Top three things to do with video to build your business

I was speaking with a colleague during the break about the real advantage to using video from a corporate perspective. We came up with a number of good applications that we had seen throughout the years and then really boiled them down to three really good uses for video on a corporate level:

In a truly Lettermaesque fashion:

3) Use video to capture training, annual meetings and corporate events. This footage is gold when it comes to HR uses, staff-motivational moments, and for use on your website/corporate DVD.

2) Showing off exactly what your business does. Is it hard to explain? Well, real footage of what you do speaks volumes. How you do it, and what the client can expect are really helpful in the selling process of any business.

And the number one thing your company should do with video....

1) Introduce the people who are your managers, customer relations personnel, and executive and put a face to the brand that is your company.

Of course, there are many, many other uses (Product Catalogues, Commercials, Weekly News Updates....the list goes on and on). However, the basis for using video as a business is really easily boiled down to these "top three".

I would recommend that you call us to talk about how to use corporate videos to enhance your business and build profits.

Is Technology going to sacrifice the art of video and film?

If you follow the Official Google blog about the future of video you will not get much to read. Essentially, their opinion is that video online in the future will "become more ubiquitous than ever" due to the constantly falling price of the technology required to capture and edit video. "Consumers will become creators". These guys have not seen the video my dad shoots. Good luck keeping your head if he's behind the camera.

While I do agree with this sentiment, I don't think that more people shooting and editing video will replace good judgment of what is good content and what is not. More out there simply means more to pick through to get to what you want. The 500 channel universe is already showing us that. Now multiply that by a half-billion content providers... sure you content choices are limitless at that point, but really who wants to wade through a bunch of targeted, home-made shows about whatever? It seems unlikely.

On the other hand... video will most likely become more "ubiquitous" than you can imagine in places like community information site, educational online offerings, and even within affinity groups as I have mentioned before in this blog. Will it replace compelling, high-quality programming and content? No. It will simply drive it into a pay-per-play business space that filters out the garbage and subscribes you to the programming you want for entertainment.

Yes, technology makes creating video more accessible. Yes, technology is making new ways to make video look cool much easier. Yes, technology is bringing down the cost...until you want to watch something dramatic, something epic, or even just content that required sets you will find yourself yearning for real entertainment-budget content.

Sorry, Joe Video Camera, your name in lights is still far, far in the distance.

I am just wrapping. Tell me your thoughts.

Mike Wixson

RedFish Studios

mike@redfishentertainment.com

(Please remember your local food bank)

Video in a new corporate era

There is no doubt about it, the landscape of communications has changed; video has become a perfect medium for getting your message to a targeted audience at the lowest cost.

With the advent of streaming video (video that arrives seamlessly to most computers around the world); video being used on a corporate level has changed and become elevated with each day that passes.

From a place where only badly-synced video live from the floor of a convention was the initial bar to which we all set our expectations; corporate video online now has graduated to multi-camera shoots which can switch pre-produced video and even include animation, graphics and animated still imagery.

Where once corporate videos online were a way of showing how advanced your company is with communicating; now using video to train employees remotely, test the skills of students, and even incorporate multiple locations simultaneously in the same broadcast are very much a part of the plan companies of all sizes are implementing.

What is next? Communications specialists are always on the look out for where the future of this kind of outreach is headed, and to this point the future seems to have arrived with greater speed than anyone had planned. The future of video online includes the obvious one: video on demand programming that reaches beyond our personal lives. Companies will begin to broadcast daily to keep staff "in the loop". Big corporations will produce their own mass-appeal content because traditional means of broadcast will no longer have enough reach or sell-through. We will be trained, tested, and vetted as employees through online-remote training that is ongoing and meaningful compared to long, boring meetings.

The future is almost here. In fact, it is. Already the search engines are being altered to find good, relatable video content. SEO as an industry is now focused on what video does to put you in the lead on the web. Marketing firms are now creating commercials and content that reaches only online video audiences.

How do you get caught up on the trend that will not slow down? Take the time to find out what your options are and how you can incorporate video into your website, your corporate culture, and your future outreach campaigns.

Don't just tell us about your company. Show us.