Back to School: Marketing Education With Video

This week we shot a marketing video for the Bedford Montessori School. Montessori schools have a unique method for early education that allows students to direct their own learning through practical, one-on-one lessons and group activities. Our crew was impressed by the bright and well behaved children and the patient teachers. One of them even drew pictures for us!

Many parents don’t know this education philosophy and approach exists. The Bedford Montessori School called us because they wanted to reach out to those parents and show them the benefits of their school. Our video will market the school by combining parent and teacher testimonials, with footage of learning activities to illustrate the Montessori method to parents and encourage them to investigate the Bedford school.  It will also publicize the Montessori approach in general to wider public audience generating interest in other towns.

If your school has a unique approach to education they would like to share with parents, give Skillman Video Group a call. We can help you use social video to attract new students and supporters supporting your current outreach and development efforts. Check out one of our past successes in education marketing video.

Reach Out to New Clients with Video Calling Cards

A calling card is a message sent by an individual or business to reach out to potential clients. Traditionally, calling cards consist of text and possibly a small picture. Although calling cards can be surely be an effective way to expand your clientele, they can be made significantly more compelling through the use of video. Video is a powerful medium that allows your customers to see your face and hear your voice, thereby creating the feeling that they are actually speaking with you. The popularity of YouTube and other video aggregation sites demonstrate that people love watching videos because they are fun and interactive. Video is also the best medium to establish credibility with people that you have not yet met in person.

Video could easily be incorporated into calling cards sent via email, or even onto physical cards through a printed URL or QR code (as discussed in the previous post). In your video, you could include on-the-job footage, or even a customer testimonial. For example, if you own a painting company, you could include a scene featuring your team painting a house and interacting with a customer. Afterwards, you could record that customer speaking about the great experience she had with your company. Potential clients will instantly see that your business is competent and trustworthy.

If you believe that a video calling card could be beneficial to your business, you need to make sure that your video is of the highest quality. A thoughtfully scripted and professionally produced video will always achieve better results than a video that is hastily put together by someone without the proper equipment and experience. Skillman Video Group can handle all the details of your video calling card, from brainstorming ideas, to scripting, to lighting. Look through our portfolio to see some of the amazing videos we have produced for our clients. Contact Skillman Video Group today to get started!

Testimonial Videos at HolliBalance Well-being Center

Skillman Video Group has just completed one day of filming for HolliBalance Well-being Center, an acupuncture treatment facility located in Downtown Boston. Skillman Video Group had previously met with HolliBalance’s owner, Dr. Song, to discuss how SVG could help create and execute effective marketing strategies, and decided that a marketing video and a few testimonial videos were the best approach.

The testimonial videos are going to be posted on HolliBalance’s website, and will help to improve Dr. Song’s credibility and give potential clients a clear image of how HolliBalance actually works. Skillman Video Group shot two separate testimonial videos, where patients of Dr. Song spoke honestly and admiringly of her techniques, demeanor, and skills. SVG also shot B-roll of HolliBalance’s two different treatment rooms, and captured Dr. Song speaking, working with, and treating her patients. Skillman Video Group will be meeting with HolliBalance again this Friday to complete the Marketing Video which will be posted on the company’s website and YouTube.

As always, Skillman Video Group fully planned for the shoot so that it ran as smoothly as possible for the client. Before filming began, Christina Skillman briefly coached the two participants, and after the camera started rolling, directed them when necessary. If you are interested in learning more about how Skillman Video Group can help your company to market or sell your product or service through the use of video, contact Skillman Video Group today!  Be sure to check out more photos from the shoot on our Face Book page.

How can a testimonial video help you?

As we stated in earlier posts testimonial videos are a great way to market your products,  services or live event to potential customers.  Video is simple, powerful tool to build trust and rapport with viewers before they pick up the phone to call!  What a better way to communicate how good you are then  to have your audience see AND hear why you are so good from your previous (happy) clients.

Networked Events recently used Skillman Video Group to produce a series of testimonial videos for their web page and e-mail marketing campaign.  The videos were both posted to their web site as well as incorporated in their monthly e-newsletters.  The participants were all asked the same three questions and there answers were later edited and compressed for the web.  Simple “talking head” or interview style videos are extremely cost effective yet powerful in their delivery.  Here is an example of a testimonial video we produced for Networked Events in November 2009.  It was shot at the Liberty Hotel (in Alibi) in downtown Boston.

A simple “hot shoe” light was mounted to the top of the camera (similar to what you might see used by a news crew) and attached to a battery pack  to help boost the image .  “Hot shoe” lights are are fantastic for live events because they are extremely portable and don’t need to be attached to a electrical outlet (which frees the camera person to roam around if needed).  Incorporating light is very important in professional video production because it allows the camera to record a high quality image….even in dark settings (such as a restaurant or bar).  Another important component to professional video production (of all kinds) is the audio.  What good is a testimonial video if the audio is muffled, garbled or too low to be useful?  By attaching a professional wireless microphone to the speaker, we were able to record high quality audio despite the fact that we were in a crowded, noisy room.

Utilizing such professional production equipment is what allows Skillman Video Group to produce high quality videos regardless of the environment we find ourselves in while shooting.  As we have stated many times it is very important to look and sound your best in any marketing endeavor your pursue and customer testimonials are no exception.  Contact us today to see how we can produce professional testimonial videos for your web site