G is for Lake Geneva Dentistry

Simple. Direct. Friendly. Gets the job done for those searching online for a dentist in the Lake Geneva area. Love the ending. (spoiler alert) How many dentists offer cookies? I thought they were great guys. Lake Geneva is kind of a neat little town too. Might be worth a drive. The lake is gorgeous.

A Fund for Women

The letter "F" is a double dose today.
I think this video is interesting on several fronts. First, the orange graphic and use of the logo, offers a graphic "impact" a good bit more than a typical business video. Second, proper planning prevents poor performance. Although I like to think this turned out OK, when an intangible service is the subject, often times where to place the video is an issue, since there is nothing to look at, nothing to show. It is the strength, interest, and enthusiasm of the narrators that carries the video. The issue of b-roll is closely related. When there is nothing to show in terms of a product, the location and the people talking are relied upon to carry the whole video. A video centered upon something tangible is a bit easier because, while the narrator remains critical, there is other material (b-roll) to cut away to and look at.

Client-side thinking and planning in advance remain issues in the business video world. Salespeople, for the most part, lack the experience or understanding to sell it and - short of doing it yourself, most clients do not really understand the scenario that they need to spend time planning for and organizing. For example, when these three women arrived at a third party site, none of them knew what they wanted to talk about, we had no supporting materials, and they were nervous. None of them had done this before. On the upside, they were all involved in "A Fund for Women" and quickly figured out a theme. On the downside, no one had done video before, so body language, voice, tone, and using persuasion in lieu of declaration were harder to pin down and resolve. As they USUALLY are in every business video project.

Good people working and caring about a worthy topic. I like to think that this video, however they used it, did their cause some good.

The video below, is Foot and Ankle Associates, as you are no doubt hearing. While their work is intangible for the most part, the location is far stronger and very relevant, relative to the video above. This is not a good or bad, a doctor's office with three narrators, live models, and relevant props simply makes a stronger background. I think both positively promote the business and cause. As both illustrate in different ways, location, planning, and a "show and share" aspect can strongly enhance business video.

E is for Emergency Clinic for Animals

Pretty straightforward. Short enough for attention spans. Credibility established. Background established. Location. Ambulance as difference maker. All presented by a familiar face, one that most people are going to see on entering the front door.

D is for Doctors' Denture Systems

This one goes into my memory as one of the more unique subjects that I've had in front of my camera. Denture manufacturing. Not something most people ever really pay much attention to, until the day comes when teeth make their presence known and necessity awakens awareness. Then you find the "Dr. Ks" of the world. I learned that while this slice of industry is under the radar, it is big business. There are numerous people in need of dentures.

In retrospect, this should not have surprised me. Anytime an industry perceives enough customers to warrant spending money on letter network air time for ads, that in itself says the niche is big business. Dr. Kneepkens realized that as more and more people are able to using a search engine to research his product category before ever making their existence known to him, it was in his best interests to get durable content online that his potential clients could find.

Makes sense to me.

C is for Capital Brewery

Music captured from an event on the premises, a reputable decision maker doing the speaking, a good job speaking both word- and body language-wise. Relevant b-roll. There's a fair amount to like in this video.

I will be the first to confess that this video is long in the tooth. While it's not that old, Kirby Nelson, the narrator, has moved on from Capital to another local brewer. This explicitly reveals a hazard to making a video with a high profile speaker. If that person leaves, well....you are kind of out of luck. The alternative to taking this risk, which is true for just about every video with a human in it, is to not do a video. So the question is are you fear driven? or willing to take a reasonable risk? That is a decision best taken elsewhere and not always easy depending on budget.

As a beer drinker I must confess that I still enjoy Capital Brewery products. I also enjoy the locally brewed beers from Mr. Nelson's new venture as well. Here in Wisconsin, as you might suspect, there is room for more than one brewer.

B is for Buck Rub Archery

Between yesterday being "A" for archery and today being "B" for Buck Rub I though posting this client video was fitting. For me, this is near ideal, a specialty product and a subject matter expert who is comfortable speaking in normal language that also happens to be the owner. This business video is nothing fancy. It is essentially the owner telling his story and just a bit more. The viewer can see the shop, hear a credible voice, and feel good about this business.

A is for Aware

"Marketing videos for business" is about as concise as I can get when it comes to the old elevator pitch phrase describing what Quietwater Media does. That phrase paints with a wide brush, leaving the devil, as the saying goes, to be found in the details.

"Aware" is the first word in this 26 letter April blogging challenge, and it is one that uncovers some of those devilish details.

For a business, it has been my experience that the decision maker who is AWARE of where they want this particular piece of marketing content to fit, is the decision maker that enjoys some positive vibes. Video can be complex. Thankfully most of the complexity is behind the camera and in the editing room. The complexity starts in front of the camera when the business does not know their target and/or where they think the viewer watching their video fits in the buying/sales cycle, aka "the funnel". This is an image that may have fallen out of vogue, but nonetheless is an image I still like for positioning a viewer in the context of their buying decision process.

That was a mouthful.

While it may be frustrating, being aware of that target person is a good thing. It's a good thing because it should "force" you to craft and deliver a simple message to that targeted buyer. That awareness starts with some idea of demographics, even if it is qualitative and fuzzy, even if it is who YOU WANT to view the video. Having some attributes attached to that customers is a good thing. For example, a woman between 36 and 44, online during a week night evening. Maybe she is researching something during the ads on TV so she can add a widget to her list for the weekend. Maybe not. Maybe she is looking for a birthday present for her husband.

The point is don't just make a video to make a video. For that matter, any content you make should at least be vaguely pointed at a target customer that you are AWARE of.

It's been my experience that being AWARE of your target keeps your message short and focused. Instead of going long and being all things to all people, your message is concise and aimed at the concern(s) of that targeted viewer. You are done before people start to glaze over and leave (e.g less than two minutes, closer to one is better).

Speaking of which I'm going long myself.

bye!