Background

To “be seen as the recognized authority in your market niche,” you must demonstrate your expertise via speaking and publishing.

  • Speaking can be in the form of public speaking, live training, webinars, podcasts, online video, and media appearances
  • Publishing can be in the form of books (print, eBook, audiobook, flip-book), articles (written for others, published on own properties, syndicated), podcasts/webinars (your own, as a guest), and eLearning programs

Of all of these methods, the one that has the broadest application is online video. It can be used as an element of live training, eLearning programs, webinars, eBooks, and flip-books. Online video can also be used as a standalone method for demonstrating your experience on your website, in blog entries and social media posts, and within emails.

As you well know, video is rapidly replacing text as the preferred online communication medium. Here is a small sampling of the positive impact of video content as compared to text:

  • 53 times better chance of front page Google ranking
  • 1,200% higher share rates
  • 3 times more in-linking
  • Two-minute longer site stays
  • 96.4% higher click-through rates
  • 64% higher likelihood of making a purchase
  • 6-30% higher shopping cart sales

Challenge

If online video is the method of demonstrating your expertise with the broadest application, why aren’t more people using this method?

The reason is that recording, editing, and distributing video is difficult — and, as a result, is generally quite expensive.

Due to video’s large file sizes, it’s cumbersome to move between devices (e.g., between a video camera and a computer) and it cannot be hosted directly on a website nor sent via email or text. Instead, it must be stored on a video hosting site (e.g., public: YouTube, Vimeo or private: Vidyard, Wistia) and streamed from there. Alternatively, it can be uploaded to social media platforms, such as Facebook and YouTube, and displayed for viewing there (where it competes for viewership with the massive amount of other video content on these platforms)

Also, the recording and editing of video can be a pretty complicated affair.

As a result, the video industry’s rule-of-thumb prices for video production are as follows:

  • Scenarios: $3,000 to $7,000 per finished minute
  • Talking Head/Interviews: $2,000 to $3,000 per finished minute
  • B-Roll Video: $1,000 per finished minute

Given the broad application of video, which drives the need for lots of video, such pricing doesn’t work for most organizations.

Goodlook Marketing’s Video Production Services

This difficulty in recording, editing, and distributing of video and the resulting high price for video development is why Goodlook Marketing developed its PDQ (pretty darn quick) video production services.

This service emphasizes the use by us and our clients of the latest consumer camera technology (e.g., smartphones, tablet computers, external webcams) rather than professional-level video camera equipment. Just a few years ago, you needed to spend more than $5,000 to get a professional camera of the quality now present in these consumer devices.

These cameras produce a high-quality recording that’s more than sufficient for every application of online video. In addition, almost anyone can use these cameras.

We encourage our clients to use these cameras for their video recording and help them select the appropriate low-cost accessories (e.g., lapel microphone, on-camera directional microphone, tripod, tripod mount adapter, extension cables, lighting) to ensure a high-quality recording — whether in a home/office environment or on location.

If a client expresses an interest in making basic edits of their recordings on their own, we introduce them to extremely simple video editing tools and train them on these tools. Otherwise, GLM has full video editing capabilities to produce high-quality video.

Finally, we provide our clients with a subscription to our proprietary Content XLerator technology. This is a cloud-based multi-media communication platform that enables individuals— from a single user interface, using a smartphone, tablet, or computer — to:

  • Easily record/upload content of all media types — video, audio, image, file, and text — which is privately hosted in the cloud
  • Select destinations for this multimedia content from a list of website, social media, email system, podcast channels, eLearning programs, and other online properties
  • Distribute/publish this content (where possible, natively) to the selected destinations

The Content XLerator communication platform is optimized for information marketers, such as authors, bloggers, podcasters, speakers and webinar hosts — as well as any small to midsize business for which a heavy focus on “online content marketing” drives profitability.

The Content XLerator platform addresses these three challenges faced by information marketers:

  • Dealing with the complexities of using video and audio in live training, eLearning, and marketing
  • Collecting user-generated content, especially in video and audio formats (e.g., customer testimonials, stories, reviews, and case histories)
  • Distributing/publishing content — in all media formats — to every online location where it possibly needs to reside (e.g, website, social media accounts, podcast channels, email)

This multi-media communication platform makes it possible for individuals, without professional videography experience, to easily take full advantage of the power of online video in their live training, eLearning programs, webinars, eBooks, and flip-books — and to demonstrate their expertise via video on their website, in blog entries and social media posts, and within emails.

Pricing

Because of Goodlook Marketing’s PDQ approach to video production, it’s possible for Goodlook’s clients to record, edit and distribute high-quality videos with:

  • The purchase of some low-cost smartphone/tablet/computer accessories (less than $300)
  • A monthly subscription to Content XLerator ($77 per month)
  • A small ongoing investment of time to record and edit the videos

For these minimal costs, clients can operate as their own video production house.

Alternatively, clients can record raw videos (or, within the Milwaukee area, have Goodlook Marketing record them) and upload them to the Content XLerator online system. GLM will then produce the videos into final form.

Due to the wide variability of online video length and features, GLM’s pricing for video production services is provided via a quote following an initial consultation.