Experts Pick 5 “About Us” Video Mistakes

Experts Pick 5 "About Us" Video Mistakes

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More and more business leaders are embracing the power of video and that’s great. The big question for many is where to start? My advice is to begin with the one video every company should have at their website… the “About Us” video.

It seems simple enough, and I have given advice in the past on how-to create a great “About Us” video. Unfortunately, many businesses still produce videos that miss the mark, so why not learn from other company’s pitfalls?

Thankfully, we know some business, marketing, and public relations experts willing to help guide you past the “About Us” video mistakes they’ve seen.

gini dietrichGini Dietrich CEO, Arment Dietrich | Founder, Spin Sucks the Blog (PR Readers’ Choice Award-Top PR Blog) | Author or Spin Sucks the Book | @ginidietrich

I have a saying, which is to take the French (the we, we, we) out of all of your website content. Most “About Us” videos are, well, all about the organization and don’t put the customer in the shoes of what it would be like to work with this particular group of people. Use your “About Us” video to tell a story that matters to your customers.

Andy CrestodinaAndy Crestodina – Strategic Director, Orbit Media Studios (web design and development firm) | Author of Content Chemistry: The Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing | @crestodina 

These videos are so powerful, especially when they get right to the point. And the point is your passion. They need to explain why you do what you do. The text on your website let’s visitors KNOW something. But this video let’s visitors FEEL something. Keep. It. Real.

A common mistake is to bury it. An “About Us” video doesn’t need to go on your “About Us” page. It’s often effective to put it right on the home page. The most prominent home page message is WHAT you do. But WHY you do it (explained in a compelling video) should be right there next to it.

Danny BrownDanny Brown – Danny Brown Blog (#1 ranked marketing blog by HubSpot) | Co-Author of Influence Marketing | @DannyBrown

I’d say the biggest “mistake” is focusing on the leads. Yes, it’s great to see who the strategic players are – but how about a friendlier, “This is Mary, she keeps us informed on why we’ll never understand the appeal of SnapChat”, etc? Make the video fun, involving, self-deprecating. Unless you truly need to make a boring corporate video, stand out from the others and make it a real “About US” video.

Jil SalzmanJill Salzman – Founder, Founding Moms (Forbes Top 10 Websites for Women Entrepreneurs) | @foundingmom

Some video mistakes I’ve both made and seen:

Taking too long to get your message across really hurts your video and your brand. Strong editing is always a plus, especially in the day and age of no-attention-span video viewers.

You have to tell a story. If there’s no story, you can’t captivate the audience. I stand by the fact that you have to give your viewer the why. Tell them why they should be paying attention to your video by way of a story in said video and you’ll capture both their attention and their imagination, and eventually, their loyalty and purchase power.

Darcy SchullerDarcy Schuller – President, Suvonni | Board President, ChicagoAMA (Chicago Chapter of the American Marketing Association) | @darcyschuller

Too Long!  A well produced video should give the viewer just enough information that they need while keeping them engaged. Too many times I’ve seen “About Us” videos that give a complete history of the organization, what they do, why they do it, who they do it for, etc. that ends up being way too long for the bite-size tolerance of most people today. Brevity shouldn’t be undervalued.

Low Quality.  Lighting, sound and visual elements (whether it’s images, video, or animation) need to portray the same quality that your business stands for.  It doesn’t necessarily need to be perfect, but it does need to be high quality. A poorly produced video is worse than no video at all. If you are going to take the time and effort to create a video, make sure you do it right.

Okay… we actually had more than five mistakes there. Five experts gave us EIGHT mistakes. Yup… you got three bonus mistakes to avoid!

So… do you have any mistakes to add?

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau - T60 ProductionsTony Gnau is the Founder and Chief Storytelling Officer at T60 Productions. He’s a three-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, has led T60 Productions to winning 18 Telly Awards for its corporate videos, and is the author of the Amazon #1 Bestseller “Lights, Camera, Impact: storytelling, branding, and production tips for engaging corporate videos.”