#1 – Be brief
Make your point quickly. You have 2 to 3 minutes to get your message across, especially with high-level executives.  Remember that your goal is not to squeeze information about every detail of your product or service into those 2 or 3 minutes, but to grab the viewer’s interest to the point to where they want to learn more.  Chances are that if the viewer is not impressed with this first impression, he/she will move on to something else.

#2 – Use the right talent
Whether it is the head of the company, a company spokesperson, or a paid actor, the decision about who should be the on-camera talent is made based on who will create the best image for your company, in addition to carrying a basic message. What image do you want to create?  Depending on the industry, you may want to create an image of stability, sophistication, or cutting-edge technology.  Or maybe, what you need is an image of a young, vibrant, and creative company, or a conservative, experienced organization.  Your video is your opportunity to control that message.

# 3- Quality counts
Maybe your viewers don’t know exactly what makes a quality video, but they can perceive the difference between professional quality and one that just looks cheap.  Remember, this is your image.  So, think twice before cutting corners.  A quality video is not the most expensive you can produce, but one where you have used your resources strategically, making it a piece that reflects the qualities of your business.

# 4 – Be consistent
Everything associated with your business should have a common theme or feeling to it.  Your video, like any other marketing piece, should present a consistent message about your image, as well as the features, benefits and qualities of your product or service.  This consistency will give you a better chance at establishing your brand in the marketplace.

# 5 – Promote, promote, promote
Having the best video in the world only helps your marketing efforts if you USE IT.  With the new interactive media, now it is easier than ever to do.  Share it with your friends, coworkers, professional connections, use it for your presentations, put it on your website, publish it on YouTube.  The options are at your fingertips and endless.

Historically, video has been used by businesses and organizations to implement training programs, as well as creating sales and marketing tools.  Video is still used for such purposes.  The only difference now is that, with the technology innovation, the possibilities to reach an audience are almost infinite, making video an even more powerful tool.

The popularization of smart phones, tablets, better computers and the availability of faster telecommunications as well as new avenues of communication – such as social media sites – have created a new culture of communicating.  People now want to learn about new things through the Internet, and they also want to “share” their experiences with huge audiences (their online friends and connections) instantly.

It has been said by some experts that the U.S. online audience is expected to grow to 190 million people by 1012.   Additionally, 88% of the entire online audience is actively seeking out multimedia messaging in all forms…and I am one of them.

Not very long ago, I had the need to buy software to create storyboards for our video projects.  So I started to research on the Internet for available options.  There were so many websites, but just one of them had videos with demos of how good and easy the product is to use.  Actually, many of the other software companies offered a free demo for download while this company did not.  But after watching the video demos, the testimonials and the videos of the people who created the software, I was convinced and ready to buy the product.  And when I purchased the software, it was exactly what I expected to be.

Imagine having the ability of starting a client relationship even before meeting the client.  By the time the client finds you, he needs a reason to believe your company will fulfill his/her expectations.  Video allows the client to find out more about your products and the REAL people who runs the company.  Compare it to a company who just offers a website with lots of text and a few pictures, or maybe a brochure.  Not very engaging, is it?  With video you have the ability to convey more information in less time.  People will also retain more information just because more senses are involved.

And here is more good news:  a well-constructed video creates a bond with the viewing audience.  A happy and impressed customer will volunteer to become your sales agent – for FREE.  Apple Computer is the perfect example of this.  Apple users love the product and cannot wait for their videos showing the new product features to be released.  Even better, Apple users cannot wait to share these videos with potential new Apple customers.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  For example, a properly tagged video can generate lots of traffic to your website, which in turn will be picked up by the search engines and give you a better ranking every time someone does a search for your product.  You can also re-purpose your video for multiple uses.  A video presentation that you created for a conference, can easily be added to your website, shared on all of your social media sites, added to an e-mail campaign and uploaded to YouTube.  The result is that you are reaching a much larger audience.

There are so many potential positive effects of using video in your business that you should be asking yourself:  why am I not doing this yet?

Audio-visual support is one of those areas where you can spend your event money really fast.  And that’s fine, as long as you are getting all of the services and equipment to put together an exciting, memorable meeting.

These are a few points you should consider when choosing your Video Production / Audio Visual company for your event:

-       Event logistic support: Audio Visual logistics are a huge part of the entire event planning.  Creative graphics support, scripting and directing the show are some of the key services your Audio Visual provider should give you for the money you are already spending.  A sign that you have hired a quality production company is that they take care of things like having an experienced director who will make sure that the graphics and video are in the right place at the right time. Or that they provide you and the production team with a technical script, describing what should happen at every moment of the program and who is taking care of it.  There should be no fires for you to put up.  As a result, your stress levels are much lower and you are able to focus on other aspects of the event.

-       Video Production: So, you have a couple of big screens and projectors.  What is projected to those screens in between your videos and power points?  A blank screen does not look very professional, and it is not your job to have to point out these kinds of details.  The ideal situation is to have a Production company that is capable of producing both the professional videos and graphics for your screens as well as providing the necessary sound, lighting, and staging for your event.

-       Personnel / venue management: Your video production company should be able to offer sound advice when you are negotiating a venue for your event. Things like electrical charges, rigging charges and venue personnel needed sometimes are higher than they should and you may be missing a better deal if you don’t take advantage of your producer’s experience.

-       Professional equipment: If you are paying top dollar for rental equipment (and you are), you should get professional equipment.  There is a big difference between a consumer camera and a broadcast quality professional camera, for example.  When you get your proposals, do your homework and find out who is giving you what.

-       There is no such thing as FREE: Beware of those deals where the vendor offers you something for “free”.  Chances are that they are hiding some overcharge somewhere.  Don’t let that magic word get you emotional.  Step back and look at the overall picture.  There may be another proposal that is not offering you any freebies but, overall, they may be offering you a better value and even a better price.

A few weeks ago I had a client’s call asking me for a quote to make some changes to a series of web videos we made for them in the spring of 2010.  They said they had changed the logo and needed the videos to be updated as well.

Changing the logo involved re-creating around 20 animated graphics and re-editing three or four original segments with on-camera talent.  All was doable in a relatively short amount of time and about 20% of the cost of the original production.  Makes sense right?

A few more weeks passed and they had not moved forward with the changes.  When I called them to follow up, I found out why.  Not only they had a logo change, but , the company is undergoing a much bigger transformation.  From the marketing perspective they are actually re-doing the entire website, changing their message to the customer and tweaking their product.  This is no longer a matter of changing a logo here and there.

At this point, a video production “patch work” to remove the content that no longer reflects the new product (voice over, graphics, etc) would be entirely too time consuming, not to mention expensive.  It involves doing script changes, hiring the talent and crew to record the new content and expending extra time manipulating the new and old footage to make them look like they were shot at the same time – just to mention a few details.  And at the end of the day, if everything goes perfect, it seems like there would be a feeling that the videos resemble the old version, but just with some new content.

As a Small Pond Video Producer, I will recommend the client use all of those resources to create a new set of videos that reflect exactly the new company direction and product.  In this case, the previous ones had already fulfilled their task successfully.  Chances are that the Company will get their message across more clearly and consistently if a new, totally fresh piece is created.

Well… it depends. How about getting up one day and deciding you want a new car.  How much is it?  Again… it depends!  If you want a Ford Focus that would certainly be more affordable than a Lexus.  But the questions won’t stop there:  Do you want the sports package?  Do you want the sports wheels?  How about a nice premium sound system?  The list of items available to upgrade your car can be very long.

And, what does this have to do with video?  It is actually very similar.  Once you decide that you need a professional video, be ready to answer some questions:

• How are you going to use it?  The talent cost is different – for example – if you are going to use your video on the web or if you are going to broadcast a commercial.
• Is your video production company providing the creative concept, scripting, capturing the video and editing?  A professional video production company should be able to provide all of these services.  You may use some or all of them, depending on your budget and your ability.
• What kind of look do you want?  A good video is not necessarily complicated.  However if you must have a story board, animated graphics, green screen effects and many other visual elements that make the video look more elaborate, be prepared to pay for the additional time, resources and talent that takes to create it.
• Do you need High Definition or Standard Definition?

A true video professional would have answers to these questions and more, but more importantly, they should be prepared to advise you on how you can get the best value for your money.  That is the mark of a good video production company!