“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!

The post Women Who Rock – Using Online Video in Business appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

It’s not “fake news.” The stats don’t lie.

Video marketing isn’t going away. It is the most effective way to market your business… today and into the foreseeable future.

*Consider this:

• Video on social media generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined.
• 4X as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it.
• 52% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI.

There are many more stats to support the fact that using visual content to tell your stories gets better results than almost any other media. It makes sense then, that the ultimate form of visual media is video. 

That’s why I’m giving away 7 copies of Lou Bortone’s book, Video Marketing Rules: How to Win in a World Gone Video.

In addition to the images and other visual content you’re using to market your business, I want you to have the best resources for getting started with video or up-leveling your current video marketing game plan. To help you out, I’m including a 30-minute visual marketing strategy session for each winner. ($150 value)

Click here to enter the giveaway! 

Ends on April 30, 2018, at 9 pm PT.  Seven winners announced on May 1. Good luck!

Recommended Reading

The Video Godfather’s Top 10 Proven Video Marketing Tips

*Stats provided by Lou Bortone (Source: LiveStream.com/blog)

The post Video Marketing Rules! Enter Giveaway to Win 1 of 7 Books appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Guest Blog Post by Lou Bortone, Video Marketing Strategist

If you’ve taken the big leap and joined the ranks of the online video marketers, congratulations!  That first video is always the most difficult.

But now that you’ve produced your first video, what’s next?  How do you not only maximize the marketing from that video, but also create new video marketing opportunities?  Unless you want to succumb to the dreaded “one and done” syndrome, you’ll want to create a strategic marketing plan for using video regularly in your business.

Learn more during our upcoming webinar.

As with any plan, you must begin with the end in mind. The strategy is far more important than what camera you use.  What are your business objectives for video?  Is it to grow your list? Build your brand? Drive more web traffic? Enhance your credibility?  Your goals will determine your direction. 

If you said “all of the above” to the video goals we just listed, here are some ideas for maintaining your video momentum…

Create an “expert tips” series to share your expertise. Short, 1 – 2 minute “how to” videos are a great way to increase your credibility and expand your influence.

If you’ve got a blog, add a videoblog post every couple of weeks. The search engines love video, and your readers will be treated to a dynamic change of pace from your traditional blog posts.  Extra bonus: Video is much more personal and compelling than print alone!

Get some face time.  Use a personal video message or video email to go “face to face” with your clients or prospects.  Sending a video greeting, birthday wishes or a thank you video have much more impact than yet another regular email.  If you want to stand out and be memorable, use video!

Make it an event.  Whether you’re promoting a webinar or launching a new product, nothing makes a bold statement like video.  Adding video to your promotional plans makes your webinar or launch look more like a special event.  Again, it’s the best way to break through the online clutter and make sure your message gets noticed.

Go Live! You can do a live webcast or offer a “Q & A” video session using free platforms such as Livestream or Ustream.tv.  These web resources make it easy to fire up your webcam and go live whenever you want.  A live webcast is dynamic, engaging and highly interactive.  (You may want to do a test run first, just to get comfortable with the format).

However you decide to use video, it will put your marketing on overdrive and accelerate your results.  The secret is consistency and strategy.  Make a plan and stick to it.  Anyone can make one video.  The real winners online will be those who make online video a regular part of their marketing efforts.

For more video marketing secrets, join us for our upcoming free webinar, “7 Strategies to Profit from Video Marketing” on Tuesday, March 27^th at 4 p.m. Eastern.  Register here.

Are you creating video for your business?

The post I Made My Video… Now What? appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

In this 5 minute video I cover three ways you can get better results from the videos you post on YouTube. This applies to any other video distribution platform you use as well. [Click here if you can't see the video.]

This video doesn't cover every single aspect of how to set up your YouTube channel or how best to leverage it. Rather these are few things I see over and over that get in the way of using online video successfully.

I'd love to hear your tips for leveraging YouTube. Please post them in the comments or post a video comment on YouTube.

If online video intimidates you, then I invite you to check out Online Video Made Easy, a self-study course I created with the online video guy, Lou Bortone. It really is easy!

Links:
TubeMogul

Subscribe to YouTube Channel >> DeniseWakeman.tv

The post 3 Ways to Get Better Results from Your YouTube Videos appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.

Interview with Lou Bortone

(20:29 min)

Denise: Hi. I’m Denise Wakeman, founder of The Blog Squad and today I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to my friend and colleague, Lou Bortone. Lou and I have known each other for a few years and have partnered on a couple of projects most notably, our self study course “Online Video Made Easy.”

Lou is an online branding specialist, a video pro, and a visibility expert. A man after my own heart. He’s also known for his wacky LouTube videos. I’m not sure if he’s making these any more, I’ll have to check on that. Also, he’s well known for the montage videos that he frequently creates to celebrate people he knows.

The purpose of talking with Lou today is to learn about his perspective on creating visibility with video and why it’s so important. Welcome Lou.

Lou: Thanks. It’s good to talk to you.

Denise: I’ve wanted to grab you for a few minutes for a while now to get into conversation versus a teleseminar about your take on creating visibility with video. Before we get into that, would you give us a nutshell version of your background to set the stage?

Lou: I grew up in the TV industry because my dad worked at a TV station. So I followed in his footsteps despite his warnings to stay away from TV. I ended up working in Los Angeles for several years at E Entertainment Television, another division of Fox. When they sold my division I came back to the Boston area to start working with online video and I’ve been doing that ever since.

Denise: Cool. The reason I invited you to have this conversation with me is because you are truly a master of using video for branding and also building visibility on the web. It’s very clear in everything I see that you’re doing online that you’re a passionate evangelist about online video. That’s why I want to hear from you why this is so important.

To start off, do you have a few stats at your fingertips about online video about who is watching and why people like you and I, service professionals, small business owners should pay attention?

Lou: Yeah, it’s really incredible just the way it’s like a tidal wave or tsunami of popularity with online video. The thing that’s interesting is that a lot of folks will still say, “Oh, you know that YouTube is skateboarding, cats and kittens on the piano.” The truth is, the stats for YouTube are really across the board. Everyone is watching YouTube, using YouTube, and in fact I know that we’ve used the stat before.

YouTube is the second most popular search engine. Now when folks are looking for answers to their problem, they’re not just going to Google, they’re looking for “How To” videos and looking for answers to their challenges on YouTube. That alone is a reason to start getting into it. It’s not just YouTube. Obviously the channel gets all the attention. It is really now completely across the board and it somewhat follows social media in that regard. It really isn’t just for young folks. It’s completely across the board. Every age group, every demographic, it’s become a total-it’s like pop culture now.

Denise: I don’t have numbers in front of me, but I know that as penetration of the Internet becomes pervasive, really across the world, there’s something like 1.8 billion people who are connected to the web world wide. When you think about YouTube being the second largest search engine, that means people are going onto YouTube to look at more than skating cats for sure. I don’t think I’ve ever watched skating cats. Like you said, I use it to find “How To” videos. If that’s not a case for a business being on YouTube, I don’t know what is.

Lou: It’s leveled the playing field. When I worked in TV years ago, at the time it was known for the four big networks and a few media conglomerates kind of controlled every message that you saw. Now, anyone in their basement literally with a webcam can start a business and become really popular really quickly on the Internet. It seemed sort of Internet TV kind of came out of nowhere. It doesn’t take a whole lot of technology and time to master that if you have a compelling message.

Denise: Right, and you don’t have to be slick. You don’t have to be videographer, or professional videographer. You don’t have to be a professional actor to be able to really have a powerful message.

Lou: Oh, not at all. I guess Gary V, is one of the best examples of that. He almost celebrates that it is low tech or that the lighting isn’t right. It doesn’t matter to him because it’s the message not the medium.

Denise: Right, Gary V(aynerchuk) is at www.winelibrary.tv and he’s got gazzilions of followers. I recently watched a webinar that you hosted and I had to laugh out loud when you I heard you talking about the phenomenon about hearing people say, “I see you everywhere.” I hear that a lot personally, and I also use that a lot in my presentations as well because it is so powerful. It’s about being acknowledged by people when they say that about you. Everyone wants to be seen. It’s one of those deep things that’s rooted within us.

How specifically does video work to boost visibility?

Lou: Yeah, it’s been great. That is, it’s funny, I forget about that. I see you everywhere – the four sweetest words that one can hear. When we go to-and we’ve both experienced this-when we go to a conference or event and we finally meet a person who we’ve been talking with via social media or video, you’ve already gotten that kind of getting to know you stuff out of the way. You’ve already established a connection.

The benefits of being visible like that with video is that you can attract new clients without ever having met them in person. You can drive people to your website more easily because they feel connected with you, they feel like they know you. It helps you stand out in a really crowded and competitive marketplace. The benefits of visibility go on and on. You know-we’ve both experienced this too-you get all kinds of amazing business offers and opportunities to speak just because the visibility almost builds on itself exponentially.

Denise: Yes, I often say visibility equals opportunity.

Lou: Absolutely. The model that I use, and I’m certainly not the first to do it, visibility builds credibility and credibility builds profitability.

Denise: Perfect.

Lou: …following for a long time and working with my clients, I tell them, “Look. You get visible and if you have a compelling message, you can really establish yourself as an expert in your field very quickly.”

Denise: There is no doubt about that. In my view, video and blogging-of course blogging is my thing, that’s what I’m known for – in my view, video and blogging work hand in glove. Can you talk a little bit about your thoughts on that? Do you agree? Disagree?

Lou: Absolutely. I think that they are definitely cousins, if not brother and sister. Again, if you’ve got a blog and you decide to turn that into a video, you just decide that maybe one of these posts that we read every month is going to be a video it just opens it up that much more. It allows you to really connect and communicate and it’s just a perfect, perfect platform. Even if you want to just do a series of tips and you say, “Okay, this month the theme for my blog is going to be on sharing tips via video about my area of expertise.” It’s an amazing platform and a powerful platform to be able to-you really get the best of both worlds. The best of blogging and the best of videos.

Denise: Now, going back to what you said just a second ago about visibility creates credibility creates profitability. How does video help create credibility?

Lou: A lot of ways. First of all, if you can manage to go on video and not make a fool of yourself, like I often do, you can really establish yourself as an expert in that area. The person that is the expert or seen as the expert is not necessarily the one who has the most degrees or has been studying the longest. It’s really the person who is out there promoting himself and appearing.

The perception is wow, I do see you everywhere and you’re always talking about video, or you’re always talking about blogging. You must be the expert. Other people start to refer to you as that. You don’t even really have to blow your own horn. It’s really powerful that way in terms of-if you’re out there and you’re giving a consistent message in your area of expertise, it’s going to constantly build upon itself.

Denise: I think the added benefit of video is being a visual medium inherently. People can connect with you and we talked a little bit about it not having to be perfect. Just having the ability to see your face, your gestures, your expressions, I think that that helps. Actually accelerate that process.

Lou: Absolutely. We’re a visual society anyway. People tune to television to see and hear and connect that way. Again, that’s like when you-if you see an actor or actress for years and then you see them on the street in LA or something you feel like, “Oh, I can go and talk to this person because I know them.” It’s the same with video. You build a-not necessarily celebrity status-but you build a connection, a familiarity so that when you do connect in person that connection is that much stronger. The other great thing is it really just accelerates the sales process. You know we always hear that people buy from folks that they know, like and trust. Video goes a long way in creating that know, like and trust factor.  

Denise: Okay. I agree with that. So what do you think it is that stops people from using video?

Lou: I think a lot of folks that I work with are not comfortable being on camera or they don’t know where to begin. It’s like the idea of it is overwhelming them and they don’t realize it. First of all, you don’t necessarily need to be on camera to do a video. Like the presentation you referred to earlier was just a PowerPoint presentation that was narrated. That was a video even though I didn’t appear in it. We don’t have to necessarily be on camera to be on video. If you do want to be on camera, it could be something as simple as doing it with a webcam and doing 10, 20, 30 second message. It’s not like you have to have a big script, a teleprompter, and lights. The whole deal. It’s very down to earth simple.

Denise: Right. I think even in the last year or so-we started teaching newbies how to use online video almost 2 years ago, wasn’t it? Even in the last 2 years the number of resources have grown and they’re so easy to use. Some of them are so cheap too.

Lou: You go on Facebook if you have a webcam, I don’t know if a lot of people know this. You can record a video live and on file just by hitting the record button in the video section of Facebook. If you have a webcam, you can literally have a video in 30 seconds on Facebook.

Denise: You can do it direct from your status update, I believe.

Lou: It’s amazing. You can do it on YouTube too. You know what, I’m just going to do a quick little message. You can record on the fly on YouTube without having to upload or do anything ahead of time.

Denise: It’s incredible what people create. It’s great. So, what kind of trends are you seeing with online video?

Lou: I’m seeing a lot of the-I guess they’re called gurus and big marketers-who are trading in their long drawn out sales pages for videos. I’ve seen a lot of those too where it’s literally just a video message and a sign up or a buy button. Sometimes these videos are 20 minutes or half hour long. Again, if they simply glorify PowerPoints and narrate PowerPoints it tells a story and explain the benefits of the product. Then say, hit below to buy. The sales page is being replaced by the video sales page.

Denise: Do you know stats or anything that is bearing out that they are getting better conversions on that kind of a sales page?

Lou: I know anecdotally by what I’ve heard from some folks and also the fact that some of the big successful marketers who test everything are doing this consistently and abandoning the traditional sales page. It’s got to be working pretty well. The other neat thing is it levels the playing field because it doesn’t matter-these big time marketers, they have a lot of resources but they’re still just narrating PowerPoint presentations and that’s something almost any of us can do. It does sort of level the playing field.

Denise: Great. I think I’m going to have to start doing that myself because I really hate copywriting. It’s not a strength of mine, creating a script that’s talking through some bullet points basically. I mean, it needs to be a little more sophisticated than that. It has this sense of being a little bit simpler.

Lou: Yeah. Definitely. A lot of folks are intimidated by the prospect of doing copy and doing a big sales page. Now knowing that you can literally just put a video within 10 minutes or half an hour of you explaining a concept on line, it’s a great way to do it. The other thing is you can also-I’m starting to do this a little bit-you can also teach and sell at the same time. You can share your information, you can definitely add some value. Then, at the end, “Hey, if you want to learn more press the link below and sign up.”

Denise: Right. That’s a good one to be paying attention to. What’s your number one tip or your favorite tip for using video to boost your visibility?

Lou: I’m a big fan of-you probably know this – of doing montages on Facebook-at first not being the sharpest knife in the drawer I kind of fell into this. As I was doing montages and I started with a follow Friday -a visual version of Follow Friday-and uploaded it to Facebook and it occurred to me I can tag these people. If I tag these people, the video shows up on their page. Sometimes they comment on it and it goes on and on and on. Almost by accident I discovered a way to create a lot of visibility on Facebook by highlighting other people.

Denise: Yes, and they do make a big splash because I know that when you tag me in one of those videos-I’m just amazed at how many people are going on and commenting. A big thing about that is that it’s what some people call ambient awareness because you’ve seen these people’s names and their faces, their names and their faces, every time you log in to your Facebook account. Somebody else has commented on it and you keep seeing that.

Lou: It keeps popping up. I’m not a proponent of random tagging of information, I tag their name to get their attention because that’s pretty close to spam in my book. If you’re legitimately highlighting these folks, like when I came back from a conference I had pictures from the conference and I put them-it would be a nice way to relive the conference and say hello to the people that were there and they get showcased and you get a lot of publicity in the process.

Denise: I’m going to be working on one of those for a conference that I hosted a couple months ago. I just got the pictures and I’m going to be creating a montage video on Animoto which is a tool that I like a lot.

Lou: Exactly. And those are relatively easy to make. You don’t need to be on camera yourself if that’s not your thing. You put the focus on other folks and everybody wins.

Denise: That’s right. So while the intent of this interview isn’t about promotion, I am curious about the new service that you’re offering around branding videos. Could you quickly tell me what is a branding video and why would I need one for example?

Lou: Good question. My definition of a branding video would be-really what it is is a video you don’t have to appear in. It’s a no-work video. I did one recently, a launch video for my friend, Molly and she wasn’t in the video. She said “I need to promote my mentorship program”, so we put together a branding video that just promoted that brand and obviously gave the website at the end. The neat little 20, 30 second videos that the person doesn’t have to appear in, almost like animated TV commercials. It’s a lot of fun to make them and it’s very hands off for the person making them. They don’t have to be on camera, they don’t have to deal with webcams, they don’t have to come up with a script. It’s really just a matter of putting a message into neat little high end 30 second promos.

Denise: Okay, okay. I’ve seen some of the ones that you’ve done and they’re beautiful. They’re just brilliant and they really push that message out very nicely in a tasteful way and fun too. High energy.

Lou: It’s fun because it’s almost like you can have a network TV commercial on the web without having to go to a big production company or agency.

Denise: Right. Very cool. Okay, well it is the most important question for you Lou. Where can people reach you and connect with you online and learn more about your branding videos and the other things that you’re doing?

Lou: My main website is www.loubortone.com and I am on Twitter at www.twitterlou.com.  For folks, they can do their own Twitter name and direct it back at Twitter. Or, www.facebooklou.com.
 
Denise: Okay, so Lou, I really want to thank you. I appreciate you taking the time and spending a few minutes with me here today sharing your expertise about using video as a marketing tool and boosting visibility on the web. I am always thrilled to have an opportunity to chat with you. I look forward to connecting with you on the web and blog on!

Lou: Thanks, Denise.

Recommended Resources:

The Video Godfather’s Top 10 Proven Video Marketing Tips – guest post by Lou Bortone

Using Short Form Video to Get Your Message Out

Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business

The post Online Video Key for Branding and Visibility – Interview with Lou Bortone appeared first on Adventures in Visibility.