Tips: Do it Yourself Videos are OK, but Get Help if You Aren’t a Pro

 

Videos help your customers or if you prefer the term, guests, feel more comfortable in visiting your business.

So, a press release from PR Newswire offering video tips caught my eye. I’m in agreement. That’s what I recommend to clients, and business-news videos are a big attraction for this portal.

Videos, as a marketing tool, are great because they enable prospects to actually see your business from their computers. You can be seen as hospitable. Videos can help your prospects feel like guests.

PR Newswire offers reminders if you do it yourself with a simple camera – their tips include:

• Quick and simple product demos – nothing too complex requiring zooming in and out or different camera angles.
• Short interviews at events, or on-the-spot customer testimonials
• Offering a timely “sneak peek” at a daily special or a behind the scenes view

But here’s the catch: Such casual videos are often fine for a YouTube presentation. But appearances are important. That’s why I use pros for my client commercials, YouTube and for Web site presentations.

Here are PR Newswire’s suggestions on how to use videos:

• If you have a physical location, show the video on a loop for customers to see
• Incorporate the video into business pitches
• Embed videos in e-mail communications
• Post the video to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and any other social media presences you’ve established. If your friends, fans and followers like it, they’ll share it with their friends, fans and followers, multiplying your audience exponentially
• Show it to your mom. She’ll love it!

Videos are terrific to show your products or services. But PR News wire and I are in agreement. In this digital age, businesspeople and consumers are accustomed to high definition and good production techniques.

So call a video pro to do it right – planning is key – here are the questions to ask of a video-production house:

• What about the script?
• Conducting interviews?
• The location or a studio?
• Are props needed?
• What about securing permits, which includes the talents’ OK to use their images? (Note: a minor needs to have signed authorization from the legal guardian or parent.)
• Editing and posting?
• How and where should the video be positioned?
• Counsel on what to say and how to say it?
• How much is my investment?

From the Coach’s Corner, to be perceived as hospitable by your customers, here are more marketing tips:

• How to Win Your Major Marketing Campaign
• Need a Game-changer? Try a Good Video for More Credibility
• Startup Toolkit – How to Make a Hit on the Internet

Hospitality: Making your guests feel like they’re at home, even if you wish they were.

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.