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A video gives you something to talk about!

Whether it’s a professionally produced masterpiece or an in-house video that was done on the fly, getting a video out to your clients and future clients gives them a reason (or perhaps an excuse) to engage with your organization. It allows your customers to see a little bit more about your company, the people that work there, or maybe just a quick how-to that gives them something of value.

Increasingly, prospective clients are asking organizations to “give” before they “get.” In other words, organizations must give them something that shows you’re not just in this for a quick transaction, rather you need to almost prove the fact that you’re worth their time, attention and money, before any money changes hands. The days of “trust me, I’ll give you a Manual once you give me your money” are long gone.

So put together a video or two, or twenty, that gives your customers and future customers something that’s worth a minute or two of their time. Converse with them, show them something cool about your company, show them how you fixed a problem, show them something funny about your co-workers, show them how to use your product or service. The main thing is to give them something they will find interesting before you expect them to hand over some cash.

– Mark

P.S. Here’s a video of a bridal boutique that’s just opened up in Clayton. Working with the Clayton Chamber of Commerce, Fleur De Lis Bridal Boutique now has a great way to begin the process of engaging their future clients. They’ll be able to post this on their website, facebook, youtube, etc. to help their prospective clients gain a little insight into what they have to offer.

A Viral Video is a tried and true method of creating awareness of your product or service. It can be extremely effective in generating traffic to your website. A Viral Video can also be the most cost-effective advertising you’ll ever use. But, it can also be a waste of time and money.

First, a quick definition: A Viral Video is simply any video that is remarkable enough to be spread on its own. It can be funny, cute, serious, professional, amateurish, etc. The content is NOT the most important factor. There’s really no definition or requirements for the CONTENT of a Viral Video, just that it be interesting enough to be shared repeatedly.

PRIMA just created a video that is intended to be shared by soccer coaches in the hope of generating awareness (and purchases) of a soccer coaching DVD.

There are two very important components, though, of a Viral Video that is intended to be used for advertising. First is the video itself, and second, is the plan for getting people to watch it. If you’re lucky, it will (and can) go viral all by itself, but that’s very unlikely. Making a concerted effort to get the “right” people to view your video can make all the difference in the success of your campaign.

And by success, you should decide upfront what that will look like for your project. If you have a consumer product it may be necessary to get thousands of views to meet your objectives (i.e., Blendtec) but, if you’re working to get a slightly obscure business-to-business product in front of interested buyers, you don’t necessarily need a ton of viewers. You just need the right viewers.

Another way to think about this Viral Video process is that it can be part of series of communications that leads your customer towards a purchase. You’re giving your potential customer something of value in the form of your Viral Video. Maybe it’s a laugh, something of interest, or perhaps a new way of looking at a topic. By giving, your hope is to create a sort of dialogue where your potential customer will form favorable impressions of your company and ultimately respond with a purchase… and then a referral… and then a repeat purchase.

Coming up with a clever idea for a funny video is great. Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that once you have that, you’re done.

Let’s say you’re selling B2B and your product or service really needs to be approved, either directly or indirectly, by several functional groups within the organization. The folks in Sales, Accounting and IT are all impacted by the implementation of your product or service and need to understand that your product is a good thing.

As you’re no doubt already aware, to be effective, your marketing and sales efforts need to speak to each of these audiences. If you’re going to provide your Future Clients a video to check out, then you’re going to need to make your case to each of these groups individually in the video.

You can make your case in a single video or several and will depend on the complexity of what you need to convey as well as your budget and/or time constraints. It’s a bit more challenging to edit Your Story together in a single video, but if you use good segues and use music effectively to create chapters in your video, then it certainly can be done in a single video.

Just be certain to speak directly to these audiences in a way that they will understand and that they will find real and compelling. In a Testimonial Video, use real Clients that can give your audience details and important insights into the in and outs of your product or service. Be sure to let your Clients address the very real concerns that they had going into implementation. This will deepen the emotional connection between your Client and the Future Client that is watching. During the interview process try to get the Client to express their fears prior to implementation and how those fears were addressed and resolved to their satisfaction.

In his blog, Thomas Clifford ( http://www.directortom.com/ ) reminds us that there is only one person you need to keep in mind when creating your organization’s video and that is the single person that is watching at that moment. Put yourself in their shoes and you’ll give yourself the proper prospective for creating a video that has true meaning to them.

Using video is the second-best way (the first is In Person, of course) to tell people the story of your business. Certainly, your marketing communications rely on printed words and pictures in brochures, print ads, etc. but none of these can compare to the power of video.

Video can touch people.

Or, your company’s video can be just another completely boring, corporate “presentation” that fails to engage the viewer. Kind of like yesterday’s 2:00 p.m. Powerpoint presentation on, uh, um, oh what was that presentation about anyway. Ugh…

You’ve seen these videos before, where everything is perfect, not a hair, box or chair out of place. Every word is scripted and rehearsed. More often than not a professional announcer or spokesmodel is used to read the script. If they let “real” people actually appear in the video, they often are obviously reading from a Teleprompter. There’s nothing wrong with this type of video, but the company is leaving so much off the table. They’ve played it safe, made it easy on themselves and as a result have missed an absolutely golden opportunity to really connect with their audience.

Most likely they haven’t given their Future Client a compelling reason to do business with them. They haven’t touched them in any meaninful way.

Business or Art?

This type of video isn’t necessarily “artsy” or unusual on its face, but it does allow the viewer to see the way your company really operates. An interesting and engaging video gets people to respond. Your company’s video isn’t likely to get approval because you think it would be really cool to have a video about your business, instead it’s much more likely that you want to drive some specific businsess result with your video. And if this is your company’s first attempt at video it’s extremely likely that this video will be made in order to increase sales of your products and services. So it’s not “art” it’s business.

But it’s business with passion. Business with a purpose. Business with a pulse.

Pull back the curtains a bit.

Challenge yourself a little to say more to your Clients. You’ll find that once you open your mind to it, this process of figuring out how you want to make the connection with your Clients becomes a truly fun and rewarding adventure. Let your Clients see what fires you and your co-workers up.

But, but, but…

But I’m not an Actor, you say. How can I go on camera and show people that I care? What if I mess up my lines? Your Clients don’t want to see Actors. They don’t want you to have “lines.” They want to see real people, in your real company, that do real things. Real things that can solve their problem. Your viewers know that you’re not an Actor and don’t want you to Act. They want you to be yourself and to let your thoughts bubble up from within. They want to know that you care about solving their problem and how (and why) you can do that.

Your Clients and Customers want to see you and your business in the most real and authentic light possible. They want to see who you are and what you stand for.

Engage Your Future Customers with Video

Viral Video

Many Audiences? Then Many Videos.

Business Video with a Pulse