Tag Archives: marketing

We’re still pretty excited about our recent Telly Awards, so I thought I’d relay some valuable insights from both projects.

We’ll start today with the video produced for the Warrenville Police Department. This provides a great lesson for why it’s important to know your audience.

Department leaders wanted a recruiting video to attract young officers who are looking for their first job in law enforcement. That’s crucial information. It guided everything from the raw video we decided to shoot to the story we crafted… even the music we chose.

Quick cuts, exciting visuals, and sound bites focused on opportunities. All things that should appeal to our 20-something viewers.

If this video was being used to recruit veteran cops to leadership positions, it would look and feel totally different. That’s why knowing your audience is so important.

Always keep your viewers in mind during the creative process. Let them guide your choices.

–Tony Gnau

I watched an “About Us” video yesterday on YouTube that was produced for a non-profit. It was more than 7-minutes long! The crazy thing? That was the short version.

The organization has a “full-length” version that’s more than 16-minutes. Yikes!

Now, I don’t know their motivation behind these videos. Sometimes videos are produced for a live/captive audience and then posted on the web as an after-thought. But folks… even for that… 16-minutes is REALLY long.

The length of your video is mostly dependent on where you’re showing it. If its main purpose is for a live audience, I say keep it to 5-minutes or less. If it’s destined for your website, 2-minutes or less. Social Media? Try to keep it to around 60-seconds.

Now, there’s no rules here. We’ll occasionally find exceptions. Just remember, people are busy and many have short attention spans. Keep your videos short and sweet.

–Tony Gnau

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of my all-time favorite movies. I can still remember my friend Tom and I going to see it multiple times in the theater.

So… as you might imagine… I was pretty excited when I saw the teaser that hit the internet last week. Apparently I wasn’t the only one. As of writing this, the 10-second video has been viewed on YouTube more than 4.6-million times.

Everyone quickly learned this was teasing an upcoming Super Bowl commercial for Honda, so I was surprised when Honda’s marketing team released the full-length spot online a full week before the game.

Then I saw it and realized it was a smart move because the commercial is just okay.

I think they sort of set themselves up for failure. That teaser created so much buzz, if they would have waited for it to air during the game it would have been a pretty big disappointment.

Might as well release it early and get as much internet play as possible before the game… before it’s surpassed by another commercial everyone falls in love with.

Even if there hadn’t been a teaser released and they simply waited to air it during the Super Bowl, the spot would have gotten some attention on the internet afterwards… but not nearly this much.

Good move. I don’t know if all of this was the original plan, or if Honda’s marketing team changed it on the fly. Either way, it all worked out in the end… just like it always seems to for Ferris.

–Tony Gnau

It’s easy to lose focus while producing a video. During the shoot you’ll see things you didn’t think of in advance, ideas will flow while creating a script, and all sorts of innovation can take place during editing.

All of those things can go a long way to improving a video, but don’t let them be a distraction either. Every time something new is added to the process, ask yourself something.

How does this further my message? Is this necessary? Does this benefit the audience or is it just for my glory?

Keeping your focus can be a painful process. Leaving out a great shot, killing a terrific sound bite, tightening up the editing… all hard to do.

Focus on the message. Your video will turn out better.

–Tony Gnau

It doesn’t have to be about you… to be about you.

Video is a great way to highlight the exciting things you’re doing at your company. It’s also a great way to build long-lasting bonds with clients and show prospects how you value relationships.

Once you’ve produced your “About Us” video, don’t stop there. Look for ways to promote your clients.

The best way to do this is to think about your audience. The people following you on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and beyond. What value are they getting from your content?

Now think about your clients. What types of things are they doing at their business that your audience can learn from?

Have something in mind? There’s your video.

We’re doing this ourselves. T60 is producing a whole series of videos this year featuring our clients and their video strategies. Why they use video and how they use video.

See the first video in the series featuring Goose Island Beer Company.

Our clients get added exposure, our audience gets some fresh PR and marketing insights, and we’re the company that brings it all together.

It’s content that isn’t about us, but it is about us.

–Tony Gnau

Here’s a tough fact for a lot of people to accept when they produce a video. You can’t please everyone.

We’ve all heard the old adage… if you try to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing no one. Why would anybody think this is any different when it comes to producing a video?

Some of the trouble spots to avoid…

• Picking participants to be in the video. Some people might be disappointed they were left out. Tough. You need to select the best people for video. If that’s going to create some hurt feelings, sit down with that person. Make sure they know how valuable they are to the company. Find other ways to make them feel special, but if they’re not right for the video… they’re not right.
• Everyone wants to give their two-cents. The script starts floating around… the preview of the finished video hits the office… and everyone has an opinion. First, try to prevent this from happening to begin with. Second, if it’s too late, block out most of that feedback. It might be good to share scripts and previews with a few trusted people, otherwise… too many cooks in the kitchen.

Those are just a couple of examples. There are certainly more, so when they come up just remember… you can’t please everyone, so don’t try. Produce the best video you can and let the critics remain just that.

–Tony Gnau

Every corporate culture is different, but if yours is… shall we say on the tight side… you might want to loosen things up a bit when you start producing company videos.

The advantage of a tight, perfected corporate message is that it allows you complete control over the image you’re putting in front of the public. The disadvantage of a tight, perfected corporate message is that it sounds like you’re trying to keep complete control over the image you’re putting in front of the public.

Viewers these days are sophisticated. If you trot out a company video that sounds like the marketing department has crafted it and managers have polished it, your audience will likely pick up on that.

Maybe that’s no big deal to you, but it is for that audience. What it says to them is that this has been sanitized for their viewing.

Why should we watch something like that?

Ditch your pre-written script and let your team members speak their minds. What you give up in message control you get back in authenticity.

–Tony Gnau

I saw the following video not too long ago on the Facebook page of PR pro Stephanie Krol, and it really caught my attention.

VIDEO: Y-ME Hotline

The Y-Me Hotline is a breast cancer telephone support service. As a video producer, I look at an organization like this and start thinking of the shots we would get. Women with their families, telephone banks, mammogram images… all things that come to mind.

You won’t find any of them in this video, and it still works. When you have a good story, sometimes it can simply stand on its own. Hearing these women talk about their experiences, all the b-roll I mentioned seems pretty trivial.

Now, this isn’t a recommended technique for everyone’s video, but it is a good reminder that if you put the story first your video will turn out well.

–Tony Gnau

Communication is easy… write something down, open your mouth, give someone a dirty look. Everyone is communicating something. The tough part is doing it effectively.

That’s why storytelling is so powerful. Anyone can list facts and figures, but they’re unlikely to grab people on an emotional level. That’s what storytelling can do.

Simply producing a video isn’t good enough. Add storytelling to video and you have a combination that’s really going to grab your audience.

–Tony Gnau

I went to the PRSA Chicago luncheon yesterday and got to hear a terrific presentation by Rob Biesenbach. He’s a PR veteran with acting experience and does a great job of blending insights from the two disciplines.

His book is Act Like You Mean Business: Essential Communication Lessons from Stage and Screen. I haven’t read it yet, but after seeing his program it’s officially on my must-read list.

Some of the themes he touched on for good PR… storytelling, less is more, knowing your audience. Sound familiar? I told my wife afterwards that I felt like I was hearing the T60 blog read back to me, or maybe what I must sound like at client pitches.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the luncheon and I’m excited to start following Rob via social media.

–Tony Gnau