Did you know the average story a reporter puts on your local TV news is just one minute and 30 seconds long?  It might not seem like much time, but you can tell a good story in that amount and get in lots of useful information as well.

Creating web videos is similar to TV news.  You have to grab your audience and keep them interested.  If you don’t they’ll just click away.

The following is a one-minute corporate video.  It’s a great example of how you can get your message across quickly.

https://www.t60productions.com/Video-Sovereign_Healthcare_2.html

One of the world’s experts on web site usability concludes web site visitors want to see videos.

About Us usability study.

Dr. Jakob Nielson has been called “the guru of Web page usability” by The New York Times… and “the world’s leading expert on Web usability” by U.S. News & World Report.

The following are some of his conclusions after conducting a large-scale study on business web sites:

About Us pages are important… but not done well.

1. “Representing a company or organization on the Internet is one of a website’s most important jobs. Effectively explaining the company’s purpose and what it stands for provides essential support for all other website goals.”
2. “Unfortunately, while most sites offer an About Us section, they often do a poor job of communicating the crucial information it should contain.”

Video is crucial.

1. “One definite trend is higher user interest in video, especially when it shows interesting or complex products, reports on corporate events, or showcases the personality of the CEO or other key staff. One thing hasn’t changed, though: Web users are still impatient and prefer short videos.”
2. Click the links above to see T60 examples of each.

Okay, I know I have a little nerd in me, but I’m always excited when I learn something new about my editing software… Apple’s Final Cut Pro. For some reason I got fixated on spot shadowing this morning, so I taught myself how to do it.  A spot shadow is where you highlight a person or object by making everything else in the frame darker.

Anyway, I have never had a need for this skill, I don’t know if I’ll ever use it, but I still feel like it was worth while.  Call it professional development I guess.  All I know if once you feel like you know it all, you definitely don’t.  Education is a wonderful thing.

I’m headed to Chicago’s south suburbs today to meet with a potential client.  It’s a non-profit so it’s leaders don’t have much money to spend, but they still know how important video is to their cause.  They understand a good video can pull heartstrings, so they produce a new one ever year to show at their biggest fundraiser.

That raises a tough issue… how do you produce a good video on a limited budget?

In this case, they’ll use existing raw video to cut down the price.  Since T60 won’t have to shoot new video, we can charge them a lot less.  I almost always prefer to shoot my own video… that way I know I’ll get to work with quality material… but when budgets are tight I always understand when an organization wants to use what they already have in the can.  It’s a great way to cut costs.

–Tony Gnau

Thanks to everyone for the nice emails regarding our latest Goose Island Beer Company video.  If you haven’t seen it yet, you can now catch it at our YouTube channel or by clicking the following link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWUOQ5fQ6P0

We’ll have more stories and comments regarding the video’s production in the coming days, so stay tuned.

–Tony Gnau

The a, b, c’s of 312

Goose Island Beer Company uses video to educate and motivate.

According to the Chicago Tribune, domestic beer sales are down, but Goose Island Beer Company is projecting a big increase in its numbers.  No doubt great beer is at the root of the company’s success, but video marketing also plays an important role.

When we first met with Goose Island leaders, we thought for sure they would want to post videos on their web site and send email blasts with the links to beer drinkers.  Ten videos later and the general public hasn’t seen even one.

Instead, Goose Island had a great idea to send videos via the Internet to wholesalers and retailers.  The company uses them to educate and motivate the very people selling the beer to the public.

The most recent case is a video we produced to help Goose Island highlight the company’s commitment to strengthening the 312 brand.

Watch the Video: https://www.t60productions.com/Video-312_Events_2.html

Just wanted to let you know T60 will roll out its latest Goose Island Beer Company video tomorrow… Tuesday, October 19.

It took several months to shoot and we’re really happy with how it turned out.  We’ll also share how Goose Island is using it to help them sell more beer.

In the meantime, feel free to click the following link and watch any of the nine previous videos we have produced for the company.

https://www.t60productions.com/Goose_Island

–Tony Gnau

I was watching some football this weekend and saw a funny new ad from Miller Lite that features a great storytelling technique… surprises.

The commercial looks and feels very much like one you’d see for eHarmony, the internet dating service, but at the end we find out it’s for Miller Lite (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXXgBU_bS7A).  It’s a funny surprise… which is why it sticks with me even now.

Surprises also work great in video marketing.  You should always ask yourself if there’s something unique about your product or service that will surprise people.  Building up to that surprise and revealing it will almost always provide a nice impact on the viewer.

I worked a good surprise into a video I produced for Illinois State Sen. John Millner that shows what kind of man he is away from Springfield (https://www.t60productions.com/Video-Sen._John_Millner.html).

–Tony Gnau

The key to creating a good corporate video is finding the right story.  Sure, your boss wants facts and figures included, but you need to find the right story to weave them into otherwise people aren’t going to remember anything about the video.  It’s called corporate storytelling.

I try my best to help clients with this all the time.  The fact is corporate officials aren’t journalists, so they don’t look at a potential story in the same way.  You have to know who your audience is and find something that’s going to appeal to them.

–Tony Gnau

Yeah, we have some pretty high standards at T60.  But the “best blog ever written?”  Well, it’s hard, but we’ll try.

Anyway, welcome!  You’re logging on to our first official blog entry.  We hope you’ll follow our adventures and post your own comments along the way.

We’re really excited about this new feature at t60productions.com because it’ll allow us an opportunity to share with you some of the stories behind the stories.

T60 is fortunate to have some great clients and vendors we work with, and each project we complete we learn so much along the way.

Through this blog we’ll share things like how we came up with the ideas for our videos, ways our clients are using them and how it might help you and your communication needs.

We’ll probably also share some insights on various other issues around T60.  I’m sure if the coffee maker brakes, T60’s V.P. of Marketing, Katie, will immediately jump on the blog to conduct a poll of how many people feel coffee is essential to the creative process.

So, thanks for joining us.  We’ll be in touch!

–Tony Gnau