Video Pro Secret #2: Sound quality is even more important than video quality
GUEST POST
2nd Installment By Jay Carter, Beyond Measure Media
This post is borrowed from BeyondMeasureMedia.com
Last time, we explored why the story your video tells is so important, and how a great video will always pass the “I Should Certainly Hope So” test.
Today, we reveal the Secret #2: Sound quality. While video quality can go a long way toward telling a clear and compelling video story, I think sound quality is even more important.
Bad Video Happens
Most (honest) professional videographers have a war story or two. Memories of a time they really blew it behind the camera, especially at the beginning of their career.
Hey, stuff happens – out-of-focus interviews, a bright-blue shot of what is supposed to be a white wall, an accidental jerk of the camera away from the action.
But even in the face of those kinds of video mistakes, there are usually ways of correcting or covering those flaws and recovering what could still turn out to be a decent video.
But sound? You really can’t screw that up.
Mess up on the sound, and your video is most likely dead in the water.
Here’s a good example:
Watch (and listen) to the two short interview clips below.
Clip #1: Bad Sound Quality
The sound you’re hearing in this first clip above came from the onboard mic that was attached to the camera.
It sounds like the subject is talking into a microphone that was located across the room, because that’s exactly what was happening.
The too-lengthy distance between the person on camera and the microphone is the biggest reason why many videos recorded on smart phones often appear less than professional.
Listening to a person who sounds far away makes the viewer feel far away. It causes their attention to wane. Rather than taking the viewer on a journey, bad sound reinforces that they’re just watching a video – a video that is annoyingly hard to hear and understand.
Now compare that to clip number two below.
Clip #2: Good Sound Quality
In this second clip the audio is recorded from a lavaliere microphone clipped to the subject’s collar.
This simple improvement in sound quality changes everything.
Despite the fact that this is a poorly-lit shot, despite the fact that there is no depth to the shot, it’s still (mostly) usable in a video, particularly if we’re only using a quick clip of the interview.
Professional-Sounding Video
For the interviews we shoot – and even for b-roll footage of people doing things – we use a wireless Sennheiser lavaliere microphone to pick up deep, rich audio.
There are even lav mics available these days that can attach to your smart phone, delivering a richer and more professional sound quality than what most smart phone video cameras can deliver by themselves.
But isn’t just about making your video “sound professional.” It’s deeper than that.
Sound quality can make a viewer pay closer attention to the on-camera speaker. It can make the entire experience sound (and thus, feel) more intimate.
More than fancy lighting, more than stunning panoramic images, more than pretty much anything else, a rich quality sound can pull a viewer into the story being told on a screen.
In the next post, we’ll uncover our third secret for creating powerful videos – a secret tool I personally use on nearly every project I produce to “dial up” the emotional impact of an interview.
Also, if you’re in the Portland, Oregon area, stay tuned for Part 2 of “Pro Secrets for Making Great Videos” in November.
Jay Carter is a former Texas TV news anchor and reporter, with numerous awards from the Associated Press and the Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in broadcast storytelling. He has worked as a radio news anchor and voiceover talent. He works with his wife and business partner, Michele Kim Carter, at Beyond Measure Media creating video stories and testimonials for businesses and nonprofits.
A note from AM:PM PR
According to Google, in 2016, more video content will be uploaded in 30 days than all three major U.S. T.V. networks combined have created in 30 years and a Cisco forecast report predicts online video will be responsible for 80% of internet traffic by 2019.
Video is the quickest way to influence an audience and the most effective tool for telling complicated stories. In an age with so much content coming coming at us, video can also be the easiest tool for learning new things.
We see video as a powerful communications tool and regularly recommend it to clients.
A decade ago, businesses struggled to understand social networking and some doubted its value or predicted it a fad and fell behind their competition. Today, video is the tool every organization should include in their marketing plans.
Here’s a great source for on using video for business: By 2019, Video Marketing Will Be Everything. You’ve Got to Get in on the Trend — Now.
Does Your Video Pass the “I Should Certainly Hope So” Test?
GUEST POST
By Jay Carter, Beyond Measure Media
This post is borrowed from BeyondMeasureMedia.com
I have to admit, I was a little nervous when the team at AM:PM PR asked us to come into their office to present our “pro secrets for making powerful videos.”
As a video production professional, the truth is, I was afraid to share with a large group of people just how simple creating powerful videos can be.
As a buddy of mine likes to say, “this ain’t rocket surgery.”
There is, of course, a certain level of knowledge that is required to capture “pro-level” images. But I think even the most clumsy, inexperienced videographers will have a huge edge if they’re an innately good storyteller.
Strip away all the fancy bells and whistles of video production, and what you’re really left with is a deceptively simple form of communication with an extraordinary ability to connect people with the largest numbers of other, like-minded people.
Video Moves Mountains
Video is, hands-down, the most powerful form of leverage I have ever seen when it comes to marketing. It can move mountains.
It can motivate large numbers of viewers to take action. Seeing those kinds of results is the part of my job I love most.
We were recently invited by AM:PM Public Relations in Portland, Oregon to present some ideas in their regular series of “Speakeasy” events.
Afterward, they asked me to share a series of blog posts re-capping the list we shared in part 1 of our two-part discussion.
Here now, is secret number one.
Secret #1: Story is Everything
Now, hang with me here. You might think this “pro secret” is a bit obvious.
So let’s imagine you’re about to produce your very first video about your business or organization.
What would be in the video?
What would you say to the camera?
What facts or elements would make it into the video, and what would be left on the cutting room floor?
Most first-time video makers tend to emphasize “features” over story. That is, they feel their video must be a comprehensive list of all the features and services of their business. And that could be a bad idea.
Story Beats Statistics
Why? Because story beats statistics.
Telling a story will engage an audience much more effectively than if you were to present a list of your company or organization’s features or services.
There’s an undeniable correlation between the quality of the story told in your video and how effective it will be in getting the result you want.
So let’s really dig into what this means: If we deconstruct the most powerful videos that are out there, they all seem to pass one basic test: It’s what I call the “I-Should-Certainly-Hope-So” Test.
Specifically, if someone who is watching your video is able to respond to what is being said in the video with, “Well, I should certainly hope so!,” then the video just might be a ‘fail.’
This is one of the biggest mistakes businesses make when creating their first video.
Watch this quick video to see how I explained the “I-Should-Certainly-Hope-So” test to the Speakeasy guests at AM:PM.
In my next post, I’ll share Pro Secret #2: Forget what camera you’re using; there’s a whole other – and often forgotten – technical part of your video that can make or break it.
Also, if you’re in the Portland, Oregon area, stay tuned for Part 2 of “Pro Secrets for Making Great Videos” in November.
Jay Carter is a former Texas TV news anchor and reporter, with numerous awards from the Associated Press and the Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in broadcast storytelling. He has worked as a radio news anchor and voiceover talent. He works with his wife and business partner, Michele Kim Carter, at Beyond Measure Media creating video stories and testimonials for businesses and nonprofits.
Oregon Militia PR Tactics and Blunders – AM:PM PR’s Mike Phillips in The Guardian
If you want to be quoted, say something colorful.
(Reposted from The Guardian – January 13, 2016)
The Oregon militia’s bizarre PR tactics – from dildos to Facebook videos
Militiamen have attracted media coverage while occupying the Malheur wildlife refuge, but their disjointed social media messages have ‘created a big mess’
by Sam Levin
The armed militiamen occupying a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon have increasingly turned to a different weapon in their fight: social media.
Militia leader Ammon Bundy and his rightwing followers, who have been stationed at the headquarters of the Malheur national wildlife refuge since 2 January, have used Facebook, YouTube and live-stream videos to get their message out directly to the public and to call on anti-government activists to support their cause.
In the process, they’ve attracted significant media coverage from across the globe while also holding daily press briefings at the entrance to the refuge that draw huge crowds of hungry reporters each morning.
But their public relations strategy has repeatedly suffered from bizarre self-aggrandizing videos that rogue militiamen continue to post to their followers. The steady feed of rambling selfie videos have prompted widespread mockery and scorn and in some cases have clearly further distracted from the plight of Harney County ranchers whom the militia claim to be backing.
Most recently, militiaman Jon Ritzheimer, the prominent anti-Islam activist from Arizona, posted a Facebook video of himself opening hate mail sent to the refuge, including a box filled with dildos. “It’s really ridiculous. This one was really funny – a bag of dicks,” he said in the video before angrily shoving a bunch of packages off the table. “They just spend all their money on hate, hate, hate, hate!” he shouted.
The episode made the rounds on social media this week and became the subject of many gifs.
And on Tuesday, Oregon Public Broadcasting uncovered a video from an occupier named David Fry from Ohio, who filmed himself using government computers at the compound to create an “Oregon standoff” website.
The videos are the latest in a series of social media messages from numerous members of the Bundy bunch – footage that often captures long-winded and sometimes incoherent speeches that, at the very least, draw further support within rightwing online communities. They may have learned some lessons about how to garner consistent national news coverage from the standoff with the federal government in 2014, which was led by Ammon’s father, Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher.
But marketing and communications experts in Oregon who have closely followed the standoff, which has caused a major backlash in the nearby town of Burns, said the militia’s PR tactics were disjointed and chaotic and were only breeding further resentment from the people they purport to be helping.
“If they are trying to get America to pay attention to the grievances they have with federal laws, they are losing that battle,” said Mike Phillips, a public relations specialist with Portland firm AM:PM. “They do not have an effective spokesperson. Having so many people involved and so many people creating their own messaging on their own platforms … they’ve just created a big mess.”
Phillips pointed to Ritzheimer’s video as a clear example of how the militiamen were doing a poor job of drawing attention to complaints about the overreach of the federal government.
“He should not be a spokesperson,” Phillips said. “He’s created a huge distraction … and opened up an avenue for the media to pay attention to that. He’s also opened the door to receive more bags of dicks. It’s just kind of a cluster of craziness.”
At the very least, the use of social media has ramped up support within various conservative militia organizations and so-called “patriot” groups, which may be why more activists continue to flock to the occupation from across the country.
“There’s a significant amount of people in this movement using technologies to communicate with one another. It’s effective for that very small proportion of people,” Phillips said. “It’s probably a good technique to reach out to their core audience.”
The militia’s latest PR move was to announce a meeting in town on Friday, which will be the first time the militiamen leave the compound and formally meet with Burns residents. Given the huge pushback against the occupation from Harney County officials, the meeting is likely to further escalate tensions and draw more media attention to the questionable tactics of the militia.
“If they were going to do this over again, they probably would’ve been better served by building more of a coalition on the ground,” said Ward Hubbell, another public relations specialist based in Portland. “They didn’t really get permission from any stakeholders there to represent their interests.”
Alex Rogers featured at Oregon Business Magazine
The High Road
(reposted from Oregon Business Magazine – November/December 2015)
As CEO and owner of five different cannabis-related businesses generating a total net revenue of $2 million, Alex Rogers could sit back and ride the lucrative wave of Oregon’s burgeoning pot industry. But more than a pot entrepreneur, Rogers, 44, is firstly a marijuana activist. Since his incarceration in Berlin in 2009 for possession of marijuana, Rogers has dedicated his life to tuning in, turning on and changing the system from within. He has created two clinics, Ashland Alternative Health in Ashland and Northwest Alternative Health in Eugene, which issue medical-marijuana cards to over 6,000 patients a year. He also started the Oregon Medical Marijuana Business Conference, the International Cannabis Business Conference and the website MarijuanaPolitics.com with a goal toward education and decriminalization. Rogers discusses growth, trends and Southern Oregon’s ganja gangster reputation.
photo credit: Oregon Business Magazine
You keep a lean empire
I only have 10 employees and a handful of independent contractors for the whole business. Most of them have worked for me for years. I pay them really well because it’s quality, not quantity. I’d rather have one star and pay that person well, because it’s good for the business.
Your two clinics help people obtain medical-marijuana cards but don’t dispense.
I would love to be a purveyor of cannabis, but I’m threatened because it’s still illegal federally. I went to prison in Germany and know the horrors of what can happen if you fall on the wrong side of the war on drugs. So just like the Gold Rush in California, there were the people who mined for gold and the people who sold the picks and axes. I’m selling the picks and axes.
How will recreational sales affect your card-issuing business?
My card business is booming! There are so many restrictions on recreational marijuana that it is pushing more people to get their cards. Cards will still be attractive because cannabis will not be taxed for medical use, and a card holder is allowed to grow and possess a lot more.
You also put on marijuana events. Why did you get into that line?
I have been doing events for 20 years. After the medical dispensary laws passed a few years ago, I saw a need for the community to receive good, clear information about the changes in the law. Each event changes according to the new laws. They’re attended by growers, investors, processors, retail folks and folks who have not traditionally been in the cannabis space, who want to be part of a burgeoning industry. About half of my $2 million yearly revenue comes from these events.
What differentiates your pot conferences and expos from all the others?
People are jumping on the bandwagon, but there’s no conference like mine. If I’m going to make people sit at the edge of their seat for two days, I have to be great at keeping their attention. I get fun, dynamic, engaging speakers like Andrew Sullivan; Dr. Carl Hart, known for his research in drug addiction and abuse; and Rick Steves. I’ll also throw in a free event like a concert.
Where are the growth sectors in this industry?
Value-added products are trending so fast, it’s insane. A strain is a strain is a strain, and it will be as good as the grower, but when you take that marijuana and turn it into something — a tincture, a pizza sauce, a lotion, syrup or pill — then you can brand that product and build loyalty. The challenge is everything has to be vertically integrated. So if you create a successful brand in Oregon and you want to bring it to another state, you have to vertically integrate in the state. You can’t make the product in Oregon, warehouse it in Colorado and sell it in Washington. That’s prohibited. I’m not boohoo-ing here; I don’t see these things as barriers. I see them as bumps. Still, I think the rules should change because that would be good and safe for society.
Are any other industries benefiting?
Sure. The people who make the glass cases for dispensaries are busy. And the CO2 machines that extract cannabis oil are impossible to buy right now. Even my website, MarijuanaPolitics.com, sees 250,000 people a month, so I’m trying to come up with different ways to monetize it. I’m selling ad space, but I’m also doing other nontraditional things that I don’t want to talk about yet.
President Obama made it clear that the government wouldn’t interfere with state-sanctioned marijuana. But what about the next president?
Regime change is always going to be a factor. But look at all of the money that’s being generated. Even if there’s a change at the top and the new person in charge is against the cannabis business, it would be hard to deny Colorado or Washington all of that new tax money. If you tried to take away $100 million in tax revenue, you would be looking at a civil uprising.
You feel strongly about decriminalizing marijuana.
I think we should decriminalize all drugs. The philosophy of prohibition just doesn’t work. Criminalizing just adds to its allure and creates more crime. I’m an activist at heart. I wouldn’t push a policy that doesn’t benefit the whole community. That’s what separates our business from others in the industry. We’re astute business folks for sure, but we’re also freedom fighters, fighting for liberty and the American Dream. We see legal cannabis as fueling a new age.
That’s a big goal…
I’ve been an activist for 20 years. We thought the whole world was going to be different, like Star Trek. But it’s been usurped by the “American business model,” and you’re a [wimp] if you think about treating people in an egalitarian way. Unfortunately, that’s the American business narrative. For the piece we control, we’re into human rights and respect, and the money is secondary.
What part does Southern Oregon play in this narrative?
Everyone thinks that Southern Oregon is filled with ganja gangsters. That’s the rap we get, whether it’s true or not. But when medical marijuana was legalized, I saw “outlaw” growers come out of the closet. The minute they had the chance, hardworking family farmers became part of the legal system. They’re paying taxes and it’s heartening to see.
This is about empowering the small family farmer; it’s about liberty. There are lobbying forces from Portland and beyond that want to take the small business owner out, and monopolize everything. When Measure 91 came out, it was $1,000 for a license; now they want it to be more than $10,000. That’s too much for a small farmer. That’s evil greed.
Some Oregon cities and counties are opting out of recreational marijuana. What does that mean for them?
Places that opt out are missing the chance to create public policy in their community that’s congruent with what’s going on in their community. People use pot. Medical marijuana is thriving. They are missing the chance for a safer, more productive community. And they will miss the tax revenue for sure.
Where do you see the marijuana business in Oregon’s economy?
We have a great opportunity in Oregon to capitalize on this new legal industry before other states follow (which they will). We can capitalize on tourism and out-of-state folks coming here to indulge in something they could only dream about being legal in their respective states.
PR PARFAIT REPOST: PR Pro Spotlight – Pat McCormick
U of O senior and Allen Hall PR Account Supervisor, Kati VanLoo, interviewed Pat McCormick for her blog – PR Parfait. We’re reposting and giving Kati two thumbs up.
By Kati VanLoo
Published March 11, 2015
I was thrilled to have the opportunity to interview AM:PM PR Partner Pat McCormick. A communication pro with over 40 years of experience in issue management, Pat knows the ins and outs of the public relations industry. Now he spends his days at the Portland agency with his daughter Allison McCormick and other team members navigating the PR needs of their clients. Here’s some insight he provided on the industry and advice for those of us just venturing out into the job market.
Photo from The Portland Business Journal’s “Cool Spaces” feature May 23, 2014
How did AM:PM PR come to be?
My daughter Allison worked for me at a PR agency in Salem for fifteen of the twenty years that I was there. In the final five years she was there, she helped with more consumer-facing PR. The young professionals were really having an impact on how everybody was communicating. It made it really clear how difficult the evolution is in our business. It personally excited me to be working at a time when there was so much change going on. When I could have retired, I talked to Allison about starting this business to continue to be a part of what’s changing.
How are young PR professionals impacting the industry?
Young professionals come into the workplace now with a sense of the currency of what’s going on. There’s a type of reverse coaching that comes from young professionals today because there are ways they grew up communicating that are different from the way older practitioners communicate. This generation also comes into the workplace in a little bit of a different fashion than, say, the Baby Boomer generation. That generation’s young professionals came into the workplace with the notion of “keep your head down; keep quiet.” Young professionals will come in today thinking, “I can contribute today.” It’s energizing in the workplace.
How important are ethics in PR?
I think an important element of PR is adhering to the ethical standards of our business. We want to have credibility, and we want reporters to trust us. The longer you’re in the business, the more you value those standards to not only help guide what you do but also decide what lines those you’re working with may be crossing. Also, we are often called in to help organizational leadership identify how their decisions could impact significant stakeholders of their company. That means sometimes you’re telling a CEO something he doesn’t want to hear, but in order to live up to the standards of our business we have to do that to our best ability. If that means that we have to fire that client when they want to continue making unethical decisions, then we fire that client. There are no long-term benefits to crossing those lines.
What is one challenge you think many PR pros face?
Part of what I think is often overlooked as a significant component to what we do is listening. We have to listen in order to fully understand what they are asking; they may not know enough to know exactly what to ask for. So, we have to listen and help them figure out what it is that they need. It’s really easy to just jump to, “Oh, why don’t you just do that,” without truly understanding what their needs are. Don’t jump too quickly to a solution without fully understanding the problem.
What advice do you have for PR pros in training?
Building a network can’t start too soon. The best available tool right now is LinkedIn. Be hungry for every contact that you make to be a connection on LinkedIn. Include the people you are going to school with; there will be times later on when those connections will give you the opportunity to speak with someone through them. Capitalize on those connections.
What are you looking for in new hires who have just graduated?
Something we look for, which I always credit Kelli Matthews for being the one who helped make possible [at the University of Oregon], is a student who understands the digital platforms. Do they have an online portfolio, a blog, a Twitter feed? What do they like to post, and how active are they? I just like to know they have familiarity with those types of platforms.
Also, we look for the ability to write. Along with being able to write well, journalistic-ally speaking, it’s important to see if the person can identify what’s important and can be clear, concise, and to the point.
I couldn’t have said it better myself – lessons for anyone online
Lessons for Anyone Online: Borrowed from the Washington Post Blog, ComPost:
Amy’s Baking Company vs. The Entire Internet
By Alexandra Petri, Published: May 16, 2013 at 1:28 pmE-mail the writer
If you were, for some bizarre reason, to gather children at my knee and ask me to impart to them the hard-earned wisdom of my years, I know exactly what I would say:
“If you do something stupid on the Internet, children, never, under any circumstances, try to pass it off as a hacking. This just makes you look like someone who has done something stupid on the Internet AND who does not understand how the Internet actually works.”
I would go on to point out that seldom in history has any self-respecting hacker come dashing in and made you look stupider than you were to begin with. Sure, hackers take over news accounts from time to time and release startling tweets about assassinations and cause the stock market to fluctuate. But when it comes to private individuals, no hacker of note has ever gone waltzing in to your account and started firing off sexual innuendos, CAPITALIZED TIRADES or emailed Images You Would Just As Soon Did Not Reach The Public Eye to the more nubile of your followers.
The children would probably have wandered off by this time to seek sandwiches, but they would know I was right. 
Well, if the Anthony Weiner scandal didn’t do it for the hacking excuse, the Amy’s Baking Company meltdown certainly has.
For anyone not familiar with Amy’s Baking Company, this is the most amazing non-news story that has happened all week.
In Scottsdale, Ariz., there is a restaurant so far gone that even Gordon Ramsay’s shouting cannot save it. In fact, its owners so terrified the man behind “Kitchen Nightmares” that he decided to quit working with them rather than endure them any longer.
If you haven’t been in the nooks and corners of the Web where this has been bouncing around, you are missing out. It’s brilliant and unhinged, in the way all things that go truly viral are. First, the “Kitchen Nightmares” episode itself, which features the classic lines from Amy, “We have three little boys but they’re trapped inside cat bodies. They’re cats.” It shows the owners taking the waiters’ tips, berating the customers and insisting that they do not know the kind of food they want, firing the waitstaff, shouting at Gordon Ramsey and completely refusing to accept any criticism of any kind.
Then, if viewers had any nagging fear that this insanity was staged for the cameras, the Facebook page of Amy’s Baking Company lit up with insults, as co-owners Amy and Samy inveighed against all the Web sites where the “online bullies” had given them negative reviews. Most of them are unprintable, but some highlights include: “To all of the Yelpers and Reddits: Bring it on … Come to arizona. you are weaker than my wife, and weaker than me. come to my business. say it to my face. man to man. my wife is a jewel in the desert. you are just trash. reddits and yelpers just working together to bring us down. pathetic.”
“I AM NOT STUPID ALL OF YOU ARE. YOU JUST DO NOT KNOW GOOD FOOD. IT IS NOT UNCOMMON TO RESELL THINGS WALMART DOES NOT MAKE THEIR ELECTRONICS OR TOYS SO LAY OFF!!!!”
As a general rule, if you are the one typing in all caps insisting that everyone else is wrong, they are not wrong.
The couple has been doing this for some time, but suddenly they announced that “Obviously our Facebook, YELP, Twitter and Website have been hacked. We are working with the local authorities as well as the FBI computer crimes unit to ensure this does not happen again. We did not post those horrible things. Thank You Amy&Samy.”
If so, this hacker has an awful lot of spare time and an uncanny ear for dialogue.
The Amy & Samy story is essentially a master-class in How To Lose An Argument on the Internet. The basic steps, for anyone curious:
- TYPE IN ALL CAPS
- Explain that God is on your side.
- Call the other person a rude four-letter, three-letter, five-letter, six-letter, ten-letter, or twelve-letter name.
- Explain that you are right because the other person is an idiot, while misspelling something.
- USE ERRATIC PUNCTUATION OR GRAMMAR WHILE CALLING THE OTHER PERSON STUPID ALSO DO THIS IN ALL CAPS.
- Describe your cats as “little boys in cat bodies” or “little people in cat suits” or “children, but actually cats, but really children” or “non-human children.”
- Refuse to stop arguing.
- When the backlash starts, insist that you were hacked.
They manage to do all of these, in some cases in a single post. They do everything short of comparing someone to Hitler.
Naturally, this has been blowing up online. To call this kicking the hornet’s nest would be an understatement. They poked and poked and poked the hornet’s nest while making disparaging remarks about the hornets’ mothers. No wonder there’s a swarm.
Folks, it’s not the Internet. It’s you.
Video Branding – Guest Post by Mikee Shattuck
Technology and the rise of social networks over the past decade have put practices used by communications professionals in a constant state of flux. It’s admittedly difficult for organizations to determine which tactics will elicit the greatest return on their marketing investment and it’s common for many small business owners to overlook opportunities that are actually within their budget.
Video is often overlooked due to what is perceived or imagined to be extraordinary costs. However, due to recent improvements and cost reductions in camera and software technology, you can now produce a slick video for a fraction of the price. When coupled with developments in e-newsletter and social media technology, your return on investment with video starts looking pretty good.
Benefits of Video
Brand Personality
Video offers a way to put a personality or personal face on your business, which in turn allows you or your business to connect with prospective customers on a “real” level, if that makes sense.
Demonstration
You can use video to communicate directly to your target audience or to demonstrate: how to use a product, new ideas, your areas of expertise, or the practicality or application of a new product or idea.
Virality
When coupled with social media, a thoughtful and creative video can be shared among audiences through various social media channels – which can actually make it it one of the most measurable marketing tactics too. In Software Advice‘s recent B2B Demand Generation Benchmark Survey for 2012 video was shown to be one of the most successful ways to generate engagement through content.
Video is Popular
Some crazy facts:
- YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine.
- More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month
- Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
- 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
- 25% of global YouTube views come from mobile devices
Speed and Simplicity
Finally, video is easy for your end user: your target audience. Unlike a well-written essay that requires your target audience to spend 5-10 minutes of brain power to read and digest, a thoughtful video can get your messaging across in less than a minute.
Video doesn’t have to be expensive or take a lot of time to produce, but it does have to be well planned and shot as thoughtfully as possible. Hiring a video producer will help to amplify online campaigns and may share insight and personal connections to your audience in a manner that is hard to reproduce otherwise.
Mikee Shattuck is a Portland, Oregon native with over 10 years of marketing and advertising experience. He offers quality and efficient video production service for an insanely affordable value. Mikee can be reached at: http://www.mikeeshattuck.com
Check out examples of Mikee’s work:
BioLite CampStove from Mikee Shattuck on Vimeo.
Dick Hannah Service Xpress from Mikee Shattuck on Vimeo.
MapleXO Vulture Couture Fashion Show from Mikee Shattuck on Vimeo.
How To Deal With Bad PR
– AM:PM PR Guest Post
Sometimes things don’t always go to plan though and you get media attention for all the wrong reasons. Here’s how To deal with bad PR.
I have worked for a number of companies that have been very high profile for all the wrong reasons. The worst thing you can do when things go wrong is bury your head in the sand. Also, responding to a question with: “no comment!” makes you sound guilty straight away.
You need to be prepared. Develop a crisis/issues management plan. Think through every possible scenario and develop specific plans, messages and protocols for each. Doing this will make you feel a little more confident when a crisis does happen at 4pm on a Friday and media start calling asking for statements ASAP.
Include protocols for responding to media requests in your plan. Whoever takes calls from reporters should be writing down all the questions so the communications team can craft solid responses.
Often reporters will accept responses/statements via email. If they do, this is the way to go. It eliminates risks of saying too much. If you are asked to call the journalist back then, unless you know the journalist well, don’t go off on a tangent in your discussion. Keep it to the agreed points and don’t add any personal comment or feelings. The old adage about, “nothing being off the record” is very true.
A few more tips when preparing for the worst:
- Be truthful and hold your hands up if it is an obvious mistake.
- Don’t try and cover things up un-necessarily
- Remain calm and definitely don’t get angry
- Make statements clear and short
- When all has settled down, ask for feedback from the media