PentaVision's "What's Your Story?" Blog

On August 4, 2010 I will post my last participation comments at Baker College Online as an undergraduate student in marketing. I’m what colleges and universities would refer to as a “non-traditional” student – I’m 31, a working professional and don’t have the flexibility to attend class on campus (nor would I want to attend on campus). I live at least 20 minutes from the nearest community college campus and while that might not seem like a long commute, see how long it takes during a Lake Michigan lake-effect snowstorm! I also didn’t really want to dedicate the necessary resources to make it to a “real” classroom. On the flip side, I definitely felt that I missed out on enriching in-person, real-time discussion and interactions. To be honest, statistics was not an easy class to learn solo!

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SWAG:  Stuff we all get, souvenirs wearables and gifts, (or whatever you call it), free stuff (as I call it) is good.

Debate all you want whether it works or not but I can tell you, you give me something and I will wear it or use it. I was recently on location shooting a project for Vista Host in Nashville and I was wearing my favorite Zacuto tee shirt. A guy walked up to me and started asking about what we were doing and then asked me what Zacuto was. I told him about their company and the next day, he tracked me down and told me he had found something he had been looking for on their website. A guy from Indiana (me) plus another from Tennessee equaled an order for a company in Chicago – all from a tee shirt.

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There was a time when doing a company video, whether an image or branding piece or a sale and marketing video was a big-budgeted affair designed to have a shelf life of one-to-three years, even five years. But times, they are a-changing. According to a 2009 MediaPost article, the average online video is 3 and 1/2 minutes long. Gone are the days of the 12-minute epic corporate video; between the Internet, websites, and the ever expanding world of social media, no message or image can stand that test of time. The need to keep your web presence up to date and fresh is the key to bringing visitors back to your site. And the demand for video content has become the norm.

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I’ve been in television since it was black and white (well, the reruns were), and have been producing commercials and videos for over twenty-five years. One question I always hear from on-camera, nonprofessional and some professional talent is “What should I wear?” In the interest of creating a video that’s visually appealing and looks professional, I have put together some tips on what to wear on camera. I hope this helps:

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Last time I raised some questions that marketing decision-makers needed to think about and answer in order to make effective online videos for their brand.  Today I’ll offer some answers to some of the questions you should ask in planning a video.

Last time I mentioned several questions to address.  Among them:

• Does the audio involve an on-camera spokesperson or narrator?  Both have their benefits and drawbacks.

• Do you need to incorporate people to interview on camera?  If so, where will those interviews be conducted?  Is it a controlled environment, free of sound and traffic disruptions?

• What are the interview questions to be asked?  Who will ask them?

• What is being shown visually while the audio is being heard?

• If it is a technical video, what is the best way to demonstrate the key points?

• If it is a service video, how do you show this service being performed?

• Will you have someone within your organization capture the audio and video or will you hire a professional producer?

Once you’ve answered these (and other) questions, it’s time to talk production.  The first thing I try to stress to clients is that, although you may be shooting a video for the web, you can’t just go out and shoot a bunch of things and then make something out of it in post production.  You need a plan.

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Why is it you can have a light on for the entire time you’re setting up and blocking a shot but right when someone calls “Action!” the lamp burns out? How can it be that when you look away from the viewfinder for a split second, when you look back, there’s a car parked in your perfectly-framed shot? Who thought it would be a “cute setup” to have a dog AND a child? With lines? If that last take was “perfect,” why are we doing it again? How come when you just start getting to the usable portion of a great interview, the battery warning light flashes ugly red?

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In a few days “March Madness” begins and fans can’t help but be reminded of “bubble teams”, “seeding” and “bracket busters.”  Along with the euphoria that is generated by die-hard basketball fans, there are numerous “casual fans” who simply participate in the three-week event by submitting their best guesses – in bracket form – of the winner of the national championship.  As I ponder my own choices for this year’s Final Four, I am also thinking about how this event – and sports in general – have changed in terms of marketing.

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Customer Loyalty Programs…  Do they work? Are they worth the money?  To both questions I answer yes, if executed properly.  Customer loyalty programs, as with many sales promotions, are not “build it and they will come” and should never be expected to be an instant gratification sales promotion.  When you think of loyalty, the words trust, confidence, and relationships should also come to mind.  Trust is not something that comes easily these days, especially in sales and marketing.  Consumers are now, more than ever, aware of their surroundings and the so-called tricks (and sometimes scams) that unethical marketers use to lure them into buying their products.  Unfortunately, this is to the dismay of many ethical marketers who have good intentions of helping customers improve their life with their product or service.

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