Turning A Small Business Into A Media Company
On Tuesday, I wrote the blog post I’ve been waiting to write for four years. The story of my family’s journey to debt freedom. The way we got their was by following Dave Ramsey’s baby steps. Dave’s a guy we can all learn a lot from in life… and business. He started his brand as a financial counselor, but take a look now and you’d swear he’s a media company… because he is.
Media company case study
On the surface you might be thinking sure he’s a media company, he’s a syndicated radio personality. True. He also just launched a website channel, YouTube channel and an iPhone app for his radio show that rivals any television network. Having said that… take a look at his Dave Ramsey YouTube channel, not the show’s channel, the one for his personal brand. You’ll find he’s been operating a media company for years.
Videos educating people about the dangers of debt… they’re there. Videos to help launch his books… there too. Videos highlighting tools people can use to get out of debt… you bet.
Dave uses video the way all businesses should. He uses it to provide valuable content to consumers. It’s a good balance of education and promotion. He’s a media company, and he gets it.
Now, for sure, Dave Ramsey is not your run of the mill small business owner. He’s grown his company into a multi-million dollar empire. He has his own video staff. He’s dedicated a lot of time and money to creating good video content, but so can you.
It doesn’t take a gazillion dollars
Your video content might never get to that level. You might not be able to devote tens of thousands of dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars to the effort. You can, however, use video to help promote your company… your brand.
Pick a budget and talk with a professional storyteller about how you can maximize that effort. I meet a lot of small business owners who focus on creating an awesome 5-minute video. Instead, I frequently recommend creating five 1-minute videos for the same price. You get more content for the same budget. Commit to doing it once a year, then develop a social media strategy to distribute the videos. You’ll look back a few years from now and smile at all those videos racking up views.
Good content + social media = media channel.
–Tony Gnau
Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.