Today we’re talking with Tim Jahn, the founder and creative force behind Beyond The Pedway, a weekly online video series that explores Chicago-based entrepreneurial companies. Tim’s extensive background in multimedia and video production coupled with his knack for storytelling enable him to help small businesses leverage the power of video to tell their story and succeed in the world of new media
Q1. Tim, thanks for sharing your knowledge of business video with us. To help set the stage, why do you encourage small businesses to consider video as part of their marketing mix? We all have a unique story to tell and video helps us communicate the uniqueness of that story. I’m a firm believer in video’s power to convey personality. With video, you have the ability to let your customers really get to know the people behind your story. If your CEO is a really fun, spunky lady, she’ll come across that way. Video is an excellent way to let your customers really get to know you and your company, in a human way. These days, the cost to produce web video on your own is much lower than 3 or 4 years ago. With an inexpensive web video camera, some basic knowledge, and yourself, you could increase your company’s revenue over 1000%. Gary Vaynerchuk accomplished this for his family’s wine business using a video blog on Wine Library TV. He’s an extremely passionate individual with a huge personality – two things that video can communicate perfectly.
Q2. What equipment does a small business need to create a few test videos? A camera and simple editing software will get you started. The Flip cameras or the Kodak Z cameras are all under $200 and shoot high quality HD video. You can instantly dump the video onto your computer and use Windows Movie Maker (for PCs) or iMovie (for Macs) to do some basic editing. Then you can shoot your videos up to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, or wherever your audience awaits!
Q3. Can you paint a picture for our readers of all the different places video can be used to raise visibility and generate leads? The possibilities are endless. But there are a few good places to start, like customer testimonials. If you have any customers that are really passionate and excited about your product and/or company, ask them if they’d mind showing that excitement on camera. Upload those videos to YouTube and place them on a dedicated page on your company’s website or on the home page. Now you’ve done two things – you’ve created an outpost on YouTube that can draw leads to your website, and you’ve made your company’s story more human on your website, which can result in more conversions.
Q4. What tips do you have for readers who want to hire a professional? As with hiring a professional in any industry, go with somebody trusted – somebody that people recommend a lot. With the barriers to entry so low for web video now, a lot of people claim they can rock your world with web video. But in reality, many of these people don’t know any more than you do. The best professional to hire is somebody that is very web savvy but has a bit of a traditional video production background. Web video is all about creating video specifically for the web and knowing how to market that video effectively using the tools and sites available.
Q5. Many readers own service firms – how can they use video? Service firms can use video to help potential customers understand what their service can do for them. For example, David Rothstein is a highly popular wedding band. On his website, he posts actual videos from his band’s performances at weddings so potential customers can see exactly how pumped David and his band get the crowd on the dance floor. David has also created videos explaining each style of music his band offers and what part of the wedding that style works best for. Thanks to these videos, you can hop on David’s site and decide if a packed dance floor is what you’re looking for in your wedding!
To learn more about using video for your business, sign up for Tim’s Beyond The Pedway Newsletter. Every Thursday morning, you’ll get free web video tips, examples, and action items in your inbox.