“Video is the wave of the future for business! We’ve got to get some viral videos up and running! Customers love video!”
Simmer down. Now that it’s out of your system, lets look at what it takes to incorporate video into your overall communications strategy.
I worked in television for 16 years — a dozen of that on-air as a reporter. Being a “teevee reporter” isn’t rocket science, but it’s not as easy as you might think. However, there are a number of influences out there that might make you think the leap to video is a piece of cake:
- The equipment is cheaper
- The distribution channels are cheaper than free
- The editing can be done on a home PC
- The quality bar has been lowered by streaming video standards
All of that points to a no-brainer, but video can easily blow up in your face if you don’t know what you’re doing. And believe me, you don’t have to know anything about the subject matter to know when someone is making horrible television.
“American kids know television the way French kids know wine.”
– Lorne Michaels, Producer
Any idiot can grab a camera and shoot some video, even attempt to narrate it. The real skill is the weaving of those words and pictures in ways that simultaneously reinforce each other and amplify the communication. You can pack a lot of impact in a little piece of video if you know what you’re doing. It’s a language — one you have to study for a long time before you understand the nuances. Or, you can hire someone to tell your story for you.
Before you get to that point, and succumb to the You-Need-Videos Siren, please run down the following checklist:
- Do you know precisely what you want to communicate with a video? (If you’re lucky, the viewer leaves remembering one thing. Just one. Try to say too many things and you say nothing at all.)
- How are you going to use the video? (If you’re only going to the web, a lower-budget format might be acceptable. If you have designs on using it for something else, the quality will bite you.)
- Who is doing your editing? (Great video and great content can be rendered useless in the hands of a ham-fisted editor.)
- Is the tone of the video right for your intended message?
- Will anyone care? (If you don’t know why anyone will care, then you don’t have a message worth delivering.)
- How does this fit in the overall communications plan? (Will the video enhance other efforts already underway? Or will it overshadow/undermine?)
- Do you have a sufficient budget to hire the right people, or get the right training?
If there are any red flags, then just say no. Bad video can kill off any good momentum in your other online pursuits.
(Ike Pigott is an Emmy Award-winning writer, who regularly posts at Occam’s RazR)
Hi Ike,
I work for a well known high tech company in Silicon Valley. Video is all the rage these days — everyone wants to do either a “youtube” or as close to non-corporate looking video as possible… and while that’s great — it seems that very few people are focusing on what you then DO with that video after it’s created. I help many people produce their videos – create their stories and try to make them as non-marketing-jargonny as possible, but who cares if no one every sees it! I’d like to see more discussion on just HOW to promote that video…. Is doing a one-off video really a great idea? Why? Companies should go to YouTube, type in their company name and see how many hits their videos are getting. I think a key element in having people view a video is establishing a channel or community in which people will subscribe. That doesn’t mean you produce a weekly video -but look at a company like Revision3 – they have subscribers…. and they just happen to use videos as the medium. Subscribers is what we want – an audience. And then we can show them our so-called “compelling” videos…
(To all the marketeers out there – It’s also very hard to create something that has potential to be “viral” when you’re limited by brand, legal and corporate police guidelines.)
Great blog.
Thanks,
Seeley