ReelSEO is a terrific blog about online video marketing.
One of their staffers, Tim Schmoyer, produces a weekly video series I like a lot called “Creator’s Tip,” which is aimed at helping video creators improve their work.
He recently did a video on how to use video to humanize your brand:
I thought it was such a great topic that I decided to chime in with this video response:
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I really enjoyed the recent video you did about how to humanize your brand using video.
I totally agree with you that over-producing video can sometimes be a mistake.
My husband and I own a martial arts school in Brooklyn, NY called Urban Martial Arts so we like to check out what other martial arts schools around the country are doing with their marketing.
I’ve noticed a couple school owners who have videos that they seem to think make themselves look really bad-ass.
I’m talking about videos with slo-mo shots of instructors punching and kicking mid-air set to some cheesy Eye of the Tiger-type music.
And it just ends up being unintentionally funny.
Especially when the instructor has, let’s just say, let himself go a little bit and is not quite the Adonis he was back in the day?
Not a good look.
Anyway, I wanted to answer your question about what works for us when we use video to humanize our brand.
The most important way we do it is that we always showcase our own actual students.
And not everybody does this.
I know some schools that will go out and hire professional martial artists to appear in their commercials and promo videos.
And while this gets you cool footage of people doing backflips and neat nunchuck tricks, ultimately it’s not a reflection of who they really are as a school.
90% of our students are not doing backflips on a regular basis, so we’re just not going to make that the centerpiece of our video efforts.
Instead, we’re more interested in showing candid footage of our students doing their thing – whether it’s in class, or at our belt promotion ceremonies, or at karate tournaments.
Not every kid is going to be super-photogenic, and not every kid is going to be the next Jaden Smith.
So it may not be as flashy, but I believe it’s more realistic and shows a prospective parent what they can actually expect to see when they walk through our doors.
And so far it’s been really successful!
The vast majority of our students find us online and we always hear from them that watching our videos played a big role in getting them interested in checking us out.
To any fellow ReelSEO fans who happen to be watching this, if you own a local business, I’d love for you to check out my blog at CarmenSognonvi.com.
It’s all about how to run a successful local bricks-and-mortar business, including how to get more customers and close more sales.
Thanks for letting me share, Tim. I’ve learned so much from your videos, and I can’t wait to see what you come out with next!
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If you found this video useful, enter your email address below and click “Yes, Send Me Tips!” to get free tips from me on how to run a successful local, bricks-and-mortar business:
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