Thanks so much Lydia for a great interview – we’re looking forward to watching (and playing!) Mojang and seeing what you do next!

What was your favorite point from Lydia’s Interview? Send us a tweet or comment here, on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel. We’re so inspired by Lydia that we’ll be posting on how to Share Your Gameplay for this week’s Watch.tv Teachniques on Wednesday.

To learn about getting started with a .tv website, please visit the Get .tv  section on Watch.tv.

Marcus Sheridan, @TheSalesLion

After the interview he did with .tv Advocate C.C. Chapman, we asked Marcus Sheridan to write a Watch.tv guest post on the power of video for small business. Marcus is a successful Small Business entrepreneur, a passionate speaker and author and well-known for his simple and direct communication style. His post today is focused on the “Visual Revolution” and the power of video in a small business marketing and sales strategy – something he has a lot of experience with.

By this point, most of us have heard the stats:

Over 60% of all people are visual learners…and the number is growing.

It’s pretty easy to see how this happened. Digital technology opened up a world of immediate visual stimulus at our fingertips. These days, before most kids are out of diapers, they’ve developed a relationship with buttons, screens, and swiping–all in the visual form, and all before they’ve learned to write their first letter.

The profound nature as to how this has occurred is quite fascinating, but one thing is exceedingly clear–the “visual revolution” is not going anywhere any time soon. In fact, it will exceed all of our wildest dreams.

It’s because of this trend that the reality of businesses using video in their sales and marketing process has now become an absolute need that cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, because we are in a transition period right now for many of these companies (going from an older generation to a younger, more tech-savvy one), especially small business owners, there are many misconceptions and misinformation regarding this profoundly important medium.

As a small business owner myself of a swimming pool construction company as well as a marketing consultancy firm, video was one of those things that literally intimidated the heck out of me just a few years ago. But like with everything else in this world, the minute I decided to change my approach to it, and instead embrace its possibilities, the magic happened. Today, my pool company’s videos have been viewed well over a million times on YouTube and more importantly, have led to sales and brand growth that have kept our company above water in a time when so many in our industry have closed their doors.

During this journey, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to many other small business owners and hear their questions, concerns, and triumphs with video. Based on these experiences, as well as my own, I’ve come up with the following advice and tips to help those businesses that have either not yet embraced video marketing, or are not yet fully experiencing the success of this this powerful medium.

The first half of the article will address some of the most common myths and misconceptions of video marketing, and the second half will discuss some of the strategic benefits and tips of the medium. Here goes:

5 Myths Regarding Using Video in Your Marketing

1.  The Perfection Myth:

Let me make this very clear:

Video marketing is NOT NASA. This is not a process of launching a space shuttle. Everything does not have to be, nor ever will be, perfect.

Notwithstanding this truth, there has been a myth perpetuated by many that all videos emphatically must be “great” or “incredibly well-produced” or “just right” or “super professional,” otherwise they will damage your brand and turn potential customers off.

Folks, I’m here to tell you this is complete and total bull. The first videos I produced with my swimming pool company were terrible– bad lighting, bad audio, bad script…just plain bad.

But I had to start somewhere, and that “somewhere” was not going to be at perfection. The following video is a perfect example of this. It was the first video I ever made and it’s plain awful. Notwithstanding, the video has generated traffic and sales but more than anything, it was a victory in overcoming something I’d never done before and was the start of something great.

Do you realize who the ones are that keep perpetuating this myth that videos have to be perfect and super professional otherwise they’ll damage your brand? The ones that are saying this are the companies that make videos for businesses in the first place. Yes, that’s right, professional video production companies.

Please understand here that I’m not saying our “goal” shouldn’t be quality and improvement with each and every video we make. Clearly, the idea is that we get better and better. But perfection is impossible, and those companies that are willing to be imperfect, and learn as they grow, those are the ones that end up dominating their industry and building their brand the most.

2. “I never watch online videos so why would I bother producing them?”

Let me share a hard truth about marketing in the digital age that I’ve come to realize:

Your opinions, preferences, and actions don’t matter.

In fact, neither do mine.

The only thing that matters is what the consumer wants and what helps advance them along the buying process.

Just as some folks “never watch video” online there is another set that “never reads articles.” Fact is, there is a big mix out there in the way people want to consume.

Furthermore, the way people consume information can change as they advance along the buying process. To give you an example what I’m talking about, my company has found that most people, when they start the research process for an inground swimming pool, tend to focus on quick articles that answer their most basic questions. Once they’ve done this, they will start to take the time to watch videos–typically shorter ones. Finally, once they get really serious, they are often willing to watch much longer videos as their buying decision approaches.

The bottom line is that we’ve got to allow consumers to learn about our products and services in *their* language (text or video) no matter what stage of the sales process they find themselves on.

3. “I don’t want to show my face”

When you think about the fast food restaurant Wendy’s, who comes to mind? How about Kentucky Fried Chicken? Or Papa John’s Pizza? Naturally, Dave, the Colonel, and the Papa come to mind– something that these companies have intentionally done to help customers develop a relationship of trust with an actual face.

As we’ve all heard a million times, consumers buy from those they trust. It’s that simple. And as business owners, we have to make a critical choice:

Are we going to allow small, often make believe insecurities to prevent customers from knowing, liking, and trusting us sooner?

The advent of social media has pushed this reality even further. Consumers expect personal relationships. They want to see who they’re giving their money to. And as business owners, if we have the audacity to ask consumers to trust us enough to give us their money off camera, then why wouldn’t we demonstrate the same trust by showing them our face on-camera?

4. “Video is only for Techies”

Don’t consider yourself a “technical” person? Fear not. In fact, just get in line with the rest of them that had this same “problem” yet managed to overcome their fears. As mentioned previously, four years ago I had never attempted to edit a video, much less upload one to YouTube.  The same applied to my business partner Jason, but notwithstanding we managed, little by little, to become pretty proficient with making videos, so much so that today we use advanced editing software, green-screens, and professional equipment, as you’ll see in the following video of a recent sale we were having:

5. “Video Marketing is Expensive”

Again, not true. Our first camera 4 years ago cost about $100, and that was the only money we spent on our original set of videos that have hundreds of thousands of views to date. Today, we own a nice camera, microphone, editing software, and green-screen studio that cost about $2,500 total—a number very affordable for most small businesses.

4 Video Tips Every Small Business Should Consider

1. They ask, you answer:

The golden rule of marketing in the digital age is a very simple one:

If the customer has ever asked the question, as a business it’s your moral obligation to answer it.

No consumer questions should ever be ignored.

This rule not only applies to textual content like blogging, but it also heavily applies to video as well.

In other words, if anyone has ever asked you the question, then it’s worthy of doing a video showing, telling, or demonstrating the answer to said question.

This is exactly why you should never run out of content ideas for videos. Whether you think it’s a silly topic or not (remember, our opinions don’t matter), allow the customer to dictate what your showing via video.

Speaking of silly, a few people in the swimming pool industry laughed at me when I said I was going to make a video showing how to clean a filter cartridge. Considering the task is “common sense,” few others saw its importance. Notwithstanding, this simple video has over 70,000 views to date, proving once again that the “golden rule” is all that matters.

2. Search Engine Optimization Cannot Be Overlooked

As you may have heard, YouTube is the second most utilized search engine in the world behind Google itself. Not only that, but Google weighs videos heavily in their search engine results.

Because of this, if you upload videos to YouTube and apply sound SEO principles  (like using strategic titles and tags to match phrases consumers are looking for), there is the chance for your content to show up in multiple places within search engine results. This is especially true if you post a video on your site within a blog article– giving search engines like Google more than one opportunity to show your content, as shown in the following screen shot. The top arrow in the photo shows how the YouTube video we made about air bubbles in swimming pools was ranked #1 of the keyword phrase, and the blog article on our website where the video was again posted was ranked #3 is search engine results.

3. Video is the gift that keeps on giving

Not only can video provide visits to your website for years to come (through SEO), but it can also be utilized in a variety of manners to enhance your content marketing efforts. For example, let’s say your company produces a video on YouTube. Here are the further ways it can integrate into your digital and content marketing:

1. Embed the video into a blog article

2. Embed the video into the sidebar of a page or multiple pages of your website.

3. Share the video on your Facebook page and allow it to reside there permanently

4. Share the video on Twitter

5. Use the video in your email marketing process. (Can be used to announce sales, give product demonstrations, address prospect concerns, etc.)

6. Embed the video on your company’s Google Places page (it will now show up in local search results) as well as your Google Plus page

7. Use the video in your sales process (If you have sales staff, it can be part of their pre-sale process, the actual sales presentation, or the post-presentation follow-up)

These are just a few of the means whereby one video can be turned into a far reaching marketing tool for your company. But as mentioned before, it starts with one.

4. Kill Multiple Birds with one stone

One of the great components of video marketing is that it gives you the ability, in one video, to accomplish many things. As an example from my swimming pool company, I used to have a two-fold problem:

1. Many prospects thought pools were hard work and that cleaning and vacuuming a pool would be very difficult.

2. After we taught a new customer how to vacuum and clean their swimming pool, many forgot what they’d been taught and asked us to come back out to show them again, which ended up costing us time and money.

To address this problem, my solution was a simple one—I recorded a short video of my 6 year old son showing viewers how to vacuum a swimming pool.

By doing this, the video had 3 main benefits:

1. When viewers see a 6 year old vacuuming a pool all by himself (start to finish), their fears about it being “too hard” are eliminated.

2. When a pool owner forgot how to vacuum their pool, all they had to do was go to our website and refer to the video. This alone has saved literally hundreds of man hours for our company over the past 3 years since the video was produced.

3. One final benefit of this video was the fact that because my son was in the video, potential customers would watch it and not only learn that pools weren’t as much work as they thought, but they were also able to get a much more personal feel for me and my family.

This is just one example of many videos we’ve produced over the years that serve multiple purposes with prospects and clients, and is an essential principle of any great video marketing campaign.

The Time is Now

I could literally go on and on about the sheer power of video to enhance small business sales and marketing, but I’m sure the point is clear. As I mentioned earlier, the key to all of this is the willingness to be imperfect, launch, and then improve as you go. Your unique journey will certainly have its own set of obstacles, but I can promise you the magical results will be well worth it.

• Chris Hardwick – The Nerdist Channel
• Tim Street – http: 1timstreet.com
• The Digits – WatchTheDigits.com
• Wilson Cleveland &Yuri Baranovs – LeapYear.tv

We put together a highlights video of some of these fantastic tips from the IAWTV Red Carpet – take a look:

We appreciate everyone who stopped to speak with us – all were incredibly generous with their time and expertise. To learn more about how to get started with online video (plus any other tips you might need!), please visit the How To section on Watch.tv.

What was your favorite tip from the video? Send us a tweet or comment here, on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.

Enjoy!

Thanks Marcus for a great interview! A lot of great points that small businesses can use to get up and running right now with online video! Marcus has also written a post on the “Visual Revolution” and some of the myths (excuses) companies use to avoid getting started in online video and also some great tips that will make it easy to move ahead, which we’ll post here on the Watch.tv blog this Thursday (Update: Mrcus’s Guest Post will be up on Monday 2/11).

To learn more about getting your business started with online video (plus any other tips you might need!), please visit the How To section on Watch.tv.

What did you learn from Marcus’s interview? Send us a tweet or comment here, on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.

Small Business Entrepreneur, Becky McCray

Ninety-seven percent of Internet users search for local businesses online, BIA/Kelsey’s User View Wave found as early as 2010. According to the American Express OPEN Small Business Saturday Consumer Pulse, nearly 3 quarters of consumers (73%) consciously shop at small businesses in their community because they do not want them to go away.

That’s Good News for Local Businesses

If your business sells primarily to local walk-in customers, you fit right into the traditional idea of local. Customers are looking for you online, so your focus for content is on the people, businesses, and features that are right around you.

What if You’re Not “Local?” Other Ways to “Be Local”

If your business sells online or to customers from all over, it can be tougher to figure out how to be “local” and how to connect with all those local searches. But there are other ways to do it.

Local can also be “temporary local.” If your business is based on tourism, you have temporary locals. People visit your community because they love something about it. They are temporary locals with a stake in your community. When you use video to show off your destination community, you’re strengthening your ties with potential visitors, and you’re connecting with their local searches.

Local can also be “someone else’s local.” By showing your connections to your local community, you’re also establishing that you are a small business worth supporting, no matter where your customers are. Marketer Jane Quigley told me that when she shops online, she looks for local independent businesses to support, even if they are local to somewhere else. When I was looking for chocolate covered pecans, I chose to buy from Nuts.com because their website showcased their local ties in their New Jersey community. They weren’t local to me, but they were someone else’s local, and that earned my business. All the video you create to show your local connections increases your appeal to distant customers, too.

Local can also be “a member of our community online.” Take the WordPress community, for example. The developers, designers, and consultants that work with the WordPress framework are all part of a network and online community. There are also offline community events like WordCamps and developer events. To show that your business is “local” to the online community, use video to show your participation at in-person events, your connections to community leaders, and your support of community causes. You can also go further by using all the local video techniques here.

Video Goes Local

Now that you’re thinking about your own local ties, how can you use video to show them? Jason Falls has taught you how to use your video for SEO, so you know how to optimize. Be sure you’re including local keywords and phrases:

• your town name and state
• local landmarks
• your neighborhood
• your region
• local geographic names like counties, townships, or parishes

You never know which geographic names people have associated with you, so it’s best to include more than just your town name. And phrases like “tri-state area” are used so many different places, it pays to also explain them. Don’t assume viewers know which state you’re in. Remember those “someone else’s local” searches? Those potential new customers won’t know exactly where you are until you tell them.

What to Show on Video for “Local”

1. Location, Location, Location

Start with your store, or office, or what ever physical location you work from. Give your customers a tour, a peek out your window, or an inside view into where you do the magic. Even if your work is location independent, you can feature “today’s workplace” in your videos.

Extend that to field locations. Show where your product is used, or where your services make a difference. Show demonstrations from the field. I promise you a product video is always more interesting when it’s a product demo from the field, rather than a “talking head” video from behind a desk about the same product.

2. Supply Chain

Your products are made from other ingredients or supplies. Show where they come from. Show the local businesses or suppliers you buy from. The easiest way for you to picture this is following food products from the farm to someone’s plate. You can use this idea with any business. In fact, you don’t have to be a product-based business. If you provide services, other local services support you. Show them. Where do they come from? Who are the people involved?

OK, now go the other way along the supply chain. Who buys from you? What local businesses or people rely on you? Make videos featuring them and what difference they make locally.

3. Join the Community

You’re part of some local community, and you want to show that. The best way to connect to locals is to feature locals. Look to local causes, activities, and events. You’re already participating in events, so take your video camera with you.

Show some local history. Capture some local wildlife. Share what makes you proud of your community.

What about your people? How are your people part of the local community? Do they volunteer, act in plays, perform at renaissance fairs? Get video!

Are you supporting a local cause? Explain why. Share how they make a difference. Get out and show how they do it. Invite them to be part of your videos. Let them do guest videos on your channel.

Why Video Matters Most in Local

At its core, being local is all about people. That’s why video matters so much to create local ties. Flat words on a screen can only convey so much. But moving images make you much more real to people. And when you’re building local ties, being real is perhaps the most critical element. If you take any of these local ideas, capture some simple honest video about them, and share them with your local community, you’ll build a much stronger connection and ultimately build your business.

Thanks Becky – terrific post that redefines how the term “local” applies to small business! To read more about Becky, she shares useful lessons for urban and rural businesses in her new book, Small Town Rules, written with Chicago entrepreneur Barry Moltz. Becky publishes the popular website Small Biz Survival. She also owns a liquor store and a cattle ranch in Oklahoma.

To learn more about getting your business started with online video (plus any other tips you might need!), please visit the How To section on Watch.tv.

What was your favorite point of Becky’s post?? Send us a tweet or comment here, on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.

Photo – Finish Line – Some rights reserved by ex_magician

This month on the Watch.tv blog we’ve been focused on getting Small Business started with Online Video. Don’t worry- even though the month is over, we’ll be posting on this topic throughout the year (HINT – click on the Small Business Video category or tag).

Today we wanted to recap all of the Watch.tv Teachniques posts we’ve done this month – there was a ton of great tips and content focused on getting your business started with online video, including ways to build your audience, stay on message and using local resources to promote your products and services.

• We kicked off our Small business and Online Video focus with the Teachniques post, Simple Questions to Answer Before Creating Videos For Your Business http://vrsn.tv/Z97VfJ
  
• On the 9th we posted The Tao of Branding. Why You Need to Stay on Message and Hammer it Home Until It Sticks http://vrsn.tv/UKUTnT
• On the 16th we focused on “Local” with, The 5 Ways to Use Your Local Chamber of Commerce to Promote Your Videos http://vrsn.tv/WaKtth
• Last week’s Teachniques post discusses the work of building an audience for your videos – In It To Win It! Post or Perish http://vrsn.tv/1450CpZ

We hope that all of these posts were valuable and pushed you to get started creating great online video – keep us in the loop! We’d love to see what your company is doing (especially when posting on your .tv!) – send us a tweet or comment here, on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.

To learn more about getting your business started with online video (plus any other tips you might need!), please visit the How To section on Watch.tv.

For this month’s focus on Small Business and Online Video, we’re lucky enough to have a number of well-known speakers on this very current topic. Becky McCray is a successful Small Business entrepreneur, speaker and author of the book, “Small Town Rules” – so she was a natural pick for a Spotlight Interview with .tv Advocate C.C. Chapman to talk about how small businesses are using online video to promote their products and services.

Thanks Becky for a great interview – lots of great points for small businesses to use! Becky has also written a post on how Small Businesses are using Online Video to redefine what “Local” means, which we’ll post here on the Watch.tv blog this Thursday.

To learn more about getting your business started with online video (plus any other tips you might need!), please visit the How To section on Watch.tv.

What did you learn from this interview? Send us a tweet or comment here, on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.

.tv Advocate Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff interviews Ford Motor Company’s Scott Monty at NMX on 1/8/13

We had a fantastic time at New Media Expo last week in Las Vegas. .tv sponsored the WebTV/Video Track and there were some great panels including “You Too Can Have a Successful YouTube Channel,” “Ready, Set, Shoot – A Beginners Guide” and “Where Is All of This Headed? The Future of Digital Entertainment.” All the panels were well attended (many standing room only!), which really shows how exciting and fast-growing this space has become.

While we were at NMX we were able to talk to many of the speakers and thought leaders that are driving emerging technologies in their companies. In less than a day we spoke with Scott Monty, Global Head of Social Media at the Ford Motor Company, Justin Levy, Global Head of Social Media at Citrix, Author and .tv Advocate C.C. Chapman and Travis Richey, the creator (and lead actor!) behind the fantastic web series, The Inspector.tv. We learned a lot from each of them on their views about online video, what trends they’re seeing for 2013 and a lot of great tips for those getting started. We’ll be sharing those videos with you soon.

.tv Advocate interviews Nerdist Christ Hardwick on the IAWTV Red Carpet 1/8/13

.tv was also a sponsor of the 2013 IAWTV Awards on Tuesday, January 8^th. We were on the Red Carpet, talking to the nominees about theirnominations, their work and where they see the online video space going. It was so exciting to speak toall of these fantastic talented people, including Chris Hardwick, Felicia Day, The Cast and Crew of “Husbands” and Teal Sherer. We were also able to talk to the winners after they received their awards, so we’ll be sharing footage of those interviews in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks to everyone at NMX and the IAWTV Awards who took the time to speak with us – we had a lot of fun and learned so much from each of you.

.tv Advocate C.C. Chapman caught up with Jason recently to talk about the role of online video in a small business content strategy, including how it influences search results and how businesses can justify the resources to move forward.

Jason has also written a guest post for us on how to optimize your videos for social media and search which will be posted on Thursday.

Thanks Jason! Really great information on a topic that can be confusing for a lot of people and especially small businesses. For more information on Jason, take a look at his website, buy his books and check out his social profiles. Jason is really one of the true thoughleaders in the marketing/emerging trends space, as the Founder of Social Media Explorer, and you can learn a lot from reading his posts there and Twitter feed.

To learn more about getting your business started with online video (plus any other tips you might need!), please visit the How To section on Watch.tv.

Do you have any tips for getting started with online video? Send us a tweet or comment here, on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.

Photo: Some rights reserved by Infusionsoft

You’re thinking about creating online video for your business. You’ve considered the rocket-ride potential of new media and now you’re itching to join the revolution or face being left behind in the dust. Like any other major business decision, the world of video is not something you should enter into lightly. Sure there are plenty of businesses already doing it who make it seem like a breeze. Be assured, the key to their success is all in planning and knowing the answers to a few key questions before the cameras roll.

1. Why are you doing it?

The answer isn’t always as clear as it seems. Obviously, you’re most likely considering video in order to promote what it is that you do, but you first need to identify the exact purpose. Is your intention to educate, entertain or impress? Or maybe it’s a combination of all three?

If you are trying to establish your brand or even change a currently held perception of your brand, the videos you shoot will have to reflect what you want folks to see as the “soul” of your company. This may require a more nuanced approach than a retailer shooting videos to promote their current specials.

Are you trying to position yourself as an expert? People search the Internet for every problem and question under the sun. Being the guru of a certain topic and demonstrating your depth of knowledge thorough demonstrations, tips and product reviews is a good way to create opportunities for people to find you organically through Internet search.

Maybe you’re doing it as a calling card or public audition for bigger opportunities. If you are creating your videos in order to wow people with your talents then it is important to plan to make sure you capture video magic with your camera.

Whatever you do, never, ever make “to go viral” the answer to the question of “why am I doing this?” Trying to manufacture a viral hit is a type of alchemy that all Internet video creators chase, but only a handful ever achieve. Videos that go viral are almost always those which have somehow captured something by chance. Otherwise, they are made up of the cosmic intersection of incident and achievement or incident and cluelessness. Unless you’re making a Super Bowl commercial or pranking celebrities, you probably have a better chance of inventing a perpetual motion machine than you do of manufacturing a viral hit. Just worry about making really good videos once you know what response you are chasing.

2. Who will be in the videos?

The senior-most person who is presentable in front of a camera is always a great choice. An owner or CEO who can connect with an audience is money in the bank because they help to put a face on the business. The old-fashioned “personal touch” that seems to be missing from today’s hustle and bustle is something every company wants and many pay dearly to try and present.

However, the reality is that you need someone capable of doing it well. As an “expert” you will need to be well-spoken and know how to present what you’re doing to camera. This, of course, may preclude anybody in management or any employees from being on camera lest you end up with a video that goes viral for all the wrong reasons. Nobody wants to unintentionally become a laughingstock.

And before that light bulb goes on over your head thinking an inept host could make your videos more viral-ready, double check with whomever is in charge that a comic approach will be appropriate before proceeding. Comedy is always a risky proposition. First of all, it doesn’t travel well. Aside from slapstick, culture and language barriers are massive roadblocks to the effectiveness of comedy so if you need to reach a global audience, comedy may not entirely work as planned.

If it’s not possible or feasible to use someone who is part of the company as your presenter or host on camera, bring in a ringer! By getting someone capable and presentable from outside you can present a more polished product. Companies hire actors all the time to represent their brand. Think of it as doing the same thing, just on a smaller scale.

Also, if you are planning on featuring interviews in your Web video, make sure to schedule those in advance and always confirm date and time a day or two beforehand to make sure everyone’s time is well-respected.

3. When can you shoot it?

If your plan is to grow an audience, remember that growing an audience often requires time. It also requires feeding that growing audience a steady stream of compelling content. Abandon that audience for stretches at a time and you run the risk of losing the audience you’ve worked hard to attract. It’s very difficult to build a supportive audience without regular or semi-regular content.

If your content is “evergreen,” meaning that it is always relevant, or at the very least if the topic of your content is not reliant upon current events, you can be very economical by shooting several episodes at a time. If you do product reviews or demonstrations, knocking out several episodes worth of content in one day or over a weekend can greatly streamline the video production process.

If this isn’t possible, or your desire is to be more timely with the content of each episode, you should plan in advance how often you will be able to make the time to shoot a new video and schedule around it. If it’s not something that can be done during work hours, you’ll have to sacrifice some of your free time as well.

Obviously, since videos don’t edit themselves, either you or someone else will also have to make the time available to turn the footage that has been shot into a finished product.

3. Where should you shoot it?

Your place of work best demonstrates what your business is all about. Shooting there may not be an option. You may not have enough open space, or decent lighting, or the proper electrical wiring to run hot video lights. You’re going to need a certain amount of quiet to ensure your video will also have good audio. Your business just may be too busy to stop everything so you can shoot there.

Maybe it’s something you can arrange to shoot after-hours. But if it’s just not feasible to use your business as a location for your shoot, you will have to find an alternative location.

The great thing about your place of business is that it probably already looks like a proper location to be seen talking about your particular business or brand. If you have to shoot in an outside location that is more video production-friendly, consider that you may have to dress up your blank canvas to match the theme of your video. These of course, are considerations that potentially add expense and time to your production.

You can always try and shoot outside, but the great outdoors, while often a cost-free choice of location, may potentially offer its own set of complications. The sun is a notoriously unreliable source of video lighting. Access to electricity is not always easy. Noise is often hard to control. Depending upon your jurisdiction, you may require a permit to shoot.

If your video shoot requires that you are at a certain location for a certain event, try as much as possible to find out what you can about the venue and where you’ll be shooting so that when the cameras start rolling you can keep any surprises and potential disasters to a minimum.

4. What do you talk about?

You can have the best-looking location, a whiz-bang host and the best camera money can buy, but if you don’t have interesting content you’re not going to win the war for eyeballs. Because the resources involved to produce video are usually directly proportional to the length of your episodes, you want to be as concise as possible. Also, Internet audiences are fickle. Television length episodes may scare away viewers online who aren’t looking for that kind of time commitment. Even if you are extremely well-versed in your subject matter, if you don’t have a lot of experience ad-libbing to camera, you should definitely make an outline or list of bullet points for each episode and stick to it. If you’re comfortable with reading a script on camera, you can always prepare exactly what you’re going to say in order to make sure you don’t leave anything out.

If you want to present the things your company makes or sells, often the best way to compel viewers is to propose a problem and then show how what you’re featuring or reviewing solves that problem. Teach if you’re trying to teach. Entertain if you’re trying to entertain, just remember that it should all somehow tie into your brand’s message and/or image. If it doesn’t, then you should reconsider the content you are shooting because you may not only be wasting your resources and time, but your audience’s time as well.

5. How much will it cost?

The answers to every single one of the above questions has the ability to impact the costs involved for producing your videos. Every question that requires outside help to answer is a potential expense. All the resources you will need, from equipment like lights and cameras to location, on-camera talent that you don’t already have at your disposal is a potential expense. If you have to hire someone to edit the raw footage or mix the audio, that’s an expense as well. Perhaps you can pull in some favors, but you may not be able to sustain an ongoing video series with freebies and IOU’s.

That doesn’t mean you will go broke paying Hollywood rates to create your small business Internet video show. No matter where you live, there’s a good chance there are people such as hobbyists and students who may be willing to help out for the experience, production credit or for free meals and the opportunity to be part of something fun (it is going to be fun, isn’t it?). Or, at the very least maybe you can negotiate the kind of rates that won’t hurt your wallet.

The good thing about Internet video is that it doesn’t have to look like Spielberg shot it. It just has to at least be presentable and have reasonably decent audio so the viewer can better understand what it is that you want them to be taking away from this experience. Truth is, the bar is set pretty low in terms of the level of quality you can get away with. The one thing you shouldn’t ever dare skimp on is the quality of the information or entertainment you are presenting. Amateurish video of a master at work is worth much more to an audience than the best-produced video of paint drying.

You’ve made the decision to create a video platform for your business. A webcam and an Internet connection will only get you so far. To create videos that are effective, you need an effective game plan. Before you hit that record button, ask yourself the important questions: Why are you doing it? Who will be in the videos? When can you shoot it? Where should you shoot it? What will you say? And of course, how much will it cost? Once you can answer all those questions, you have made a big step toward creating your own blueprint for video success.

To learn more about getting your business started with online video (plus any other tips you might need!), please visit the How To section on Watch.tv.

Do you have any tips for getting started with online video? Send us a tweet or comment here, on our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.

Happy New Year!