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The Final 3 Types of Videos You Need on Your Website

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Congratulations! By now you should know all about the first 6 types of videos we suggest you have on your website. If you want a refresher…

1 – 3 are Product or Services videos, Cost videos and your Values and Uniques video

4 – 6 are Customer Journey videos, FAQ videos and Employee Bio videos

and now we’re down to 7 – 9. Drum roll, please!

7. Recruitment Videos

Finding good talent is tough. But even knowing that, you don’t want just anybody working in your company. You want to make sure they are the right fit for your organization, that they understand what you expect from them and what they can expect from you. Creating a video highlighting the position you’re hiring for, interviewing current employees, and showing what someone can expect from the position on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly occurrence, will help you stand out from the competition and recruit ideal candidates.

OUR EXAMPLE

Our friends at CEI-CMHA have worked with us over the past few years to create recruitment videos for them. Check out this recruitment video about their Residential Technician position!

5. Training Videos

Once you hire someone, you need to train them up! Doing in-person training can be beneficial at certain times, but having a video archive of different tasks and duties that employees are expected to do will save time and money in the long run and it allows for employees to look back a get a refresher whenever needed.

OUR EXAMPLE

We love our relationship with EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System) and have had the opportunity to create many videos for them including training videos for their implementors. Take a look at some of the videos we’ve produced for them (the training videos are at the bottom of the page).

6. Landing Page Videos

People are very cautious about giving out their information, from concerns about identity theft, to just not wanting to get a whole lot of spam, they just don’t want to put their information out there. So taking the time to have a video that can be coupled with an information request can put people’s minds at ease.

So there you go. The final 3 types of videos you need on your website. If you have any questions or comments on how to execute any of these videos, feel free to reach out to us, or peruse Good U, as we may just have the answer right at your fingertips. For now, go forth, do good and be fruitful. We’ll talk to you soon.

The Next 3 Types of Videos You Need on Your Website

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Today, we’re happy to share the second installment of our 3 part series about what videos you need on your website.

Just to recap…

We know that at least 70% of all purchasing decisions are made before someone even talks to a person. For that reason, having consistent, quality content on your website and social media is an absolute must.

We already shared the first 3 types of videos you must have on your website…

Product or service videos, cost videos, and a video about your process and uniques. If you want a refresher, here you go!

So, now that those are complete… here are the next 3 types of videos you need…

4. Customer Journey Videos

Customer Journey videos are more than testimonials. These videos take the viewer back before you were even in the picture. Back when your client first had their issue and then it takes the viewer all the way through the journey that has led them to be the happy, repeat customer they are today.

OUR EXAMPLE

We love working with our friends at EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System) for many videos, but take a look at some of the customer journey videos we have produced for them, here.

Not sure you have the budget/desire to hire a production team every time you have a raving fan? We recommend you check out our friends over at Boast, who allow your happy clients to self submit video testimonials on your behalf. In fact, we use it for ourselves! Once you receive a glowing testimonial, you can decide from there if you’d like to create a more polished, in-depth, customer journey story about your raving customer, client, partner, or fan.

5. FAQ Videos

FAQ videos are about answering the questions that you and your team get asked all the time. Taking the time to answer these questions via video will help you stand out from your competition, build trust with your website visitors. and keep you top of mind for when it’s time to make the purchase.

OUR EXAMPLE

Our friends at Melling Engine Parts do a wonderful job of answering FAQs via video and we love producing those for them!

6. Employee Bios

When you have these videos, potential customers and clients are introduced to your team members, but it goes beyond that. They can really get to know those folks so that when it comes to making a purchase, they’re not talking to a stranger, they’re talking to Bill, the sales rep who enjoys hiking on the weekends and a good craft beer. That personal touch can go a long way.

OUR EXAMPLE

Check out how our friends at Stormy Kromer are creating DIY profiles of their employees.

So there you are… the next 3 types of videos you need on your website. To recap, the first 3 types of videos we recommend, product or service videos, cost videos and a video about your process and uniques, all will help attract the right type of buyers to your website. These next three videos help you stand out from any competitors still in the running for the purchase.

Keep an eye out for our final installment of the series to round out the videos you absolutely need on your website.

As always, if we can help you execute these videos, please do not hesitate to reach out. Thanks!

Understanding the Full Video Production Spectrum

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Video Spectrum
Video is an invaluable tool to utilize throughout your organization and website. As much as we’d love to be the ones hitting record for every video you need, that doesn’t make sense from a time or cost standpoint. So, we’re here to help.
In this blog, we identify the 6 tiers of the video production spectrum, and when you can utilize each for your organization to get the most bang for your buck!
*Note* This blog does not speak to the video quality spectrum of live video as it is its own beast. If you want to know more about that, give us a shout.

Starting at the Low End… DIY Videos

DIY (Do It Yourself) videos have an important role to play, even with professional companies. Videos like these can supplement blog posts, reassure website visitors it’s safe for them to give you their information or even to simply entertain. Let’s discuss the 2 tiers of DIY videos.

Tier 1 – The Quick and Dirty DIY

When It Makes Sense

When your main goal is to relay a basic message and entertain your audience, this is a way you can go. Usually, these videos are shared through a social media platform or in emails, but there are times that a DIY could find itself on a website. There is little, if any, planning involved, the message is unscripted and there’s not much concern for picture composition or audio quality.

Production Quality?

Very low. A video like this may be shot handheld on your phone or recorded on a platform like ZOOM. There’s usually not much editing involved and rarely do the videos include much if any, b-roll, text, graphics, or music.

How Much Will It Cost?

These videos can be shot with the phone you already have or recorded from your computer and don’t require any additional tools. Most videos produced in this way usually require little, if any basic editing on the backend as well. Therefore, the only cost for these videos is your time.

An example:

The social media platform Tik Tok is full of great examples of quick and dirty DIY videos (though it allows you to easily add music and text). Many businesses have embraced their “content over quality” platform with great results.

Tier 2 – Prosumer DIY

When It Makes Sense

When you want to share a quick message or helpful hint that is related to your business, product, or service to your audience, this can be a great way to go. This tier also makes sense for creating internal videos, such as training videos. Videos in this tier have a script or at least an outline so the speaker stays on point with the message.

Production Quality?

Low. Videos like these can still be shot on your phone or recorded off a laptop, but there’s some thought put into the location of your video, lighting, sound, picture composition, and stabilization. These videos usually are lightly edited and include some professional aspects, such as text, graphics, and/or even music.

How Much Will It Cost?

These videos can cost you a little more than time. However, it may be worth investing in some basic tools to make your shots or sound better. If you don’t know how to edit video, it’d be worth it to hire someone for that.

An example:

We work with our good friends, Bob Fish (co-CEO of BIGGBY Coffee) and his wife, Michelle on doing the editing for the videos they shoot on their phone for their blog, One BIGG Island in Space. Below is one of the videos we helped them produce.

Interested in learning more? Click here for our FREE video tutorial on how you can shoot professional video on your phone or laptop. We can help with the editing to snap up the finished product.

The Next Two Tiers…

These second two tiers are the journalism production tiers. Journalism Productions are where a majority of professional videos fall because the quality is high enough while still being quite affordable. Journalistic videos can also be particularly appealing to an audience due to their unscripted feel and authentic presentation.

Tier 3 – Earned Journalism

When It Makes Sense

This is a bit of an x-factor. Earned journalism aka news journalism, is a possibility whenever your organization is doing something that is deemed newsworthy to the masses. If you have an event or cause you feel is a great opportunity for News Journalism, make sure to let your local news stations know with plenty of lead time.

Production Quality?

Decent. News journalists are professionals with training and quality equipment. Ultimately, though, news stations must produce several newscasts throughout a day, so they don’t have much time to put the story together and it may be missing the depth or aspects that you’d like.

How Much Will It Cost?

It can really vary when it comes to getting the news to produce a piece on you. Usually, it doesn’t have any direct costs, but rather a combination of time and the costs for putting on a quality event or cause that intrigues the community and attracts the news.

Tier 4 – Hired Journalism

When It Makes Sense

There are a lot of things that happen that are a big deal to you and your specific audience, but it may not check the boxes for the mainstream media. Other times, even if it makes the news, you may want a more robust, well-rounded, story to share. That’s when hiring a professional video production team to tell your story makes sense.

Production Quality?

Good. Usually, there’s not a script involved and the story is put together with first-person interviews. There are a minimal crew and minimal equipment during these productions. Many times the final video is accompanied by music, graphics, pictures, and text.

How Much Will It Cost?

A production like this is likely going to cost at least $1,500 and can be much more depending on the time needed and complexity of the production.

An example:

One of our values at Good Fruit is to help first and be a positive force for good in our community. In that spirit, we volunteer our services once a quarter to tell the story of an organization within our community. This is one such story.

Want more examples? Check out our Solutions Menu to understand what’s possible at what price point!

Tier 5 – Cinematic

When It Makes Sense

When you want a piece that’s more polished than a professional Journalism piece, but don’t need to go full Hollywood, this is the right fit. Your video likely doesn’t utilize hired actors, need a 4K camera or a massive crew, but there’s still a lot of thought and energy into creating a quality, polished piece.

Production Quality?

Great. There is more thought put behind the shot selection, likely more equipment and a larger (but not massive) crew involved to make sure everything runs smoothly and the video is high quality. The final product will include the same elements as a Professional Journalism piece, but may also include some (or all) animation, and advanced picture and sound enhancements.

How Much Will It Cost?

A production like this can vary greatly depending on the overall scope, but you should expect to spend a minimum of $5,000 and the zeroes can tack on quickly depending on the scope.

An example:

We love working with our friends at SISU Mouthguards. Recently, we produced this commercial for them. Check it out!

Tier 6 – Hollywood

When It Makes Sense

When you need and want to wow your audience, this is the way to go. It’s likely that there is a script, big crew, lots of equipment, actors, and logistics involved.

Production Quality?

Superior. There is a lot of planning behind every shot and every word in the video. All aspects of the video are controlled. The crew is large and the equipment is top-notch. The final video will be meticulously put together for a superior look and feel. The sound will be top-notch and it may include high-end graphics and animation.

How Much Will It Cost?

If you want a cinematic production, pull out the pocketbook. It is possible to get some things done for as little as $25,000, but depending on your end goal, you can add zeros to that price tag quickly.

So there you have it; a quick tour through the spectrum of video production. Every tier has their own time and place when they are the best choice for relaying information to your audience. If you utilize the proper videos at the proper places and times, the value will be immense. If you have further questions, please feel free to give us a shout! Thanks.

Reformatting and Reposting Your Videos on Social Media

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Congratulations on having a video you love! The next step is placing that video all over the World Wide Web so that anyone interested in the subject of your video can find it, view it and take action. Different social media platforms are best for targeting different demographics. Understand which platforms are best for your goals.

In this blog, we’ll breakdown the best ways to reformat and post your videos on some popular social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tik Tok, and Twitter! Two quick notes…

  1. Videos posted to social media should include subtitles or closed captioning, as many viewers will be perusing social media sites on their phones with their sound off. Learn more about video accessibility here.
  2. This blog is about directly uploading your videos to these platforms, not simply pasting a Youtube or Vimeo link. While posting a link is convenient, it doesn’t perform as well as directly uploading your video onto the social media platform.

Facebook

Despite having to continuously compete with a growing list of competitors and an aging audience, Facebook is still the king in the world of social media and is the #1 platform for adults. In fact…

  • 86% of the world’s 18-29-year-olds use Facebook
  • 77% of the world’s 30-49-year-olds use Facebook
  • About half, 51%, of people ages 50-65 use Facebook
  • And just over 1/3, 34%, of folks 65+ use Facebook

More women use Facebook than men, splitting its viewership 54% to 46% respectively. A staggering 96% of users of Facebook utilize their mobile phones when perusing it.

The technical stuff
  • The optimal size for a video on Facebook is at least 1280 pixels for the larger side (i.e. 1280 x 720 for landscape or 720 x 1280 for a portrait view).
  • Facebook accepts nearly all kinds of video and audio formats.
  • Videos on Facebook can be up to 240 minutes (2 hours) long! Unless you’re uploading a feature film, we wouldn’t recommend that. For the best organic performance, videos on Facebook should be at least 3 minutes in length.

Instagram

Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo and video sharing app, continues to grow its users, with 1 billion people using Instagram every month. Instagram, however, hardly garners any attention from senior citizens, only being utilized by 8% of the population over 65. It’s almost split evenly down the middle between female users, 51% and male users, 49% and is more actively perused by folks than Facebook is, averaging 53 minutes per day to Facebook’s 35 minutes.

The technical stuff
  • Optimal sizes for Instagram videos are 600 x 600 (square), 600 x 315 (landscape), 600 x 750 (portrait), 600 x 700 (Carousel video dimensions). When uploading a larger video, it will automatically crop it and cut off some of the video to do so. If you don’t want that to happen, click the circle with two triangles in the lower left-hand corner to “letterbox” your video, so the whole thing (or more of it) fits.
  • Instagram recommends using MP4 or MOV format.
  • Videos on Instagram are preferably 60 seconds or less. However, you can upload a longer video via IGTV. Viewers will be able to watch the first minute of your video and then select IGTV to watch the rest.

LinkedIn

This professional networking site is the top social media platform for B2B social media marketing. Its demographics skew slightly older, with 30-49 year-olds making up the largest group of its users. Unlike many of the other social media platforms, there are more male users, 57% than female 43% on LinkedIn.

The technical stuff
  • The minimum size for a video on LinkedIn is 256 x 144 and the maximum is 4096 x 2304 pixels.
  • Most file formats for video and audio are accepted for uploading to LinkedIn.
  • Videos on LinkedIn can be a maximum of 10 minutes in length.

Twitter

Though it has 1/3 of the users of Instagram, Twitter can still be a very powerful tool to provide bite-sized information. Twitter makes it possible for users to reach practically any person or business simply by tagging them in a Tweet, which is where its value lies.

The technical stuff
  • The maximum size of a video on Twitter can be 720 x 720 (square), 1280 x 720 (landscape), 720 x 1280 (portrait) depending on your video composition.
  • Your movie file must be an MP4 or MOV file to upload to Twitter.
  • Videos on Twitter can be a maximum of 140 seconds (2:20) and a minimum of 0.5 seconds (if you want to annoy viewers).

Tik Tok

Tik Tok is the new kid on the block and is growing in popularity quickly! This isn’t your parent’s social media, with a majority of users under 30. Unlike other social media, where video is a supplemental tool, on Tik Tok video is the primary vehicle for all messages. Some brands have jumped on board and are seeing the benefits of utilizing this platform.

Dimensions
  • Videos in Tik Tok are all in portrait landscape (1080 x 1920 or 720 x 1280).
  • Tik Tok prefers MOV and MP4 files but can also support AVI and GIFs.
  • Videos on TikTok perform best between 9 and 15 seconds in length, but you can string together several videos to make a clip up to 60 seconds in length if you’d like.

Phew! There you have it. A quick trip through the most utilized social media platforms for video. We hope this information has helped you better understand where and how to post your videos to reach your target audience. If you have further questions or would like assistance with executing and managing these posts, give us a shout! Thanks.

Equipment Recommendations for DIY Video Productions

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Here at Good Fruit Video, we believe videos need to be a consistent tool utilized throughout your organization. We also understand that not every single video may need our professional touch every step of the way. Sometimes it makes more sense to record a video on your phone or laptop than hire a pro. That’s totally fine by us!

But, if you are going to capture video and audio for your professional organization, it makes sense to invest a little bit of money to up your production quality.

In this blog, we walk you through a few tools you can acquire to make your DIY productions more pleasant to your viewer’s eyes and ears.

 

Upping Your Sound Game

Recording audio straight to your smartphone, tablet, or laptop is possible, but the further your subject is from the device, the more spacey and weak the audio becomes. Investing in a lavalier or shotgun microphone will allow you to have crystal clear sound, even if your subject is further away the camera. Room noise is another important consideration. HVAC units and other noisemakers could compete with your audio, if you’re inside, while traffic and wind can mess with your sound when you are outside. We recommend the Rode Microphones Wireless GO Compact Microphone System, W/Rode Pro Lavalier Mic, or the IK Multimedia iRig Mic Video Bundle for better audio.

Turn Up Your Light Game

A poorly lit video with good audio is a podcast. Podcasts are fine, but if your goal is to make a video, you need good lighting. You can make proper use of available light, but it may mean you have to move around to get the right light, and if you’re outside or by a window, the light can change on you without warning. For better control, we suggest investing in a good light for your productions. We recommend the Lumecube Panel GO for better lighting.

Shot Stabilization

You don’t want your viewers to get motion sickness from a shaky, handheld shot. Unless you are naturally super steady with your movements, we suggest adding an ergonomic tool to help you create a more controlled image. Our recommendation is the Beastgrip Pro Smartphone Lens Adapter and Camera Rig System. You can hold onto it for steadier shots with movement or use it with a tripod for stationary shots.

There you have it! Our three recommendations to up your DIY video productions. Sure, you can create videos without these, but the value these tools will bring to your videos will be more than their cost.

We hope you found this blog informative and helpful. If you have more questions, feel free to give us a shout. Thanks!

Understanding the Video Production Spectrum – Cinematic

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Video Spectrum

Woohoo! We’re at part 3 of our 3 part series on the video spectrum. If you want a refresher, feel free to take look back at the DIY tiers – 1 and 2 or the Journalism tiers – 3 and 4. Good? Ok, great. So now we’re here, at the top of the spectrum. The creme de la creme of video productions. Cinematic and Hollywood productions. These productions have superior picture and sound quality but also come with big price tags.

Tier 5 – Cinematic

When It Makes Sense

When you want a piece that’s more polished than a professional Journalism piece, but don’t need to go full Hollywood, this is the right fit. Your video likely doesn’t utilize hired actors, need a 4K camera or a massive crew, but there’s still a lot of thought and energy into making a quality, polished piece.

Production Quality?

Great. There is more thought put behind the shot selection, likely more equipment and a larger (but not massive) crew involved to make sure everything runs smoothly and the video is high quality. The final product will include the same elements as a Professional Journalism piece, but may also include some (or all) animation, and advanced picture and sound enhancements.

How Much Will It Cost?

A production like this can vary greatly depending on the overall scope, but you should expect to spend a minimum of $5,000 and the zeroes can tack on quickly.

Tier 6 – Hollywood

When It Makes Sense

When you need and want to wow your audience, this is the way to go. It’s likely that there are scripts and actors involved.

Production Quality?

Superior. There is a lot of planning behind every shot and every word in the video. All aspects of the video are controlled. The crew is large and the equipment is top-notch. The final video will be meticulously put together for a superior look and feel. The sound will be top-notch and it may include high-end graphics and animation.

How Much Will It Cost?

If you want a cinematic production, pull out the pocketbook. It is possible to get some things done for as little as $25,000, but depending on your end goal, you can add zeros to that price tag quickly.

We hope these blogs have helped you better understand how you can get all the video content you desire for your organization without overwhelming yourself or breaking your budget. Good Fruit is ideally situated to assist you with your Prosumer DIY, Hired Journalism and Cinematic Productions need. Want to discuss further, let’s set up a meeting. Otherwise, good luck and have a fruitful day.

*Note* This blog does not speak to the video quality spectrum of live video as it is its own beast. If you want to know more about that, give us a shout.

Understanding the Video Production Spectrum -Journalism

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Video Spectrum

Thanks for taking the time to check out the second of our three-part series about the video spectrum. If you missed it, here’s our first blog about the two tiers, DIY video productions,  for when you are limited on budget, location, time or have a concern for safety.

Today we are talking about the third and fourth-tiers, affectionately known as the journalism tiers. Journalism videos are higher quality than DIY videos but also cost more, in either time or money. Without further ado, let’s jump right in.

Tier 3 – Earned Journalism

When It Makes Sense

This is a bit of an x-factor. Earned journalism aka news journalism, is a possibility whenever your organization is doing something that is deemed newsworthy to the masses. If you have an event or cause you feel is a great opportunity for News Journalism, make sure to let your local news stations know with plenty of lead time.

Production Quality?

Decent. News journalists are professionals with training and quality equipment. Ultimately, though, news stations must produce several newscasts throughout a day, so they don’t have much time to put the story together and it may be missing the depth or aspects that you’d like.

How Much Will It Cost?

It can really vary when it comes to getting the news to produce a piece on you. It doesn’t have any direct costs, but rather a combination of time and the costs for putting on a quality event or cause that intrigues the community and attracts the news.

Tier 4 – Hired Journalism

When It Makes Sense

There are a lot of things that happen that are a big deal to you and your specific audience, but it may not check the boxes for the mainstream media. Other times, even if it makes the news, you may want a more robust, well-rounded, story to share. That’s when hiring a professional video production team to tell your story makes sense.

Production Quality?

Good. Usually, there’s not a script involved and the story is put together with standup interviews. There are a minimal crew and minimal equipment during these productions. Many times the final video is accompanied by music, graphics, pictures, and text.

How Much Will It Cost?

A production like this is likely going to cost at least $1,500 and can be much more depending on the time needed and complexity of the production.

Journalism videos definitely have a little more oomph behind them when it comes to production quality than DIY videos and is a great option for putting a more professional foot forward. If you have more questions or would like to get started, let’s chat! Thanks.

*Note* This blog does not speak to the video quality spectrum of live video as it is its own beast. If you want to know more about that, give us a shout.

Understanding the Video Production Spectrum – DIY

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Video Spectrum

Videos are invaluable tools that need to be utilized throughout an organization, from your website to your social media, the possibilities are endless. If you want our thoughts, check out our top 5 recommendations of where to share your videos. For the best result, videos need to become a monthly, weekly, or even daily occurrence for your organization, no matter your size.

That sounds daunting and expensive, but here’s the secret… not every video needs to be a big production with high-end imagery. There’s a range, a spectrum when it comes to video for your organization. Knowing when it makes sense to hire a professional with years of experience and top-end equipment and when it’s better to just record on your smartphone or laptop will help you save time, headache, and money. Today, we share the first of a three-part series on the video spectrum. Part 1 is about the DIY Spectrum…

Tier 1 – The Quick and Dirty DIY

When It Makes Sense

When your main goal is to relay a basic message and entertain your audience, this is the way you can go. Usually, these videos are shared through social media. There is little if any, planning involved, the message is unscripted and there’s not a concern for picture composition or audio quality.

Production Quality?

Very low. A video like this may be shot handheld on your phone or recorded on a platform like ZOOM. There’s usually not much editing involved and rarely do the videos include much, if any, b-roll, text, graphics, or music.

How Much Will It Cost?

These videos can be shot with the phone you already have or recorded from your computer and don’t require any additional tools. The only cost for these videos is your time to do any preplanning. Most videos produced in this way usually require little, if any basic editing.

An example:

The social media platform Tik Tok is full of great examples of quick and dirty DIY videos (though it allows you to easily add music and text). Many businesses have embraced their “content over quality” platform with great results.

Tier 2 – Prosumer DIY

When It Makes Sense

When you want to share a message or helpful hint that is related to your business, product, or service. These videos usually have a script or at least an outline so the speaker stays on point with the message,

Production Quality?

Low. Videos like these can still be shot on your phone or recorded off a laptop, but there’s some thought put into the location of your video, lighting, sound, picture composition, and stabilization. These videos usually are edited and include some professional aspects, such as text, graphics, and sometimes music.

How Much Will It Cost?

These videos can cost you a little more than time. However, it may be worth investing in some basic tools to make your shots or sound better. If you don’t know how to edit a video, it may be worth it to hire someone for that.

An example:

We work with our good friends, Bob Fish (co-CEO of BIGGBY Coffee) and his wife, Michelle on doing the editing for the videos they shoot on their phone for their blog, One BIGG Island in Space. Below is one of the videos we helped them produce.

Interested in learning more? Click here for our FREE video tutorial on how you can shoot professional video on your phone or laptop. We can help with the editing to snap up the finished product.

So there you go. The first 2 production types on the video production spectrum. Total or partial DIY productions are great if you are limited with budget, location, time, or have concerns about safety.

We hope this blog has been helpful for you and encourage you to keep an eye out for the second and third blogs in this series to understand when to utilize videos throughout the spectrum and what budget to expect for each. Need ideas of what type of videos you should be producing for your website? We can help with that, too. Check it out. Thanks!

*Note* This blog does not speak to the video quality spectrum of live video as it is its own beast. If you want to know more about that, give us a shout.

What Role Should COVID-19 Have in Your Video?

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If you haven’t noticed, we are in some pretty unprecedented times right now. COVID-19 has rocked our world and changed nearly every aspect of our lives. At least temporarily.

It’s been interesting to see how different organizations have reacted to the pandemic within their videos. Some choose to face the current situation face on and feature the pandemic and current safety measures (distancing, masks, etc.). Others choose to produce videos that resemble life before (and hopefully after) our current situation.

Before we go any further, it’s important to note that we are taking precautions to make everyone safe. We welcome you to check out our safety procedures in accordance with the state’s reopening plans.

Now, back to the blog. With the current state of affairs, how should your organization represent its videos in the coming months? Here are two questions you should ask yourself before hitting the record and our suggestion…

1. What Do You Do?

For any organization that has a lot of human to human interaction, showcasing their staff taking safety measures is a good option. If your organization is more about providing products, then it’s less important to have those safety measures front and center.

2. What is the Life Expectancy of Your Video?

How long are you expecting to use your video? If the answer is a year or less, COVID-19 will very likely still be around, so having people wearing masks, standing six feet apart, and washing their hands is not be a bad idea. If you are looking to produce a video that has an expected shelf life of 3 or more years, then featuring these precautions may not be as important.

Our Recommendation

Ultimately it will come down to you and your organization’s preference. Consider your audience. Will they appreciate you showing your team operating with all current safety measures or do you think they’d prefer to watch a video that didn’t remind them that we’re currently living in a pandemic?

There is no right or wrong answer. Our suggestion is to cover your bases. If your video is produced in a documentary style, with interviews from people, or even a scripted, direct address, the person doing the talking will not be expected to wear a mask while they’re speaking. However, when capturing the supplementary and complementary video, known as b-roll, it’d be easy enough to capture each shot or scene with both people wearing masks and not wearing masks. If you choose not to have people wearing masks or taking specific safety measures during your video, a text disclaimer that when the video was shot, all individuals took proper safety precautions can be added to the video as well and can easily removed in the future.

We hope this article was helpful for you as you continue to create great, safe, and thoughtful video content during this unique moment in time! Stay safe. Do Good and Be Fruitful! If you have any more questions or comments, feel free to let us know. Thanks!

P.S.

If you would still like to produce videos for your organization, but don’t want to bring in an outside person or company to do so, we have you covered as well. Our own, Kraig Westfall, produced a video on how you can shoot a good video on your phone or laptop.

The First 3 Types of Videos You Need on Your Website

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We live in a show me society. If people can’t see something, it’s not real. That’s where video comes in.

Studies show that at least 70% of all purchasing decisions are made before someone even picks up a phone or stops into a shop. That’s why having consistent, quality content on your website and social media is truly the linchpin to growing your organization.

But where do you start? Today, we share the first installment of our 3 part series… 3 types of videos you need on your website by April 1st.

Video Type 1 – Videos About Your Products or Services

What you want to do with these videos is to build a well educated consumer base. The more educated the buyer is before the purchase, the more likely they’ll be happy with the purchase and come back for more.

OUR EXAMPLE

Our two bread and butter services are Documentary and Scripted and have videos showcasing the styles to go along with written descriptions on our website.

Video Type 2 – Right Fit Video

As appealing as it can be to work with everyone and anyone who could use your product or service, certain people or organizations will ultimately align better with what you provide. Creating a video that allows folks to self identify if they are the right fit to work with you will create long term, copacetic relationships that will leave everyone happy at the end of the day.

OUR EXAMPLE

It took us a while, but we were eventually able to identify the values, beliefs, and goals of organizations that are the best fit for the services we provide. Check it out!

Video Type 3 – Your Process and Uniques

Odds are there are other organizations that provide the same or similar products or services as you do, but they’re not you. Educating visitors and prospects about your uniques and specific value will ultimately help you build a strong foundation of customers, partners and fans.

OUR EXAMPLE

Here’s our Process and Uniques video for reference.

So there you go. The first 3 types of videos you need on your website. Having these videos on your website will not only increase your sales but overall, it will attract the right type of customers, clients, partners and fans to help you grow the company you want and need.

If we can help you get these videos created or help you further in anyway, do not hesitate to let us know. Thanks!