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We used a 4-box twice in this package, a natural sound pop, and a quick pace to keep the viewer interested in seeing more.

More meetings are happening this way.

That’s because video is an effective way to communicate to employees and the rest of the world and it’s within the reach of all levels of your company. Video is information snacking. People like to watch. And these days video is easy to make. So how can you use video in your business?

First, take a look at real time video like video conferencing. Soon, a majority of meetings are going to be taking place this way and there will be less incentive to travel for a face-to-face. It’s already happening. So set up that Skype account and start using it.

Now look at video in a non-real time environment. For instance, the way a company like Cisco was doing things in the past, a product manager would spend hours writing documents and then send those documents out hoping others in the company would read through them. These days, the product managers tend to sit down in front of a camera and talk about the product, demonstrate the features, and make the manuals available on-line.

When we do the analysis, looking at the impact of video vs test, we find that the time people remain on the site is exponentially longer with video. We discover that video content is retweeted more than text. So if you’re having trouble getting somebody to blog, that might be a blessing. Ask them to video blog instead. And help them have fun doing it.

Because that’s what makes great video content! Of course you have to be knowledgeable about the topic, and you have to be able to be creative in how you present the topic. But it really helps if you can be entertaining as well. Video is the medium where you capture the authenticity of the people. Try to be something you’re not and your caught instantly. So don’t be phony — be funny instead. Be yourself.

The Product or Service

Product demos show how your product works and highlight the features that differentiate it from that of your competitors.Product presentations are when you let your customers tell the visual story of your product or service. Third party product reviews are trusted by your customers. Could you be using all three? In Store Video and company lobby or waiting room video?

Corporate Communications Videos

Corporate overviews, executive presentations & staff presentations — video is a great way to get these messages out there. Recruitment Videos

Training and Support Videos

Training — the no brainer of business video. If your team is all over the country, state, or world — expert videos for sales support can fire them up at once. Or save thousands of dollars with post sale support and maintenance videos.

Internal Communications Videos

Video is effective for internal communications, change management, employee orientation, compliance, health, legal & safety. Highlight business plans, new business activities, and direction

Advertising , Marketing and Promotion

Even if you don’t use broadcast commercials, there are ways to advertise using online video pre-roll, online sponsorships, in-game advertising, event sponsorships and in-theatre advertising. You can use viral ideo, or video in landing pages and micro sites.

PR Support and Community Relations

Beyond the video press release, there are news packages & other PR support materials. If your company is helping the environment or contributing to important causes you should be capturing those efforts on video for your community relations reel and corporate responsibility video

Event Video

Why limit the event to the size of the venue? These days, event presentation video get thousands of extra views, round table sessions go viral, live internet broadcasting open up your expert Q&A sessions to the world.

First, let’s take a step back.  What is the purpose of your webinar?  Education? Marketing?  Informative or Team Building?  This is a critical question that needs to be asked from the outset.  It will determine the direction your entire production will take. 

As you plan your webinar, think of the questions in the above paragraph?  Make sure you know the exact reason you are holding this event.  It is important to know who your audience will be and thus allow you to know what the dialogue should be during the event.  Each webinar has a particular message- making sure you convey that message and answer any hanging questions is critical for your event to be considered a success.  Next, you have to know who will be the voices speaking for your organization: Your own staff?  Industry experts?  Happy clients or customers?  Make sure that everyone knows the message and stays on it.  Scripting will help with this, but will also require the skill of a writer.  If you do proceed without a script, make sure you go through a few dry runs before going live.

Next, you need to make sure that people are actually going to see your broadcast.  Market it! You have to begin marketing your event in advance of its broadcast.  Whether you will just play the webinar live or post it for on-demand re-broadcast, you need to make sure your audience is aware of it.  Send emails to current or potential clients.  Post a notice on your website.  Announce it on your phone calls while people are waiting to speak to someone.  The more people who are aware of it, the greater the success it will be.

Finally, you have to actually produce it for people to watch.  There are several options in this area.  You can purchase a program which allows you to produce your own events in-house, but stills leaves you with a heavy tech burden.  You can have an intern research and attempt to produce on your own (not necessarily recommended).  Or you can hire an outside company to produce and handle post-production/ posting to server so your attendees can view.  Some companies can actually handle all three steps for you; it all depends on your budget and end goal.

We would be happy to discuss how a webinar can help your business.  Contact us with questions you may have or if you need an extra hand in production: 646-519-2451  or sales@wprny.com

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If you have a service business, consider listing yourself in Thumbtack.

I keep telling her, let me film one of your presentations, this way you can simply archive it and distribute it to your global offices and keep you from having to waste your time in each city.  (And show to all the new hires as she continues to build her teams.) One of her major concerns is that the information is proprietary and sensitive.  

Well, this is completely understandable.  I know how much time and effort she has put into researching, developing and implementing this new coverage.  The last thing I want is for her to feel like she is mass distributing this for any competitor to gain from.

I tell her that access to the videos can be managed in an easy and inexpensive way.  Just as their is technology to broadcast it clear as TV, there is obviously technology to allow only those who you wish to invite viewing it.  It would be as simple as setting up a page on your intranet site which requires a unique user name and pass code.  

I am still working on swaying her.  Deep down, I think she actually likes traveling to all these places– she gets a break from me.  

Nonetheless, business video presentations are a great, efficient and cheap way to distribute your message to a wide internal audience.  We would be happy to discuss how you can use technology to professionally reach your counterparts around the globe.

1. Envision and plan your video before approaching a production company or before starting on the project. People ask us “how much will a video cost” or “how long will it take to make the video” without any clear idea about what they want. That’s like asking somebody “how much does a house cost” or “how long does it take to build a house.” The answer: It depends. Does the house have one story or two? Does it have a garage? What about a pool? You would never build a house without a blueprint. A corporate marketing video should have a clear plan too, prior to starting.

2. Consider the length of your video. There tends to be an inverse relationship between the size of the video screen and the length of time that people are willing to watch. This is why the best movies are 100-120 minutes long, most TV shows are 30-60 minutes long and the most effective web videos are 3-5 minutes long. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. But I will say this: Plenty of people approach us to make a video that is 15-30 minutes long, 15 minutes can be a long long time to go on and on about your product or service — yawn — when the same message can be said in 3-5 minutes.

3. Customer testimonials self verify. Unlike comments from your CEO or your script, which will rightly be percieved intentionally persuasive or even biased, and unlike written customer testimonials, which people sometimes feel can be faked — video testimonials tend to be self-verifying because people instantly sense if it’s an actor or if it’s a real customer with true feelings about your product or service. Getting real customers on video with real feelings is extremely motivating to other potential customers.

4. Consider audio — ambient room noise, where to place the mic, audio levels. Consider video — white balance, lighting, focus, camera angle, aspect ratio. Consider interview techniques — what the subject wears, where the subject looks, answering in complete sentences. Consider editing, consider location, consider music consider everything, etc., etc. etc. The point is, it’s already difficult to tell you the hundreds of things that you need to do to make a professional video — it’s IMPOSSIBLE to tell you the 10,000 things NOT to do! You are forewarned — mistakes can be made. Make sure you hire professionals if you want professional results.

Get a Free Online Video Quote

If you are interested in taking your meetings to a new level, let us help you.

Robin Good wrote a really good article and case study, How To Effectively Market With Video On The Web.  Good outlines guidelines and questions that will help convert your print campaign into video. 

In this article I am showcasing an example of a well crafted video marketing approach, while dissecting the unique characteristics and traits that make this video marketing approach so effective., and what you need to be doing to replicate it.

Since YouTube launched in 2005 and made video sharing part of pop culture, viral videos have quickly become the latest mutation in mass media.