What a strange title I hear you thinking - of course you know what you're buying if you decide to commission a video to promote your business or sell your services..... or do you?
Video is undoubtedly an attractive proposition; it's very current, the thing to have, and it's sexy... in a business way!! It would be difficult not to have witnessed in some way the revolution in video that has happened on the web over the past few years. The questions I would ask you are:
* of all the videos you have watched, laughed at, enjoyed, or been inspired by, how many of them were promoting a business or service? * what it is about videos you have watched that engaged you and made you want to continue watching?
There is an abundance of advice, statistics and 'evidence' saying that a video is a must for your business on the web because it keeps people on your website longer and is a definite way to make your business more visible. What the advice doesn't tell you is that there are a large number of people who want to scan read a website front page and take in the key messages quickly to decide whether they want to stay - those people are much less likely to choose to watch a video unless it DEMANDS their attention within the first 3 - 5 seconds.
Let's go back to basics.. What is it about video that differentiates it from material that we have been looking at on the web for years: text, graphics, still images and Flash animations? The answer is moving video footage (in effect TV on the web) and in particular PEOPLE - talking and doing things.
People buy from people, and the introduction of video to the web gave us a fantastic opportunity to allow our customers/clients/service users to do just that. With the right video they can see real people talking about their passion for the business, they can watch a product or service actually being used , and they can hear testimonies from genuine customers who have used the product or service. This is why video has revolutionised the web - witnessing moving people makes a film seem more true life. Why was this T-Mobile Liverpool St Station ad so popular ?- it's not about phones or communication - or even sales - it's about people and a core message - and we loved it.
When is a video NOT a video? If the above is correct, why are there so many video products being sold to an unsuspecting audience who believe they must have video - that don't contain video footage of the product or service, and don't contain film footage of people - It's BONKERS!!! Businesses are being sold cheap products that, in effect are no different to the Flash animations we have been watching for years.
Yes, video can be produced much more cheaply than it was 5 or 10 years ago because editing and post production software is much more accessible and easy to use. BUT you can not avoid the fact that if you want genuine moving pictures of your business, yourself as business owner or your customers, your video has to be filmed by a person - and just like any other business that person's expertise, time and equipment has to be paid for.
The purpose of this article is to make you aware of that there are companies who have jumped on the video bandwagon and have devised a way to make money out of you by offering 'cheap video' that doesn't actually contain moving video footage. They create attractive animations with stills and text (just like a Flash animation) and do not film anything that's why it is cheap - it's not because they are magicians and have found a way to produce real video at a knock down price.
If you want an effective video for your business it need to be engaging and needs to include moving video footage, ideally involving people - and that will cost money to film and create - don't let anyone make you believe otherwise.