Serve Your Audience, Not Your Ego

When you’re fiercely loyal to your audience, you have to kill shots you love. Actually, the tougher thing is to kill shots your client loves and trying to explain it to them.

I’ll give you an example. I’ve had to shoot video for a bunch of ribbon cuttings. Clients love them. To them, a ribbon cutting is a big deal. The event signifies something major for the company. The audience on the other hand… could probably care less.

I usually find a way to incorporate the actual ribbon cutting… 3, 2, 1, cut!… but that’s about it. Questions typically follow… why didn’t you include the speech from event chair, the executive or the mayor?

Why? Because those speeches rarely impact the audience.

That’s why I start most video consultations with the question… who is this video for? If the answer is our clients/prospects/general public, then we need to make sure everything in the video speaks to their interests.

Remember, video is for the audience… not a company’s ego.

–Tony Gnau