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Why You Should Never Let a Local TV Station Create Your Video

man frustrated

A common question we get is, “Will I get the video when it’s complete to use as I wish?” This seemed like a very odd question. Of course! Why not? You’ve paid for it and it’s yours once completed. This prompted us to ask, “Why are you asking this?” The answer will amaze you.

Should I Hire a Professional Videographer…or Just Go with the Local TV Station?

When we asked why they were asking, they said, “Because the local television station won’t give us our video now that we’ve paid for it.” You read that correctly, they paid for it…but didn’t get the video. That’s what they think! The truth is, if they had read the fine print, they would have known that what they are paying for is the commercial air time. That is what they are buying! The air time, not the video. The video was an extra bonus for signing up! The ‘client’ in this case, does not own the rights for the commercial/video. That’s ok, right?

So What? How Does that Affect My Video If I Use the Local Television Station?

The truth is, the station owns the video. If you were the one stuck in this situation and wanted to use the video on another medium (oh, let’s say something important like your website, an email, your YouTube Channel, your Vimeo channel, another television channel, or on a grouping of cable channels) you couldn’t. You’d have to hire someone to create another video. That’s ok if you want to spend money over and over for the same thing, but why do that?

Be productive with your money. Our suggestion: Create a professional video that is good for at least two years, usable in multiple mediums, and, if appropriate, create separate calls to action at the end of variations of the video to further measure the successfulness of your video.

Don’t Be Fooled! And don’t get frustrated like that guy! Got a question, let us know!

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Does Video Provide an ROI?

image from demo video

Did you know that Digital Video is a very powerful tool in business? Ever notice the games on your iPad or iPhone? Many of them are now using video to advertise to you. Why is that? Because it works.

Product Videos

Video about a product is usually ‘to the point.’ In fact, the most effective videos that are about a product are under 2 minutes. These videos typically contain information that will help a prospective buyer make buying decisions. They include the benefits clearly and support all other material a possible buyer might encounter. Do you want to improve a possible buyer’s chances of buying? The location of the video within the website is more effective if placed near the purchase or buy now button. Once someone has watched the video, he or she should feel confident in making the purchase. If so, you don’t want them looking far for the button to purchase (or phone number, if this is your call to action).

How do you know if Video works?

Good researchers know that calculating cause and effect takes data. Pure data. If you’re going to do a video, you’ll want to know, did it work? One way to determine this is to do some testing before posting the video on your website and after posting the video to your website. Here are a couple of steps to consider: Pre-Test. Measure current data. How long do potential customers stay on a page? Typically people stay on a home page for just enough time to determine – Is this who I was looking for? Can they do what I need them to do? Do they provide the level of professionalism I’m looking for? Can you do the job? Can I trust you? More time on your site may equate to level of comfort and may lead to more sales. But how will you know unless you measure it before and after? Here are some stats that support having online video:

  • 188.2 Million People in the US watched 52.4 Billion Online Content Videos in December 2013. (Source: http://www.invodo.com/resources/statistics/)
  • Professionally produced video optimized for eCommerce outperforms user-generated video (UGC video) by 30%, delivering a 24.7% lift as compared with an 18.7% lift for the UGC video. (Source: http://www.invodo.com/resources/statistics/)
  • 93% of marketers used video for online marketing in 2013. (Source: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Barriers-Tumble-Video-Marketing-Adoption-Grows/1010374)
  • Mobile is important too! 72.1 million US Smartphone users watched video on their devices at least monthly in 2013. This is expected to rise to 86.8 million, more than a quarter of the US population, in 2014. (Source: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Long-Form-Video-Content-Rivals-Short-Even-on-Smartphones/1010492)
  • 51.9% of Marketing Professionals worldwide cite video as the type of content with the best ROI. (Source: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Which-Content-Marketing-Tactics-Best-ROI/1009706)

While we may be biased, the stats are now screaming out, “Use Video!!” If you have any questions or comments, please leave them here, or contact us directly.

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4 Ways to Optimize Your Business YouTube Page

YouTube logo

Google is the largest and most used search engine online. It seems everyone knows that, but did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine online? Owned by Google, it has quickly become the next most used search engine. This is why you must use YouTube as a part of your marketing plan. What better way to use YouTube than to provide Google/YouTube with high quality video that educate the consumer about your business? Here are a couple of other tips:

  1. Make Your Channel Your Own. When someone lands on your page, do they know it is yours? Do they recognize your brand? Too many people start a YouTube Channel, but do not brand it. It should look and feel similar to your overall branding strategy. This should also include your video. Make sure the video you place on your channel matches your brand. This should include when you comment on others’ videos.
  2. Provide Content. We like to say, if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million. Content is king with Google, and the same applies to YouTube. Your videos must be original and interesting. When others comment on your video, YouTube and Google give it more importance. The video must also represent your brand. It is also important that you have a lot of content. It is perfectly fine to upload multiple videos about an interesting and related topic to help you build SEO about that topic. If you can provide information that is hard to find anywhere else, you’ll also attract multiple viewers and give them a reason to comment.
  3. Get Them Clicking. Within YouTube is a fantastic function called Annotation. Use that function to get people to click through to a page that you decide. Think of this as a sales funnel. If they found you via Google, clicked on your YouTube page, and watched the video, you must give them a reason to move to your webpage or other sales action. Whether you’re raising money for a fundraiser or educating people and want them to buy your book, a video with an annotation built in will lead them to the link to buy. Use this. Get them clicking by also getting them to comment on your video. Best way to make this happen is to get them to see an annotation telling them to do so or getting the person in the video to request for feedback or comments. Build it into the video.
  4. Use Links. No. We don’t mean pay for links; we mean link all of your content. If you write a blog about a topic that is highlighted by your video, embed or link (or both) to that video. This builds an SEO web that helps Google and YouTube better understand how the topic is related.

Finally, if you need any help getting that video going, let us know. We can help!

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How To Be Ready For Your Video Production Shoot Day

sony video camera

By following these tips, you’ll find you will save a little time, aggravation, and money on your shoot day. You’ve hired the production team; they’ve created the script, scouted the location, and started the planning process. They may have even hired some professional actors for the shoot. Here are the steps you can take to improve the video outcome.

Solidify Your Needs

Knowing what your objectives are for shooting is important. Defining them early is even more important. There is nothing more frustrating for a client when they change directions, change objectives, and find out how much it will cost them because the script doesn’t accomplish these tasks. Anytime a client decides to change directions, a cost is incurred later. Clarify your objective and needs before doing anything else.

Communication with the Producer is Critical

Do you know what you’re going to do with the video? Communicate it with the producer. Do you know you’re going to need commercial for TV at a later date? Communicate it with the producer. Do you know that you are going to use these for multiple websites or multiple blog postings? Communicate it with the producer. The more the producer knows in the beginning, the better the planning will go and the better the results of the project.

Save Time (& Money) in the Edit Suite

Video production includes editing, cutting clips together, importing video, color correcting, adjusting audio levels, and exporting. All of these tasks take time. Editors work on an hourly rate, so if you can assist in the planning stage, you can often save time in the editing portion of the project. Time saving happens when the editor is able to ‘batch tasks’ and completing multiple projects simultaneously. When this happens, you save cash.

Do you need some help in the video production planning stage? We can help.