I’ve been making videos for nearly 25 years, so not only am I older than God’s dog but I’ve also seen a hell of a lot of changes. When I started making video the average length was 5 minutes and watching video on the internet was a distant dream. First cuts were on VHS cassettes, delivered in the post, so client amendments were a nightmare.
When DVD came in, I could finally keep the workflow digital from end to end; it was like a dream. I only had to deliver DVDs in the post, they were easy to burn (eventually!!!), and cheap to deliver to the client. This did result in more client amendments, however.
Now I can send first cuts all around the world, the minute I’ve finished editing. 25 years ago, this would have seemed like science fiction, aren’t we lucky? Mind you, a recent client asked for 15 video amendments; why? because they can.
Interestingly, my sales mantra hasn’t changed much over the years; ‘Don’t tell them what you do, show them what you do’. The logic, still kind of stands, it’s your elevator pitch to the world, it’s perfect every time, and it saves you having to read lengthy text descriptions on home pages, or elsewhere.
What’s the first question you get asked at any networking event, it’s always ‘what do you do?’. For some people it’s simple…I make widgets, for others it’s complicated. Imagine having to explain this a thousand times a year. You can see why sales reps used to carry my VHS in the back of their Austin Allegro. For those under 30, you might have to google some of these terms lol.
Video was probably a vanity project back then, it was expensive to make, you had to understand the technology fundamentally, plus a camera cost more than a small car. Now it’s as cheap as chips and everyone can have one…you’d think!
So, my ex-business partner and long-time friend, Adam, recently left to discover pastures new. He always handled the marketing side of things and left me to get on with making the videos. Even though we both attended pitches, he handled the front facing part of the business.
Since he left, I’ve had to enter the brave new world of marketing, and it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks; ask my young staff. I’m confronted with a world of short form video, multi formats, across various platforms, and don’t get me started on Google Ads, Linked In ads, search algorithms etc.
Does my mantra still stand up? Well, since the internet got faster, and streamed video quality improved exponentially, video is king (can I use that pronoun without insulting someone these days?). King, Queen, Empress of the Galaxy, whatever, video is still fundamental to telling your story, so what’s its purpose? The same I guess; it shows people what you do. Where should it sit?
Let’s examine that a moment please. My logic was always that my website was my shopfront to the world, my virtual brochure, and my aim was always to drive people there. What do you do? I make video. Can I see some examples? Yes, go to my website and check out my portfolio. Simple!
Not everyone has a simple message though and that’s what homepages are for, right? What you used to find when you got there was endless text; the more text, the more likely someone would surf away. Enter video, a short 30 second introduction to all things me, then you can decide whether to stay and investigate further. Don’t tell them what you do, show them.
You should practice what you preach, so I’ve shot myself in the foot here, as I don’t have one. I make videos right, so I don’t have to explain that to people. Fail!!!!
Look, I’m playing dumb, I know that marketing is way more sophisticated than that these days. Imagine my indignation, however, when a marketing consultant told me that I can write engaging and personalised copy on my homepage, only if it had the requisite number of key words.
Don’t be clever, quirky, or self-deprecating, just satisfy Google’s algorithms. In fact, just get AI to do it, after we’ve done a suitable keyword search. Don’t write blogs yourself, get AI to do it. What kind of a cockermany world have I entered? It’s like the Emperor’s New Clothes (same disclaimer; if you’re under 30 look it up).
You can tell AI didn’t write this blog, I’ve rambled on for ages, lost 90% of my audience, just to get back to the original question. So well done you if you’ve got this far. Why have homepages in this day and age, still not got an overview video, what am I missing? Incidentally, Word suggested that I change the phrase ‘in this day and age’ with the word ‘now’ How kind of it.
Is there another way to get people to engage with you that I’ve missed? Where do you go after you’ve watched the 30 second video on social media, do I email you directly, or phone you, bypassing the website entirely? Great stuff, you get to sell in person and hopefully get them to sign on the dotted line, maybe that’s the point. This is the function that social media appears to have taken on. So are websites redundant? I can visualise Carrie Bradshaw typing this on her MacBook (look it up).
At what point does someone still need to look at your website, and do you still need a 30 second overview video. One assumes that they’ve already had the elevator pitch with you directly after they saw your social media clip, so they don’t really need to watch the overview video, so they’ll probably start reading your website text. Happy days.
What about people who saw your product or service somewhere else, what do they do? Well, if you’re me, you go to the web site, and if you have lots of competitor’s I’ll look at theirs too; due diligence and all that. If there’s no video on your homepage, then I’ll have to read loads of text to get the measure of you. No video, I’m off.
Someone please tell me what I am missing, why do some people still not have a video on their homepage? Are they clever, are they doing something magical in the marketing world that I don’t know about, or have they simply overlooked it deciding to create the latest TikTok video?
Answers on a postcard please (look it up).
