There should be a Tsunami warning blaring. I’m scrolling down my Facebook feed and every post features a video. Every. Single. One. When I did my planning for this year, I thought, "Whoa, this video tidal wave is growing faster than most of us can imagine." I got a queasy feeling in my stomach, like the time we rode out a hurricane in La Paz, Mexico. You prepare, scramble, stock up and wait for it to hit. At least we had some notice. I think about people who live in areas where they don't always get advance warning of hurricanes, tsunamis or tidal waves. If you are a woman in business whose success depends on connecting, engaging and influencing your online audience, this is your tsunami warning. As an aside, the basics apply to men as well, of course (hi guys!) Women simply have different mindset challenges around video, and I address some of that here. We are going straight to el corazon (heart) of the most valuable content out there. Video. And lots of it. We're going to call out why you aren't doing this, and why you should be. In part two, I'll go over how to create lots of quality video without losing either your mind or your shirt paying for production. Gary Vaynerchuk says the future is audio, and maybe he’s right. I’m not so sure. Did I just doubt my man GaryVee? Yes I did. Blogs and podcasts are great (well, some of them are), but unlike images, a podcast isn’t worth a thousand or million words. People multitask while they listen, shredding their attention and retention. Regardless of what the crystal ball says, the statistics and trends are clear: the one thing 99% of entrepreneurs need to focus on, starting today, is a video strategy. So why aren’t you? I know why. After 15 years as an marketing consultant, producer, and creator of online marketing videos for small businesses, I know why you aren’t doing video. And it’s not because you are too busy. Especially women. We’ve got our own special designer baggage around being on camera, don’t we ladies? Mindset is almost always why you aren't doing video. I have a separate blog post to help you with video jitters. On top of that, video is a bit complex, especially to do a decent job. Kind of like most things worth doing in your business. What do you do when confronted with complexity in your business? Run and hide under your desk? Catch up on your Insta posts because we still can't 100% automate the damn things? (#SOannoying) Watch someone else's sappy viral videos on Facebook to restore your faith in humanity? Well, maybe. But AFTER all that, you create a strategy and a system. You stare down your fears, grab them by the, um, tail, nail them to the calendar and get this goodness DONE. First, some brief statistics that speak for themselves:
Let's talk about why. Why video? Engagement, pure and simple. People prefer watching videos to all other formats. My experience gives me a unique perspective in this space. This is a real opportunity for women that make this perspective shift, and quickly! Let me explain: The question used to be - how do I get a marketing video done? As in just one, maybe two. In truth, a couple of videos is not nearly enough anymore to remain relevant, let alone lead, in your market space. Here is the problem:
Most of my colleagues certainly do. Once they learn about my video experience, I always get questions for advice about what kind of videos to create, how to shoot videos that look decent, what to say, and how to edit. I have been watching this space evolve for 15 years and I know how challenging it is for entrepreneurs. These are the typical options. Which one applies to you?
The solution lies in creating a strategy, using a system, and taking action while you can still catch this wave. It's not too late, and you can start today without disrupting your whole schedule. How? Start here with our time saving video miniseries - The 3 Biggest Video Mistakes - and How to Fix Them! In the meantime, if you have questions, I’m here for you.
Hang Ten! Kala sources: 9/2017 Forbes "Top-10-video-marketing-trends-and-statistics-roundup-2017", https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing-statistics Confession time. I have been binge watching Hallmark holiday movies with my mom while visiting Montana this month. Lots of small town snowfalls, making up under the mistletoe, and no straying from the story formula. As schmaltzy as the movies are, there is just something so satisfying about a happy ending. That and my mom’s commentary is a hoot. This is the basic story arc: 1. The bad news 2. Shining the light in the dark place, aha moment 3. Then the good news. This got me thinking about the power of that story arc for video content and social media marketing. Is there a way this applies to the work you do with clients? Not the binge watching of sappy movies together. Well, at least not for most of us. When you take this story arc and cast your audience as the star of the show, the connection on social media can be very powerful. A social video from the brand Always’, part of their campaign to change the negative connotation of the phrase “like a girl”, is a good example. In my opinion the video is too long, causing the story arc to wobble a bit and weakens the emotional punch. However, by highlighting girls, they did a great job of using video content to create an emotional connection with their audience, through the eyes and words girls and young women. I call this the Third Voice Video strategy. (Or in this case, several voices) How can you mirror the power of a Third Voice and happy endings in your social video content? You can do this in a similar way by interviewing clients and colleagues, following the storyarc template from Hallmark Hall of Fame and the Always video. Idea 1: Do a short video with a client right at the beginning of working with you, and then at the end. Idea 2: Interview parallel leaders in your field that have overcome the challenges that you help your audience overcome, highlight how they got past common obstacles that keep prospects from working with you, and tie it all up by highlighting the happy ending - how much better life or business is now versus before. This is kind of like an indirect testimonial to your audience; proof that the work you do is valuable in solving a certain type of problem. For example, I interviewed 3 top coaches a few months ago and asked each of them: The bad news: the challenges they had getting started with video marketing. How they “saw the light” - what motivated them to take action in spite of those challenges. How they feel now about having done video - why they are now true believers in video content. And the red bow on top is the advice they have for women just getting started with video. By the way - another bonus when you invite a Third Voice into your video content via an interview is that footage becomes the source of 5 - 10 extra short videos that you don’t have to script or shoot. I have an editor working on creating 27 short clips for social media videos from those interviews, clips I did not have to script or shoot. I’ll be straight and tell you the image quality is not fabulous, as you can see with this screen shot of the interview I did with Patty Lennon. We did the interview with Facebook Live, using the cameras on our computers. My inner Video Producer is wincing at the image quality. ![]() But the videos do a beautiful job of proving a point. There we are, women who are, quite honestly, used to doing things really well, settling for imperfect video, because our priority is in serving our audience and inspiring other women to do more videos, too. In this case, the image quality isn't critical, especially with the best comments plucked out to create short videos, allowing the personality and integrity of my guests to really show through. And lastly, interviewing someone else - inviting their Voice into your video content, is a collaborative example for everyone, and that’s always a good thing. Any questions? I can help you with this. Let's find your video happy ending, minus the mistletoe. |
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Kala PhiloKala is the Founder and Executive Producer of the Ultimate System for Fab Videos, Finally Done |