For too many years dabbled with ad campaigns. I didn’t have a long-term strategy or a system to test and measure results. I believed that if the creative was strong enough, the campaign would create customers. 

But I wasn’t consistent. 

It felt like Gambling with a Card Shark. 

I was a bartender and a young entrepreneur with a video camera. It was 1990, and I had big ideas. I was about to sign a multi-month advertising agreement that would cost me more than my video production business was generating. 

What I was getting into, I had no idea. I believed the salesperson when he said You’ve got to advertise if you want new customers. 

I wanted to build a successful business that would allow me to practice my craft while working on cool projects. 

Thanks to advice from a mentor, I said yes and had early success with a yellow page ad in the phone book. My business grew, and I quit bartending, hired employees, and spent even more money on other types of advertising. 

By then, I had heard that only half of your advertising budget would produce results, but you didn’t know which half. Remember, this was before digital marketing made tracking and measuring easy. 

If it seemed like a good idea, I tried it. I scattered my ad spend all over the place. 

I was too busy servicing customers, managing employees, and moving to a downtown location to waste time tracking and measuring. 

Money was coming in, and I figured if experienced advertisers were throwing away 50%, I would too. 

If that was the cost of business, then so be it. If it seemed like a good idea, I would go all in and later blame the platform or my lack of funds for lackluster results. 

I had no concept of a marketing strategy or measuring results. I didn’t value testing messaging and visuals before scaling up. 

My acquisition costs got so high that I didn’t need to calculate my return on investment; I knew this was unsustainable. 

Eventually, my advertising and labor costs got too high, and I closed the shop and took a job making television commercials for a local TV station.  

I was frustrated and felt like a business failure. I knew marketing and advertising worked for many people, so why not me?

Gambling with my Marketing Budget

My breakthrough happened when I discovered that marketing was a nurturing process and the buyer’s journey was a map I could use for direction. 

As a visual storyteller, I could relate to someone on a journey. 

Every movie has one. 

But in the buyer’s journey, the character is a hero with a problem, and their journey has put them on a search for helpful content, suitable solutions, and, ultimately, a guide they can trust. 

In the buyer’s journey, the hero is the prospect, and their journey happens on your website. 

They find answers to their top-level questions and learn about your solution. By engaging with your written and video content, they discover answers to questions they didn’t know they had. 

At this stage of their journey, they begin to trust and hope they’ve found a solution to their problem.  

They engage with more of your content and learn that your solution fits their needs. Your content has provided value; ultimately, your “About Video” connects with them on a human-to-human level.  

You and your team have become their guide. 

Finally, they read your customer testimonials or watch your testimonial video. They’re convinced that your company and solution are a good match for them. 

Marketing and advertising are a journey, and I treated it like rolling dice. 

After grasping this, I realized I needed to stop gambling on platforms and running sporadic ads. I realized that if I wanted to grow, I needed to become a guide and create helpful content that would attract, educate, and help the people with whom I wanted to do business. 

What Story are you Telling Prospects?

It’s tempting to fill your website and videos with an overload of messaging about how great your product is and why they should purchase it. The buyer’s journey shows us that it’s a nurturing process; the time for selling happens after they’ve gotten to know, like, and trust you. 

If you force-feed your sales pitch on your prospect, you’ll lose their trust and, ultimately, the sale. A qualified candidate will buy from someone only when they are ready. Until then, they are in information-gathering mode. 

The Awareness Stage 

The future buyer becomes aware that they have a problem. Their need to solve this problem is between urgent and long-term, inexpensive and expensive. 

Now aware, they begin a Google search journey exploring symptoms, questions, and anything related to the ultimate solution. 

If your solution is right for them, your content or ad should appear in their search query. Remember, to create content for this stage, you must focus on helping with the specific issue. 

Help them understand all aspects of the problem. Including what they “know-they-don’t-know” and what they “don’t-know-they-don’t-know.”

An ad focused on selling your features and benefits won’t perform as well as an ad focused on calling out the problem.  

They are on a journey. The right keywords might place your content or ad in a relevant Google search queue. But you won’t get the click if it’s about selling and not helping. 

The awareness stage is not the time to focus on the sale. If you want the click, help them first. 

What are they looking for? 

The buyer is first looking to understand their problem better. They want resources that will help them more deeply understand their situation, resources that will guide and empower them. They want to make informed and ultimately wise choices. The internet has made this more accessible than ever. 

You can’t win a new customer if they don’t know you exist.

Not every buyer is going to be the perfect match for your solution. Or, it’s possible that they don’t YET know they need your solution. 

They don’t know what they don’t know.

At this stage, most buyers want resources that focus on helping, not selling them. This doesn’t mean you should hide your company’s offer, but you must establish yourself as a trusting resource first.

At this stage: 

1. Let them know you exist as a solution
2. Let them know you understand their pain
3. Let them know you have information that will help them
4. Give them a “Step 1” call to action

Consideration Stage

Some buyers enter the consideration stage believing they’ve identified the problem and found a solution. For these buyers, the consideration stage is a linear vetting process of matching their needs with the features and benefits of competing offers.  

For other buyers, the consideration stage is anything but linear. These buyers also enter the awareness stage, believing they fully understand the problem. But this changes when they encounter content that reframes the problem and proposes a different path to a better solution. 

This new content challenges buyers’ beliefs and inspires them to explore further.

Most buyers have come to your website or YouTube video seeking information on their problem and potential solutions. These buyers want to explore empowering educational information and don’t want a sales pitch camouflaged as helpful content. 

If you’ve taken the time to provide helpful resources and videos that help them understand their situation better, you’ve empowered them. 

By helping prospects early on, they get to know you. And, as long as you’re friendly and your videos are well done, there’s a good chance they will like you. 

Once they’ve engaged with your content, you can request a small commitment for additional help. 

Provide enough valuable information, and they might even trust you.

You need to truly understand their journey, not the journey you think they should be on. Nudging them to take your path can happen after building trust. 

Hit these milestones, and you’re in a position to ask for the next level of commitment. If you haven’t already, it’s time to ask for their email in exchange for something helpful.

—

Decision Stage

Moment of Commitment – Ask for this too early, and you’ll create an obstacle to trust. 

When buyers reach the decision stage, they’ve narrowed their choices to a few vendors equally good at solving their top-level problems.

At this stage, buyers are looking for opportunities to eliminate candidates. So, who they choose will go beyond features and benefits. Buyers want to connect to the humans behind the business.

Making videos in the consideration stage will help you stand out here. 

Most buyers don’t want to talk with a sales rep during the consideration stage. So, if you’ve diligently focused on our buyer’s needs and helped them understand everything related to their problem, you’ve already made inroads to a strong human connection.

Your helpful videos have made you a trusted source and given you a leg up on the competition. 

Now is the time to put the people behind your business upfront.  

Let your company culture video and testimonials tip the scales in your favor.  

Help buyers connect with why you do things the way you do. Let them see the faces behind the products. Let them hear stories from happy customers and the employees behind successful experiences. 

Buyers are less likely to listen to these stories during the awareness or consideration stage. But it’s decision time, and the buyer wants to be confident they’re making the right choice. 

So now, they’re willing to watch testimonials and a series of behind-the-scenes videos. 

It’s strange because we all know these are marketing videos, but somehow they build familiarity and trust. 

—-

Matching your Marketing Funnel to the Buyer’s Journey

The video marketing funnel illustrates how to strategically engage with a cold audience using videos designed to move them through each stage of the buyer’s journey. 

Graphic

Design Your Video with Performance Goals in Mind

Awareness Stage – Your video’s job is to attract prospects using paid ads, organic search, and social media. Watching any video portion provides a powerful engagement opportunity to qualify and segment them. 

This engagement allows you to retarget them with frequency or a new ad. The goal of your messaging should convey that you have a profound understanding and appreciation of their problem. 

Consideration Stage – Your video’s job is to provide valuable, easy-to-consume information that helps them fully understand their situation. Introduce possible paths and resources to help them solve their problem promptly and cost-effectively. 

Decision Stage – Now that you’ve done an excellent job building their trust by focusing on them, you can shift some of your focus to your solution, people, and past accomplishments. It’s time to convince them that you, your team, and your products and services align with their values and are, in fact, the best choice for solving their problem.

The Journey – Once you’ve contacted, your prospect’s journey can unfold with helpful videos. These can be delivered by email, with well-placed links on your website, or with further keyword searches. Search engine algorithms (SEO) love showing videos.  

The post Video’s Role in the Buyers Journey appeared first on Digital Film Farm | Video Marketing & Production, Albany NY.

Shooting interviews with two cameras can be a hard sell. 

Two cameras require more time to set up, use more floor space, require choosing two backgrounds, cost more in fees, and make hiding video lights a little more challenging. 

Put plainly, shooting with two cameras can be a pain in the ass, but it’s worth the extra effort and slight increase in cost. It’s so important; I never shoot with one camera.

In this article, I will share why using two cameras is safer, streamlines editing, and in the long run, is a less expensive way to produce quality video products.

A New Product Release Video Project

Imagine you have three interviews for a new product release video project. Each of these people is very knowledgeable, and they offer different perspectives. 

Karen is the software engineer, Joe is an implementation specialist, Ann is a delighted customer who beta-tested the product, and Tim is the CEO. 

The final video product will be around two minutes.

Two minutes seems short until you watch a terrible or dull two-minute video. It’s the director’s job to make the video as engaging and concise as possible. 

To do this, she needs interview footage and b-roll footage representing the product or additional visuals that enhance the narrative.

Business videos and special-interest documentaries require a professional tone that conveys a sense of authority and trust. 

Each person interviewed needs to come across as knowledgeable and trustworthy. 

If additional positive characteristics come across, all the better, but viewers like and trust people they can relate to and are genuinely friendly. 

An interesting person is a bonus, but the baseline is knowledgeable, trustworthy, and relatable. 

The Director’s Role 

Great, the director now has credible subject matter experts in front of her camera. She knows each person is a little or possibly very nervous, and it’s her job to ensure they look brilliant and come across as trustworthy and confident. Very few people have enough on-camera experience not to be a little nervous.

She also knows that all but the trained and experienced can deliver an excellent and articulate answer while hitting all the significant points. These are not spokespeople or actors; they’re subject matter experts. They know what they want to say but aren’t skilled at delivering the perfect soundbite.

Even the best speakers find their way to the answer

It’s an exploratory process, and that’s ok. The preferred tone is conversational; this is not a performance. Almost everyone needs time to discover the answer verbally. 

When someone verbalizes this process, their sentence structure may be more hesitant and fragmented. They might pause frequently, use filler words like “um” or “uh,” repeat words or phrases, and use incomplete sentences or sentence fragments.

For example, they might say something like:

“Well, I’m not exactly sure… I mean, I guess it could be… Wait, no, that doesn’t seem right… Maybe if we… Hmm, let me think for a minute.”

They might rephrase their thoughts as they go along. Their sentence structure is less polished and more exploratory as they work through the problem verbally.

Even the best speakers find their way to the answer, which is ok; it’s preferred.

The moment the person discovers what they want to say, their body language reflects the discovery as fresh and full of nuances that translate truthfulness. When someone looks inside for the answer, the viewer relates to the active search and now trusts they’re not repeating rehearsed words but speaking truth from the heart. The director knows this is a powerful element. 

She also knows she’ll need to rework the answers during the editing process; this is where having excellent footage comes into play. 

How do the benefits of two-camera interviews outweigh the cost? 

The video editor’s job is to clean up long-winded, disjointed answers containing too many ums, ahs, and sentence fragments. They waste time and undermine the subject’s credibility. Good editors will do this in a way that retains the authenticity of the subject, looking inside for the truth.

The difficulty arises when they lay the answer footage on the video timeline and realize they must make multiple cuts. The long-winded answer might be ok in a live conversation, but it’s not helpful in a short-form video product.

Editing with a single camera angle means the editor has three choices:

1. leave an interview response uncut
2. cut the answer down and cover the edits with b-roll footage
3. cut the answer down and cover the edits with a graphic or impact text
4. cut the answer down and leave the jump-cut edits visible

There are numerous techniques for doing this, and all of them require good footage. But, to do it quickly, two camera angles are essential.

Multi-camera editing makes the cleanup process significantly faster.

Cutting to a second camera angle lets the editor quickly cut large portions of dialogue or small hesitant segments. This work improves the narrative and makes the subject a better speaker. 

Having a second camera angle to cut eliminates problematic jump cuts.

You don’t need two cameras if you’re a YouTuber and like fast-paced edits with many jump-cuts. Jump cuts in this scenario are perfectly expectable. 

But in professional video products, jump-cuts will make the video feel overly casual or informal, detracting from the credibility of the content. 

Frequent and abrupt cuts can make the video feel choppy or disjointed, detracting from the overall quality of the content.

This style of weaving interviews and b-roll footage has a visual and an audible cadence that enhances the speaker’s credibility. 

These are not overt things most people see or hear; they’re invisible. But by watching movies and excellent documentaries, we expect them. And, when they’re absent, you subconsciously feel them, and if the edit is awful, it becomes obvious.

How you shoot them and how well you edit can make your subject look even more credible and confident or unsure and untrustworthy.

Additional benefits to shooting interviews using two cameras :

1. Multiple Angles: Two cameras allow you to capture various angles of the interviewee and the interviewer if needed. This can help make the video more visually exciting and engaging and provide more options for editing the final product.
2. B-Roll Footage: One camera can capture the primary interview footage. The other camera can capture b-roll footage, such as shots of the interviewee’s surroundings or close-ups of their hands as they talk. 
3. Backup: Having a backup camera can be crucial if something goes wrong with one of the cameras. For example, suppose one camera battery dies, or a memory card gets corrupted. In that case, you will still have footage from the other camera to use.
4. Professionalism: Two cameras can give your video a more professional look and feel. It shows that you have put more thought and effort into the production and can make a better impression on viewers.

Overall, using two cameras for video interviews can enhance the final product’s quality and professionalism and provide more editing and storytelling options.

The post How do the benefits of two-camera interviews outweigh the cost? appeared first on Digital Film Farm | Video Marketing & Production, Albany NY.

This article tells the inspiring story of Marcus, owner of River Pools and Spas, and how he transformed his business on the brink of financial ruin by creating video content based on customer questions. It’s a testament to the power of video in building trust and driving sales. Let’s dive into Marcus’ journey and see how you can replicate his success.

From Crisis to Clarity: The Power of Addressing Customer Needs

During the 2008 recession, River Pools and Spas floundered. Faced with dwindling sales, Marcus turned to the Internet and inbound marketing for salvation. His key insight? obsessing over customer questions.

“I thought, if I just obsess over my customers’ questions, and I’m willing to address them, I just might save my business,” Marcus states. This simple strategy became the foundation for his video content creation. He started by answering every customer question honestly and thoroughly. Soon, he anticipated questions and created informative videos to address them directly.

 Marcus Sheridan – We give people honest answers to every question

The “Visual Sale”: Building Trust Before You Even Meet

When a buyer turns to Google, they’re on a quest to find the perfect solution to a problem. Regardless of the solution price or the complexity of the problem, every buyer enters the journey with questions. The journey could take minutes, or it could take months.

This is the realization Marcus Sheridan had when he used video content to triple inbound leads and ultimately become the world’s fastest-growing fiberglass manufacturer.

Their secret weapon? The average customer views over 20 minutes of video content before purchasing. Wow, motivated buyers are hungry for good information. The testimonial directly below sums it up best.

How to Leverage Video Content in Your Business

Inspired by Marcus’ story? Here’s how you can harness the power of video content in your own digital marketing strategy:

Identify Your Audience’s Pain Points: Like Marcus, start by understanding your customers’ questions and concerns. Conduct surveys, analyze social media comments, and talk directly to your customers.

Focus on Value, Not Just Sales: Don’t just promote your product. Create informative videos that address common customer challenges and showcase your expertise.

Variety is Key: Employ diverse video formats like explainer videos, product demos, customer testimonials, and behind-the-scenes glimpses.

Keep it Engaging: High-quality visuals, clear audio, and a conversational tone will keep your audience hooked.
Optimize for Search Engines: Include relevant keywords in your video titles and descriptions to improve searchability.
Promote Your Videos: Share your content across social media platforms, embed them on your website, and consider paid video advertising options.
Conclusion

Marcus’ story is a powerful example of how video content can transform a struggling business. You can turn viewers into loyal customers by building trust through informative and engaging videos. So, grab your camera, start creating, and watch your business thrive in the visual age.

The post How Marcus Turned Video Content into Sales Success (and How You Can Too!) appeared first on Digital Film Farm | Video Marketing & Production, Albany NY.

During this process, it’s our job to help them solve their problem, not impose our solutions on them. Yes, the end goal is to sell, but if you do it without helping them first, you’ll lose their trust and the sale. 

Instead of selling, you want to guide them. You want to help them understand their problem so thoroughly that they trust and want to buy from you.  

The best way to do this is to make a human-to-human connection with the video. 

Determining which type of video to make for your small business involves identifying which marketing stage needs help. 

Primary stages of the buyer’s journey: 

1. Awareness – Strangers to Visitors 
2. Consideration – Visitors to Leads 
3. Decision – Leads to Customers 
4. Loyalty – Customers to Promoters 

In this article, I will show you how to determine where you should put your video-creating efforts. I’ll also share video types and help you decide which type of video to create for your small business.  

The Visitor

When someone has a problem, they search the internet for a solution. They’re in the awareness stage and a stranger to you and any tracking pixels associated with your marketing. 

Once they engage with your video or visit your website, they’re visitors. They’ve entered the consideration stage and can be tracked and retargeted with additional helpful content. While these visitors explore your content, they discover new insights and develop questions. 

If your content is good, their simple search has become a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of their situation. An explainer video is an excellent way to go deep while simplifying a complex subject.  

96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service. (wyzowl)

If your content is excellent, the visitor has not only learned what they knew they didn’t know. They’ve become empowered and now understand what they didn’t know, they didn’t know. 

Based on this engagement, the visitor is now a qualified lead. 

Each stage of the buyer’s journey provides excellent opportunities to build trust and create a human-to-human connection. 

But only if your content empowers visitors to understand their situation better. If your content isn’t helpful and easy to consume, they will go to your competitor’s website. 

Does your Marketing funnel match up with your buyer’s journey? 

If not, which stage do you need to improve? 

You’re the Expert, so Share Your Knowledge

A traditional marketing approach would focus on selling products and highlighting your company’s achievements. 

But this approach would ultimately fail because visitors don’t care how great you are. Visitors searching for a solution want your help and your knowledge presented in an easy-to-consume form.  

You’re an expert, after all. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have been capable of creating the best solution. Your customers are hungry for the insights your knowledge will provide.  

I once worked for a guy who would say, “I forgot more about (fill on the blank) than they will ever know.”

That’s you. 

You and your team are probably walking encyclopedias on specific topics related to their situation. It’s time to share your knowledge. 

Meet Them Where They’re At

Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes and experience the journey from their point of view. 

You provide hope and a new perspective when you help visitors better understand that there’s a path to a solution. Unique insight can be a game-changer for someone who’s only seen their situation from a “problem” point of view.

Focus on making content so valuable that it would be silly not to do business with you.

Think of Your Video as an Employee. 

Before you hire a new employee, you determine the following:

• Where within your operation would they work 
• What tasks would they do? 
• If their attributes and skills are a good match

Before making a video, ask:

• Where will your video work in your marketing funnel?
• What tasks will this video perform? 
• How will this video empower your customer to better understand their problem? 

After hiring an employee, you do performance reviews. If they need improvement, you provide guidance and continuing education. 

Performance reviews are critical. 

You must hold your new video to the same standard you would hold a new hire. 

Never place a video on your website or YouTube channel and forget about it. A well-placed video will work 24-7-365. No vacations, no sick days. 

Video Marketing Statistics

1. 68% of marketers claim a return on the investment of a video is better than from one of Google Ads. Biteable
2. 52% of marketers say video content has the best ROI. HubSpot 
3. 73% of B2B companies claim video content positively impacted ROI numbers. Tubular Insights

Awareness Stage

Suppose you need more new visitors to enter your website. In that case, you’ll want to increase traffic by making video ads that attract cold audience prospects. They don’t know who you are and don’t care.

New prospects will contact your video in one of three ways. 

1. By Paid Ad – Targeted on social media, YouTube, Google, and Broadcast
2. By Search – The prospect searched keyword phrases 
3. By Chance – Someone shared a post. YouTube recommended it. 

At this stage, the performance goal for your video is to attract qualified prospects. 

Focus your messaging on the prospect’s problem and the pain associated with this problem. Convey your deep understanding and appreciation of their problem. 

It’s important to remember that this is a cold audience; they don’t know who you are and don’t care. But if you make helpful content, that will change. 

Videos for the Awareness Stage

Thought Leadership Videos: These videos are a great way to establish your credibility and help prospects understand issues related to their problem. 

Create this video to be found by organic search or promote it with a teaser ad and social media.  

How-To Videos:  Break your customer’s big problem into bite-sized components and make a how-to video that addresses each. 

These videos can be promoted with paid ads and social media or found through Google and YouTube searches. When placed on your website and keyworded correctly, they will improve your Google ranking.  

Organic Search

Search engines know people researching a problem love watching videos. So, make sure you make helpful videos with titles and keywords that reflect the prospect’s problem. 

If your video is helpful, a motivated buyer will find it somewhere along their purchase journey. You want them to see it early. If your content is exceptionally beneficial, they may stick with you and stop searching. 

Social Media Sharing

If your video is so helpful that it blows them away, it will get shared on social media and discovered by others.  

You’ll have what most people call a ‘viral video.’ While going viral isn’t a solid strategy, making helpful videos that get shared is.

Social media sharing can and should happen at all stages of the buyer’s journey. 

Paid Video Ads 

Online Ads: Video ads are primarily served to a cold audience at the awareness stage to attract new prospects. 

Paid ads also offer the opportunity to retarget prospects at any stage. 

Suppose someone has watched a portion of your video but didn’t finish or click on your call to action. In that case, most platforms will allow you to segment them and follow up with additional content. You might serve them a short educational video as part of a retargeting campaign. 

Using video to segment audiences is a practice worth perfecting.  

Digital video ads offer a unique opportunity to segment audiences and test messaging and visuals inexpensively. Segmenting and testing can be game changers for small businesses on a tight budget. 

By strategic testing at low dollar amounts, companies can use an objective response and best pricing to verify that the ad and the audience are working. Once you’ve confirmed this, you can increase your advertising spend. 

These steps take a little time to dial in, but it’s worth the effort. Spending big on a broad, unqualified audience is a waste of money. 

Broadcast Ads: Television advertising can be expensive and is typically reserved for big brands. But if you’re a local business and aren’t afraid of a relatively high cost of entry, these ads can be a quick way to get noticed. 

Unlike a digital ad with a link, broadcast ads add friction to the purchase process. Prospects must retain your contact information to inquire about or purchase. 

That said, if you have the budget to be consistent, broadcast advertising is a great way to establish a presence and stay top of mind. 

Paid ads work for all stages of the buyer’s journey. 

The Consideration Stage 

Now that you’ve attracted a prospect and enticed them to visit your website, it’s time to turn them into qualified leads. 

They’ve arrived hoping to learn how to understand better and fix their problem, so serve them an Explainer Video or an in-depth How-To Video series. 

Your goals at this stage are to; 

• educate 
• build trust
• obtain an email address

At this stage, the prospect is in researching mode and will visit multiple websites, picking and choosing what they watch. You don’t want to hope they watch your videos; you want to deliver them to their inbox. 

An email address lets you manage the conversation and stay top of mind.

Videos for the Consideration Stage 

Explainer Video:  Do you need to simplify a complex concept? An Explainer Video can do wonders to help people “get it.” 

You can make your Explainer Video using animation, live-action footage, motion graphics, photo builds, or a combination. 

Explainer videos are a fun and effective way to simplify a complex subject. 

Product Video: The internet makes it easy for prospects to audition a boatload of companies promising to solve their problem. 

The process can be overwhelming, so they want a quick way to eliminate you or put you in the finalist batch. So, not having a Product Video is a sure way to be left behind. 

A tightly-scripted video is a great way to showcase your offer without demanding much of your visitor’s time.

Today’s shoppers expect to see a Product Video prominently featured on your website and Youtube channel. 

Features & Benefits Video:  Similar to a Product Video, except it goes deep into a distinct segment instead of a features and benefits overview. These videos are perfect for prospects who want more information on a specific product or service feature.  

Product Demos: Everybody would like to demo a product before they buy, and the next best thing is a product demo. Demonstration videos help people understand how easy it is to use your product. 

The viewer will want to see how all the parts work together and the details. So, a helpful demonstration video must include both wide and close-up shots. 

There’s something comforting about seeing a person using the product in real-time or as close to real-time as possible. These videos should be lite on the editing. Different angles of a process are good, but there is a better time for fast edits or fancy editing. Save that for teasers, ads, and highlight videos. 

Decision Stage

At this point, the prospect has reached the decision stage of the journey. The trust you’ve built and the quality of your solution have made you a finalist. 

Your videos have helped you develop a human-to-human connection and open your prospects to a path for solving their problem. 

They see you as a trusted guide. 

By now, they’re convinced that your solution is at least as good, maybe even better than the competition’s offer. 

It’s finally time to double down on selling your offer. And if you haven’t already, pull the curtain back on the human side of your business.

Introduce your team and share a look into the culture that makes working with you unique. Company culture videos and customer testimonials are great ways to do this. Get creative and have fun with this. It’s time to get a little vulnerable.

 Your visitor is now a qualified lead, you’ve gained their trust, but they’re looking for a reason to close the deal. 

People buy with emotion. 

Visitors have engaged their logical brains in analyzing products, but they’re not quite ready to say yes. They need an emotional nudge.  

Almost all of us get stuck when asked to make a final decision. The limbic part of our brain is looking for something it can “feel” something about.

Here’s a fascinating article if you want to dive deeper into this. 

Selling With Neuroscience: How the Brain Influences Consumer Behaviour

Once a prospect reaches the decision stage of their journey, they’re not only open to soft persuasion; they’re looking for a reason to buy.

Videos for the Decision Stage 

About Video

Go behind the scenes and capture an authentic look into why and how you do what you do. These edited moments can speak volumes about your organization’s core values and mission. 

Company Culture Shorts: 

Client Testimonials  

Customer testimonials can help differentiate your business from competitors. When potential customers see that your solution has helped others, it can make your business stand out in a crowded market. Video testimonials provide social proof that your company is trustworthy and that you deliver as promised. 

A customer describing a transaction in their unique words can break through any remaining trust barriers a prospect may unconsciously hold. 

Additional Video Types to Consider 

Hybrid Sales Presentation Video

Separate yourself from the crowd or present a customized solution to a global prospect with unique needs.

Think of this as a blend of live demonstration, meet-the-team, and a customized features and benefits video. 

Individual team members can speak to their roles and show customers who will handle their needs. 

This could be a single or multi-camera webcam presentation or a professionally shot video infused with graphics and b-roll. 

When you know your prospect’s specific needs match your solution, this video will help you close the sale with a personal touch. 

Employee Training Videos

Training employees is essential, and instructor-led training is best for employee engagement. But you have to question how cost-effective it is. 

You could save money using handbooks, PDFs, and PowerPoint presentations, but how long is your workforce willing to read? 

But today’s employees would rather watch a video.  

Training videos can incorporate an instructor guide or use voice-over modules. A training video can take viewers on a journey with close-up shots of processes and insightful words from co-workers. 

They can also incorporate a bit of humor. You don’t have to make them belly laugh, but breaking up dry information with fun moments is essential. It can be easier than you think. 

Suppose you can’t find a way to bring in some fun, break it up with questions & answers, or short quizzes. Just be sure to break it up. 

Onboarding Video

Welcome new hires into your organization with a friendly, comprehensive orientation that includes:

• the company’s mission
• the company’s vision
• the company’s values 
• a facility tour

Keep your video simple. Or, take it to the next level using self-recorded welcomes and footage from your company culture video.

An onboarding video can be a creative way to make people feel connected. 

Recruiting Video

An employee recruitment video for your small business can be an effective tool for attracting top talent. 

Your video should resonate with your company’s culture. If your company is very style-oriented, your video should reflect this. The tone of the recruitment video should mirror what you’re looking for in your best employees. 

Start the video with a brief overview of your company, including your mission, values, unique benefits, and what makes your company a great workplace. 

The best recruiting videos focus on employee testimonials and include photos and video footage of:

• team building activities
• social events
• location attractions if appropriate 

The post What Type of Video Should I Make for my Small Business? appeared first on Digital Film Farm | Video Marketing & Production, Albany NY.

How can a small business afford to create quality marketing videos?

In this article, I’ll lay out an affordable video production strategy for creating cost-effective video marketing that gets ROI results.

I’ll also share a formula for how to make your company “ABOUT VIDEO” the foundation for an easy-to-implement engagement campaign.

Most of what I’ll share is common sense hidden behind an overly complicated process. But, once I simplify the process, you’ll realize that making great marketing videos can be easy and fun.

If you want a steady flow of new customers, you need a marketing plan that includes affordable video production.

Let’s get started. 

Digital Production For Everyone 

Thanks to digital production and the internet, you don’t need deep pockets to leverage the superpowers of video. Everybody with a cell phone can make a video.

Unfortunately, shooting video has become so easy that it’s often overused and abused. Just because you can make a video doesn’t mean you should.

Creating videos without a clear, overarching strategy risks becoming marketing white noise. Do enough of this, and you’ll push prospects away. Alienate or confuse a prospect with mixed messaging and lose the opportunity for further engagement.

Don’t lose hope. I promised to simplify the process, and I will.

What Should a Small Business with Limited Funds Do? 

Marketing can be frustrating, I know. As a small business owner, I’m familiar with the overwhelm and anxiety around high-expectation ad campaigns. 

The problem with this approach is that most small business people don’t track and measure. 

Boosting is an easy and fun way to collect likes and views, but boosting isn’t scalable; it’s gambling. Boosting is not a strategy you can measure, fine-tune, and replicate. And, without a strategy, your efforts are a roll of the dice. 

 Gambling isn’t scalable. It doesn’t make sense to double down on an approach with a 50% waste factor. 

So, what can a small business do that’s not overcomplicated and not gambling? Yet provides powerful video content for your website, YouTube, and Social Media, and paid advertising campaigns.

You can make sure your marketing and advertising decisions are driven by science and story. 

Make Your Customer the Hero 

The key to making video production cost-effective and fun is to talk about what you know, what you do, and why you do it. This is your story and the thread running through every aspect of your business. 

You’ve Made Sacrifices to Be the Best

• If you’re truly great at what you do, it’s because you and your team have taken the more difficult path to get there.
• If your products and services are exceptional, It’s because you’ve sacrificed short-term gain to create the best solution.

It’s time to tell your story.

This story is not an ego-driven proclamation about how great you are, but a story comprised of sacrifices you’ve made for your customer. The difference may seem subtle, but the effect on your prospects will be huge. 

Your prospects will care because it’s a journey about a solution that will make them the hero. 

The lure of King Arthur’s swords is legendary, not because of the sword itself or who made it, but because it helped turn a squire into a king and a king into a hero. Excalibur is only a sword; its magical power is only realized in the hands of the hero King.

Let’s face it. Your customers don’t care about your solution, but they do care about solving their problems and being the hero.

They may not call themselves a hero, but being a hero is a fundamental motivator throughout their buying journey.

The Buyer’s Journey

The buyer’s journey is an important part of the engagement structure behind marketing science. As you’ll see, it’s also a strategic way to leverage your story.

As marketers, our job is to provide content that connects with the buyer at each stage throughout their journey.

The buyer’s journey starts with a problem. Here they are either fully aware and understand the problem, or they’re looking to better understand their situation.  Both scenarios offer opportunities to help them.

Once a prospect begins their search, we consider them to be in the awareness stage.

The marketer’s job is to catch the buyer’s attention by focusing on their problem. This is where helpful video content delivered by YouTube, social media, or paid advertising works well. The goal is to bring them to your website or landing page. 

Every buyer is different, but ultimately, each will go through the consideration and decision stages. The goal is to guide them through these stages within your ecosystem.

This is where the power of video creates a human-to-human connection and gives you real leverage.

Almost every buyer is interested in a better solution; even if they think they have a good understanding, they’re curious. Those who know they need more information are especially interested in learning more because it empowers them to make better choices.

This is why making a single “Features & Benefits” isn’t going to make a sale. Even if you’re selling a relatively low-cost solution, today’s buyers want easy-to-consume information. 

Thanks to YouTube, buyers expect to be guided by informational videos.

Next, I’ll share how twenty-five years of creating marketing videos and working for advertising agencies led me to create the simplest, most cost-effective marketing strategy for small and mid-size businesses. 

It all starts with creating your “ABOUT VIDEO.” 

Lessons From the Television and Ad Agency Days

The methods I share in this post came by way of frustration.

I started my career making quick turnaround cookie-cutter TV commercials and small business videos. These were mostly low-budget productions that followed a simple formula.

We shot fast and edited even faster. I was working for a local television station.

The formula used by the station’s biggest advertisers was simple, lazy, and effective enough.

• Be consistent
• Stay on message
• Buy a lot of the airtime on programs watched by their demographic

If the business stuck with that formula, it would attract new customers. New customers would become return customers, and eventually, they would tell a friend.

The cost of attracting new “word of mouth” customers was zero, which brought down the average cost of total acquisition. 

This formula rarely worked for new advertisers lacking a long-term engagement strategy. Most of these people were trying broadcast advertising because they watched TV, and it seemed like a good thing to do.

They didn’t have a strategy, so they bailed out when the ads failed to live up to expectations. If you asked them what they were expecting, they couldn’t tell you. They just said it was too expensive. 

They should have followed up to see if the ads influenced existing customers. 

This was pure gambling.

Agencies Provide Strategy for Good Reason

Things changed when I started directing higher-budget agency ads.

Most people think “expensive and creative” when they think of ads from ad agencies. I suspect this is partially due to the Mad Men TV series. 

That said, compared to television station ads, agency ads are more expensive and creative. But I quickly learned that their focus on research and strategy is what sets the best agency ad campaigns apart.

Long before considering creative, these agencies lay out a comprehensive marketing strategy. This marketing plan includes engagement expectations, projected sales, and how progress will be measured. 

Local television stations make money by selling ad space; they don’t focus on strategy, tracking, or measuring results. That’s not their expertise. Even cable TV is a broadcast structure. This means the TV ads are being broadcast to a very large demographic, most of whom are not your audience. 

So, agencies use proven systems for developing campaigns, testing ad copy, measuring engagement, and tracking results. These results can be both very effective and very expensive.

Many agencies have done well in helping businesses of all sizes grow their bottom line. But you need a business model and a certain amount of cash flow for this type of advertising to make sense. 

Everything changed when Facebook and YouTube made digital advertising easy and affordable. This was especially true for small businesses and ad managers who adopted affordable video production workflows.

The Video Ads Gold Rush 

Advertising changed when Google, YouTube, and Facebook turned marketing into the digital version of prospecting. Almost everyone running video ads found customers on the cheap. It almost didn’t matter how good or bad your video was. 

If you run video ads, you will get affordable leads and uncover an eager audience that wants your goods and services. 

Who Needs an Agency?

Finding new customers was cheap, especially when compared to running TV ads on broadcast and cable. Everybody wanted video, and many made it themselves. 

Digital advertising was so cheap that you didn’t need a good strategy to get started.   A relatively smart and motivated small business owner could stumble upon a profitable audience. You could waste money and still have a good return on investment.

This was a blessing for businesses that couldn’t afford ad agency guidance. And those who hired agencies specializing in digital marketing created funnels to handle large flows of new traffic.

It Was a Gold Rush 

Word got out, and eventually, everyone rushed to get in on the action.

And as time passed, demand for the ads increased, and so did the cost of prospecting for customers. The video gold rush that once produced a steady flow of affordable leads began drying up.

It was now costing real money, and the days of amateur prospectors making easy money with lazy campaigns came to an end. The average small business without a strategy began paying twice as much for a new customer.

Though not happy about the increased cost, advertisers running strategic campaigns continued to get a good return on their investment.

I Learned the Hard Way

Running lazy campaigns was something I was familiar with. I conducted in-person filmmaking workshops and sold digital training products to an online audience. Connecting to my audience was easy at first. 

But, like everyone else, my cost per lead and costs per sale went up. This was when I decided to up my game. I signed up for coaching from a few digital marketing gurus I’d been following online. 

It took a while, and I had to work through a few gurus. But after testing several methods, I eventually found my way. I’m sharing many of the fundamentals I learned throughout this post. 

It was during this time I read Donald Miller’s book, Building a Story Brand. Donald’s marketing platform is built on a storytelling structure I immediately related to and embraced wholeheartedly.  Building A Story Brand

From this experience, I created the structure I presently use for developing powerful marketing campaigns built around video engagement.

It’s also a fun and affordable video production plan for small and mid-size businesses.

Why Do Stories Work So Well? 

Business Documentaries

We don’t need to be told that human beings like stories. But it’s important to understand how important a story structure formula is for your business marketing strategy.  Story Structure marketing is a game-changer.  

I’d been making business documentaries since the late nineties, so I was familiar with storytelling, but I’d never seen framed within a marketing context before.

Story structure was a framework I recognized. It not only made sense, but it also filled me with excitement. Once presented, I saw how my campaigns lacked a narrative thread. I was also positioning myself as the hero. 

Hero or Guide?

I have a lot of experience, a high-quality portfolio, and numerous awards. I worked hard and thought my students should know of my accomplishments. What I lost sight of was I was overdoing it.  I wanted to be their guide, but I was positioning myself as their hero. I could explain more, but that would be self-indulgent. Your interest is in how my story pertains to your situation – right?

Donald Miller makes an excellent case for using the story formula to help customers make sense of your offer without having to work at it.

The difference may seem subtle the effect is not. 

“There’s a survival mechanism within our customer’s brain designed to tune us out should we ever start confusing them.”

“By talking about the problems our customers face, we deepen their interest in everything we offer.” 

“Stories are sense-making devices. When we define the elements of a story as it relates to our brand, we create a map customers can follow to engage our products and services.” – Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand. 

People care about “what your company can do for them.” 

The best salespeople know this, but many business websites and marketing videos need a major overhaul. 

You’re the Guide in Your Story

The story thread throughout your website and all your marketing must be “What you can do for your customer.”

This starts with your “ABOUT VIDEO.” 

Your “ABOUT VIDEO” is your origin story, and the narrative thread is your quest to provide the best solution for your customer. The customer is the hero with a problem they need help with. You are the guide with tools and services that will help them.  

Yes, marketing would be easier if customers were interested in hearing stories about your company’s greatness. But you must weave your customer’s problem into your story. This must be priority #1

The stakes are high for your customer, large enough to send them searching for a solution. Speak to these stakes, and you’ll catch their attention. Help them understand, and you’ll earn their trust. 

Remember, you’re the knowledgeable and empathetic guide. Your customer needs your help to succeed.  Let’s take a closer look at how you might create this story weave with an “About Video.”

Every Business Needs an “About Video.”

When a “would-be” customer gets serious about purchasing a solution, they seek differentiating factors. At this stage, the buyer is auditioning candidates, looking for a reason to either select you or remove you from the list. They’re inwardly begging for someone to stand out. 

If they haven’t already, this is when they’ll look for your “ABOUT VIDEO.” 

Up to now, the buyer has relied on their brain’s neocortex. They’ve been comparing features and benefits and crunching numbers. But they’re paralyzed by overthinking.

The Buyer Has Decision Fatigue

The logical part of the brain gets stuck when asked to make a final decision. The neocortex is done, and the limbic part of the brain is hungry. It’s looking for something it can “feel” something about.

The buyer needs content that speaks to the emotional side of the brain. They need to be inspired to leap. 

You can’t keep giving the prospect more data. They don’t want data. They want to feel something about your business, and they want to make a human-to-human connection. 

95% of final purchase decisions are made by the emotional part of our brains, known as the limbic system. This is especially true when they have a lot at stake. The bigger the problem, the more trust and other emotions are involved.

People might buy commodities based on price, but critical solution purchases need to be inspired by trust.

The first video you should make is your “About Video.” This can be done by using the affordable video production process I’ll outline next.

Your Video Must be Authentic

Your “ABOUT VIDEO” provides the perfect opportunity to build trust by focusing on the heart and humans behind your business.

This can’t be a corporate promo video with generic B-roll footage and a perfectly articulated mission statement voice-over.

Your video should be a truly authentic behind-the-scenes video that shares the heart behind why and how you do what you do. 

Your company “ABOUT VIDEO” can’t be designed for a B to B or B to C; it needs to be developed for an H to H connection. After all, we’re humans first.

Authenticity Gives Your Marketing an Essential Layer of Credibility 

Many businesses already have an “About Video,” but it must be replaced if it’s not an authentic, customer-centered story. I know it might have been expensive, but if it’s not working, it’s more costly to leave it up. 

Video is not expensive anymore. Let me show you how to jump-start your video marketing in an easy, fun, and less costly way. I’ve been doing this for over thirty years and have some great time and money-saving techniques. 

An Idea Whose Time Had Yet to Come

The first step for most advertising agencies taking on a new client is to conduct a series of discovery sessions. I’ve attended several of these, and most sessions were an exhausting series of meetings where people would sit in a conference and talk. 

We’d ask questions and more people would talk. We’d schedule another meeting for people who didn’t get a chance to speak, and they would talk. 

We took endless notes, and finally, with our heads swimming in information, we’d go back to the office and boil down the essence of what was said into a strategy-driven campaign and a proposal.

We would create storyboards, scripts, and mock-ups, schedule another meeting, and then pitch the concept to the client. It was time-consuming, to say the least. 

I know discovery is necessary. We need a lot of information before creating a strategy or an effective ad campaign. But, as a creative director in charge of video, I kept thinking there had to be a better, more cost-effective way. 

I was frustrated because I saw a lot of missed opportunities unfolding realtime in almost every meeting. This was especially true when front-line employees and middle managers were invited. 

The best opportunities were lost when we were given tours and met employees in their domain. Many of these people were passionate, proud, and animated about what they did. They were even happy to show us how they did it. 

As a young documentary filmmaker, I saw these exchanges as if through a camera lens.  What I saw were authenticity and missed opportunities.

I knew these moments were visual evidence that this company’s people care about their customers and are committed to helping them solve problems. 

These moments were magical. They were evidence behind otherwise empty marketing claims. I wanted to capture and incorporate some of this magic into the marketing. In the hands of a good editor, this behind-the-scenes “real talk” would provide an essential layer of credibility to any video product it became a part of. 

But we didn’t capture video footage. This was a discovery session. Our job was to take notes and create an ad campaign that would be carefully crafted and billed accordingly. 

The Right Time is Finally Here

Fortunately, creative agencies have come full circle and now embrace and promote behind-the-scenes and user-generated videos.

Cameras are smaller, and websites, YouTube, social media, and email campaigns have proven to be powerful distribution vehicles for this type of business storytelling. 

It took me years for me to put this idea into practice. But all the right elements finally came together. 

It began to take form when I got a call from a client launching a new product line. He wanted to shoot some video clips and a few photos for a digital press release package. 

It was a pretty straightforward job. But I packed some extra equipment in just in case the client’s needs expanded – they often do. And, sure enough, shortly after arriving, I found out that on top of the press package, the CEO wanted a full-fledged product launch video. 

He needed both for a theatrical-style announcement he was doing in seven days.

Sometimes Having to Work Fast Can be Good

It’s good when the CEO gets excited and prioritizes your project because you get priority access to everyone. Doors opened, and people dropped what they were doing to accommodate. We had a quick meeting and started shooting for the product launch video that same day. 

I spent the day shooting documentary-style. No one second-guessing every move or mucking up the impromptu onsite interviews. It was the perfect scenario for capturing authentic footage and soundbites.

Two shooting days and four edit days later, my client showed the video during a  big screen event.  The press got thumb drives with digital content, and the launch was a big success. 

The final launch video had more of a documentary feel than the stylized product videos I had previously done for them. But my client loved it, and I loved the process. This process also kept production costs down, which is always welcome. 

After the dust settled, I realized what had happened. I’d been forced to start recording before I got to know the people or understood the product and activity. This was a new product line, and I was shooting session one of discovery. This was what I had envisioned years earlier.  

Shooting Documentary Style

While I was shooting day one field footage, the in-house writer created formal interview questions for day two. This allowed me to keep things casual and shoot day one on documentary instinct. I was free to document the discovery process.

Knowing we were shooting formal interviews the following day provided the freedom to chat and warm people up to the camera. It’s more about helping them forget about the camera. I do this when I shoot documentaries, but I rarely get this kind of freedom on a corporate shoot.

There’s usually a marketing person on set making sure everything goes right. They’re responsible for the project; if the video product isn’t good or someone complains about the process, they hear about it. 

So when on set, this pressure makes some marketing people nervous. Unfortunately, their nervous energy infects everything, especially those appearing on camera.

People get tight-lipped and guarded when the atmosphere is heavy. They often sound fake because they’re self-conscious (thinking) about how they sound. Now, I’m generalizing here, but it happens a lot.

But in this case, by the time I started asking product-related questions, we had a relaxed, conversational rhythm. The operator was comfortable using the product, and as long as I didn’t get into “serious” interview mode, I knew he would stay relaxed.

His tone and his phrasing made his statements relaxed and very credible. When an interviewee tries to frame perfect answers, they come off as forced and inauthentic. This makes them and the video less credible. 

In this product launch case, it was just the operator using the product and myself asking questions as if I was simply curious about what he was doing. It helped that he had an activity to do and that I timed my questions to what he was doing at the moment. He stayed relaxed; we got great footage and fantastic soundbites.

Everyone enjoyed the process.  

The CEO Changed Everything

The next day we did formal sit-down interviews with department managers. The interview questions were good. They were designed to set up and compliment the b-roll we shot the day before.

Unfortunately, the CEO was on set for the formal interviews. The CEO is a likable guy, but his presence changes people. It made some of the interviewees nervous and slightly stiff and nervous. 

When there’s nervous energy onset, it’s absorbed in all directions. The director and the crew must exude proficiency in their skills and confidence in their presence. It may seem like I’m overthinking this, but I can assure you I’m not. 

Luckily the interviewees knew what they were talking about. You would think this is a given, but this has happened to me more than once. 

The b-roll footage and sound bites we shot the day before would be weaved into and on top of the talking head interviews. This would allow the editor to edit around the nervous flubs and artfully blend sentence fragments into complete thoughts.

The formal interviews were shot with one camera. It would have been an easier edit if we had two cameras, but we had great B-roll footage. In this case, it might be considered A-roll. The product being used footage and the impromptu interviews carried the narrative. The formal interviews were supportive and supplied logistical information.

This structure of shooting ensures the video has both concise soundbites and impromptu engagement. It’s a great method for capturing authentic footage while saving time and money.

So let’s do it. Let’s use this method to jump-start your video marketing campaign.

Key Points For Review

• Without a strategy, marketing is like gambling.
• Discovery sessions are essential to making an effective marketing plan.
• Long discovery meetings can be an inefficient use of time.
• Employees, management, and business owners often share (one-time) authentic moments during discovery meetings and show-and-tell tours.
• Bringing customers behind the scenes will create a sense of trust.
• Capturing these moments will make your marketing videos more credible and help you establish a human-to-human connection.

Why waste time just talking and taking notes? Let’s jump-start a strategic digital marketing campaign by shooting your discovery process documentary style.

This is your affordable video production roadmap and the best way to create an authentic window into what makes your solution special. 

Let’s dive in.

The best way to do this is to take a physical tour of your facilities and a virtual tour of your website and customer-facing digital operations. 

You can think of this as giving your best customer a tour. 

A form of this scenario is playing out more than you realize. Prospects and existing customers are searching for information and making decisions about you online.

This is the “Buyers Journey,”  and unless you’re managing and tracking it, you’re losing opportunities. You won’t even get the call.

Behind the Scenes 

When you go behind the scenes to shoot the discovery process, a primary goal is to find visual evidence supporting your marketing claims. 

Some evidence is obvious, some are almost invisible, and some are camouflaged as an everyday activity. Some of the best evidence will come in the form of employee comments.

This is the magic I saw years ago in those agency discovery meetings and tours. Describing them as magic may be a bit dramatic. But I called them magic because authenticity is the magic ingredient for establishing trust.

I know the effect trust will have on your audience.

Prove Your Marketing Claims

Anyone can write copy for cookie-cutter marketing videos, but like politicians, these videos come off as self-important, full of promise, and short on substance. 

But unfortunately, making empty claims has been a common marketing technique for years.

How many times have we read a business claiming to have the best customer service or the best-built product? So many times, we just ignore it. This is why they need to run so many broadcast ads. Buyers are skeptical and frankly sick of being bombarded.

“We have the best burger in town?” Sure you do. Maybe it is, and maybe it’s not. The technique is so overused we tune it out.

Your marketing messages aren’t likely to get traction if the buyer doesn’t believe you.

Now if the same burger joint showed a social media video that took me behind the scenes and showed me evidence, I’m more likely to believe them. Even if I just saw a few seconds, their claim is now supported by visual evidence. It’s gained credibility weight.

Suppose we’re taking some friends out to eat Friday night. Now we’re inspired to watch. The video shows the kitchen staff chopping produce, and we’re learning that everything is bought locally. We see shots of the owner at a local farm. What if, in the video, we learn that creating the best burger takes five steps, and the chef shares his process?

Now, you not only believe them, but you’re impressed and hungry.

If the burger joint adds a coupon offer, you save 15%, they have your email address, and everybody enjoys their Friday night meal.

Behind-the-scenes videos have made sharing details about how you do things a great way to provide evidence that you are unique and, therefore, the best.

This “Best Burger” video I just outlined could be part of a series shared on social media, or it could be the narrative thread for their “About Video. Most likely, it will be both.

Like a documentary, an “About Video” could be a journey into how you’ve overcome obstacles to achieve your goals. How many obstacles have you had to overcome to make your products and services the best choice for your customers? 

Customers need to know that you spend extra time and money sourcing materials, and they need to understand why you do it. 

Show and Tell

Talk about how you invested in research and development and the painstaking way you’ve created important systems. Not because you like spending money but because it was the only way you could ensure your solution would exceed the customer’s expectations.

All your stories won’t make the final cut in your about video, but why not put a collection on your website? People love stories, so share them on social media.

If you embrace this process, you’ll have an abundance of everyday stories that prove you are who you say you are.

Every discovery shoot will be different.

The goals of a discovery shoot are to:

• Learn about your business
• Scout locations
• Meet people
• Capture authentic and usable footage
• Uncover visual evidence

The discovery process can be tailored for any business, including; a Mom & Pop storefront, a software design company, an engineering firm, or a globetrotting solopreneur.

A recorded discovery tour will take slightly longer than real-time allowing extra time to time to stop and chat with selected people about what they do.

Website tours are best done in person and with a hardware screen recording device.

I prefer to shoot discovery tours with a souped-up iPhone camera package and two wireless microphones.

If you’re thinking an iPhone package doesn’t seem professional, you’re right, it doesn’t look like a PRO-SHOOT, and that’s the point. The goal is to keep it low-key. 

When people see a large camera, they get nervous and think, “This is something important; I’d better look good.” With a phone camera, people feel more relaxed and are more likely to speak naturally. 

Remember, we’re looking for a few sound bites to flavor the final video with a little authenticity magic.

Organize & Edit

Once discovery shooting is complete, it’s time to catalog footage and create an assembly edit from the footage acquired.

Had we been doing discovery the old way, we would be wrapping up discovery meetings, digesting meeting notes, and outlining a campaign. Video shooting would be in front of us. 

But instead, we shot the discovery process. The director/strategist and the editor are already deep into creating your “ABOUT VIDEO” and possibly an “ONBOARDING VIDEO” to attract new hires.

Once the footage is organized, it’s time for more formal sit-down interviews. Who’s interviewed and what topics get covered will be guided by the discovery footage collected. 

Sit-Down Interviews

In addition to discovery and b-roll shooting, sit-down interviews are essential to creating a narrative for your customer-centered stories.

This is the perfect opportunity for you and multiple team members to explore how, what, where, and when you created and built your business into what it is today. 

If you started your business with a partner, you might consider doing interviews both together and individually. 

It’s important not to be stingy with interviews. If you think you’ve got too many interviews, you probably have enough.

Hearing from a diverse group representing all facets of your business will give the story dimension and credibility. Everyone has a different perspective and different memories.

Ed might have great insight into how a problem arose. In comparison, Sandy may have an interesting perspective on how the team overcame a specific setback. 

Not every business has “sit on the edge of your seat” stories about how adversity led to a better product or how personal grit led to innovation.

But every business has made sacrifices, and if you truly paid the price to be the best solution, you’ve got the stories to prove it.

Customers want to hear the whole story, including what your company does, how it does it better, and most importantly, how your solution will help them succeed.

What if I’m not Good On Camera

Almost everybody is good on camera. It’s true. Once someone forgets, the camera is staring them down; they relax. This is easier said than done, but creating the right conditions makes this doable. And that’s the director’s job. 

For most people, doing on-camera interviews is an infrequent or even a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Some of these people have great people skills and can sell one-on-one or even to a room. They have a lot to say, but put a lens in their face, and they get tongue-tied. 

Do you believe what you’re saying? 

If you, the person going on camera, genuinely believe that you have the customer’s interests at heart, all you need to do is be you. 

Don’t rehearse; never rehearse. Just walk and talk or sit and talk the way you would how you would if your best customer wanted to learn more about you and your business. Think of it as a conversation, a tour, or a version of “show and tell.”

You will eventually forget the camera is there.

I know it’s hard to believe, but it happens every time. This may not happen immediately, but the camera will fade into the background once you get into the show-and-tell flow. 

It will just be you and your best customer listening to every word you say.

The people who insist on getting the questions and rehearsing their answers before the interview tend to have the most problems. These are intelligent, articulate people, so what gives?

At first, this defies logic. Experience has taught us that being prepared is vital to a good performance.

And that’s where the problem is: you’re not “performing.” You’re being interviewed because you are already an expert. This is not a presentation, nor is it a “gotcha” interview. On-camera interviews work best when we treat them like we’re having a conversation. 

Relax and trust the director. It’s the director’s job to make sure you are credible and likable. 

Most people who insist on having questions submitted in advance tend to respond rigidly. They predetermine what they want to say and how they want to say it. Some memorize a response, and others review the main points and rehearse a response. Both of these methods come off as stiff and manufactured. 

The exception to this is people who’ve had on-camera training and a lot of experience.

Interview with the director of a global non-profit. 

After he answered a question, he said that seemed long-winded and asked, “Would you like me to give a thirty-second version of that?” 

We were shooting with two cameras, so I could have cut the answer down in the edit, but I was curious what he would do with it. 

His first answer sounded genuine, and I was skeptical that he could condense the bullet points he wanted to get across without making it sound like corporate speak. Most people can’t. 

Well, I was pleasantly surprised when he did it with ease. 

It turned out that he had taken an on-camera training course and had just returned from a speaking tour.  This explained why his “performance” was so good. 

I tell that story as encouragement. If your job requires you to be on-camera, such a course can make a huge difference. 

How to Get Good Soundbites  

Going on camera tends to make people a little nervous.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to be brilliant or charismatic. It’s the director’s job to help you feel comfortable. The burden is on the director to ask questions that solicit authentic answers. 

It takes some warming up before nervous people get grounded and find clarity.

If the director is a good listener, they can use independent clips to create clarity in the video edit room. This is relatively easy if the interview is shot with two cameras. Single-camera interviews don’t have a second angle to cut to and will create jump cuts or force the editor to find and use a B-roll shot. 

The Director’s Role

The director can play a significant role in helping the interviewee get grounded and eventually forget the cameras are there. This can be done by engaging the interviewee in conversation before they sit down and diverting the interviewee’s attention from the camera.

Once seated, the director seamlessly moves them from an unrelated topic to subject matter, and a relaxed atmosphere can be established. 

I know for those of you with “Camera Fright,” this sounds impossible, but it’s doable. Without exaggerating, I’ve done over a thousand interviews, and the process I’m about to explain works 98% of the time.

It works because the interviewee wants something to focus on, so they welcome the director’s diversion. This allows them and engage fully in the conversation and forget the camera. 

The director’s job is to be a good host, listener, and editor.

You need a director who’s not afraid to share light-hearted personal stories or ask what might seem like”stupid questions.”

I’ve worked with many people who believe interviewing is about getting the correct answer. They fail to understand that it’s not just what a person says; it’s how they say it. Cadence, tone, and body language flavor every answer.

Problems often occur when inexperienced in-house marketing or public relations people conduct the interviews. They are often slightly nervous, and even when they’re not, they don’t take the time to set a relaxed atmosphere. 

Over the years, I’ve found the biggest problem is that they fail to get a complete thought from the interviewee. Or they say, “Can you repeat the question in your answer?” The interviewee repeats the question word for word and follows with an answer.

This has happened a lot when the in-house person insists on interviewing existing customers for testimonials. While editing, I screamed, “ahhhh…I need a complete thought.”

Unless you’ve spent time trying to stitch fragmented sound bites into complete thoughts, I’ts hard to appreciate just how important this is.

Unless coached properly, most interviewees will answer as if the final viewer will hear the question.

Here’s an oversimplification of this:

Question – “What’s your favorite color?”  

Answer – “Blue”

If the viewer doesn’t hear the question, “Blue” means nothing. As I said, this is an oversimplification. Most questions are more complex and nuanced.

An inexperienced interviewer hears the words they’re looking for, and they move on to the next question. The interviewee never articulated a complete thought. If this happens and it’s not caught during the interview, it will create a significant headache in the editing session. It could even ruin the video. 

A good director is also an editor and listens for all the components of a complete thought. If they don’t get what they need by asking the question one way, they ask it a different way. 

It’s essential to dig deeper into an answer and get the interviewee to unpack the details behind the answer. This can help make a point in a more exciting and persuasive way.

There are many techniques for getting great interview footage. 

Video Editing is Like Magic

A good director can take what you might consider a less-than-interesting event and make it into a concise and compelling segment in a story. Video editing is a magical process that can take disjointed, unglamorous stories and turn them into inspiration.

A marketing video is designed primarily to entertain a general audience. Tho humor and razzle-dazzle have their place. Your audience has a very specific problem you know a lot about. You can guide them, and with your help, they become the hero of the story. 

When you make every story about helping your customer, you have the advantage of self-interest.

Why Shoot Two Camera Interviews?

We use two full-size cameras and video lighting for sit-down interviews and sometimes for important b-roll shooting. 

With two cameras, the editor always has a shot they can cut to.  This becomes essential for condensing long responses and editing out awkward stammers, pauses, and flubs. 

Without a second camera angle to cut to, the editor is forced to find appropriate b-roll footage. The amount of B-roll footage needed is directly proportional to the extent of condensing and fixing required.

Almost every interview needs condensing and polishing. With the right footage, an editor can take out stuttering and awkward pauses, making every subject sound more polished.

A second camera can save an interview and make everyone a better speaker.

Drive-by Interviews

A drive-by interview is a short conversation when someone is at their workstation or work environment. Always done under safe conditions, we ask questions about their work. Even short answers give the viewer a human to connect with.  

If the conversation goes well, I’ll ask additional questions. More than once, I’ve captured a magical soundbite from someone in the mood to talk. 

I also love the visual connection of seeing people in their working environment.

I’ve also used this technique to interview people important to the video, but too nervous for a sit-down interview. I call these drive-by interviews. They work well for short clips and sound bites. The subject is in their domain, and this helps them feel less vulnerable. 

Affordable Video Production can be Fun and Easy.

Easy –  Talking about your business is easy; you know the stories inside and out because you lived them. This structure introduces your company to both prospects and existing customers in a more personal way.

Fun – It’s also fun because, let’s face it, telling war stories about and with the people we’ve had challenging experiences with can be a lot of fun. 

Affordable – The process I’ve outlined in this article is a streamlined approach for a complete video engagement campaign. This approach will save significant agency fees usually associated with the discovery process, as well as the strategy and creative design process. It’s affordable because when you focus on telling your story documentary style, you not only save money, but you also establish a strategy.  

Using this model to shoot your “ABOUT VIDEO” allows you to fold the expense of multiple agency discovery meetings into a discovery shooting process. And, from that shoot, you capture up to 80% of your “ABOUT VIDEO” and your “ONBOARDING VIDEO.” 

When done professionally, the footage becomes the foundation for multiple projects.

The discovery shooting process creates a lane for humans to connect, and once the human connection lane is open, employee-generated posts feel natural and welcome.

We learn who does what, why, and how they do it during discovery. We learn about hardships, moments of doubt, moments of grit, and inspiration.

And, in the end, we know how and why all these things have come together to make your company and your offer the best solution.

Discovery shooting transfers why, how, what, when, and where into footage for videos, still frame posts, animated gifs, YouTube content, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook posts. 

Digital marketing requires a lot of media, and this process provides that.

Discovery won’t replace the need for awareness ads and features & benefits marketing. But it will provide many more reasons to buy your products and services.

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