chicago’s monthly luncheon yesterday and heard a nice discussion about multicultural marketing. The panel addressed all sorts of topics, but one of them in particular stood out as good advice for any PR or marketing situation.

Someone asked if it’s wise to focus on individual segments of the Latino community, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, etc., or create something with a broader appeal to all of them? One of the panelists said you can’t be all things to everyone. That by the time your try to satisfy every community, you end up watering down your message.

Pretty good insight… and it’s great advice for anyone producing videos. Whether it’s trying to decide what story to tell about a business, who should be in the video, or simply critiquing the final product. No matter what decisions you make, it’s not going to please everyone. Someone will nit-pick it.

Video is a subjective medium. It’s an art, not a science. Opinions are plentiful, and you’ll always have your critics.

Tell the best story you can, and that’s the best you can do.

–Tony Gnau

Why video content? Simple. Short of transporting prospects to your place of business, video is the rare medium that allows you to actually show people what you do.

It can provide a behind-the-scenes tour of your company that may even be better than the real thing. Reasons why…

1. you get to control the message and get it right every time.
2. you ensure your business looks its best.
3. you can take people to places that might normally have restricted access.

Throw in the fact that prospects can take the tour without ever leaving their office and you have some pretty good reasons to create video content.

–Tony Gnau

Soldier Field, Chicago

Alright PR and marketing pros… you like planning ahead, right? Mark Veterans Day 2012 on your calendar and copy this blog post as a note. Here’s a great way for businesses to honor that day.

I spotted this American Airlines video on Facebook last Friday. It’s a very simple video the company produced to honor the veterans who work for the airline.

The video itself is just okay, a little long, but I love the idea. I’m a big fan in general of featuring employees in corporate videos, and honoring a company’s vets on Veterans Day is something everyone can do.

Remember, video is all about emotion. You want material that connects with your audience.

Our veterans stir emotions for millions of us. Showing how a comany supports them is a great way to build a connection with clients and prospects.

–Tony Gnau

Video just does things that text can’t do, and I found a really good example. It’s an online ad for the new Bose bluetooth headset.

The text on the landing page promises…

• Exclusive Bose technologies let you hear calls better, even as noise levels change
• Noise-rejecting microphone allows callers to hear more of your voice—in windy and noisy environments too

Look… reading it is one thing, but seeing and hearing it? That’s what sells people on a product like this. Bose clearly understood this and posted a very clever video on the page to demonstrate the product.

Take a listen and you’re bound to agree with me. Video just does things text can’t do.

–Tony Gnau

My wife ran into a local business owner yesterday and complimented him on the video at his website. She asked a bit about the video and he revealed something interesting.

He said that everyone over 35 who goes to the site reads the text, and everyone under 35 watches the video.

Now, we don’t have the full analytics here, but they obviously got this business owner’s attention. He also mentioned he’s going to add more video to the site since it’s apparently driving traffic to his company.

That’s the power of video… ROI-style.

–Tony Gnau

If you’ve signed up at YouTube, than you should know you don’t have a YouTube page. You have a YouTube channel.

It’s the perfect title because it hints at the mentality business leaders need to embrace once they start posting online videos. The company may make widgets, but it’s now a television station as well. That means company officials have to program their channel with all sorts of videos that people will want to tune in to see.

It’s important to remember, without viewers there’s no point in having your channel. This is why you need to focus the content on the audience, not your company. Sure, you can communicate things about your company, just make sure you’re serving the audience’s interests. Constantly ask yourself a question from a viewers perspective… why do I care?

They’re only going to tune in to your channel if you’re posting videos relevant to them.

–Tony Gnau