Tag Archives: marketing video

They’re all over the web. Big companies producing safe and uninspired internet videos. There’s nothing wrong with them. They’re just… well… boring and easily forgotten.

I started thinking about this over the weekend. I went to the U.S. Postal Service website to track a package. What I found was a newly designed website and a video.

No surprise I clicked the video.  It contained a voice over and a series of graphics explaining the new website. It’s professionally done, looks good, sounds good, and a day later and I really don’t remember much of the content.

That’s why playing it safe often ends up being a waste of time and money. The postal service spent good money to produce that video. I watched it and forgot it instantly.

What’s the point in producing a video if it’s not going to impact your audience?

–Tony Gnau

Yesterday, I blogged about moving beyond the “About Us” video. Today, it’s one way to do it.

The first thing companies need to do is change their mindset. Focus your company videos on the audience, not your company. The idea is to address issues facing potential clients, as opposed to simply tooting your own horn.

Lead the conversation and turn your company into the experts. Do it on a regular basis and the benefits will follow.

Once a week, once a month, once a quarter… whatever time frame you choose stick with and keep it up. One of the best parts of video is the more people see, the more credible you become.

People turn to experts to help solve their problems, so be a leader… be that expert.

–Tony Gnau

I attended an interesting PRSA Chicago luncheon yesterday. Author John Leavy talked about some of the ideas behind his book Outcome-Based Marketing, and a lot of what he touched on really got me thinking.

I know I’ve written before about businesses pushing their video boundaries. Going beyond the “About Us” video and producing videos that will really appeal to clients, but now I’m more convinced than ever.

If you’re a business leader, act like one. Lead the conversation. Use well-produced videos to tell stories about the issues facing your industry.

Don’t worry so much about promoting yourself. Your expertise will speak for itself. When people view you as an expert in your field, their business will follow.

Any good examples out there?

–Tony Gnau

Posting video on YouTube isn’t enough. Facebook, Twitter… all social media need to be in play. Businesses have to share their videos using these tools if they really want some benefit in the end.

There’s even new research to prove it. ReelSEO reports that videos shared through social media outperform those that don’t. One of the key reasons is allowing others to share your videos gives them more credibility.

People trust their friends. If someone you know posts a video, you’re more likely to watch it than if a business sends you the link.

Getting your videos out into the social web could turn a fun marketing project into a profitable investment.

–Tony Gnau

While the social media world is all a-buzz about Google+, I’ve been focused on something else… Netflix.

The DVD and streaming video giant changed its subscription structure and raised prices, outraging many loyal customers. I wasn’t exactly outraged, but it did cause me to start looking at alternative services and it really got me thinking about corporate video.

The rise of online streaming services means yet another way to deliver video into people’s homes. Only now you can bypass computers and send it straight to their televisions.

AppleTV, Roku, Playstation, many Blu-Ray players… these are all devices incorporating online video streaming capabilities and allowing people to received countless “channels” featuring tons of videos, movies, and TV shows.

While the world wonders about business applications for Google+, they’re easy to see in this area. People following a company through social media may soon find those feeds delivering videos to their TVs. There’s already a Facebook channel on my Roku player where I can watch video. Vimeo has a channel as well. Sooner or later someone’s going to develop software to consolidate channels into a single feed making them even easier to browse.

Yet another way for a company to deliver its message.

–Tony Gnau

Earlier this week I blogged about a recent video Hyatt posted on Facebook. The theme of the post was about how Hyatt understands the power of social media video content, but I also mentioned that I would have done some things differently.

I didn’t get into what I would have done differently, but since then I’ve received a few questions about that so I thought I’d dive-in now.

FINDING THE VIDEO: to see the Hyatt video, visit their Facebook page, scroll down the Wall a bit and look for the video entitled, “Hyatt Thrive.”

First and foremost, I’m not here to rip other video producers. I mentioned in the previous post that the video is a solid effort. Most of the things I would have done differently revolve around style, so I’m not even going to get into those. Every producer has their own artistic style, and as far as I’m concerned it’s not a subject up for criticism.

My main complaint with the video is its length… 4-minutes. It’s way too long. I’m a big believer that if you’re producing something for social media, it better be short and sweet… 2-minutes or less for sure. In this particular case, I would have recommended to my client to aim for 1-minute, maybe 1-minute 30-seconds.

Web video is all about attention spans, which aren’t very long. Especially when the audience has the ability to simply point-and-click to leave. That’s something clients need to know going in to the project. It’s a delicate balance. Finding a way to provide information in an effient and entertaining way.

Now, it’s entirely possible the video was produced for a different purpose, and then shared on the web as well. If that’s the case, then no big deal. We produce videos meant for captive corporate audiences all the time that are then also shared via social media. Might as well, right?

However, if your main intent is to produce something for the web, especially your social media, keep it short and to the point.

–Tony Gnau

Courtesy: K-SWISS

K-SWISS has an interesting internet video campaign going on right now advertising its new athletic shoes. It features Kenny Powers… the lead character from the HBO show Eastbound & Down.

Let’s just say he’s a colorful character. There’s actually an uncensored version of the campaign’s main video floating around out there where he uses the F-word… a lot.

Normally, I love this kind of stuff. It’s great seeing a company take some risks instead of playing it safe, but in this case it just didn’t do anything for me. I snickered at one thing, but I never actually laughed at any of the jokes.

The campaign will probably get a lot of hits based entirely on its unique character. It’ll be interesting to see if it translates to shoe sales.

–Tony Gnau

As a semi-frequent business traveler, Hyatt is T60’s hotel brand of choice. Hyatt Regency McCormick Place also happens to be a client, so no surprise I follow Hyatt on Facebook and was excited yesterday to see them post a video (read below on how to find it).

It’s not a T60 video. I presume this was something produced by their corporate office, but it’s clear Hyatt “gets” video content. The video features the company’s volunteering efforts, and it serves as a great example of how employees give back to the community.

I have a few things I would have done differently with the video itself, but it’s a solid effort. More importantly, this is the type of thing all businesses should be doing.

If your company is involved in its community, there isn’t any reason you shouldn’t be sharing the news with your social networks… and there isn’t a better way to do than producing a video.

–Tony Gnau

FINDING THE VIDEO: to see the Hyatt video, visit their Facebook page, scroll down the Wall a bit and look for the video entitled, “Hyatt Thrive.”

Some props today for public relations expert and blogging maven Gini Dietrich. She wrote about how all businesses these days have become media companies… and she’s right.

Thanks to social media, from Facebook to YouTube, business leaders need to realize they’re now a part of the media industry so they need to start thinking that way.

The number one thing to consider… why is our content relevant? Why should someone watch our videos? If your answer is simply… because they should be interested in our product or service… you probably don’t have many people paying attention to you.

Start focusing your content on the audience. Make it relevant to them and they’ll start showing up in greater numbers.

–Tony Gnau

Yesterday’s post discussed why companies might want to consider updating their videos and how they can do it on a budget. Today I’m showing you an example.

The Warrenville Police Department had a recruiting video produced this past winter. The shoot happened to take place not only with snow on the ground, but during an actual snowfall. The video was needed right away, so the shoot went forward but with an eye on updating it once summer hit.

Instead of shooting a brand new video, the decision was made to simply replace the winter scenes with summer shots. In this case, a nearly shot-for-shot replacement was accomplished.

It meant a half-day shoot instead of a full-day, a few hours editing instead of a day or two, and it all added up to big savings.

Same great video, only updated.

–Tony Gnau

VIDEO– Warrenville Police Video Splitscreen