ember studio

There’s no denying the power of online video as a tool to get a message out to a large audience quickly. A well-crafted video can sometimes even build momentum on its own, going “viral” and extending its reach much farther than anyone expected.

The question on the minds of many folks isn’t whether a video promotion could benefit their business. We all know the answer to that for most businesses, especially anyone doing any sort of business online. The real question is more about whether a video promo fits in with your brand culture. Does delivering a message through video fit in with how you communicate with your customers or clients? Or would it be the oddity in your marketing plan, the one thing that just doesn’t fit?

Sure it’s not for everyone. But more than ever, video promos are starting to make sense for spreading messages that traditionally weren’t delivered through video. It wasn’t long ago that most book publishers and authors would scoff at the idea of investing in a trailer for a book release. We’re on our 2nd book trailer for author Phil Simon, and the results of the projects have been eye-opening. The latest trailer garnered over 300 views in the first afternoon it was online and was quickly spread around the web through Twitter, Facebook, and the book website. That’s over 300 potential readers who the author was able to speak directly to through a video and explain in his own words what the book was about, delivered to their screens in a matter of just a few hours.

It’s a compelling medium for a product that traditionally was limited to bookstore posters and word of mouth as the primary marketing tools. The web changed how products were marketed, and video is now changing how we deliver that marketing message, often in ways that defy the norms of what we’d consider to be fitting for a product like a book.

There is no doubt that video content is gaining popularity among consumers to learn more about products they are interested in that previously were not typically marketed through online video content. Now might be a good time to reconsider how video fits in with your marketing efforts and if it can be a useful tool for speaking to your customers and clients in a way that they may be unaccustomed to but find inspiring and motivating. Just as authors are taking advantage of the ease with which video content can be delivered on the web today, your business might be able to use video in ways that were previously impractical or cost-prohibitive.

In October my wife and I welcomed our first kid into the world. So in the months leading up to the big day when our son Dean was born, I did what most expectant first-time fathers do. Besides panic.

Being a bit of a tech guy, I immediately started to look into some video camera options so that I could document every happy, funny, and sometimes, gross moment of our newborn’s first few months in stunning HD. Which, for the gross moments, is often more detailed than I’d care to remember and film. That is what expectant fathers do, right? No? So maybe I’m somewhat of an exception, but come on, guys. I know I’m not the only father who very early on in the pregnancy considered this the perfect opportunity to invest in a new camera.

In my research, I ended up on Vimeo and YouTube where you can find some excellent examples of home video shot with just about every camera on the market. And while these samples are compressed and reduced for web viewing, they often do give you a fairly good idea of what a particular camera is capable of or what cool things you can do with it that you might not have ever realized you’d want to do (even the most awkward toddlers look especially cool when shot at 60fps and slowed to half speed).

During this research, I realized just how far we’ve come technologically from the home videos my parents shot. Many of those home videos were shot between 20 and 25 years ago, and at that time video cameras were a bit more advanced than the shoulder-crushing cameras of the 70s, but not quite as compact and easily handled as those of the late 90s. Shooting some home video at that time still required a somewhat heavy camera, which was lugged around in a large heavy case that housed extra tapes, cables, and a battery charger that was nearly as large as the camera itself. In other words, it wasn’t a Flip camera that you just threw in your pocket as you left the house. And so home videos were pretty much limited to major holidays and events.

Looking back at those videos is a great reminder of how things were in the late 80s and early 90s. How me and my brother were, our parents were, what our house looked like, etc. But they were fleeting moments, shot months or sometimes years apart, and using a technology that wasn’t capable of really capturing images as we see them today, closer to real life than ever before. And the tapes that were used to record those images weren’t the ideal storage media and degraded the video quality over time as well.

Of course today is a different story. Not only is the quality of our recorded movies and photos far better, the ease with which we capture these images has drastically improved as well. It’s common now for someone to actually carry multiple devices that are capable of taking pictures or recording video, and not just to family parties or Christmas dinner. In our daily lives, traveling to work, to school, dropping off the kids, going to the store, and working in the yard, we have mobile phones with cameras, music players that capture video, and other pocket-size devices that can record images in full HD or at astounding pixel dimensions. Instead of getting some video of the kids major holidays and life milestones, we’re recording video of them at random times and for no particular occasions what so ever. Meaning, we’re capturing moments of real life, not just costumed or formalized events that only represent a few key points of our childhood.

Today, more than ever before, we are inclined and empowered to record casual moments around the house, at the supermarket, at the park, or at work. And as much as I like to think that I’m doing it for posterity’s sake, recording moments with my family that will be fun to look at in 10, 20 or 30 years, I have to acknowledge that I am also creating an archive of footage that, in the future, will paint a much clearer picture of what my family life was like 10, 20 or 30 years prior. I remember my parents, what they looked like, how they dressed, what they were like 20 years ago. And the limited video footage we have gives me a somewhat better picture of them back in the day. But just imagine how much more impacting and exciting all of this HD footage and super high-quality photography will be in 20 years when we look back at these memories and show our kids how we were back then. My kids will have such vivid depictions and extensive collections of a time in their lives that will seem like fuzzy memories, if they can remember any of those times at all.

My son is 2 months old, and surely he will have no recollection of the entire first couple of years of his life. If he’s like me, he might have vague memories of moments from 5 years of age and onward. But thanks to these new technologies that make it possible and simple to quickly capture everyday life, my son will see videos of the first moments of his life in a way that was simply impossible before. We already have iPhone video footage of him in the hospital. Hundreds of photos from those first few days. And tons of video and photos from the days since then. Although admittedly I’ve backed off the video a bit since he doesn’t do much at this age, at least not much worth capturing in HD video as noted above (he’s capable of about 4 things right now, 3 of which involve something coming out of his body. Who wants to see that in HD?).

Instead of seeing dad when he’s in some horrible Christmas sweater at the family get-together or how excited mom was on elementary school graduation day, he’ll see his parents as he saw them every day but was too little to remember. Him and dad sleeping on the couch. Laughing with mom and reading a book together. Our kids will get to know us in ways that were impossible for previous generations, thanks to products that put the ability to easily record life-like images in the hands of the average consumer.

So, after this incredibly long intro, what exactly does this have to do with your business?

Your customers and clients are equipped with similarly powerful new tools with which to get to know you. In some cases, you have no control over how your customers use these tools with regard to your business. They may be blogging about an experience they had with your business or posting a positive note on twitter about you. If they pull that camera out of their pocket that you know they have on them when they walk into your place of business, hopefully they are capturing something that speaks to the good things your business is doing. And we hope that none of those videos end up in a YouTube channel entitled “Employees Behaving Badly.” If you’re in a service business, hopefully your clients are sharing photos and videos of that new amazing thing you created for them or how much better their business is doing thanks to your help.

Most importantly, let’s hope that your future clients and customers are using these tools to find out more about you and why they should do business with you. Or at the very least, not finding reasons to avoid doing business with you.

Your customers are empowered with ways of recording and sharing things about your business in much the same way they are empowered to record personal memories. And in doing so they are enabling other customers and clients to get to know you in ways that were previously impossible. Ten years ago it would have seemed odd for someone to walk around a Target store with a video camera. Chances are they’d be asked to leave. Today, every customer has a camera in their pocket, sometimes 2 or 3 of them. And often you can’t tell if someone is shooting video, taking a picture, sending a text message, or even watching a video (possibly about the very store they are standing in). And sharing those videos and photos can be done before that customer even leaves the store, sometimes in just a few seconds. It’s that quick and easy to share an experience with hundreds, maybe thousands of other potential customers.

Ultimately what those videos and photos say about you and how people remember your business is up to you. Just know that people want to know you, and they expect to be able to find out more about you than ever before. Hopefully they know you for the good you’ve done for them, and for the positive aspects of your business. Just like our kids will know us in ways we never imagined, our clients and customers will also get to know us in a more personal way, and they will share their experiences with others.