How are you approaching your investors? Are you still handing them a beautifully written document and hoping they’ll read it?
There is a better way. Have you considered a custom video presentation?
A one-time video presentation has many advantages. Interviews with key members of your organization can be scheduled once and distributed many times without the need to coordinate schedules. Visual examples of your work and the people you serve can be taken at special events and then built in to your video presentation with professional sound editing and visual effects that make your point of view more compelling.
For example, this video of a year of production work by the Sun MicroSystems marketing team.
By interweaving different kinds of information, moving between interviews, voice over, and live action, you can engage your viewer’s attention more thoroughly over a longer period of time than the more traditional presentation.
Show your prospective donors that you are moving forward with the times to better serve your demographic. Digital video will allow you to incorporate highlights on your website, distribute clips through social media, and align you with the most current marketing potential. By working with dedicated professionals you’ll have access to the latest trends and ideas to put your organization in the best possible light.
Properly approaching donors and investors can make or break opportunities for growth. Take the time to put together a presentation that is fun and engaging, as well as professional and informative.
There is no denying that video captures and holds the attention of an audience. People just like to watch movies. Here are three more reasons why your corporate training should be done with video.
1. The quality. I don’t mean the quality of the video production. I mean the quality of your training presentation. When training is done by video your very best presenter can make their very best presentation, and do it once. Or as many times as it takes to get it exactly right. When it is done, it’s done and that trainer’s billable time can be attributed to other opportunities, rather than repeating the same presentation over and over.
2. The expense. What does it cost your company to host a major training event? The space allocation, the trainer’s time, the cost of bringing large segments of your staff together at once. These considerations are not inconsiderable and the investment doesn’t always pay off. With a video presentation the content can be distributed whenever and wherever the training needs to take place without the logistics and costs of a large event.
3. The flexibility. With a completed video presentation covering the standard training materials your best trainers can devote themselves to specialty scenarios and higher level training without risking the quality of the delivery. It becomes cost effective to offer training immediately to small groups or individuals rather than waiting for a larger group to be assembled. Video presentations can be available at every facility rather than needing to bring employees to the trainer or a central location.
A well crafted training video can save your company time, money, and hassle with a one-time investment.
Video killed the radio star … but it rocked your business. Using video is one of the best marketing strategies for maximizing your online business presence. Why? It tells your story visually, differentiates you from your competitors, and is 53 times more likely than text pages to show up on the first page of search results.
There are a few things you need to focus on (no pun intended!) before you’re ready to start shooting. Write a script that’s chock full of good keywords to help people find it online. Title it with appropriate keywords that are relevant to your brand (and the content!). Tip: remember to include the word ‘video’ as a keyword too, so that folks can search for your product or service in that form. When you’re titling it, be as descriptive as possible. Say what it’s about so viewers can find it. Not rocket science, right? You’d be surprised at how often that step gets shortchanged, which kind of defeats the purpose, now doesn’t it?
Once you’ve got a finished piece, transcribe the script and add the transcription into the description field. That’ll help ensure better success with search engines locating your masterpiece online. Speaking of that, post your video on multiple sites to help more folks find you. YouTube ranks right up there behind Facebook and Google, but it’s not the only place to post your finished piece. Check out TubeMogul, where you can upload a video once and distribute it to myriad video sites simultaneously.
Whether it’s a simple introduction to let people know about your company or a detailed explanation of how your product works, your marketing strategy is not complete until you’ve incorporated online video into it. (And keep the blooper reel for rainy day entertainment – either for yourself or your customers. You never know when it might come in handy!)
In our last post, we looked at the compelling reasons to create online video ads for your product or service. Kudos to you for seeing the potential and possibilities! But before you hit the ‘send’ button on YouTube, there are a few things you really ought to know first.
Do:
1. Keep it real. Your customers are savvy enough to recognize fake actors in made-up locales. Make your ad authentic. It’s relatable for the viewer and more likely to hook ‘em.
2. Make them act. You need to compel your audience to want to buy. Sometimes it’s easy, but more often, it’s a tall order to deliver a true call to action. This is crucial to your video’s success.
3. Keep it short. Viewers get bored quickly. An over-produced commercial can not only lose their interest but, even worse – cost you sales.
4. Invest in quality. Remember the phrase, ‘First impressions count?’ If you’ve got a poor quality ad, you’re more likely to leave your audience with a negative impression of your company … which is even worse than not knowing you exist.
Here’s an example of a Capture Video production done for Cisco System’s recruitment efforts:
Don’t:
1. Keep ‘em in the dark. Give your viewer the scoop in a catchy way that conveys your benefits, and your value. But remember to leave time for your call to action.
2. Make it too complex. As fast as Internet connections are, some computers won’t keep up with over-the-top video elements that make files too large. Keep things simple and stay focused on your message instead of the graphic elements that can bog things down.
3. Drop the ball. It’s great to invest in an online video but you can’t simply post it and stand back to watch. You need to carefully identify your audience, generate a buzz, and keep your ad in front of the right people who are most likely to share it. Think of it as building a fire – kindling is not enough. You have to fan the flames before it’ll catch.
Online videos are ideal for smaller businesses that don’t have the budget for a traditional broadcast ad. Your audience is more likely to connect and share your ad with friends and colleagues, spreading the word about your business for you. If you haven’t delved into this medium yet, you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity.
How do you use the Internet? Keeping up with friends on Facebook? Connecting with colleagues on LinkedIn? Checking in on FourSquare? You probably use it frequently for fun, but what about selling your product or service online through a video commercial?
Mixing traditional marketing and online marketing like videos is a powerful one-two punch that many companies have found to be a successful advertising plan. High-speed Internet, mixed with the popularity of the web, makes this a can’t-miss marketing opportunity.
Beyond the incredible potential of the landing page is the ‘viral’ aspect – watching your online video get picked up on YouTube and get watched by millions is a goal worth striving for! To make that happen, you have to give people something worth talking about … invent a hook, create a buzz in cyberspace, and watch your business take off.
Here’s an example of a video used to market an upcoming event:
It’s a unique opportunity that can’t be done with traditional TV advertising. (Just watch someone try to pass around your commercial from big-screen to big-screen – it can’t be done as easily as clicking a ‘share’ link.) That’s where Internet ads have a major edge over traditional commercials. So be sure you’re taking advantage of the shareability factor, and get ready to Tweet about your success.
If you’ve never done an online video ad, though, there are some things you should know before you get started. In our next post, we’ll take a look at the do’s and don’ts of internet video ads.
“What a delightful and great learning experience working with Capture Video! This was my first time working with them and I found Capture Video professional, very good at what they do, prompt and timely and very accommodating to our requests. It put me right at ease and trusted their reliability. The video they produced was of high quality, clear and a good example for others. I highly recommend Capture Video to everyone with video production needs.”
Bles Dones, Membership Manager, PRIMA
This year Capture Video produced a third video for the Public Risk Manager of the Year Awards. In a way, we have been with PRIMA longer than Bles, the lovely and new Membership Manager. Once again, it was a delight working with PRIMA and especially wonderful traveling to Knoxville to meet some extraordinary people, including this year’s Public Risk Manager of the Year, Gary Eastes.
Watch the video to see what makes him so deserving of this award.
I am on the Board of Friends of Reston, a non-profit with a mission of community improvement and nature education. I am also the founder of Better Said Than Done, Northern Virginia’s premiere storytelling troupe. This Saturday, those two worlds are coming together when Better Said Than Done host a storytelling fundraiser for Friends of Reston. I hope you will all come out to see a great show and raise money for a great cause. All proceeds will go towards scholarships for local children to attend summer camp, kids who otherwise would not be able to.
Capture Video just produced a recruitment video for Cisco Systems Public Sector Advanced Services(PSAS).
When Cisco first approached Capture Video about producing this recruitment video, I asked why they needed the video. They are a dynamic, well known, well liked company, and they are hiring. You would think there would be a million people applying for the jobs. The problem is, the PSAS team is recruiting a highly specialized employee, and there aren’t a lot of people out there who meet all the requirements. They need more qualified prospects to contact them. So they wanted a video to create awareness, generate buzz, and to get the word out. Read the rest of this entry »
Capture Video can handle your video production needs, whether in the DC Metro area or anywhere in the world. So, yes, we will fly to Paris and Rome and Hawaii for you. Please? More typically we get sent to Ohio, or Missouri or, Tennessee, and that is just fine with us!
PRIMA, the Public Risk Management Association, is one client who has sent us packing, meaning traveling for work! This is the third year we are creating a video for their Public Risk Manager of the Year gala. Last time, we were lucky enough to get sent to St. Louis.
I have to say, it’s not a town I would typically have thought to travel to, but am so glad I got to spend a little time there. And the award winner and his colleagues who we interviewed were so accommodating. I got to go up in the Arch, and go on a river boat ride, and eat some delicious and unique pizza while I was there – when I wasn’t working, of course.
Here is a short version of the video Capture Video produced for the Public Risk Manager of the Year Awards.
In case you didn’t know this, having an event is a great marketing tool for your organization. It gets your name out there, can set you or your company up as experts and leaders, and can generate good will.
As a video production company, a large portion of our clients hire Capture Video for their events. We get hired to videotape the event, to create videos to show at the events, or to create videos to market the event. I just wanted to spend a minute to talk a little bit about another way clients use video during their events – they hire us to interview attendees at the event.
The following is one example of a video we produced by interviewing attendees at an annual conference.
The video we shared involves editing together many different representatives and their thoughts on a particular issue. Read the rest of this entry »
