“This is the year of video!” Have many years have we heard that proclamation? I created my first online videos in 2005. They were terrible. And, I just kept at it. I won’t say my videos are great now, and for many purposes, that’s OK since the range of video options has grown to the point that video can be created from easily in the moment to being professionally produced.
Recently my good friend and colleague Lou Bortone asked if he could interview me for his series, Women Who Rock, to discuss how successful women business owners use online video in their businesses.
The interview is just a tad over 9 minutes and I’ve posted the lightly edited transcript below if you prefer to read instead of watch video.
Below the transcript, I’ve linked to the tools mentioned in the interview plus a few more that I frequently use. If you want to skip to the resources scroll down to the links or click here.
= TRANSCRIPT =
Lou Bortone: Hey, it’s Lou Bortone, and welcome back to our Women Who Rock Series and one of my favorite women of all time and longtime friends and colleagues is Denise Wakeman. Hi, Denise.
Denise Wakeman: Hey you, Lou. I’m happy to be here with you. Love the topic.
Lou Bortone: Hey. I know. We go all the way back to The Blog Squad days, I guess.
Denise Wakeman: Yeah, it’s been a long time.
Lou Bortone: Yeah. I just saw you on … Facebook always shows those memories and stuff like that. I just saw a picture of you and me and Felicia at Adam Urbanski’s event from nine or 10 years ago.
Denise Wakeman: Wow. I think that’s the first time we met in person, even.
Lou Bortone: Yeah. Yeah.
Denise Wakeman: Because you were close enough to LA that it was like, “Oh, I’m going to meet you.”
Lou Bortone: Yeah. So that was fun, Facebook reminding me like, oh, my God, I’m 10 years old, how did that happen? But … So I know you’ve been off on some incredible adventures. Good to see you again. What I’m doing with this series of videos is really just talking to folks briefly about how they use video in their business, if they have a favorite platform, and I know you were an early adopter and one of the really first people to use and talk about videos, so tell us a bit about that.
Denise Wakeman: Well, oh, gosh. I think it was back in 2005, I was working with Tom Antion. He was my mentor in The Blog Squad days, and he was talking about video and that we needed to get started doing video, and so my partner at the time, she and I started doing video. And I think, actually, I need to go back to my YouTube channel, that first video might be there, and it was horrible. It was horrible, but it sort of got things rolling in the whole idea of there has to be at least some content on video. And in 2005, it was a lot harder to do video, or not harder, but it was just more complicated, especially if you’re not a videographer and you don’t have experience in film and television like you do. I mean, I don’t know, I just point-and-shoot.
Lou Bortone: And the files were enormous and ridiculously big, and …
Denise Wakeman: Yeah. And remember the flip camera?
Lou Bortone: Oh, yeah, I still have one somewhere around here.
Denise Wakeman: I do, too, somewhere also. I think I have like three different versions of the flip camera, and then the next one was a [inaudible 00:02:44]. I can’t remember what it was.
Lou Bortone: Oh, like Kodak Zi8 or something like that.
Denise Wakeman: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s it, that’s it. And so I so I think I have one of those around, and, I mean, I don’t even know where they are, but now, it’s our phones. That’s the camera I use for everything, for video, and … well, I also use a webcam when I’m on the web like this. So, I would say that since 2005, I haven’t been totally consistent with creating videos, but I’ve always used video in some way, shape or form, and there are so many more options now that it makes it much easier. You don’t have to be a talented videographer to put something decent out.
Lou Bortone: Yeah, and it’s funny because I’m already seeing things like 2019 is the year of video. I’m like, “Yeah, you’re about 10 years too late,” but that’s okay. So what would you say to folks who are starting out and they’re like, “Oh, my gosh, I should have started so long ago,” and …
Denise Wakeman: Hey, there’s no time like the present, right? There is that Chinese proverb, when’s the best time to plant a tree?
Lou Bortone: Right.
Denise Wakeman: 20 years ago. What’s the second-best time to plant a tree? Today.
Lou Bortone: Right.
Denise Wakeman: So it doesn’t matter what happened 20 years ago or that some people have been doing it for 20 years or more, you just start now.
Lou Bortone: Yeah.
Denise Wakeman: And we all started at zero. We all started at not knowing anything. And now, the learning curve is so much shorter.
Lou Bortone: Yeah, it’s kind of point-and-shoot at this point.
Denise Wakeman: Exactly.
Lou Bortone: So do you have a preferred platform? I mean, do you like Facebook Live, recorded videos or?
Denise Wakeman: Well, I like doing live video. I’m not that crazy about Facebook Live, and maybe it’s because I haven’t implemented all the third-party tools because I’m just tired of paying for third-party tools.
Lou Bortone: Yeah, I hate all that stuff.
Denise Wakeman: But I like using live video for more intimate reasons, processes or programs. So something like this, doing interviews, doing consulting … I use Zoom all the time for one-on-one consults, for my group programs, mastermind groups, tutorials, that sort of thing. So I really love the idea of being live on video with people versus Facebook Live where it’s just me talking and hoping that people show up and type something into the comments. I don’t really like that aspect that much of Facebook Live. So as for a platform, probably I do more recorded, and then the live is for more intimate video.
Lou Bortone: Yeah. I know, and there’s no right or wrong answer to that, really, it’s just personal.
Denise Wakeman: Yeah.
Lou Bortone: Me, I’m a little more of a control freak, and if I’m doing Facebook Live, I mean, I do it, but if I see like, oh, my God, and old girlfriend from high school’s watching, I get a little freaked out thinking what if more of them tunes-in, really. So, no, I don’t want her to watch. So. But yeah, I mean, but there’s, I mean, it really is personal preference, I think. It’s really there’s no wrong or right way, whatever way you can get your message out and you feel like it resonates, so.
Denise Wakeman: Yeah. Yeah. And I really like a lot of the tools now that are available to create videos, so it doesn’t always have to be me. I know you’re really great about showing people what’s new … in that arena, but I like creating these videos that are based on the AI of pulling in your blog post and creating beautiful … I like doing blog post trailers,
Lou Bortone: So you do like Lumen5 videos and things like that?
Denise Wakeman: Yeah. Lumen5. I also really like Headliner. Headliner to take an audio file and then make a video out of that by uploading a video, or an image, or a series of images.
Lou Bortone: Yeah.
Denise Wakeman: That’s pretty easy and it gives a different kind of feeling to the video than even a Lumen5, like a blog post trailer, or something like that. So I like that and I really love that that these tools now allow you to create your video in various formats.
Lou Bortone: Right. Yeah.
Denise Wakeman: You’re not just stuck with landscape anymore, you can do square videos, you can … and sometimes it’s just the tweak of a button and it just reformats it.
Lou Bortone: Yeah.
Denise Wakeman: It’s like, ah, this is fantastic.
Lou Bortone: Yeah. And in the old days, oh, I got to edit that, and I’ve got to change the aspect ratio, and all that stuff.
Denise Wakeman: Yeah, then it looked like crap for me.
Lou Bortone: Oh, that’s definitely gotten easier. Tell us what types of things you’re working on and what you’re looking forward to in the new year? That kind of thing, and the last thing, where people can find you.
Denise Wakeman: I am continuing my focus into the new year on building my Marketing Trailblazers community, which is a community for online business owners who want to have a safe place to talk about marketing, answer questions, get feedback. It’s a little bit of teaching, but it’s mostly conversations about how we can help each other make sense of all these things and the changes that are always happening, that’s been a big topic of conversation in the community now. So I’m really focusing on building that because the community really is about the sum-of-its-parts.
Lou Bortone: Right.
Denise Wakeman: And so, that’s going to be my primary focus for the new year, but also I do a lot of mentoring and consulting and helping people with their social media marketing, too, which I love also. So where else can you find me? @DeniseWakeman, everywhere, and denisewakeman.com for my website and blog posts.
Lou Bortone: Awesome. Well, thanks again for talking with us, and we’ll catch up with you soon.
Denise Wakeman: Okay. Thanks, Lou.
= END TRANSCRIPT =
Links to Resources and Recommended Reading for Online Video Marketing
Blog Posts and Book
How to Win More Attention with this Awesome Video Checklist
How to Promote Your Blog Post with a Simple Video Trailer
Are You Afraid of Doing Live Video?
The Video Godfather’s Top 10 Proven Video Marketing Tips – guest post by Lou Bortone
Video Marketing Rules: How to Win in a World Gone Video! by Lou Bortone
Video Tools
The list below are the online video tools I use, have used (I experiment a lot!), and recommend. Some are free. Some have free trials, then you have pay if want to keep using it and want more features. I always advise that you start with a free trial and test the tool before committing any money to it. If you love, buy it.
Dubb – similar to Loom. Use it to create videos you can send via email. Great for video emails and tutorials. More robust features than Loom, with a call to action feature you can add to your video.
Loom – similar to Dubb, but without as many features. Good for video email, tutorials.
Lumen5 – Love this tool. Use it to create videos from your blog posts. It uses AI to create videos from your text and images. You can edit with your own images and also tweak the text. Great for starting a draft video that you can then refine, add music and call to action. I use it to create videos to promote new blog posts and programs.
Headliner – Use this tool to create a video from an audio file. Very cool way to promote podcast episodes.
Zoom – I use Zoom nearly every day for one on one consults, group mastermind meetings and webinars.
Rev – transcription service for transcribing videos (like you read above).
There are many, many other video tools that do similar things. The trick when you find one is to try it. If you like it, keep using it. If you don’t like it, move on and experiment with another one.
If you have questions about why or how to create online videos for your business, post them in the comments below. If you’re looking for support and guidance with your online marketing, including video marketing, take a look at the Marketing Trailblazers Community and join us!
Hi Denise What a great interview! This is what I am shooting for also for artists and creatives. I love the additional ‘transcript’ It really makes for great content. Very nice news letter
Thank you, Arthur, I appreciate that you stopped by and watched the interview.
Great post Denise! Love the tools list. Groan, I must get on the (not so new) video bandwagon. 😋
There’s always something, right?
Thanks for stopping by, Cynthia!
This is jam-packed with great information, Denise. You and Lou are two of my favorite online mentors — both smart, generous, and understand the importance of implementation.
Thank you, Elizabeth! Are you creating videos for content marketing?
I have started a monthly post called “Heartspoken Moments” and always include a video.
Excellent!