OUR BLOG

You’ll notice I have a brand new video for business owners on the home page of this site, as well as two other newly produced pieces of video.

And we’ve got a truly valuable free gift waiting for you.

Actually, what I have to say in this newsletter will be more meaningful once you’ve seen what we’ve done. So, go ahead, take three minutes and see what you think.

My business involves speaking and training. So, no question, I needed video on my site.

And what about you? Would video to help market your business? Probably. For some of you … definitely.

But, for most of us, it isn’t all that clear how to go about producing a video. It wasn’t all that clear to me. We had to figure out what would work and what wouldn’t. We made a lot of good decisions, but we also made our share of mistakes along the way.

And that’s what I want to talk about … the lessons we learned that you can benefit from.

How do you go about producing professional quality video that’s compelling enough to maintain people’s interest for even 3-4 minutes in this crazy, ultra-connected world where everybody’s competing for attention? And what miscues do you need to avoid?

I’m going to break this into two installments.

First, we’ll talk about producing any kind of business video. And next month, we’ll drill down into what you need to do if you’re “performing” for an audience … as in a speaker video … like I was.

But first, a key question: Why bother to produce a video at all?

Because it’s more engaging than just text or still pictures and it allows people to connect with you and what you offer in a much more personal way.

I talk a lot about the importance of high touch marketing where people get an up-close-and-personal experience of you. Well, if you can’t be there in person, seeing you on a screen is the next best thing.

You’ll also look more professional … IF you do a good job.

The surest way to get a professional looking, well-done video is to have a professional produce it. That’s also the most expensive way.

These days, with the quality you can get from an inexpensive camera, an iPad, or your phone, you can produce a decently high quality video yourself. But you have to be able to handle the lighting, the sound, the staging, do the editing, create the graphics, etc. Or have someone help you with those things.

What you decide to go with depends on your target market and the message you’re looking to get across.

We’ve done video of me just talking about marketing … single shot … against a plain background with an iPad, and it was adequate for the task. Looked pretty darned good. Okay for YouTube. But I wouldn’t dream of promoting my coaching, speaking and training with something less than a professionally produced video on my new website.

Why? Because you can tell the difference. Just like you can tell when you’re looking at a homemade website.

And if you’re appealing to a more sophisticated audience, such as the corporate / executive market, professional production is the only way to go.

Of course, you’ve got to have a good relationship with your videographer, so choose somebody you know and trust and whose work you really like. They have to really understand you and get what you’re trying to accomplish if they’re going to capture the essence of you and your business. We were lucky on that score.

A bit of advice: Put everything in writing. What happens if there are cost overruns? How will they notify you and how soon? You don’t want to be notified after the fact that your video just exceeded budget. Spell everything out. If your contract says you’ll pay expenses, get specific. Paying for mileage is drastically different than paying someone’s actual gas expenses. Make sure you know.

Next time, I’ll pick up with how long your video clips should be. It’s so easy to overshoot on content. We did … and we don’t want it to happen to you!

Till then … best wishes,

Denise

P.S. And here’s the free gift I promised! My Speaker Success Kit includes a 32-page e-book, The Top 10 Mistakes Speakers Make That Undermine Their Message and Ruin Their Results!  and a two-part Audio Guide.

Meet Denise: Denise Hedges is a Business Development Coach and Speaker Coach for small business owners who want to be more comfortable, confident, and successful with their sales and marketing efforts. She specializes in helping them use speaking as a way to dramatically improve their results!

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