If you are producing any kind of marketing material, whether print or digital, you know the power of video. Are you ready to explore the possibilities? Here are four tips:
1. Keep it short. Keep your video to a minute or two. "I don’t want anything longer — unless it's a how-to," says Margie Dana, a longtime print industry consultant.
2. Put someone natural out there. Videos become the face of your business. Put someone comfortable in front of the camera. "You have to be articulate, be natural and have a presence that comes across," Dana says. "When it comes to video, you can spot the bad ones very quickly. The person in front of the camera is uncomfortable, the lighting is bad or the audio stinks. Or the person is too far away."
3. Don't kill yourself. You can hire someone to produce short videos for your business, or you can use an iPhone and do it yourself. People are looking to connect with people. Sometimes simple is the best approach.
4. Leverage your efforts. Video does take an investment, and if you're going to make that investment, leverage it. Post it to LinkedIn. Add it to your company's Facebook page. Promote it in your social media. "Companies often drop the ball when it comes to promoting content — whether words, pictures or video," Dana says. "Clients will tell me, 'It's on my site,' but my question is, 'Where else did you share it? How are you bringing people to there to see it?'
