Who does your video help “win?” Of course, it needs to help YOU win – after all, you’re footing the bill! You can do that most effectively when you think win-win, and  strive for a solution that benefits yourself AND the viewer.

Don’t just hit them over the head with an old school “we’re the best,”message. Use the opportunity of their attention to give them something back in the form of information, knowledge or learning. Rather than “our widget is better than the other guy’s widget,” try “here’s an innovative way you can use widgets to improve your life.” Yes, it’s still self-serving, but it also serves the viewer. And that is the only reason they are watching.

I utilized this strategy in the marketing of GoodSide Studio. Video Production 101 is a video we produced to help potential clients understand the overall video production process.

As the host of the video, I’m direct that the purpose of the video is to encourage clients to choose GoodSide Studio, but the majority of the video is dedicated to giving viewers the information they need to pick a great video production company.

Take a look:
http://goodsidestudio.com/archives/portfolio/video-production-101

Video is great at delivering  your message to your audience effectively, but still, you only get a very short amount of your potential audience’s attention. Less than you think, and even less than that. The solution is to maximize the impact of that little bit of attention by putting first things first.

If you have MANY points that you’d like to make with your video, pick your top FEW – two to three if you can and let go of the rest. Letting go may be hard, but the choice is easy – really getting through to your audience on what’s most important, or losing them to information overload.

I’ve made my most important point, so now I will end this post. That’s how ya gotta be.

I first learned the importance of this principle as a graphic designer. Designing collateral for offset printing offers some very concrete, and sometimes painful lessons on beginning with the end in mind.

Having to recreate a design from scratch because it was done at the wrong size or some other incorrect spec is a right of passage for every rookie designer. Inexperienced video producers often make similar mistakes.  If you don’t know what your client wants, how they intend to use it and what they intend for it to accomplish, your production could be headed for disaster.

These collisions are caused by expectations that are not understood and expectations not fully developed.

It seems obvious that key expectations should be communicated, but it doesn’t always happen. What everyone thinks they agree on can be their undoing.

Each person’s imagination of the video is different and it’s essential to align those visions. The producer should develop a list of key assumptions and run them by the client. I do and in most cases, I learn something important.

This leads to the solution for expectations that are not fully developed. Sometimes the client hasn’t fully fleshed out what it is that they want. It may be that they were tasked with outsourcing the video and doesn’t fully understand their mission, they are busy with the many other tasks they do and, rightly, expect you to help them flesh out the vision. The producer should have a standard list of questions that help the client see any blind spots in their own vision.

The bottom line is to understand what your client intends to accomplish with their video and make sure that every decision you make furthers their goals.

Let’s apply this very simple concept to video production. Most videos GoodSide Studio produces are started with a need. I’ve never had a client say “I think it’d be fun to make a video. What do you think it should be about or do for me?” They always start with “We need to train our workers.” or “We need to sell more widgets.” or something like that.

Clients don’t want a video, they want an outcome. We can think of the need as the stimulus. The first task of A successful video producer is to make sure they really understand the stimulus, rather than jumping to the first, most obvious conclusion. For example, if the client says they want to educate our customers about our product. An unthinking response might be to make a marketing heavy response intended to educate the public about the features and benefits of the product. However, maybe the client wants to educate their customers about the product because people are using it incorrectly and could hurt themselves. In the real world, of course the client and producer are going to align their beliefs eventually, but the sooner the producer gets it right, the smoother sailing everyone will have.

Next, even if you understand the stimulus, should you always act on it? This isn’t a very good trick question; the answer is “No!” By dissecting the word “responsibility” we can think of it as “response ability.” Rather than being reactive and doing things the way “they’ve always been done,” you can use your self awareness, imagination, conscience and independent will to ask if the stock solution is the best one in this case.

OK – this is blog, not a dissertation, so I only touched on the depth of wisdom to be found in the 7 habits. To sum this habit up: Both the client and the producer should take initiative in detailing the scope and mission of the video. Their decisions are the primary determining factor for the effectiveness of the video. Take responsibility for your choices and the subsequent consequences that follow.

In coming posts I’ll discuss how each of the seven habits can be applied to a professional video production. In this post I want to touch on each of the first three habits with an overview and few brief words relating them to training video production and marketing video production.

• Habit 1: Be Proactive

Synopsis: Take initiative in life by realizing that your decisions (and how they align with life’s principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Take responsibility for your choices and the subsequent consequences that follow. Preproduction is often the most important part of any production – good planning leads to a successful video shoot.

• Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Synopsis: Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life. Where will the video be shown? On the web? One a television monitor? On a movie screen? It’s often not easy to retrofit a video for a bigger screen – best to know where you’ll be showing it before you even start

• Habit 3: Put First Things First

Synopsis: Plan, prioritize, and execute your week’s tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluate whether your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you toward goals, and enrich the roles and relationships that were elaborated in Habit 2. What really matters? Are expensive locations and special effects really important? If so, focus on them, but if not; let them go.

In the next post, we’ll dig into habit #1 and all they ways it is important to producing your video.

If you have questions about starting your video, give us a call or send us an email – 206-322-1576 • Studio@GoodSideStudio.com

Better yet, here’s a snappy video on the subject. Seattle video production company, GoodSide Studio (that’s us) produced this video for ICANN in 2011
http://vimeo.com/27218110

The primary reason is, we need a better place to show off our work. When our last site was designed, 300 x 400 was pretty big for web video. That’s no longer the standard and if anyone needs a professional video presentation, it’s a video production company.

We’re showing off new videos we produced for Clients like ICANN, Precor and Isilon – some well known brands and fantastic clients.

As I write this, the final touches are being made and testing is commencing. I’m excited to invite you back to see it soon.