Tag Archives: vlog

I guess this is a good week for b-roll. I started the week by blogging about how you can shoot b-roll, provide it as free content and get some publicity from it. Today, it’s how b-roll can save your butt!

I’m sure most of you know what b-roll is, but if you don’t… here’s a descent definition.

Now, back to my story. We produce a monthly vlog for a large trade organization. This month the CEO talked about the outlook for 2013, and he spent a lot of time on what last November’s election is going to mean for them.

The organization’s communications chief usually provides us with photos we can use to cover a lot of what he talks about, but she was at a loss for what to do about the election stuff. He kept mentioning, “what’s going on in Washington,” and talking about Congress.

The initial thought was buying some royalty-free photos, but I told her not to worry about it… we’d take care of it.

Little did she know, we have stock b-roll of Washington, DC. I shot it four years ago when I was there on vacation. My college roommate and I met in DC for one of our baseball trips… we saw the Dodgers play the Nationals in DC and the White Sox against the Orioles in Baltimore.

He thought I was crazy when I showed up at the hotel with my video camera and tripod, and I told him I was getting up at 7 a.m. the next morning to shoot some DC b-roll.

His natural question, “Why?”

My answer, “because you never know when you might need some. I’m here and it’s just an hour or two of my time.”

That video sat on the shelf for four years until last week. Our client was super excited after seeing it in the finished video. She even forwarded me the email the CEO sent complimenting her on this month’s vlog.

Think we just earned some customer loyalty? Think she’d be willing to refer us?

Going the extra mile for something as simple as b-roll can pay off big time.

How has b-roll save your butt?

–Tony Gnau

Gini Dietrich is an awesome blogger. If you’re looking for great information on marketing and/or public relations, spinsucks.com is for you.

She airs a vlog every Thursday answering her Facebook Question of the Week, and one day over lunch I told her T60 was going to take over production of the videos.

I didn’t ask. I pretty much insisted. Oh, she put up a valiant fight to continue to doing them on her own. The conversation went something like this…

Tony: I’ve been thinking… T60 is going to take over producing your Facebook Question of the Week videos.

Gini: Great! When can we start?

The videos weren’t bad, but they were just Gini looking into the camera. You’ve seen that type of thing before, but what I told Gini was that with a little professional polish… even those videos can have visual appeal.

If you have a small business, I’m all for people producing their own videos. It’s fun and certainly less expensive than paying a pro to do it.

Here’s the thing though, when you’ve reached a certain standing and built an impressive reputation… like Gini… your videos need to reflect that standing and reputation.

You’re not in the minors anymore. You’re in the big leagues. That means working with other pros… like those who’ll take your videos to the next level.

–Tony Gnau

FYI… you can see the first of the vlogs we’re producing for spinsucks.com at the link.

Vlogs are simple videos that do a great job of getting a message out to the masses. It’s one of the easiest things businesses can do to establish themselves as experts, and something I especially recommend to CEOs.

All they have to do is sit down in front of the camera… and talk from the heart. Whether it’s about something their company is doing, or something that’s affecting their industry. Creating a vlog is a great way to talk directly to customers, prospects, employees and peers in your field.

The key is to produce them on a regular basis. Once a month, once a week, whatever you choose… just do it on a consistence basis. The payoff is that the more people see you, the more they’ll begin to trust you. That’s the power of video.

A lot of people produce these videos themselves using the camera on their computer, a FlipCam or the camera on their mobile phone. I’m here to tell you though, even a vlog can use a professional touch. A pro can take a boring vlog and turn it into a polished message befitting the reputation your company.

Even better… a professionally produced vlog won’t cost you much.

T60 is working on a vlog series as we speak… for a very popular PR pro… but more on that tomorrow.

–Tony Gnau