How To Get More Results From Your Videos

Have you seen this video yet?


Over 5 million people have already watched it on YouTube and it's not surprising. It's got spirit, warmth, it makes you feel good and it's for a good cause. A wonderful mix of elements to fuel its popularity. Best of all, it's done by a non-profit for not a lot of money (thanks to Elaine Fogel at MarketingProfs Daily Fix for calling this out).

But I'm left wanting more. Clearly the video is intended to generate Breast Cancer awareness. That's great, but where's the link to help people who have an urge to act when they're done watching? How about a visual at the end that says we do this to support Breast Cancer, what do you do? Do you want to help? To find our more, visit any of these websites.

If you've ever wondered about appearing to exploit good will by including that kind of appeal in one of your videos, remember there's a big difference between exploitation and explanation. People do want to help and explaining how they can do that makes sense in that context.

Why stop there? There are other possibilities for utilizing the video footage. What's the "backstory" on how this all came about? Interestingly, ABC World News did their own story on this and filled in the pieces. For example, there is the story about the manufacturer who came up with the idea for the pink gloves and is now donating the proceeds from those glove sales to fund mammograms for women who can't afford them.  And how did Providence St Vincent's get involved? All we know is they decided to join in. There must be more to this story than that.

I'd also repackage the Providence video and include some of the outtakes where it didn't go just right the first time, sprinkle in a few quick soundbites with participants about why they're participating, maybe even their anxieties about dancing (as expressed in the ABC story). Another great video that would additionally showcase the humanity and spirit of that medical center. Hey, if I lived in Providence I'd want to make sure they were my hospital based on what their video conveys.

So here's a question for you? What other stories are lurking around the outtakes from your last video production that you can use to capture human interest, caring, ingenuity, a sense of humor or further product or service value?

There's never been a better time to tell a good business story. And you probably have a lot of them waiting to be told.

Don't Make This Fatal Mistake With Your Video

This may be the year of Twitter but it's also the year of video. Well-known bloggers blog about it, professional journals dedicate whole issues to the topic and even Nielsen monitors the meteoric growth of online video. Yes, indeed, video is the killer app.

Maybe you've already started posting videos to YouTube, sprinkled them into your website or are using them as vehicles to distribute FAQ's and CEO conversations. Great, as long as you avoid a fatal mistake when you produce your videos: don't make them longer than five minutes. Go even shorter if possible.

Don't believe me? Think about it. You're asking very busy people, with limited attention spans and lots and lots of content options, to spend their valuable time watching your videos. Whether they're employees or customers, there's a good possibility they are now watching your video on a teeny-weeny smartphone screen. Even with larger laptop screen real estate, it's still a time commitment to sit and watch for longer than five minutes, uninterrupted. And, no offense, you're probably not offering them the kind of entertainment value that will sustain 10 minutes of their time.

Want more proof? Eighteen of the top 20 viral videos on Unruly Media's Viral Video Chart this week clock in at less than five minutes. In fact, over the past week that I've tracked their daily Top 20 video list, 27 out of the 30 Top Viral Videos ran less than five minutes. Obviously, this isn't the reason these videos became viral hit wonders, but it is an interesting common denominator nonetheless.

But what do you do if you need to go over that five-minute threshold? Maybe you have a 27-minute conference video you need to post on your website, so now what? Here are two solutions, one a little more involved than the other:

• Edit the tape into shorter clips according to content. For example, a short video highlighting a  customer testimonial, the CEO spelling out his vision, a partner talking about a Go-To-Market strategy. You can edit them in-house quite easily or use a local production house which can do the edits quickly and inexpensively
  
• Simply give a brief bulleted list online of viewing times when these significant moments occur, i.e., @1:25 into the tape CEO delivers vision, @ 4:32 Partner X talks about GTM strategy, etc. This approach will at least enable your viewers to fast-forward to the sections that interest them.
  

Video is a powerful communications tool. It engages, it connects, it immerses, if you don't enage in overkill . To that end, here's one of the best pieces of advice I learned early on in my producer career:  always leave them wanting more.

There's never been a better time to tell a good, tight business story on video.

You Got Their Attention Now What?

If attention is the critical step in generating awareness, then relevance is the giant magnet that keeps people attracted to, engaged and connected with your company, your product and stories.

Being relevant is another way of saying your content is meaningful and pertinent, which is no easy feat these days.  So, if you are lucky enough to grab someone's attention, can you hold onto them?

Yes, and one of the clues just might come from what's happening on the hyperlocal news scene.

You've seen the headlines. Hyperlocal and local are the new buzzwords, the new "it" kids on the uber hot web scene. While mainly focused on news initiatives, these developments are worth watching for any marketer and not just as another place to park  ad dollars.

Hyperlocal and local information are targeted at readers and viewers where they live, work, play. Mashable has a great piece with lots of specific examples but here's what it comes down to: hyperlocal is very specific information marrying social media and news that's often crowdsourced and valuable because it is so pertinent to people's lives. Little league scores. The latest gossip about a stalled recycling project. Perhaps not setting your chimes on fire but very interesting to the folks who live in those communities.

And that's the link to you if you're in marketing or public relations. Hyperlocal is about delivering relevant information. It's the boring weekly community newspaper suddenly alive and very timely. True, advertisers have been micro-targeting their messages for years, but with the addition of social media, you have more opportunities than ever to consistently hit the mark in what you say and how you say it.

So what are they doing in hyperlocal that just might be relevant for you?

• Timely - have you updated your website, included a new video comment from a pleased customer? Is your information fresh and current or the same for the past 3 months?
  
• Context - does your customer really care about a new business process if you're talking to them through a Facebook page?
  
• Crowdsourced - sure you can continue to use surveys but what about asking questions on Twitter so you get valuable feedback and input on what people really want to hear from you?
  
• Mashing it up - are you relying on only one form of media or are you looking at multiple avenues of reach through traditional and new media? Are you only posting videos on YouTube?
  
• Appointment media - have you built in enough motivation for people to consciously return to your content?  After all, that's all you can ask isn't it, to attract people and then hope they come back again and again? 

Here's the bottom line: the marketers who are going to succeed will need to more finely hone their mix of content with the context of where and how it gets delivered. So I'd keep watching what they do in hyperlocal for more clues on how you can engage through sustainable conversations.

There's never been a better time to tell a relevant business story.

What Sesame Street Can Teach Marketers

What can a 40-year-old children's television program teach marketers? Plenty, especially when it comes to relevance. 

So today's post is brought to you by the letter "R" from the folks at Sesame Street.  They've kept their show relevant all of these years, even with increasing competition from video games, online activities and even new TV shows.

Let's see what the gang at Sesame Street did to reach their 40th anniversary with no signs of losing any steam.

1. Remain true to your vision.  Sesame Street's ongoing mission has been to educate kids and they've remained true to their endgoal. No new visions, no new mission statements. They may have tweaked their style and tools from time to time, but they have consistently remained true to their core.
2. Know your audience. The Sesame Street gang is designed to draw on multi-cultural experiences and engage an audience of children from diverse backgrounds. And they have continued to expand that universe of viewers with shows in all parts of the world and in multiple languages. Sesame Street messages translate globally. Sweet.
   
3. Create a shared experience. Their goal was always to involve parents, to have them share the learning experience with their children. And it's worked, helped along, no doubt, by the clever pop culture parodies and double play on words that adults enjoy as much as their kids.
4. Humanize your messages. Sesame Street created a winning formula to teach kids and keep them engaged by using real emotions including humor and empathy and curiosity, to name just a few. How different it would have all turned out had they used a more pedagogical approach and failed to talk to kids like kids.
5. Use technology to enhance your message. At Sesame Street, it's never been about using the latest technology just to use the latest technology. Rather, it's about the combination of video, live animation, real human characters and website to deliver the most meaningful experience for their audience. 

Last but not least, Sesame Street has created a generation of enduring fans who now watch the show with their kids (and grandkids in many cases). That's real staying power. That's timeless relevance. That's one helluva great marketing lesson.


There's never been a better time to tell a good business story. How do you keep yours relevant?

Just Plain Stupid Messaging

This one belongs in the what were they thinking category.

Kellogg is claiming their Cocoa Krispies cereal can help boost kids' immunity against the H1N1 virus. Yes, you read that right. Kellogg has taken the sugar-coated message and stretched it into new territory that defies description.

The message, on the front of the box, states: "Now helps support your child's IMMUNITY."

Critics, to no one's surprise, are in full battle mode, claiming the company is simply trying to capitalize on parents' H1N1 fears.

So, you have to wonder, what was going through the corporate brains at Kellogg when they came up with this message? Did they really think it would pass the test of credible and verifiable?

In their lame attempt at defending their message, Kellogg claims they developed the product in response to consumers asking for more positive nutrition. This includes boosting the amount of antioxidant vitamins A, C and E  which are important contributors to the body's immune capabilities.

Junk science? Probably. Junk messaging?  Most assuredly.

So what should we take away from this story?

1. Wanting to assert your relevance is a valid strategy but find a legitimate way to become a part of the conversation.
2. For every action, there is a reaction. Or to put it another way: your messages don't live in a vacuum. Strain credulity and suffer the consequences.
   
3. People infer other messages from the ones you put out. In this case, it might be that Kellogg is desperate to sell cereal.
   
4. You can't control your message after it's out there, but you sure can control it before it's out there.
   

What we'll never know is how this message idea got sold into management in the first place. Too bad they forgot there's no message re-do's when it comes to lack of credibility.

There's never been a better time to tell a good business story that's based on a truthful message.

Video Saves The FAQ

Your company is in a smackdown with a partner now turned competitor. Do your employees know how to handle the issue when asked? Are they telling customers one thing and saying another to bloggers or partners, analysts and on their own blogs?

Nothing can derail a company faster than inconsistency. The irony is you probably have the FAQ's that address how to delicately position all sorts of topics. The only problem is that most people haven't seen them or they are buried in their inbox.

Video is the solution. Put the FAQ on video. Have someone conversationally deliver the salient points that need to be addressed in those tricky scenarios. There are four compelling reasons to do so:

1. Humanizing Effect. How much easier to listen to someone deliver a conversational response than to read a three-paragraph answer that no one can be expected to remember.
2. Stand Out Factor:  The FAQ takes on a personality and moves beyond simply being a Word doc. 
3. Consistency Enforcer: If it's easier to use....and find.... it's easier to get people to properly address the issues
4. Credibility Check: Now there's no excuse not to hear how corporate-speak the answers sound.

Obviously what you don't want to do is to have the FAQ become a 15-minute production. Keep it short and sweet and it will become a FWV (Frequently Watched Video) and, more importantly, a critical tool in helping you maintain a consistent story.

There's never been a better time to tell a consistent business story.

TV Interview Fail

For many companies, getting the CEO on TV is still a great opportunity to tell the company or product story. Unfortunately, these stories don’t always have a happy ending.

One of the biggest mistakes that will torpedo a broadcast interview is not making your product immediately relevant for the audience. A recent example of this: Sir James Dyson, the debonair British inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner, who was on the Today Show to pitch his newest creation - the bladeless fan.

To put it bluntly, Sir James blew it. Big time. He had two minutes of quality airtime with not one but three anchors. Even with their softball questions, he still didn’t make the case for why anyone should pony up almost $300 for his new cool product. Instead of talking about enhanced safety features and cooling efficiencies, Dyson went the tech route, ignoring the anchors' blatant clues to take a more practical direction.



Sure, you can say Dyson obviously has an upscale audience in mind for his fan. But he was speaking to Middle ‘Merica on morning TV, where it’s safe to assume the majority of those viewers are not the early adopter crowd. So, in my book, he failed.

Dyson's loss, however, is your gain. Here’s what you can learn from his fail:

• Shiny new objects don't automatically translate into value without making that connection
  

• You can’t fall in love with the Wow factor and forget to ask why anyone would buy your product

• Listen to the questions people ask– sometimes they offer up accurate clues for how to connect more effectively
  

The major takeaway from this story: speak your customer’s language. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about TV interviews or social media, the ability to connect your ideas and have them be relevant and meaningful for your audience is a must-have ability. Everything else is rapidly becoming table-stakes.

There's never been a better time to tell your business story.