Did you know…. The song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, you know the one that goes…
“Clap along if you feel like a room, without a roof (Because I’m happy) Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth (Because I’m happy)”
Yeah, that song…
Did you know this song was out on all streaming platforms for 8 months… Yeah… Let me spell that out… EIGHT MONTHS! Before going viral and hitting the charts.
Why? What made this song go from a failure to an enormous success? The biggest song of its respective year, outselling everything else in 2014? What made it go from an obscure failure to a Grammy award winning song?
A video…
When Pharrell decided to shoot a music video for this song, it gave it a visual, and more than one generation of people responded.
What am I saying?
That was 2014, now 8 years ago. Let me spell that out too, EIGHT YEARS ago. If you don’t believe by now we have moved into a world where video matters, I don’t know if you’re ever going to get it.
Video content matters. A LOT.
Now, I’m not saying this because I want your business. I’m saying this to be genuinely helpful. Video can be expensive, I don’t deny that. But… No marketing is cheap. And video is often competitive in pricing.
If you can find a video guy or gal for the cost of a billboard, or the cost of running radio ads, why aren’t you doing it? Why are you still buying radio ads that cost you $7 and $8 to reach a thousand people, when you can pay a video guy to make a video, and use that video to reach people at 0.10 to 0.25 a person?
Does it wound up being cheaper? Not always, producing the video costs a lot. But… Is it competitive? Absolutely. Not to mention, a video ad can often be ran on social media LONG after it was produced. And once the video is made, the cost is behind you. So which is more effective and economical?
Remember that song sat on the proverbial internet shelves for EIGHT MONTHS before it went viral with a video.
Now 64% of marketers say they have had a difficult time transitioning to video.
They are trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead of bringing people in that have a video background, they’re stuck in this DIY mindset and the results are not pretty. I tried years ago to convince the people around me this is where we were headed. I attempted to get people to see around the corner with me and be proactive instead of reactive. But, many did not listen.
So why are companies having such a hard time transitioning to video?
Because of variables. That’s why.
Making a well rounded video requires you to cover a lot of bases. It’s not just editing. A lot of people try to simplify the problem and say the issue is simply learning to edit video. Not true.
Though learning how to professionally edit video is an endeavor that takes most people two years to master fully, and though it’s the most complicated part the process, it is not the only variable. The process of storyboarding, writing, audio, lighting, camera shots/lens, personality, setting the scene, graphic design and so on, it’s all tried and true, yet it is often ignored by amateurs. I’ve been learning to make videos for nearly 20 years, since the fall of 2003, and I’m still learning!
And people think because Apple gave them a $1,500 option, they can skip learning all this stuff and just whip out their phone. I had a gentlemen once show me the features on his new Samsung, as if to suggest to me, my cameras were obsolete. I chuckled a little, because I knew despite having this awesome device, it would not amount to much for him.
There’s a place for smartphones, increasingly, as they have become amazing media tools. But they’ll never compete with the colors and depth perception of a professional camera and lens. They’re getting better, and more useful, I don’t deny that.
But, I’m here to tell you, a high dollar smart phone is utterly useless without learning the processes of making good videos. You’re buying a tool without knowing how to use it. It’s like me buying a 3D printer, and thinking I can make action figures with it out of the box.
If you own a small business and you rely on any marketing at all, I urge you to get on board before it’s too late. Stop waiting for your competitors to get the edge before you figure out you have to do this. And it’s not just selling. In a labor shortage, people are in competition for workers. Recruitment via video is an edge. Period.
Get in the game, or get left behind.
Stop messing around and start making videos. Like now.
Hometown Multimedia 