Lights, Camera, Action! - Putting Your Business on Video (Part I)

A couple of weeks back, I offered up five steps to creating excellent written customer success stories for your business. This time the medium is video, and how you can use it to engage prospects and show them what you can do for them.

Too often, people think of a video for their business as just something that runs on their website. But videos can be included in presentations, used at trade shows, put on flash drives or discs as leave-behinds, and shown on salespeople's computers. They are another tool in the sales and marketing toolbox—and these days you need every tool you can get.

The nice thing about modern, low-cost video cameras and sites like YouTube is that they make basic video easy. If you know what you're doing, you can get some good footage and show off your operation fairly effectively. But there's more to it than standing a few people up in front of the camera. Because video engages the viewer, the best results come when you plan the production thoroughly. Just as with the words and pictures in your brochures, customer success stories or website, video should tell a story that leaves viewers wanting to learn more. Here are a few points to consider when it's time for lights, camera and action.

Tell a story—Tell a story that creates interest, much like you'd see on a TV documentary. You want the video to make the phone ring and to share your unique selling proposition with the world. This requires planning what you want to say and who will say it, how the video can show the way your business philosophy extends out to your customers, and even how the spirit that's part of your work environment extends from the CEO to the people running presses, inserters and right out onto the loading docks.