“If you need a tool and don’t buy it, it’s as if you paid for it but never got a chance to use it.” Henry Ford
VIDEO PRODUCTION FORMATS
(The Slide-Show Video)
- What is it?
- Why use it?
- How is it produced?
In short, it’s one of the most affordable and efficient tools for promoting your products & services available. I say “affordable” because with a measure of patience and a clear plan, you can produce an adequate one yourself. All you have to do is the following:
It’s just like cooking you’ll need to take stock of the ingredients you have before you decide what dish you’re going to make. Your finished product is determined by the ingredients you used to create it. To punch a point I included in the video I produced about this:
You Can’t Cook ‘Chicken Valentino’ With A Pork Chop!
I produced a video on this very subject. It was produced to inform the consumer about the many types of video production there are and to encourage the small business owners involvement in deciphering what sort of video production they most require.
Deciding what type of video production to produce is accomplished by defining what the video’s intention is.
In other words if you’ve a premises or venue, chances are your prospects want and need a ‘virtual tour’. If you’re selling a product then a simple ‘product demo’ is probably best. If you’re selling an annual event, like a fundraiser for a non-profit, then you’ll want to feature the photos from last years happening as well as how the funds raised were put to use.
‘Video Is The Most Cost Effective Marketing Tool In The World.’
PLANNING THE SLIDE SHOW VIDEO: ( 60−90 sec if you include content of text )
When possible begin with at least 10-15 professional standard photographs. It’s important to know the difference between taking a ‘snapshot’ and a purposely shot ‘photograph.’
The snapshot is usually a spontaneous picture grabbed to capture the mood of the moment.
A purposely shot photograph is focused on a single subject, which is well lit and is framed with intention.
I don’t mean, ‘framed and hanging on a wall’, I mean there are not two subjects in the photo…there aren’t other ‘things’ around the edges of the pictures border. It is taken with intention. It says one thing – makes only one comment and it focuses your attention.
WHY HIRE A PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER
Hiring a professional photographer is one of the wisest investments you can make. Photographers specialize just like videographers do. For that matter they specialize as does any recognizable trade or profession. If you want excellent shots of your premises or venue don’t hire a wedding photographer..hire an architectural photographer and visa-verse. The photographer who shoots products has a whole different set of tools n’ tricks of the trade
It’s just common sense. – believe me, as someone who’s been a videographer, a photographer, has directed shoots, staged them, scripted them, you can take it to the bank that each and every area that involves still photography and videography is specialized.
Photographers usually use editing software to add spiff n’ sparkle to your photographs and this addition cannot be underestimated. They take good photographs and make them great. They can take a static statement and spin it into an unforgettable sentiment. The stunning photographic portfolio that a professional can provide you with is, in short, priceless.
THE INDELIBLE MARK LEFT BY THE FIRST IMPRESSION:
The very best thing any small business owner can ever do is to remember that when you’re meeting your prospect for the first time online – you’re giving them their first impression of you & your company. Think about it. They’re not in front of you – they’re online. What they see and hear on your website or video posted in social media, is what they get…and for that moment, it’s the only thing they get.
Now here’s the best and the worst part of that fact: You cannot erase that impression.
Unless your online presence scored successfully the first time, that ‘net surfer’ that stumbled upon you may never visit your website or social media again. If you get them in front of you or to your actual place of business., you may be able to alter or modify that impression, but what are the chances of that happening? That’s why I assert, and can prove:
‘Video Is The Most Cost Effective Marketing Tool In The World.’
One of the other points I feel is often set aside but shouldn’t be, is that the client or customer always needs to have the sale ‘closed’ again..and again. As a consumer of your product or service, they’re your invaluable promoter. Having to pay for that advertising could be very spendy!
A video that truly reflects your business is something that your customers could send to their friends, family & colleagues. If they posted your video onto their Facebook page consider the worth of that exposure. We would all do well to remember:
“A bird in hand” still has two wings.They can fly away or be encouraged to stay!
They’re your customer and they’re eating from your hand In this instance, think of video production as thoughtful, strategic, customer care. I believe that if we could actually calculate how it cost us to win a prospect over to a customer, we’d probably not only send them flowers or a beefy discount coupon every once in awhile, but if we could maintain that customer, we could afford to treat them with monetary discounts or gifts. We spend so much money wooing the next client and far too little keeping the one we have.
The 2 Types Of Video Slide Shows & Dozens Of Ways To Produce Each Of Them:
- -by using only still photographs and text or voice over narrative with music OR;
- -by combining stills & video footage with the above;
Either of these are excellent choices for promoting your business.
The advantage of combining video footage with stagnant stills is obvious. Movement allows you greater scope for generating a mood or establishing an ambiance. Video footage is not, however, required to make a good video slide show.
There are many free software templates and online tools to assist you in making an attractive video. The only drawback is that they usually don’t give you as much control as you may need to engage and instruct your prospect and steer towards closing the sale.
Before you begin to even select the photos you want to use think about exactly what you’re saying with them – don’t just put any photograph into your video slide show.
Video production is a sales tool. What are you selling?
- -make a list of everything you want to say in a 60-90 sec. video commercial.
- -once you have your list use it to create a piechart
- – and use it as a visual aid to help you decide what to most emphasize in your video
then let the other features you want to present be secondary to that major focus. Get just one thing into focus and let everything else frame that one ‘thing’ subject, etc. This process also helps you to organize what should appear first in the video production and what should follow on. If you want to determine the importance of this, notice your own reactions or responses to the videos you watch online. How many of them do you watch thru to the end and why?
‘Video Is The Most Cost Effective Marketing Tool In The World’
Sometimes this is an easy process and sometimes it’s a very difficult one. The onlooker, the outsider will be of more help than you can imagine. Owning our own business does not necessarily make us the best person to decide what the video production should be.
You can poll your current customers, interview them about what they most appreciate about your business as well as anything they wish you’d add to your offering. Think of it as a simple ‘supply & demand’ statement. Let it guide you in developing your video production. That’s one of the most useful points to keep in mind while you do your research.
By now, you may be thinking that hiring a professional video producer is a good idea. Well, I say, maybe it is and maybe it’s not! Going thru this process is a very interesting journey and I’ve never seen it yield anything but food for thought and fodder for running a better business… so going thru the process is a fruitful thing to do.
It takes patience and planning. What I’ve described in these paragraphs will give you what could simply be termed a ‘shooting script’. Call it a plan, a guide.
It’s like a ‘business plan’ for a video production!
A business plan, providing it’s a good one, is very effective when it’s executed. Here’s the way Thomas Edison put it: “Vision without execution is a hallucination.”
VIDEO SLIDE SHOWS THAT INCLUDE FOOTAGE
Adding a bit of footage can make the whole piece seem like it’s a custom shot video.
I’m not just staging an opportunity to play into my company’s name, but the actual images can be seen as ‘fact’ and the moving footage as ‘fable’, here’s why:
-the stills are factual – they portray pure fact while the moving footage can evoke ‘fable’ the mood in story telling. This style of production is very affordable if you allow the video production house to use their stock footage.
Fact & Fable Productions, for example, has hundreds of video clips as well as royalty free stills and musical tracks. We can even use our ‘generic’ stills to craft you a video sales tool!
Choosing photos and footage that generically reflect your industry is definitely the most affordable and professional video production available. It offers a variety of advantages:
- -you don’t add the costs customarily associated with onsite shooting
- -it takes less time to complete since it’s edited from existing professional stock;
- -the stock photography, video footage, and sound tracks are all professional.
When the right choice of video is produce in the correct way and then launched to push traffic to your site or embed it on your website to pull traffic to your online store, you’ll never ever again question the comparative minimal costs involved in video production.
We have entry level videos beginning @ $249 – and these videos are not cheap shots! LOL They work – they are video productions that are designed to sell products and services.
We hope you’ll give us chance to serve you up a video! Give us a call and let’s at least discuss a few options.