Owner, Neal Walters, is an expert at video marketing, particularly the use of YouTube. He has created several of his own YouTube channels. Back in 2007, while working as a Microsoft Certified Trainer and BizTalk consultant, he created over 200 training videos, many of which have now been uploaded to YouTube.
As an example if video marketing, if you Google “Dallas BizTalk Consultant”, Neal’s BizTalk consulting video comes out at the top, and it will soon be ranked for “BizTalk Consultant“. Neal has also been marketing his own Hebrew product for a number of years, and has created demo product videos on his site: “Learn the Hebrew Alphabet“.
Many customers are shy about being on video. Ideally, Neal hopes they can overcome their shyness and make a live video. People often trust a “real person”, even with their vulnerabilities more than a slick actor in a video.
On the other hand, animated videos are growing in popularity. Here is an example we recently created:
Neal has set up a small studio, and can create videos like the one below.
(Note: The above video is not stored on YouTube. We can also make your videos private to your site or stored on Amazon storage).
We also create animated videos, such as the one below. Personally, I think it’s better if you personally appear in the video, but some people are camera shy, or don’t have time to script and “act” in videos. We can crank out 10 or 100 of the animated videos below in a week.
Neal keeps is eye open for creativity and styles of videos, and blogs about them on his Las Colinas Video production site. Here are some styles of videos that Neal has identified and how you might use each:
1. Head Shot – this is usually you, the owner of the business, talking directly to your customer. Videos help the prospect come to know, like, and trust you. Sometimes, owner worry about the video being “too perfect.” In Neal’s opinion, it’s better to do 10 videos that are good (not perfect) and get them out there, rather than trying to perfect one or two videos.
2. Customer Testimonials – This is a most powerful technique. You can even throw a luncheon for your best customers, and at the luncheon ask them to give you a one or two minute video testimonial. These can be edited together to form one longer testimonial video, or you can have 10 or 20 short ones, with the name and type of customer under each video. Then the prospect can select the short testimonials of people most like him or her. When you lift up and empower your past customers, you keep getting new ones.
3. Sketch and Doodle Videos – This is where a human hand comes out and does a combination of writing words on the screen and drawing pictures.
4. Teaching Videos – You can show customers how your product works, or provide video documentation. You could show them how to install it, how to best utilize it, etc… Consider making “how-to” videos that fit in your industry as “bait” to pull people into your site or YouTube channel. Then show your videos of your products or services as well, or show how you can augment what was seen in the first part of the video.
4. Movie Trailer – You can make a Move Trailer, like a preview to a movie, but talking about your business. It’s a fun way to get the customer involved. Dan Kennedy says the number one sin in advertising is to be boring.
5. Movie Short – this is more intensive, if you are creative to write it, you actually make a short movie (even if it’s just one to three minutes). John Walker recently did that, hiring big name actors and producing Hollywood-style “shorts”. Viewers to tend to share these videos more, and thus it generates free advertising and branding for the business.
6. FAQ and SAQ – Mike Koenigs recommending doing 20 videos, 10 on Frequently Asked Questions, and 10 “Should Ask Questions”. What questions should your customer ask before they decide to trust you or your product.
Here are a few other concepts you might want to be familiar with:
1. Stock Video – we can find video clips of professional footage and blend it in with your footage
2. Green Screen – this is where you are videoed in front of a green screen, then we can make you look like you are standing in fancy office, outdoors, in a newsroom, or almost anywhere. I don’t actually recommend this for the beginner, because there is additional time involved to do green screen correctly.
3. Lighting – we have a complete of soft-box and overhead lighting. There are several ways to do backgrounds, 1) we can blur the background, focusing on you or your product, 2) we can use a black backdrop (easy lighting), or a 3) white backdrop (requires 5 lights to avoid shadows).
4. Multicamera- we can optionally record with three cameras for more interesting shots, especially for a two person interview
Neal has been a long time student of James Wedmore, who did the video below entitled “5 Types of YouTube Videos Every Business Needs”:
Note: This video above is great because it gives you a few behind the scenes shots of James’ set, and at the end, he shows how “stupid” he looked when making bloopers. It’s okay to have self-deprecating humor in your videos. Also notice how the camera shots cut and move about every three seconds; you will find news shows do this as well. This is designed to keep the interest of the viewer.