Tag Archives: marketing

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

I love Monmouth College. I’ve been there and my wife is a proud alum. It’s a small Illinois school that doesn’t think small, and its leaders understand the power of video.

The school’s YouTube channel is loaded will all sorts of good stuff, but my favorite has to be this… 1993 Monmouth College Admission Video.

LOVE… IT!

By 1993 standards, I’m sure it was terrific. Not so much by today’s standards, but that’s not the point. I love that they posted this on YouTube and then shared it via Facebook. It’s kitschy… and kitschy is fun.

Why not post it!? School leaders clearly aren’t trying to use this as their current recruiting video. The school’s “revolutionary classroom… utilize sophisticated computers.” Hilarious stuff when you see the images that accompany those lines.

Companies could even look at this another way. Dust off any outdated video and include it in the next project. Sort of a… look how far we’ve come… example.

Regardless, the main lesson here is that the Monmouth video is cheesy… school leaders know it’s cheesy… and it puts Monmouth in a good light.

Don’t be afraid to by a little kitschy.

–Tony Gnau

Not every video has to be a masterpiece, and amateurs shouldn’t try to fake a professional production. Sometimes it’s enough just to give people a look behind the curtain.

Are you launching a new product? Did you hire a new employee? Are you extending a promotion? Pull out your FlipCam and shoot us 30-seconds.

Sure, a video pro can do it better, but if you can’t afford one, I rather see a short glimpse at what you do rather than a poorly edited amateur production.

–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