Tag Archives: marketing video

If your business is embracing social media. If your business is into e-mail campaigns. If your business is interested in getting noticed, a video series will do wonders. The best part is the more videos you produce, the  more people will watch.

The most important thing is quality. The videos need to look and sound good. Second, you need good content. Something that addresses the needs or issues faced by your audience. Finally, the videos need to be produced on a regular basis. It could be quarterly, monthly, weekly… it’s up to you and your budget.

Once your audience notices you’re producing quality videos, a magical thing happens. They watch. Not only that, if you promote the series, they’ll look forward to the next video.

There’s so much garbage out there that quality stuff stands out. Producing a solid series will get you noticed, and it will have viewers looking forward to your next production.

Tomorrow… the sharing factor.

–Tony Gnau

This is an idea whose time has come. There’s no denying the power of video, but there’s an even better way for businesses to use it. On top of that, it’s a way that will give them more bang for their buck.

It’s the video series. All week long I’ll be highlighting why it’s such a good PR/marketing idea.

First reason… doing a series of short videos will capture short attention spans. How short should the videos run? One minute and 30-seconds or less.  That’s 1:30 or less.

Think it can’t be done? Wrong. The average story you watch on TV news every night is exactly that length. You may have to find a quality storyteller to help your business do this, but you’ll be rewarded with the type of videos that will capture people’s attention.

A series of short videos will also do something one long video can’t do. It makes it much more likely your audience will watch the videos all the way through. If you produce five 60-second videos and release them on a weekly basis, you stand a much better chance of getting people to see all five minutes than if you produced a single 5-minute video.

Coming tomorrow… why a good series encourages viewership.

–Tony Gnau

Courtesy: Virgin America

This isn’t the first time I’ve blogged about Virgin America. I’ve never flown the airline, but I can’t wait to give it a try.

One of the reasons, I keep getting these videos via Facebook that do a great job of promoting the airline. Yesterday’s video featured a partnership with Google allowing travelers to check-out a laptop to surf the web during their flight.

Just another great example for businesses. The video itself is nothing special, but I watched and now I know about another service the airline provides its customers.

Could Virgin leaders have done this with a simple text post? Yes. Would it have had the same impact. Doubtful. Video doesn’t just provide the information, it transports you to the airport and gives you a sense of what it would be like to actually use the laptop.

That’s the power of video. That’s why you need to put it to use promoting your business.

–Tony Gnau

VIDEO: Virgin America/Google Laptop Service

You know why video makes for great social media content? It works. People love videos and they love to share the good ones.

According to emarketer.com, the number of internet users who are watching online videos every month is on the rise. By 2015, it could surpass the 195-million mark.

If you’re a business owner, those are numbers that can’t be ignored. If you’re a PR or marketing pro, those are numbers you need to share with your clients.

–Tony Gnau

Public relations maestro Gini Dietrich occasionally blogs at spinsucks.com about gaming and how it can be used in a PR/marketing setting. I’ve been thinking about various ways to incorporate video into social media games, and apparently I’m not the only one.

I love the promotion Dodge is running via YouTube. It’s basically an online video scavenger hunt for three of the company’s new SUVs, and the winners who find the vehicles get to keep them. Dodge is posting a series of videos at its YouTube channel providing hints.

Most of the videos are pretty simple, but it’s clear they’ve been well-produced. We’re not talking video shot by some amateur in the company’s marketing department on a FlipCam. It’s clear that pros shot and edited these segments. They actually look and feel more like TV ads than online videos.

Regardless, the game is fun, the videos look great, and it has my creativity synapses working overtime.

–Tony Gnau

VIDEO: Dodge YouTube Channel

You can pay just about anyone to shoot some video. Chances are they’re also capable of editing together that video. What you should be paying for is someone with a storyteller’s vision.

It’s their creativity that will set your video apart. It’s their creativity that will drive engagement. It’s their creativity that holds real value.

Don’t look for a vendor. Hire an artist.

–Tony Gnau

An authentic voice isn’t always polished. People who speak from the heart occasionally stutter, and sometimes they say, “um.” Don’t worry about it. Leave those things in your videos.

It’s okay for a couple of reasons. First, audiences don’t even notice it. Okay, if someone says something like, “you know,” four times in the span of 10-seconds, people will notice. They rarely notice the occasional verbal misstep because that’s simply how we all speak.

This is your video so you’re dissecting it word by word. Audiences don’t watch and listen that way. Stuttering and stammering is what we hear everyday, so hearing the same in a video only sounds like natural conversation.

Second, because it does sound natural, the content of what’s being communicated comes off as much more genuine than a polished answer. Unless you’re a great actor or experienced politician, sounding sincere while delivering a practiced answer is nearly impossible.

The best thing to do during your videos is to speak from the heart, hum, and let your passion show.

–Tony Gnau

If you’re going to produce video content… and you should… do it right. Put some effort into it. Don’t just produce something for the sake of having video content. It’s lazy, the video will likely be boring, and it could make your business look bad.

Yes, it would be great to share professionally produced material, but that’s not what this is about. Even if you’re producing video on a budget, at the very least approach your project with some passion and focus.

Why is this material important? Why is it relevant to my audience? Why should they care to watch?

Ask yourself all these questions, answer them, then move forward.

–Tony Gnau

You don’t always need words to tell a story, but if you have them… make sure to use them well. Content creators and business leaders can certainly learn that lesson from watching a Chicago tourism video that starts with a great concept but falls a little short.

The video uses the written words of Daniel Burnham. For those of you non-Chicagoans who might not be familiar, Burnham was the architect and urban planner who created the city’s blueprint following the Great Chicago Fire.

His words… perfect for this video. The problem… the video is too long, edited to include long musical breaks between Burnham’s well-written lines.

The breaks are so long you completely lose the flow of what Burnham wrote. Tighten up the edit and all of a sudden the story starts to make sense.

This is a mild critique. The video is shot well, and has one of the world’s great city’s as a backdrop. It’s hard to go wrong with that imagery. Adding Burnham’s words in a more efficient way would have put this video over the top.

Your content may have words, but does it tell a story?

–Tony Gnau

VIDEO: Chicago Tourism

I was admiring the new Volvo Station Wagon the other day. Don’t judge, I’m a new dad. Suddenly finding Volvos cool is like a right of passage.

Anyway, I wanted to learn more so I went to the Volvo website and I found a fun video. It highlight’s Volvo’s overseas delivery program, and it’s a good video marketing example for other companies.

Basically, you can order your customized vehicle, then Volvo will fly you to Sweden where you can tour the factory and take your new car for a spin around Europe before they ship it to you in the U.S.

Now, I’m not in the market for a new car. I’m a big believer in quality used cars… thank you Dave Ramsey… but the video really captured my imagination. I consider that a win for Volvo.

A nice video about a program I may never use enhanced the whole brand for me. That’s the power of video.

Find something about your company that captures the audience’s imagination and the same could happen for you.

–Tony Gnau

VIDEO: Volvo Overseas Delivery