Don’t Compete On Price

If your service is the same as others, then only price will determine the selection outcome. Even the strongest client relationships erode quickly in the face of a cheaper supplier!~ an excerpt from newbusinesshunter.net

It is more important that every business, including yours and mine, offers more value to clients than simply what is written on a price tag. We can all be beaten on that battle field.

How is your business different and why does it matter? Learn these answers and exploit them. Good words of advice not only during a recession, but on the upswing too.

Vlogging On The Corporate Level

A lot of companies are beginning to video blog (you’ve probably heard the term “Vlog” floating around …now you know where it came from.)

Corporate Vlogging is a fantastic idea and a great means for attracting new visitors to your site and converting them into paying customers or just loyal, repeat visitors.

But just as there are right and less-right ways of doing anything, there are right and …less-right ways to vlog on the corporate level.

First, you are not an adolescent vlogging from your bedroom so there is no excuse to be recording yourself or allowing someone in your company to record themselves in ambient light only.  Just have a look at the upper left square in the image below. It has been recorded in ambient light and the result is anything but pleasing …or business like. The colors are drab, nothing in the image “pops”, and the subject (…me) has that whole raccoon mask thing going on. These are the results I’d expect to see from a thirteen year old kid recording their cover of a Dave Matthews Band song for YouTube!, but not what I’d expect to see from a reputable business vlog.

Now look at the image in the upper right. It has been recorded in the exact same location. The only thing to change has been the light. (yep, light is pretty influential …I like my job, it’s so cool!) And what is even cooler is that you don’t need a Director of Photography to get these results, you can do it on your own with a simple leave-up setup. There are two lights at play here, the first light is illuminating me (to help me stand out and appear more presentable), the second light is the source of the purple color cast on the wall (yep, light is doing that). Go ahead and compare image #1 and image #2.

Night and day isn’t it?

You can use any color for a background as demonstrated in image #4 where I’ve used a green colored  light (and if you’re finding it difficult to color with light you can always use an actual colored background, just remember you’ll still need to throw light at it to give it some “life”), or if you really want to get fancy and impressive you can add a third, specialized light that projects an image, such as a logo, slogan, or anything else you’d like and have that projected onto the background as is simulated in image #3.

Imagine having your two lights set up permanently off in some unused corner where one flick of a switch transports you to the land of respectable, professional, eye-catching vlogging.

So, what are you waiting for …go impress me! I guarantee I won’t be the only one to notice your efforts.

Video Increases Ad Response Rate 49%

MarketingSherpa has released a case study on the response rates of ads that incorporate various tactics to increase ad effectiveness.

Bridging The Distance Between Strategy & Design!

When I found this slideshow, I knew it was something that had to be shared.

“The Brand Gap” is a book that addresses bridging the gap that often exists between an entity’s branding strategy and their branding design work. The book’s publishers have released an abridged version of this book, and have made it available to us all in a short, online, very stylish, and completely free slideshow. The best thing about this presentation is that it is written with style, character, and it’s completely entertaining …it’s certainly not your average marketing/branding read.

It took me all of 10 minutes to watch from start to finish, and I highly recommend it to you all.

Getting People’s Interest With Video, Part II

In the previous post, we compared three insurance television ads and closely examined their unique approach to delivering their messages. As a brief addition to that post I just wanted to say that the reason why an artfully crafted video works far greater than a video which merely presents information matter of factly has to do with the way we as people are programmed.

All of us in the human race, even those among us who are of the logistical, number crunching variety, are emotionally driven creatures. We are built to be inspired, excited, fearful, and joyful. All of history’s greatest communicators understood this and they made use of this fact whenever they had something to say. You should too.

I am not saying that your viewers must burst into tears or shouts of jubilation when they watch your video. After all, emotional responses elicited from corporate marketing efforts are much more mild than that, but emotion is still a factor and it can range from feeling excitement and relief in finding a solution to a problem, to feeling inspired and energized by a corporate image piece.

Keep this in mind as you plan out your videos and you’ll find a whole new level of video effectiveness being opened up to you.

Getting People’s Interest With Video, Part I

People don’t read ads, they read what interests them – and sometimes that just happens to be an ad.” ~Howard Gossage

A greater number of videos being developed by corporations and businesses would see more success if the people behind them attended to Howard’s words.

The eagerness with which companies are embracing web video and video in general is a great thing, but a video must be utilized as more than a 21st century means of spouting off dry information and bullet points. As in all mediums, for a project to be a success it must interest it’s intended viewers, and the way to do that is through an artful approach.

What does art have to do with corporate marketing? Quite a lot. Let’s look at a comparative example. For sake of illustration I’ve chosen the subject of insurance to demonstrate that it doesn’t matter how dry and unappealing a topic may be, it can be presented in an appealing manner.

First up, a commercial we’re all familiar with. However this time I want you to pay attention to how the information is presented. Is there a voice over? Does anyone speak on camera? How much info is communicated at all?

Now let’s take a look at a spot we’ve never seen before. Again I’m asking you to pay attention to how the information is presented and how much is communicated.

Before we examine what we’ve seen in close detail, let’s look at a final spot that splits the difference in it’s approach to message delivery.

OK, we have three insurance advertisements, and three very distinct approaches to communicating information to the viewer. The Geico “caveman” spot (and campaign by extension) was designed to entertain viewers because people remember what entertains them. It was so entertaining that people would actually come into the room when they heard a Geico commercial instead of letting their attention drift elsewhere as happens during so many other commercial breaks. With an ad like this, people would ask their friends “Have you seen the Geico Caveman commercials?” The result? Geico succeeded in being seen by countless viewers.

Next up, Pine Country Insurance. This ad has an amazing amount of information contained within it. It is a business owner’s theoretical dream in terms of getting the most bang per buck. But as someone who just watched this ad …how much of it do you remember? How much of it do you care to remember? Exactly.

Lastly, we have the spot for Country Insurance. This spot employs the same traditional use of a voice over just as PCI did, but did you hear the difference in language? The copy used in the Country Insurance spot centers around “you” and “your needs”. Whenever they do mention themselves they never use terms like “we offer, we specialize, etc.”, instead they opt for phrases that somehow …magically end up being about you again. While the script copy in PCI’s spot may start out about “your needs” it quickly becomes all about PCI, what they have to offer, and what they can do.

In Visual Terms…

The spot for Geico is a conceptual ad and it’s visuals are creatively “out there” in left field …it is a caveman in an airport. It works because they are telling us a story, and their service just happens to be along for the ride.

The fault with the visuals in PCI’s spot is that they do little more than give us a video tour of the agent’s office. Sure we get to see a friendly handshake between the agent and the customer, but the rest of the spot just shows us that the agent has a desk, a sign on the front of the building, and that the agent likes to wear a headset when he’s on the phone.

Now think about what we saw in the Country Insurance spot. No offices. No agents. No building exteriors. No signs. What did we see? A woman playing Frisbee with her dog. A Dad playing in the yard with his daughter. Twenty somethings hanging out. A family enjoying the beach. But why were we shown these things? Because those are the activities that people do when they don’t have to worry about insurance …these are the things that people do when they know they are covered and in good hands.

My Wrap Up.

Success is found in an artful approach to communicating, whether that approach is way out in “conceptual left field” or simply in recognizing that your business has little to do with you in the minds of your customers.

Interviews: Their Role In Your Video

Interviews are a primary component within the world of corporate video. They appear in the form of the CEO interview, the customer testimonial, the project manager’s product feature overview, etc. It is a rare video indeed that does not possess one form or another of the sit-down interview. So if interviews carry so much weight, can your video be crushed under that weight if they are done poorly?

The answer can be yes, but the more familiar we make ourselves with all the ways in which an interview can strengthen or weaken a video, the better equipped we will be in using them. First off, interviews are more than a means of sounding off information from someone’s mouth. What an interviewee has to say is important, but what is just as, if not more, important is how they articulate it, and how they look while articulating it.

If someone is on camera giving a testimonial about how a company’s product provided a solution to one of their business’ problems shouldn’t they look relaxed, confident, even happy? Of course they should, they’re problem is gone!

You see, for the viewer watching your video on their computer monitor it can often be the manner in which the words are delivered that convinces them that your solution could work for them as well. Again the words are important, but the delivery is more so, and delivery of that information doesn’t end with your on-camera talent’s “performance”.

Delivery also includes the environment in which the information is communicated. Take for example the doctor’s office below which was used for the backdrop in a video promoting breakthrough medication and medical technological advances.

On it’s own, it is an attractive office when you are physically standing within it’s four walls, but through the lens of a video camera it lacks the impact needed for the style of video being produced. This lack of impact could very well work against the goals of the video by chipping away at it’s credibility. This is where a bit of psychology comes into play because somewhere in our subconscious mind we expect a video on cutting edge medicine to look …well, cutting edge.  This is where a qualified Director of Photography really contributes to the process.

Now look at the exact same room after it has been lit for video with the consideration by the D.P. that the video is geared for “cutting edge technological advances”. The space carries a stronger presence doesn’t it? Indeed it does, that is because light has been used to add drama to the environment.

Video vs. White Papers

A video is for introductions, developing interest, and enticing to the point of purchase on behalf of a product or service. White papers on the other hand are for examining in much closer (and specific) detail whether or not the exact specifications of a product is a proper fit for a business’ technical requirements.

Two Principles For Your Next Video

Here is a re-print of something I contributed to the discussion area of one of my LinkedIn groups.

Marketing boils down to effective communication. To effectively communicate anything one must adhere to two important principles. First, it is important to successfully relate the benefits of a product or service in terms that the target customer understands and identifies with. Second, it is important that the message is tailored to the strengths of whatever medium is used to deliver the information. Whether it is a printed brochure, a digital PDF, or video it is important that one understand the strengths of each medium and play upon them.

In the case of video, there are many who take the route of thinking that they can create a successful video by simply showing a few shots of the product and talking about how well engineered it is, what it does, etc. This approach does not adhere to either of the above principles.

To illustrate: A successful marketing video introduces your product or service to your customer not from your company’s point of view (i.e. the sales point of view), but from the point of view of the potential buyer. This preferred approach will address common problems, both big and small, that the buyer faces in their daily business operation. It will then use the discussion of these issues as an opportunity to introduce and display the benefits of the product or service. This approach enables the features of your product or service to take center-stage and to be addressed not as a direct sales pitch, but as a relevant, useful, and even valuable solution to a client’s needs.

Snippet #1: Dressing The Part

We’ve all heard the adage that you must dress for the job you want and not for the job you have. The same holds true for your video. The production quality of your program is very much like the outfit you’d wear to work. We all know that people judge others on each other’s personal appearance, but people also judge companies, products, and services on their presentation of information. The style and production quality of your video needs to “dress the part”. Production quality needs to be respectable, and program style needs to coordinate directly with who you are addressing as well as with the business image you wish to set forth.