How to Use Video in Your Marketing Communications | Summer School Lesson 12

Video transcription:

Hey everybody! Today we are talking about using video in your communications. I said communications and not marketing on purpose because this goes far beyond just dropping in a social video or creating a new video for your website header.

Video has a lot of uses and a lot of applicability that we don’t always think about or talk about in marketing. But, with this video, we’re going to do that.

So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to talk about the three things you need for great video, and then we’re going to talk about how to use it in a way outside of those normal uses, like website and social that we usually talk about. Here we go.

The three things you need to create a great video

The three things you need to make a great video are good lighting, good audio, and, of course, good video. Pretty simple, right?

1. Good lighting

What I do is I use a ring light, put my iPhone right in the center of that puppy, turn it on, and get a nice little shine on the pale old face here.

2. Good audio

For audio. I’ve got a good Lavalier mic. Not sure how to pronounce that. Here’s the Lav mic I use.

So we’ve got a little more punch and just clear audio for the video.

3. Good video

And of course, like I already said, for video capture, I use an iPhone. That’s a super basic set up. It’s kind of like the starter kit. But if you want to go in advance beyond that, you can get some pro-level cameras to plug into your computer. Or you can, you know, get a real camera and do video capture through there, like a Sony or a Canon. Whatever you want to do.

The most important thing is that you are comfortable with your set up, that you know how to use it, and that it creates something that’s quality that’s not grainy, that you don’t have audio that has either way too much bass or so low and quiet that you can’t understand what you’re saying.

If you’re going to go one way or the other, make sure your audio is in good shape first. People can be okay with some bad video, as we’ve seen from a year of watching people through their webcams on Zoom.

But bad audio is a lot harder to stomach. So make sure that that’s in good shape first, before you start doing videos in your communications.

So real quick, I want to address why you should use video.

Why you should use video

There are tons of stats that I could recite here. You’ve probably heard all of them before somewhere.

You’ve likely heard that the brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text. Or people who watch a video retain 95% more information than if they read it in an email. Something like that.

I’m not going to get into a ton of those right now. I think the why is really all about relationships; it’s about the nonverbal communication.

You know, you can see my face, you can see the smile, you can see the hands move, you can see the facial gestures. Being able to see somebody makes a big difference, as opposed to just reading words, especially or even just hearing their voice.

So to be able to build some of that relational structure is the number one reason why I think video is a great move, especially when you’re using it in one-to-one communication.

Okay, so the last segment of today’s video is how to use video.

How to use video

Obviously, you can record a sweet little slow motion video of you walking through your office meeting with clients and put that up on your website. You can record videos like this, publish it out to social, and talk about what you do.

All good uses, but where video really shines is in one-to-one communication, and not just when you are in a live meeting with someone, but when you want to relay information.

There are two tools that I’ll tell you about that I really love. One is Loom. The other is VideoAsk.

We use VideoAsk in Three Crowns when we are writing blogs and content for our clients.

So, one of the things that’s hardest to get right when you’re writing for somebody is to get all the information out of their brain and get it into your brain so you can then write like you’re them.

It’s hard to schedule time on somebody’s calendar and talk for half an hour to pull all that out. And it’s less ideal to have them fill out a written template because that also can take some time and sometimes it’s just not natural for someone to sit down and type up in their bullet points without going overboard and basically writing the entire article.

So, what we do instead is we use VideoAsk. VideoAsk lets you record a video with a couple of quick questions like, “Hey, here’s what we’re going to write about this week. And here are the three things that I want your thoughts on.” That video gets sent to the other person who’s receiving it, and they then record a video in response.

You can do up to a 5-minute response. And so it’s very simple. It’s very natural. It feels like we’re almost having a conversation, even though we aren’t. It’s better than just recording a file on your phone and sending it over because those videos are connected together there through the VideoAsk platform.

You’ve got the first video that you sent, you’ve got the response video, and you can view them all. It makes it really, really easy to ask them sometimes tough questions and makes it more personable, more interactive, and more engaging than if I would just send that through an email.

So, look at ways through Loom or through VideoAsk to incorporate video into your client interactions and your communications with people in a one-to-one way.

Use a video as a follow-up to a prospect.

Incorporate it in those more intimate settings, and not just as a way to fill your social media feed. I think you’re going to find that it’s rewarding, that it really builds connections with the people that you’re talking to, and that it’s going to be beneficial to your business.

So, that’s today’s video. Just a few thoughts on how to use video in your communications in a more robust way than is often talked about.

I would love to hear your thoughts and your comments on how you’re using video in your communications and what impact it’s had. So, drop me a line. Hit me up on Twitter. Let’s chat. See you next week.

 

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