Tag Archives: business

When people think of video, they often think marketing. It’s true… video is terrific for marketing. It also happens to be a great internal communications tool, and there are many subjects that can be covered (video examples).

Here’s the top five reasons you should be using video to communicate with team members…

Video creates interest. Anyone can send out a newsletter or email, but video captures people’s attention. How many dozens of newsletters go unread? How many memos get skimmed, but don’t receive the attention they might require? LOTS! You can communicate the same thing in a video that a memo or newsletter might explain. Detail company policies, feature your latest product or service, maybe even highlight the work of an individual or group. The difference is people will watch and pay attention to the video.

The accessible CEO. If you’re part of a small organization, chances are you’ve met the CEO. On the other hand if you work at a medium or large company, there’s a good chance you don’t know what the CEO looks like much less had an opportunity to interact with them. Putting company leaders out front in videos allows them to speak directly to team members. They are no longer the impersonal name behind a title. They become a real person others can relate to, which then empowers managers to energize the company culture.

Breaking down the silos. A lot of companies work in silos. One department separated from the other, people don’t know one another and certainly none of them can tell you what the other is doing. Video can change that. It allows team members to provide an inside look at what they’re working on. You can write about a new product or service all you want, but hearing from someone who’s working on that project and seeing them at work takes it to a whole new level.

Storytelling advantage. Using video allows a business to tell great stories. The medium incorporates images, sounds and words to create a rich platform for people to “experience” information. On paper, what’s happening around the company is simply a laundry list of activities. Put that same information into the hands of a skilled video storyteller, and it becomes a narrative that engages the audience. By incorporating information into a compelling story you capture the audience’s attention and make them more receptive to your message.

Leaves an impression. Storytelling also helps viewers retain the information, and after watching something they really enjoy they share it with other people. A company newsletter might garner mild interest. Videos will have people talking about them in the halls. They also have a cumulative effect. The more quality videos you produce, the more viewers look forward to them. They can even become a morale booster. Team member success stories are a pat on the back they’ll really feel.

All of these things add up to a good reason for corporate leaders to use video to communicate with their teams. A CEO vlog, a video newsletter, updates on projects and initiatives… all great ways to get your messages across to people.

–Tony Gnau

This post first appeared at ragan.com.

 Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

You’re interested in a particular company so you head to its website. You hit the home page… maybe you move on to the About Us page.

If company leaders have some marketing moxie, you should have run into their video by now. If not, you’re probably trying to decide whether or not it’s worth your time to read all that text.

This is what people are faced with everyday when they visit your company website, so why haven’t you produced a video?

Expense

I don’t buy it. Our prices start at less than $1,000, and you can find some who’ll do it for even less. Still too expensive? Fire up your iPhone and produce your own.

Nobody will watch

Seriously? You know it in your gut… people are more likely to watch a video than read text. Your gut’s not good enough? Google the countless studies that back up that feeling. While you’re at it, look at study after study demonstrating how many people are watching online videos.

I’m not good on-camera

Put a talented storyteller to work and they’ll figure out a way to make you look and sound good. Still not convinced? Who says you have to be on-camera? There are plenty of creative ways to produce a video where you never appear in the video.

Why Video makes sense

An About Us video is a great way to make a good first impression. It gives you an opportunity to talk directly to people who are interested in your company. You can show them what it is you do and what makes your business so good.

An About Us video brings your company to life.

–Tony Gnau

It’s funny… we produce PR and marketing videos for businesses all the time, but ask us to do one on T60 and it always seems to get put on the back burner.

I don’t think that’s unusual. No matter what product you produce or service you provide, if there’s a way it can help you and your business, you’re probably the last one to get it.

Customers come first

Why? It’s not because we don’t value our own product. It’s because we value our customers first.

I’ve been trying to produce a new “About T60” video for months. Every time I’m ready to start, either the phone rings or an email pops-up from a client needing help with something.

throwing down a gauntlet

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good problem to have. We’re here to serve them and their needs. This is the week though. I’m throwing down a gauntlet for myself. I’m getting this video done!

There’s a renewed sense of urgency since we’re just about ready to go live with our new website. Seems pretty silly to launch a new website featuring all sorts of great videos and not have a shiny new one for us.

What sort of internal projects have you set aside to serve your clients? Any advice you can give me to focus and get this sucker done!?

–Tony Gnau

I got a great lesson last week in managing expectations. In this case, the client thought we would deliver one thing, we thought we were delivering something else.

I know… not an unusual circumstance. It’s the type of thing that can happen in any industry, but it was a good business experience for me.

The problem came up because we didn’t layout for the client in advance how we’d achieve what they needed us to do. They asked us, can you deliver this type of service? We said yes, but we didn’t give them a detailed account of what we would do.

If we had, we would have learned they were actually asking for expertise in an area of video where we’re not experts. Sorry I can’t get into details, but I want to protect this client’s anonymity.

Anyway, the point is communication is a wonderful thing. If we had used a little more of it in this situation, we could have saved  the client and ourselves a headache. The good news is everything is okay and the project will go off without a hitch.

Any good ways you help manage expectations?

–Tony Gnau

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

Another terrific Chicago-AMA event in the books. Wednesday morning we got to hear from Mark Achler, Senior Vice President of New Business Strategy and Innovation at movie rental giant Redbox.

As usual, T60 provided the preview video for Chicago-AMA. That means I got to pick Mark’s brain a few weeks before the event, and the thing I took away from our interview and video shoot is the same thing I got out of Wednesday’s presentation.

Simplicity

The simpler the customer experience you provide, the easier it is to earn and keep customers. Makes sense for a company renting movies, but when you think about it that theory rings true for most businesses no matter what they do.

In our case, we tell corporate stories. One of the biggest concerns for most of our new clients is that they’re going to have to sit down and create a script for us to follow. When I tell them that’s our job, it’s often followed by an instant sigh of relief.

How we keep it simple

We make the video production process easy on clients. We talk with them ahead of time to figure out what they’re trying to communicate. We conduct interviews to support that message, then we create a story that’s going to connect with their audience.

Simple.

I had never thought of it that way before meeting and talking with Mark, but now I see how simplicity is a big part of our service. It’s something I now feel like I need to highlight even more.

Is providing a simple customer experience a cornerstone of your business?

–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 don’t care if you’re a solopreneur or CEO at a Fortune 500 company, money is always an issue. The number one question I get asked about video… how much does it cost?

I’m not afraid to answer that question. You’ll find T60 is a rarity in the video world. We actually post prices on our website. Of course, those are ballpark figures. Every project is unique, but I at least wanted to give people some sort of idea of what we charge.

Wants and needs

Which leads me to the subject at hand. We have all sorts of wants and needs at T60 right now, and everything costs money. I’d love to just write a check and get everything all at once, but that’s not realistic so we’re doing something radical.

We’re budgeting. Every creative person out there just got a cold chill. I’m with you, but it’s necessary if we want to achieve our goals.

We’re in the process of a complete website overhaul, and it’s just about time to upgrade our camera and editing suite. There’s a lot involved. We can’t do it all at once so we’re saving money, earmarking it for the things we value, and making purchases as we get the cash.

Video budgeting

Video is interesting. You can have it produced for as little as $500, or it could cost $20,000. There’s all sort of variables. So you know what you need to do… budget. Talk to producers ahead of time. Get an idea of what your video will cost before you set your budget.

FYI… this also happens to be true with anything you need to buy for your business. Save, save, save!

You’ll thank me later.

–Tony Gnau

p.s. T60 is debt free and doesn’t have a credit card or line of credit. Yes, it is possible. THANK YOU Dave Ramsey.

I really love what Advocate Health Care is doing to promote its brand. Company leaders are churning out a pretty decent amount of video content, some focused on what their hospitals are doing, but many of them simply answer medical-related questions.

In today’s case, they picked a timely topic to draw more viewers… something every company should think about.

The Chicago Marathon was run on Sunday. On Monday, Advocate sent out a video entitled, “Sports Medicine Tip: recovering from your marathon.”

The video isn’t anything special, but this isn’t a post about production value. It simply features a sports medicine doc talking on-camera about how best to recover.

It’s a great idea. To my knowledge, Advocate wasn’t a race sponsor, but they take advantage of an event many Chicagoans were focused on over the weekend.

PR, marketing and business leaders need to be thinking about this sort of thing. What’s going to be in the news that applies to our expertise? What sort of quality content can we create to better inform our customers/prospects?

Thinking it out in advance can provide some terrific videos that will help your company connect with audiences in a powerful way.

–Tony Gnau

I tell every business leader I come across they’re no longer just a retailer or service provider… they’re also a media company. The instant a business starts producing content, they’ve made the crossover, although many don’t seem willing to admit it.

Not Pottery Barn. The home goods retailer clearly understands they are now a media company. Take one look at their YouTube channel and you can tell. They have multiple playlists designed to attract various audiences.

What’s On Pottery Barn’s Channel?

There’s some self-promoting videos about Pottery Barn products, but for the most part the channel is programmed with all sorts of home decorating-related videos. If you’re a HGTV lover, Pottery Barn’s YouTube channel will be right up your alley.

Building and audience

It’s a wonderful example of a company that gets it. They have made a commitment to content. They understand by creating interesting videos, they’re building an audience. They’re building brand awareness.

Is it working? The channel has more than 3.5 million video views. I’d love to get a look at their ROI stats.

–Tony Gnau