Don’t get caught blah-ging.

By Stu Marks, Post Production Editor
IncreaseSalesWithVideo.com

Don’t get caught up in such a hurry to start your blog just for the sake of its social media/web2.0 facilities, or create your first video just because you own a camera and have a product that you forget to deliver rich and compelling content.

PAGE TURNERS: Books and Videos Alike.

When was the last time you sat reading a real page turner or watched a riveting movie? For me, it was age thirteen, (an entire lifetime ago) staying with my sister in her apartment in Medford, Oregon. I was staying up late at night reading Edger Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars series. These are written for any age from teen up, and are action packed adventure novels crafted by the creator of Tarzan. After that it was probably my first viewing of Star Wars in the theater, the week it was released back in May of 1977.

My sister Christal introduced me to sci-fi paperbacks. Even though my father had been a somewhat successful writer in that genre’ [Double-Take (1953), I’d Give a Dollar (1954), The Water Eater (1953, 1966) and many more] and whose writings are now on display at the University of Oregon in Eugene, it had never been good timing for me until then, alone in the apartment of my big sister, with no TV, that reading for recreation became a viable pastime.

I sat for hours and hours many times that summer reading entire books in one night. I couldn’t get enough. The better known works of Edger Rice Burroughs, J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert A. Heinlein became my sole reasons for living as I delved into Tarzan, The Hobbit and The Rings Trilogy and then discovered the original Starship Troopers of recent movie fame. Truly, I couldn’t have tripped over a better opportunity at that time in my life to discover how interesting reading could be. My school grades started to do better as reading more led to being generally more interested in studying. I went from barely staying with my class in the D and F realm, to graduating from high school with the honor society with a 3.57.  I now hold a college degree from a prestigious art school, all from reading compelling, page turning content.

And movies and other videos are no different. Why do the big name studios spend millions on one special effect action shot? Why are large portions of a great movie’s overhead invested in story and screen writing? Why are there art directors and continuity directors all over each movie checking for deviations from established pace?

The answer is, for the content. Movie producers know that without satisfying the movie- goer’s desire for great content, the movie project will fall into the abyss of B movies and may never even pay for itself.

APPLICATION: The Business Video

The business video is no different. Sales videos and promotion videos tend to be rather dry anyway. But, our production team feels that it is a crime against the viewer as well as the client to produce a boring, almost pointless video that leaves the viewer looking for something to clean out their attention palate. No matter what story we’re telling to our target audience, we are humans conveying a message to other humans. The basic tantalizations are always there on which to build a good story.

One good example is a project we did for Mario Batali’s Chicago Brick Oven. They hired us to layout and produce a ten to fifteen minute video for both web and big screen presentation that told the story about their outdoor oven. This Made-In-The-USA outdoor brick oven could be simply told in terms of its technical strata. After all of the physical elements are laid out, how much it costs and how one can order one, isn’t the video complete?

OF COURSE NOT! HAVEN’T YOU BEEN READING?! We wanted a compelling, interesting video that made folks stop what they were doing and take notice for at least ten to fifteen minutes. And, we succeeded.

Sorry for yelling. I get carried away sometimes.

A SUCCESSFUL VIDEO EXAMPLE

How did we succeed? We did it by telling the story of the oven.

In the oven’s world, it serves a wonderful purpose to humans by lovingly, beautifully and even sensually handling and putting out breathtaking dishes in only a matter of minutes. Our visuals were of close-ups containing crusty, toasted pizza crust slathered with rich red pizza sauce, mushrooms, sweet Italian sausage and onions all covered in melted and lightly goldened mozzarella cheese. The pizza was shown sliding effortlessly out of the fiery oven on a giant, shiny pizza peel to be quickly sliced and devoured by happy, hungry partiers. Colorful lights, a swimming pool near by, attractive young ladies talking animatedly with interesting young men: all strong visuals telling the oven’s non-technical story. All of these worked to tell the viewer not what the oven is, but what it does for humans.

The fire is live, hot and crackling, the coals are glowing as hot wavy lines of heat lift refracted images up into the brick dome covered in smoky carbon of meals past. The chef has on a crisp black front apron with a snazzy logo that matched our video animation. He is charming, smart, knows all about hot food, culture, wine and everything it means to a group of friends and family.

At the end of the video, Mario Batali himself is accompanied by the call to action as the resonant announcer’s voice delivers the well crafted lines letting landscapers and homeowners know how simple it is to get one of these killer ovens in their back yard this spring.

The video began, carried through and ended with an up beat, fast-paced percussive and deep background music bed that was a driving force to the message. The music bed swelled and ended at the precise moment that the live fire filling the brick lined oven was crackling audibly which continued for thirty seconds while contact information moved across the screen. Viewers were left with the final image and feeling of being right next to the hearth of a cozy fire at the end of a long day: a place most humans have been. As I finished that final edit, I could feel the heat, smell the smoke and hear the cracklings of a hundred fires before at camp side, in snowy mountain lodge, or at home.

WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER

When you write and produce video towards the end for what your reader is searching, it makes no difference the topic; your reader and viewer should find your words and images compelling and page turning. And, if you use rich, compelling content, your web site will gain momentum ahead of those who just throw stuff in there to take up space.

Writer must serve the reader. The body of the blog must be authentic and serve a real purpose. Somewhere, a writer must have spent some real time writing real words as he or she poured over a real keyboard before the work ended up on someone’s screen or printed out for later perusing. And, the video producer must exist to serve the viewer. Video can be much more of a moving experience than the written word if handled properly. Written word, visuals, and sound must all work towards the same end of satisfying the viewer’s expectation while fulfilling the client’s needs for the all important story to be told.

SO, WHO TO WRITE AND PRODUCE FOR YOU? You are in one of the following categories:
-You are already using these tools of blogs and videos but aren’t getting the results you need.

-You need to increase hits to your site or inbound leads for your sales force but aren’t sure how to go about it.
-You don’t have a clue what you need and want some guidance.

Regardless of in which of these categories you find yourself, we can help. There are two ways to get started. You can talk directly with one of our partners, one of the country’s leading marketers, Steve Edwards of Edwards Direct.net, or contact us, IncreaseSalesWithVideo.com. Either way, you’ll be connecting your self with a seasoned group of storytellers, writers and media specialists with years in the business of exposing the public and other businesses to products and services that make their lives easier. Between us, our clients include Sea Eagle Inflatable Boats, Eastwood Products, Woodmaster, Dump-Pro, DrPower.com, Smithy Company, Mario Batali Chicago Brick Ovens and many more.

Don’t forget to check out our business video portfolio. We have many good examples including video testimonials: a tool that is way under used online and in good promotional and sales videos.

Here are some more good references on getting out your story with new affordable video.

Magic Zone
How to Sell Eight Ways…

Do You Think I Should Buy This?

Growing Your Small Business Using Video