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More Products Submitted to HandBookLive for the PICNIC Event in Amsterdam

27 August 2010, 6:00 am

With PICNIC 2010 approaching we are looking at more products with videos guides to be highlighted in Amsterdam when we feature the HandBookLive platform in Europe. (Learn more about submitting your product and video)

Here are two products that got our attention because unlike our other entries that were more “picnic” related, like an ElliptiGO outdoor elliptical bike, a Flashpan for outdoor cooking, or the Soiree wine aerator, these two products are in a Health and Beauty category. Both come through Lisa Cocuzza Public Relations (LCPR) which is a boutique public relations company specializing in developing and implementing PR campaigns for beauty, fashion, fitness and other companies and individuals in the US and Canada www.lisacocuzzapr.com. Among Lisa’s clients using HandBookLive.com to spread the word about everything beautiful and glamorous are Forbes Riley with the SpinGym, Rada Pro with the Rada Pro Nail Station and Bling Strands with the Bling Hair Strands, so we were very happy to get back in touch with Lisa, and help spread the word about her clients’ latest inventions.

First one up is the Brush Up Pro. I don’t have a long hair and I don’t use rollers but I know my mother would have loved something like this. As with everything that has to do with hair it takes a bit of time, but if you have the patience the instructions are here:




The next product is quick but a bit painful. Probably no more painful than using tweezers :)
It is actually a very clever idea. We haven’t tried it yet, but the package is in the mail, so when we get it I will give it a try. I am not sure I will be brave enough to demo this product at a conference in Amsterdam… Maybe we can just stick to showing the product and directing people to the video guide showing how to use it. I hope when we raffle it off we will have some ladies in the audience. Of course guys can give it to their wives or girlfriends as a present, but you never know how this present will be received… What if a girl thinks it is not really a present but a “subtle message” that she needs to use tweezers more often :)

In any case, once again the instructions are available, so whether you want to try out the product or just preview it – the video is available on HandBookLive under Health and Beauty and of course you can watch it below:



Laura Beken
www.HandBookLive.com
laura@handbooklive.com

Filed under Events, HandBookLive videos, Product Reviews.
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Products with video handbooks being considered by HandBookLive for the PICNIC

25 August 2010, 7:25 am

2 weeks left for companies to submit their product video handbooks (video guides) to be considered for the 2010 PICNIC event in Amsterdam! At HandBookLive we are literally buzzing with excitement over the upcoming trip to Holland for a business conference and a creative PICNIC festival where we will be officially introducing the HandBookLive.com video platform to the European companies and showcasing the platform by demonstrating some of the most effective video guides for products or services posted on HandBookLive.com.

It is a great opportunity for us to show how companies can use education based marketing to promote their products via the HandBookLive style video handbooks, and it is a great opportunity for companies who strive for perfection in customer support to show how they are actually helping their customers with informative video guides.

It is not easy to choose which videos and products to show in Amsterdam, but we wanted to share some of the products we are currently looking at. As we mentioned in the previous posts we are looking at the ElliptiGO (www.elliptigo.com), a San Diego based company that is currently in the process of posting their video guides on HandBookLive. Given that it is hard to get the unit to Amsterdam we will probably not be able to have a live demo, just the video demo. And that’s why we are excited about some of the products that have been submitted to us that are actually small enough to be taken with us and showed live along with their video handbooks.

The first one up is a product called Flashpan! PICNIC and food go hand in hand, and if you can have a pan that allows you to cook anywhere, now that’s a perfect fit! FlashPan, Inc is a Canadian company, and from their website www.flashpan.us we have learned that “The FlashPan is a portable camping stove that burns solid fuel tablets instead of propane, butane or liquid fuels. The FlashPan is an all-in-one cooking system which includes a stove, a cooking pan and a reversible lid which is also a secondary cooking surface. The FlashPan’s compact, lightweight and portable design makes it an ideal cooking system for outdoor enthusiasts and an essential component in emergency preparedness kits.”
This is all nice, but we wanted to see it in action to really get a good idea about how it works and how easy it is to use. The videos have already been posted, so we can just show you the video handbook without wasting any time on lengthy descriptions. Click on any chapter that interests you:




I am a wine person, although I do enjoy beer and very much looking forward to our day trip to Brussels during the PICNIC for a glass of Framboise or Peche. So I was very happy when Kate Trainor from the CHT Group (PR and strategic communications firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts) suggested that we take a look at a product from one of their clients who makes Soirée – a bottle-top wine aerator. Once again – what a perfect product to feature at the PICNIC?! I couldn’t have been happier with this submission. We are in the process of posting the video guide so for now just enjoy the photo:


It costs $25 and is made of hand-blown glass. We will have a better review of this product soon, but for now we can just tell you what we know from looking at the website www.winesoiree.com where it says that “to use the Soirée all you need are 3 ingredients:
1. Your motivation to enjoy great wine
2. Your favorite Wine for your mood
3. And a Soirée!”

And here is what they say about why you would want to aerate your wine:

“Wine is aerated because: oxygen helps the wine to become stimulated and show signs of its age, chemistry, and character. As wine is exposed to oxygen the wine becomes alive again. An aerated wine will release aromas, have a better mouth feel, and it will have more of the designed balance versus a wine that is poured straight from the bottle.”

I think after talking about wine I will stop and enjoy a glass of wine myself, so the rest of the products will just have to wait for the next post :)

Cheers, everyone!


Laura Beken
www.HandBookLive.com
laura@handbooklive.com

Filed under Events, Product Reviews.
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Creating a video for a product or business. How do I start?

24 August 2010, 7:58 am

The problem most people face when creating a video for their business or product is that once you decide you need a video to promote your product or service you are faced with what I call a “blank sheet of paper” dilemma. Where do I start? Do I pick up a camera and start filming? Do I sit down and write a script? That’s when the fear sets in and you decide that you need to call a “professional”. Having a video studio produce your video is of course the ideal way to handle it. But whether you hire someone to do your video or end up doing it yourself, you need to follow the initial steps to prepare. Without this preparation you are tossing a dice: you are leaving it up to chance or relying on a videographer to help you create an effective video for your business. If a video studio specializes in commercials you will get a commercial, if they specialize in “product videos” you might still get a commercial. If they do lots of interviews, you will get a video interview. This is no way to plan for your video. You have to know what you want and you need to communicate this to the video studio, or if you do it yourself, you need to create a solid plan before you ever pick up a camera. You need a road map.

So no matter how you approach your video you still need to get this dreaded blank sheet of paper and start writing (or typing on your computer or an iPad if you prefer). So what do you write? Do you start by sketching a storyboard? Planning your location for filming? No. You need to write a script. At least an outline of a script. Remember those English classes you might have learned to hate?! You might have hated them but you learned that when faced with a blank piece of paper you start by making an outline: your introduction is your thesis, your main idea, and it tells the reader what your essay will be about (“tell them what you will tell them”). Then you elaborate on your idea by providing more details. You tell them more, and support your idea with references to validate it, and finally you finish up your essay with a quick summary – “tell them what you told them”. Now the blank sheet of paper is no longer blank and scary. Even if you don’t like writing at least you were able to get started.

Approach your script the same way. Ask yourself the following questions, try to answer them as best as you can, and at the end if you still need help, you can turn to a professional who specializes in product or business videos and who can help you bring your project to life.

So what are the questions?

Start by telling your viewers what your business or your product is. Think of it as your introduction, your main thesis. What do you say when someone asks you “So what do you do? What is your business?” Or if you have a product they might ask you “I heard you make (or invented) this product… What is it exactly? What does it do?”. Write it down. This will be the first part of your video. In this part you will explain your product or service, what it is, who can use it and why. If you heard a term “elevator speech” – that is exactly what you have in this part of the video – your main value proposition stated concisely and briefly to get someone’s attention so they can ask you more questions and allow you to continue. You can now get creative and come up with some ideas for visuals or you can let your videographer help you develop a story board and plan the shots. You can introduce your business or product on camera yourself, or you can have someone else introduce it for you. You can just show the product itself, or even decide to limit it to still photos. You can add some motion to a still photo(s) and have a voice over that tells the viewers about the product or your business.

Now, you are moving to the second part of your “essay”. Here is where your script needs to go into details, elaborate and support your first introduction section. It is really not difficult. You have a great product or service, right? So tell the viewers all about its wonderful features. What are all the things that your business offers? What are the advantages beyond the main value proposition that you have already explained? If it is a product, show all the functions and parts. Think of a presentation at the fair: “it slices, it dices… but wait – it even does x, y and z!”. I suggest you write this as a series of bullet points, then go back and write complete sentences. Once you are done it is now time to get creative. Again, think of the visuals. Will it be a series of photos with a voice over? Will you or someone else be on camera? Maybe you will have your customer talk about your product or business. You can mix and match. Maybe you will state the first couple points and features, then switch to a client testimonial and have them name a few more advantages of your product or service. Then you can finish with a voice over that completes the overview by listing the remaining features and benefits. And of course you can just keep it simple and even show a number of slides with your bullet points.

Finally, the most exciting and fun part – the demo! This is probably the easiest one of all. In this part you tell the viewers how to get started using the product or service, what to expect, etc. If you think back to the essay analogy, this is the part where you need to validate and prove your statements, and you do it by demonstrating your product or service. There are so many ways you can do it! Products are the easiest of course. All you have to think is someone asking you “So how do I use this?” No matter how easy or complicated your product is, you will always have an answer to that question. Even a pet rock comes with instructions on how to get started. So take advantage of this part to demonstrate your product in action.
A service can be tricky for some people to write about. I had business owners tell me “Well, there is actually nothing to “do” – you just call me and get started…” or you hear something like “Well… I don’t think there is any demo that I can do… You come to my store and buy something you like. That’s all”.

If you are not sure how to write this part of the script, answering these questions might help you:
-What happens when I call your business to “get started”? Do I need to schedule an appointment first? Come in person?
-How will you work with me?
-Can you walk me through the process, or show a “case study” – another client as a real example?
-Who will be helping me? Who will be assigned to my case? Can I choose who will be working with me?
-How long does it take?
-How easy is it?
-What do I need to be aware of? Is there anything I need to do first?
-How do I choose what to buy at your store? (i.e. Which jewelry would go well with which clothes? What does this wine go best with?)
-How do you make the products you sell? (i.e. How is your hand made soap actually made? What goes into making a good cheese?)
-How do I choose the best product or package for me?

You will quickly discover that your clients in fact have a lot of questions about getting started with your service or product. And one other thing that might help you. Imagine a friend asking you to recommend them a business you have used before. Let’s say it is a plumbing company they want to know about. What do you usually say? Normally people start by describing the experience: “Oh, it was great! I just had to pick a time, they have 4 hour intervals you can choose, so you don’t have to sit and wait all day. They were on time, they laid out protective cloth, so there was no dirt anywhere when they left. They also gave me some tips about maintenance, etc”. So those are the types of things you want to cover in this “getting started” part of your video. Use this part to gain your clients trust, walk them through the experience, re-assure them, take them behind the scenes. The more familiar they are with how everything works the more likely they are to use your service or product.

And that’s all it is to starting on a video for your product or business. Once the blank sheet of paper is no longer blank you can pick up a camera or call a video studio. Now that you have the road map you are more likely to get to where you wanted to go. It is no longer about rolling a dice. So get started creating your road map today, get creative, and remember to have fun!


Laura Beken
www.HandBookLive.com
laura@handbooklive.com

Filed under Creating product videos.
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HandBookLive now offers book trailers – videos that give you a preview of a book in an easy format

22 August 2010, 4:32 pm

Book trailers are not something completely new. They appeared online on YouTube and some specialized sites like bookvideos.tv as early as 2007 from what I can tell. But what I noticed when they were first brought to my attention by David Woodard from iconoclast Creative is that very few of them were completely hitting the mark with me as a reader. Some book trailers were just interviews with authors, imitating a book tour kind of experience where the writer is selling the book by selling his personality and his story, others were more like movie trailers, imitating what else – Hollywood movies. I loved the fact that they were bringing the books alive for me, but what I was missing is the part where I could actually get a taste of the book, read a few paragraphs to get a sense of the author’s style. If you are at a bookstore listening to the author you usually have a book in hand, so you can browse and read a little bit, but when watching a video there is nothing to let you “look inside”. And that what I noticed what the biggest challenge and the shortcoming of many of the book trailers I have watched.

So as usual for us at HandBookLive, we decided to roll up the sleeves and reinvent everything from scratch. I was told too many times that I should stop reinventing the wheel, but somehow I never believed you can just take something off the shelf and plunk it onto your own platform, or your own life for that matter. So we set up to reinvent a book trailer. Having worked on so many video guides for different products and services we immediately tried to see if the same approach can be applied to books.

The question was, how would I, as a reader, want to learn about a book to decide if I like to buy it or not. And of course we are talking about doing it on video. So that’s where we started.

With a product I want to know as a consumer: What is it? What does it do? Why do I need it? What problem does it solve for me? What need does it fulfill? With a book I want to know the title, the author, the genre of the book and a quick summary of what this book is about. Something like this (“The Feast” by Joshua Graves, video by David Woodart):

An Introduction could also mention other books by the author, or a quick interview telling me more about the author, authors history, his/her philosophy, etc. It can also be as short as the book cover, like this charming Introduction to a children’s book (“My Go to Bed Book” by Hildegarde Ford, video by David Woodart):

Now let’s move to the Basic Features. For a product it is all about the different parts, functions, options, benefits, etc. But what would a reader of a book want to know? The answer is actually quite simple – learn more details about the plot, the characters, the settings, maybe the story behind the book, how it was created, what was the inspiration behind the book. Let’s view this video to see how that would look (“The Feast” by Joshua Graves, video by David Woodart):

The story behind the book may not always involve the author. In this video we learn about the story behind the book and how it was re-discovered and published again after many years. This video takes us on a trip in a search of an illustrator and the author of the book, and tells us other stories along the way that really make the book personal and meaningful to us. This is the Basic Features chapter from “My Go to Bed Book” by Hildegarde Ford, video by David Woodart:

The Quick Start was the most obvious part: you have to give the reader a taste of the book, so we settled on having a video where you either hear a short paragraph read by the author (or another narrator), or different parts of the book read and illustrated using imagery or even live actors. This is the closest you’d come to a real movie trailer. It lets you dive into the plot, witness the interaction between the characters, feel the mood and imagine what it would be like to cozy up with this book and get into it. Let’s watch the Quick Start (Reading) chapter from the “My Go to Bed Book” by Hildegarde Ford, video by David Woodart:

For a non-fiction type of book the video will cover the table of contents, walk you through different parts, and give you tips on how to use the book to acess the information quickly and efficiently.

So this is what we came up with by collaborating, talking to the writers and videographers like David Woodart. We are very happy with the format we came up with and look forward to introducing the book trailer category on www.HandBookLive.com!

To read more about the emergence of book trailers check out these sites:
USAToday: Publishers Using Online Video to Open the Book on Authors
Future Perfect Publishing: Book Trailer- The New Book Cover?
TeleRead: Video as Book-Pusher


Laura Beken
www.HandBookLive.com
laura@handboolive.com

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Dutch response to ElliptiGo: alternative bikes ready to take on ElliptiGo

19 August 2010, 1:46 pm
After we posted ElliptiGo review on the HandBookLive blog our Dutch friends decided they have an alternative to ElliptiGo! In fact there came up with a few alternatives that they promised to show us when we go to Amsterdam for the PICNIC business conference in September. All of them will be featured on the www.HandBookLive.com under Sports category of video handbooks soon. Although I am having second thoughts about placing the first candidate in a Sports category… I mean “beer bike” as your exercise equipment??… I don’t know… But since you do have to peddle (or else it is not going anywhere), I guess it can be considered a form of exercise.

Meet the “Beer Bike”:

So how does it look in action? If everyone is pulling their share and peddling vigorously as they drink their beer, you can have a sightseeing tour without ever leaving your bar stool. The added benefit is that you burn some of those calories that are fueling up your trip. And just look how happy all these people are! They make exercise look like fun!

However, I also heard the bad news that might put this “nominee” out of the competition: this beer bike has supposedly been banned recently from the streets of Amsterdam after the latest particularly nasty accident. I haven’t seen the pictures of the accident, and I can only imagine what a whole bunch of drunk people on a beer bike can do, but that might definitely prevent this great alternative from becoming a mainstream road bike.

But the inventive Dutch entrepreneurs were not ready to be defeated that easy. The second “nominee” vying for our attention was, for a lack of a better word, a “box bike”. Why would anyone need such a bike? Unlike in the States where we have a luxury of tossing our kids into a minivan and heading out for a drive, Dutch do not always have this option: parking is tight, so putting your kids in a giant over-sized box that hooks up to the front of your trusty bike is the next best thing. Plus think of all the extra space left for your groceries!..

And once your kids have grown enough to put them to work, Dutch have the answer: a multi-bike. You see tandem bikes in the US, but what if two people are just not enough? Your Dutch friends will put you to work. You heard about how hard working Dutch people are, right? So you can probably count on everyone pitching in when riding this contraption. I am not sure how would it feel to sit sideways as you bike forward, but I am sure even my brain cells would adapt to this eventually.

So here we go! Quite a competition when it comes to alternative bikes. We can’t wait to meet with the Dutch companies and entrepreneurs behind these inventions, and we are sure to follow up with more posts as soon we have more exciting news. ElliptiGo is not the only kid on the block when it comes to the US companies, so we’ll see who wins at the end!

Laura Beken,
www.HandBookLive.com
laura@handbooklive.com

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ElliptiGo Review. HandBookLive Team having Fun with ElliptiGo.

15 August 2010, 5:52 pm

ElliptiGo is one of the many products that HandBookLive is considering to highlight during our trip to Amsterdam for the PICNIC creative business conference. It has one of the best video guides that show you everything you need to know about ElliptiGo, from assembly to detailed instructions and tips. You can find the videos on www.elliptigo.com and we hope to make them available very soon on www.HandBookLve.com. So we had to check it out and test drive ElliptiGo ourselves to see if it will live up to our expectations.

Adam Zinn, an Independent Enthusiast, not only showed us ElliptiGo, but he put the HandBookLive team on ElliptiGos and had us ride them today in San Diego. He brought out 2 units for us to try and gave us a quick overview first.

I was surprised to find out that ElliptiGo weighs only 38 lbs and was not very difficult to lift. The top bar folds down, and the whole unit can easily fit into an SUV. Of course you can also use an external mount. Another nice feature is the ability to hook up a trailer behind ElliptiGo. The weight limitation is 250 lbs. Luckily for us we all qualified for a ride!

I had a nice cold Gelato coffee drink in the nearby Cafe Italia in Little Italy, where we met up with Adam, so I was very much wired up and ready to go. A parking lot just off the India Street served as a good testing ground. Simon was the first one to ride…

So what’s the HandBookLive verdict? We had our little Sony “Bloggie” camera to capture the experience, so let’s watch the video first, and see how Simon Smith, Beth Binger and I take on the challenge:

We were all very impressed and absolutely loved it! It felt very different from what we thought it would. I am not even sure what we expected, but the sensation of moving on an ElliptiGo is like nothing else we have experienced before. It is hard to even compare it to anything else. It is not like a bike, and it is not quite like a stationary elliptical exercise machine you find at your local gym. It feels like you are gliding and flying over the pavement. You are standing tall and riding high off the ground, and it gives you a sensation of almost floating. It is very well build and is definitely a quality piece of equipment. It is very easy to master, and becomes effortless right away. And it is so much fun! In fact we had so much fun that we had a crowd gather and ask Adam for a test ride, which he was happy to do. So here is another person who has never tried ElliptiGo before getting their first taste of this amazing machine. This is Kimberly from San Marcos, Ca giving ElliptiGo “a go” as her friends from San Diego and from Denver Colorado watch her:



Here are the final comments from Beth Binger that sums up what HandBookLive thought about the ElliptiGo:

Way to go, ElliptiGo!!!


Laura Beken
Vice President
www.HandBookLive.com

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State of Online Video. What is next?

12 August 2010, 5:53 pm

With video becoming so “affordable” (and I will get to the affordable and not so affordable part later) every website will soon have video much the same way that every site now has pictures. Frankly “online video” is already old news. People who write about video being the “latest online trend” are already behind because it is no longer about just the fact that video is everywhere, it is about where that online video is going, and what will ultimately stay, and what will be swept away as a fad.

What is an example of a fad? In my opinion things like a virtual spokesperson are a fad. I am not saying that having a real human being introduce a site or a product is a fad, it is the way it is done – mass produced with a cookie cutter approach that will make them look very dated very soon. These virtual spokespeople have the same look, the same feel, they pop up or walk onto the screen, and for the most part they all start talking whether you want them or not, which is very annoying. It is like walking into a store and have a salesperson jump at you and start pitching you something before you asked them, or gave them permission to approach you with a sales pitch.

What will stay? Video itself as a way of communication will stay of course, but only the videos that provide real value will have  staying power. Why? Because soon video will be on every website. There are plenty of companies who are hiring entry level videographers by the  dozen and setting up shops to crank out cheap and quick videos. They are bringing the prices down. The upside is that it is getting cheap to get a video on your site. The downside is that having video will no longer be a way to differentiate yourself or your site. At first, when just introduced, something like a virtual spokesperson helps you stand out. A few months later it is an old idea that  is “hanging on a discounted rack” and looks dated. Right now if you have any kind of video it helps your site, but very soon just having a video will not be enough.

So if you are thinking about adding a quick video on your site to help your business stand out – think again. What will really help you stand out is your content, and the content of your video.Ask yourself what do your viewers want to see. What would you want to see if you came to a website like yours? A slick commercial? An endless row of testimonials and list of awards? Myself, I would always prefer a video with pure and simple information that will help me make a purchase that I will be happy with, or a video that will help me learn about the site quickly. Be creative, be funny if you like, but focus on information, on your content.

And just for a moment I want to go back to the affordability and the quality of the videos. A video can be a waste of time whether you spend $300 or $30,000. If it is not effective, it is nothing more than a video that made you feel good for a while, or stroked your ego. While the money will not automatically make your video effective, I also don’t believe that a $300 video is a “bargain”. In fact I would recommend doing your own video rather than having someone else make a “bargain” video for you. At that price level you have to think about what is happening behind the scenes. A professional, experienced videographer or editor does not work for a minimum wage. So they will not be the ones doing your bargain video… The sample bargain video you get from the studio that is selling you the package may look like million bucks, but that’s not what you will get.

What is involved in making a video? A videographer must drive to your business, take care of lighting, sound, help you with your script, coach you and help you relax on camera to make sure you look your best (if you are doing an on camera performance). There are always multiple takes because you will never get it right the first time, especially if you never had a prior experience on camera. Finally the footage has to be transferred to the computer, then its on to editing, adding graphics if needed, making sure the video looks its best, encoding the video and delivering it to the client, or uploading it directly online. Just to do a video takes time, and to do it right takes more time. Plain and simple.

What will you get for a bargain price? A person who is counting every minute, who cannot afford to spend time learning about you or your business, or figuring out how to help you look better on camera. You get a camera in your face, and the clock starts ticking. And the sad thing is that at the end of the day you will blame yourself for “not being good on camera”, when in fact you should be blaming the company who set you up for failure to begin with.

My advice about getting a video made? Turn to a studio or a videographer who has been recommended by someone you know, or do your video yourself. If you really want to save money and have a good video, you either have to pay a fair price or do it yourself. Those are the options.

The state of online video today? A bit of  the Wild West with everyone jumping on the bandwagon and starting to plaster video on their websites as quickly as they can, a lot of widgets and gimmicks being sold to help people “dig that gold”.

What is next? Frankly more of the widgets and gimmicks, more companies trying to make a quick buck with online video.

What should you be doing to stay on top of it all? Take everything with a grain of salt, don’t fall for the latest fads, and don’t expect to get a real bargain. If it sounds too good to be true – it probably is…

Laura Beken
www.HandBookLive.com
laura@handbooklive.com

Filed under Marketing with Video the right way.
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Construction, remodeling and manufacturing sites using online video. What works and what doesn’t

2 August 2010, 4:15 pm

In the previous article we covered using education based videos on websites that have to do with construction industry. (Online video for construction industry. Tips and case studies). Now we will look at how videos are used on different sites and what are the challenges and the most common mistakes. Without doubt online video is a great tool to use. Video can help drive traffic to the site, as well as educate your clients, and it can even provide them with a visual customer support tool, but is important to follow a few rules when using video online.

First of all, the best way to get the most out of your videos is to make sure your viewers can find them. If you think that everybody knows that, just take a look at the following sites and try to find the videos there. It is like hunting for truffles – you can’t see them and you wish you had some trusty assistant to help you find them (hopefully not in a form of a “truffle sniffing” pig). So take a challenge and see if you can hunt down the videos on these 2 sites:
http://www.jacksondesignandremodeling.com
http://www.integritywindows.com/

If you can’t find the videos you can go to these pages directly:
Jackson Design and remodeling virtual tour videos
Marvin Windows and Doors videos

Apart from being hard to find, I want to make another note about the videos on the jacksondesignandremodeling.com site: All their videos were made from photos, which sometimes can be a great way to create a video, but I found that the videos were putting me to sleep because there was absolutely no information in them, just a series of zooms. It didn’t make me feel like I was visiting the homes, which is what a virtual tour should do. It made me feel like I was watching pages of a generic magazine. The music was so soothing that my brain was going into a trance. The choice of music was not the best – this “elevator” type of music may be pleasant and relaxing to most people, but it will not make you hang around in the elevator to listen to the next song… You can only use it if it is a background to a narrative for example.

There was nothing memorable about any of the videos on the Jackson Design and Remodeling “Virtual Tours” page, and there was no reason for me to remember them or share them with my friends. If I were to show them to my husband he would have lost interest after the first 5 seconds. What I would suggest is at least having a voice over (if creating real videos was not an option). As a potential client I would want to see before and after, as well as learn about what materials were chosen, why, how long it took to remodel, how the process went, etc. The videos looked “pretty” and that’s about all I remember about them. They didn’t inspire me, didn’t educate me, didn’t pose any questions. They faded out of my memory like the fades between the different slides used in these videos.

On the other hand, Marvin videos I will not forget quickly (nor will my husband). I usually prefer informative videos to funny videos, but in this case I have to say that it absolutely worked for me. And to be fair the videos actually did convey some useful information. And what a better way to demonstrate UV resistance and fading concept that show a guy in shorts with different types of windows forced into a tanning booth?! I can read about UV ratings all day long and never really care about it, but you show me this video and it hits home. Plus I get entertained! The only thing that I don’t understand is why those videos are impossible to find on the Marvin website.
Now let’s look at the sites that do it right by making it easy for me as a consumer to navigate and find the videos.

Mark E Industries www.markeindustries.com has a dedicated link to “Product Videos” on the navigation bar. Nice and easy!

And what else I like about Mark E Industries videos is that they are installation videos – they show me how the product works and how to use it step by step. They have a total of 11 videos right now covering all their products! At the end of the day I will choose these videos over the funny videos made by Marvin Windows and Doors, because I am not really going to these sites to be entertained – that’s what all the dancing dogs and cats on YouTube are for… I am going to the sites for information, no matter whether I am a homeowner or a contractor looking to buy tools and products.

Another site that I really liked was All Pro Remodeling. They have a nice big Video Gallery button on the homepage going to this page: http://www.allproremodeling.com/video.htm And in one of their videos they use the same tactic as Jackson Remodeling site (the one that was putting me to sleep with their endless photos) – they use photos to create a video, but what a difference! They show before and after, they have an upbeat music, and they make me feel that they are “real”. This is their first video on the page: “Customer Video”. In addition to that they have their own video All-Pro Products & Services Video which is quite good – they managed to pull off the hardest type of video – a comedy showing a husband and a wife talking about All Pro remodeling products and services. Normally I run away the moment I see these types of videos because they usually look forced, not funny, and in your face. But this one was not bad at all. But you be the judge.

So to sum it up, the best videos are the ones that are informative and educational. It also helps if the videos are memorable. And second, the videos can only serve their purpose if your viewers can find them. So posting them on the homepage or having a dedicated video link is a must. Sounds simple, but as we have seen it is for some reason not easy for companies to implement.

Laura Beken
laura@handbooklive.com
www.HandBookLive.com

Filed under Marketing with Video the right way.
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Product video, product tutorial and product video guide. What is the difference, and why should you care?

1 August 2010, 7:10 pm

Companies submitting their product videos to www.HandBookLive.com often ask what is a video guide, how is it different from a regular product video or from a tutorial, and why is it important to have a video guide and not just an ordinary video. First of all at HandBookLive our philosophy is that companies need to help consumers with useful information first, and worry about commercials and polishing company image second. And we believe that videos just like everything else need to be organized in a logical progression. It is about helping the end user, the consumer, not about cranking out commercials or videos that exist merely to satisfy companies own vanity and self indulgence.

A lot of corporate videos are created not to deliver useful information, but because a company is trying to polish its image, or trying to outdo their competition. Whatever those reasons are, but there are a lot of useless videos out there. On the other hand we see a lot of great video tutorials that fail to set the stage and explain the product first, thus they cannot exist on their own.

Video guides answer 3 fundamental questions about a product or service: What is a product or service? What are its features and functions? How do I use it? For the ease of use they should be organized into chapters, however it is possible to have one video that is a complete video guide in itself. As a side note, at HandBookLive we always organize video guides into chapters for consistency and easy of navigation.

Tutorials are easy to understand. They simply show you the steps. What is missing from a tutorial is an overview of the product or service itself. Tutorials usually start showing you the steps without telling you what the product actually is, and why you should care. Tutorials are great but they need to be put in context. Usually tutorials are found on the company’s product page, so the viewers know what the product itself does. The downside of having just a tutorial is that it cannot always stand on its own outside the context of your site. Let’s look at an example of such a tutorial. It is very detailed and to the point, but unless you know the software you may be lost when watching it out of context. This is Gimp Tutorial, and I assume most of us would not know what Gimp software is or what it does. This is an example of a video that is a tutorial, but not a video guide.

The benefit of a video guide is that it always starts with a video that explains the product or service, goes over its features and only then goes into specific steps. This is why a video guide is often made up of chapters. This allows you to have an introduction, a more detailed overview and an unlimited number of tutorials, and a viewer never gets lost or is left with unanswered questions. Here is an example of a video guide. This guide is for a script writing software by Fire Breathing Dragon, Inc.




Speaking of unanswered questions, here is an example of a video that is just a product video. It sets up the stage but doesn’t provide any details or how-to instructions. This video comes from Microsoft. I was directed to this video to learn about Microsoft’s version of Google Docs. Not being familiar with that product I was hoping that the video will help me learn more and answer all my questions. That’s what the link said: learn more or watch the video.
Here is the video, and it has very little to do with “learning”. It is a commercial that introduces me to the idea and to the product. This video is supposed to encourage me to look closer at this product and learn more, but it definitely is not giving me all the information I would find in a video guide. There is no followup. If this video was a video guide it would have more in depth details and a getting started tutorial. And that, in a nutshell is a difference between a product video and product video guide.

We know video is almost a must nowadays. Somehow photos just don’t have the same impact, and consumers are expecting video on any site including construction, remodeling and clean tech sites. So how can you go wrong with video?! Let’s take a look at some of the sites that make a few mistakes we can learn from. The purpose is not to point fingers but to use these sites as examples to improve your own company videos.

website snapshotI find that sometimes I learn more from bad examples, or examples where I can see some imperfections. When everything is done right it looks so natural that you take it for granted and you don’t even know why something works. The moment something is off the brain starts paying attention. And that’s what we need – paying attention and remembering, so we can avoid the same mistakes.

Once again I apologize for putting these companies on the spot, but it should benefit everyone to review their sites and see what they are not quite doing right when it comes to using video.

I have picked 3 sites to look at today. They have to do with construction/remodeling, clean tech/emerging technologies. The first one is www.gbkremodeling.com.

One thing GBK Remodeling is doing right is displaying videos right on the homepage where they are very easy to find. But let’s look at the videos themselves.

GBK Remodeling has chosen to use testimonial videos on their site. I looked at the first three and did not find them effective. It looked to me like people were not very comfortable being on camera, which is understandable because they are actually real people, and you want real people… However, because they feel awkward being on camera it comes across as being forced. Take a look at this testimonial and see if you agree with me. The person is so uncomfortable being put on the spot in front of the camera that it looks like she was forced to do it! This is never a good thing in a testimonial… Just to be fair – I can completely relate to it, being not comfortable in front of the camera myself. Still, it was the choice that GBK Remodeling had to make, and they chose to display this video, which I would have advised against.

It is very hard to use real people on camera, and if you cannot do it right, it is better to have a photo and a short written testimonial. Another way to approach it is to have the real homeowner on camera but have them simply introduce themselves. Something like “Hi, I am Jim Jones, and here is my newly remodeled bathroom”, then have another person do a walk-through -someone who feels comfortable being on camera and can explain what was done in this particular remodel, what were the objectives, how everything was accomplished, etc. Having the homeowner on camera will give the video the same credibility, but it will be a better video, and it will help better communicate the message that this a great company that people feel proud to recommend.

Now let’s look at a different problem. This one has to do with organizing your video content. In this case I would like to use http://envisionsolar.com as an example. You can access their videos by clicking on Videos Tab in the navigation bar. Again, they make it very easy to access their videos, which is always a great plus. The first 2 videos on the page are animations for the proposed structures – “Shopping Center Proposal” and “Proposal for Dallas Cowboys Stadium”. The first videos has some nice background music, the second one is completely silent, which I found not very effective – it makes it hard to get through the video. Here are the videos:

I wish both videos had some narration to help me stay engaged. However, that’s not the point I want to make. The point is that after watching these 2 videos I am convinced that the company only has proposals for future constructions, which makes me think that they only have a prototype, not the finished product. But that is not the case at all – Envision Solar already has their solar trees up and running. The catch is that you wouldn’t know it unless you scroll down and watch some other videos that make it clear. Before you tell me that I can read about the product on their homepage, I have to tell you that a lot of people are like me – they see videos and they click to watch. It means you cannot use your videos as a supplement to the written material on your site – your videos have to stand on its own. Videos have to tell you all you need to know. In this case we have a series of videos, so what I would advise is organizing them in such a way that as a first time viewer I am guided logically from one video to the next, learning more as I go.

Now we will review our final example. It has to do with the way the video itself is structured. Think of it as  internal vs external organization. While Envision Solar had a problem organizing videos in a logical progression on their web page, the next company  in my opinion  made a mistake in how they structured the video itself. So let’s get right to it. The site is www.ecoliteconcrete.com. To access their videos use the left navigation bar on their site and click on “Media”, then click on “Video”.

By the way I find it very confusing when companies use “Media” as the name of the link that goes to their videos. “Media” makes me think of PR, not videos intended for the site visitors.

Ecolite has great, informative videos, but look at the way they open their first video – it takes them a whole 40 seconds to get to the narrative. The footage is very well done and easy to watch, but there is nothing but a music in the background, so after the first 10-15 seconds I am convinced that the whole video is nothing more than a “corporate video” with no information whatsoever, – just a well executed expensive production. Someone has to be patient enough to sit through the first 40 seconds before all of a sudden the narrative starts and you realize that the video will actually give you information about the company, what they do, how they do it, why is their approach so innovative, etc.

So let’s summarize what we can learn from the examples we have looked at today:

  • Make sure viewers can easily find your videos from your homepage.
  • Be careful when using testimonial videos, because some people are just not comfortable being on camera, and the testimonial ends up looking forced and not real.
  • Make sure to organize videos on your video pages so that they are presented in the most logical way for the viewer. Avoid just putting the latest videos at the top of the page – this assumes that the viewer is already familiar with your previous videos and your company, and this is rarely the case.
  • Get to the point quickly! If your video is full of useful information, make sure you don’t loose viewers by taking too long to get to the information part. Viewers cannot “see ahead” into the video, so they judge the video by the first few seconds, or by the text information you provide below the video.

Laura Beken, Vice President, HandBookLive, Inc
www.HandBookLive.com
laura@handbooklive.com

Filed under Marketing with Video the right way.
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