Skillman Video Group’s Video of the Week: Life in a Day

Welcome to Skillman Video Group’s Video of the Week Series. This week, the focus is not on a video but rather a video event. On July 24^th, YouTube is sponsoring a global event: Life in a Day. Various directors and producers are asking everyone and anyone, not just current YouTube users, to film their day and submit it online.

YouTube has already established itself as one of the most popular and interactive user generated websites. Many YouTube users most likely already record their lives and post it online. Nonetheless, this is an extremely clever marketing concept.

The key is that YouTube is focusing on one idea, self-documentation, and taking it as far as possible. They are blasting this simple campaign all over their website and other outlets. They are extending the campaign to every possible person. If you do not wish to film your day, no sweat—YouTube will take a recording of you clapping your hands or singing a note.

Another important element of this marketing campaign is that it is engaging and interactive. YouTube takes engaging the audience to a whole new level. Their concept only works with people’s participation. Furthermore, YouTube is offering a superb prize: the best footage will be used in a film which will premiere at Sundance Film Festival and the people who submitted it will be credited as co-director.

While your company may not be able to offer a spot in Sundance, you can still use some of YouTube’s techniques. They focused on one concept thus making the message more powerful and less forgettable. They involve the audience and demand their interaction and input. Requesting your audience to film their lives may not work for you, but reaching out to them and constructing a campaign around their interests could. If you are considering marketing your company or organization through video like YouTube, contact Skillman Video Group today!

Video Press Release on Social Video Marketing

Recently Skillman Video Group developed an exciting new service, Social Video Marketing, which SVG applied to their own website with much success. Skillman Video Group released a case study explaining and analyzing Social Video Marketing. This case study is available on SVG’s website by clicking HERE!

To properly announce their innovative service, Skillman Video Group produced a video press release showcasing SVM. This video press release is in itself social video marketing. A video press release is searchable through SEO and can be used on social media or business websites. Most importantly, it transforms a basic press release into exciting content that engages the viewer. A video press release takes full advantage of the power of media.

Skillman Video Group’s own video press release is currently also viewable on SVG’s homepage, YouTube channel and Facebook page For more information about SVM, please view the video press release, read the case study or contact Skillman Video group.

Demonstration Videos for ProWindows

Skillman Video Group completed two days of filming for ProWindows, a window and door replacement (as well as home renovation) company located in Waltham, Massachusetts, on Thursday and Friday July 8-9. Skillman Video Group has previously worked with ProWindows; SVG began filming a series of instructional videos on window maintenance and an online marketing video last week.

The goal of this shoot was to create demonstration videos to market ProWindows’ unique installation process to potential customers.  The majority of footage shot consisted of two window installations: one outside (for newer homes) and one outside (older homes). In addition, Skillman Video Group also filmed some additional b-roll to be used in a marketing video which recently has gone into post-production (editing).

Skillman Video Group and ProWindows will be working together again in the near future to complete more instructional videos. Like with all our videos, Skillman Video Group carefully planned and prepared for the day so as to make filming as smooth as possible. Scripts and shot lists were provided and as the camera rolled the talent was directed and coached. If you are interested in discovering the many way video can be used to market or sell your product or service, contact Skillman Video Group today.

Skillman Video Group’s Video of the Week

Welcome to Skillman Video Group’s Video of the Week. This week, we will be looking at a video from BP’s oil crisis response campaign. BP’s oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico may not be something your business should aspire to imitate. BP’s video response, on the other hand, shows some wise marketing techniques worth taking a look at.

What’s unusual about this video is that rather than introducing himself immediately, the speaker Keith Seilhan first describes his connection to the oil crisis. This is very important and is something that you can see in many of BP’s commercials. This technique of showing a personal connection is something that can work for your company or organization. Rather than just hawking a product or service, relate a little about what the product or service means to you. This helps create a relationship with the viewer by making you seem more human versus just a person wanting to sell something. It creates trust; if the seller actually believes in the product and appears invested in it than the product seems more credible and desirable.

This video also underscores the importance of audio. The majority of it consists of pictures from the clean-up effort. Without the audio, the video would be relatively uninteresting. If you add in the narration track, just looking at pictures would still not be too exciting. Thus, the music is key here. It makes you want to pay more attention. It helps the pictures flow together seamlessly. The type of music chosen in a video is always crucial. Here, the slow and methodical sound fits the mood BP wants to establish. Music should always work for you in creating a mood, not against you. Choosing appropriate music is extremely important and should be carefully considered. Music is a very important component to any video that helps keep viewers watching.

Here at Skillman Video Group, audio is always edited and chosen with care so as to best suit your video. Not only that, we continually work to produce and edit high-quality professional videos that are tailored to suit your needs. If you are considering a video for your company or organization, contact Skillman Video Group today.

Marketing and How To Videos for ProWindows

This week Skillman Video Group begin filming a series of videos for ProWindows, a replacement window and door company located in Waltham, Massachusetts. The first video Skillman Video Group filmed was an Internet marketing video featuring the owner of ProWindows.

Next, Skillman Video Group recorded three instructional videos. These videos focus on care and maintenance of ProWindow’s products and will be placed on their website for customers. In addition, ProWindows will also use their instructional videos on social media websites such as YouTube. Shortly, SVG will work again with ProWindows to film more instructional videos.

Skillman Video Group worked with the client to script every video prior to filming. SVG used high-end video technology and extensive lighting to produce an extremely sharp image. All filming was done at ProWindows’ Waltham location. If you are interested in having Skillman Video Group produce a video for your company, contact us today.

Basic Types of Marketing Videos

Skillman Video Group is able to produce a wide variety of marketing videos to be used for your business website. Determining which video is right for you comes back to knowing your audience and understanding why one type would better market your business over another.

• A recent trend in video marketing that has been previously discussed on this blog is a viral video. Viral videos are defined as videos that gain seemingly instant and ubiquitous popularity due to unusual, funny or catchy material. Due to the fact that viral videos really began as home made clips posted on YouTube, these videos are now often produced to have the same low quality visuals. This style of video is more commonly used to market to a younger audience because the video typically promotes a less serious front.
• A more basic trend is using a promotional video, one that just simply showcases
  

  Crew starts shooting at the KCCNE Showroom in downtown Providence RI

  your product or services. These videos are more direct and more likely to target an older audience versus viral video marketing.

  Another trend is instructional or “how to” videos. The name really says it all—a video which works to instruct the viewer on how to use a product or how to perform a certain task. This type of video works very well not only as a nice service for new or existing clients (who may come to your site looking for simple answers to theur questions), but again helps demonstrate your credibility as an expert in your field.

  Skillman Video Group also offers a similar style of video called product video. Unlike instructional videos, product videos do not show precisely how to use the product. Rather, product videos showcase the product and flaunt certain features.

  Often combined with any or all of the above marketing videos is the trusty testimonial video. This video style allows previous or current customers to reach out to new customers and ensure a belief in the quality of your business. Testimonial videos are a clear example of the usage of a technique that is necessary in most marketing videos: establishing credibility. They do so by showing previous success with the business. That is why this video can work for really most product or service because the main goal of a testimonial video is to achieve what every customers looks for: proof that the business is credible and of high quality.

Every marketing video, not just testimonials, that Skillman Video Group creates works to show the credibility of your business. The real aim of doing so is to create trust in the viewer and therefore turn them from potential customers to viable prospects.  Another technique Skillman Video Group embeds in their videos is relationship building. This is done through relating with your audience. And once again it is really about establishing trust through video marketing to turn viewers into customers.

Contact Skillman Video Group to learn about how one of these types of video can best help target your market.

Skillman Video Group’s Method for Successful Videos

One of the most key components of any type of marketing is knowing what appeals to your audience. This is also the most difficult because it requires you to isolate what you like from what you know your audience will like.  For example, if your target age group is 10 years old, chances are a simple video showing a man sitting in an office will not hold their attention. Part of our job in video production and marketing at Skillman Video Group is to help you discover what will best engage your desired client and then design a production plan around that desired result.

In correlation with this task, we employ our simple but successful method for video production and Internet marketing. Throughout our process, we strive to be professional. “Professional” for us merely means that extensive thought and a custom strategy to engage your audience have gone into each and every step of producing your video.  Whether you are going for the “flip cam self-produced” look or “super slick and polished” (or anywhere in between) it is important to have a well planned and thought out strategy behind it.  Taking the time to understand what your audience will appreciate, ensures a successful video project.  “Professional” means creating a video that will best work for you, and give you the highest return on investment possible.

Once we determine the story we will be telling in your video, we begin the filming process with the visuals. We construct a well-framed shot with an appropriate backdrop and good lighting in order to create the most visually pleasing video possible. Next, we insure those acting within the frame are well coached and directed so their actions match the mood of the video, whether it be direct, aggressive, outrageous etc. Our final step in creating a video is the high-quality editing, where we make sure only the best remains and that it comes together as a professional video tailored to your needs. Any video produced at Skillman Video Group will go through this same system and thought process. And the result will always be a professional video that was created to appeal directly to your audience.

Video Conversion Point: What it is and how it works

At Skillman Video Group, we realize your desire to improve conversion rates from casual web visitors to viable business prospects through your web site. And, most importantly,  we know how to do it. Our approach to Internet marketing is two fold: 1st by drawing web surfers to your site through SEO and social media etc .  2nd We then help you develop enough engaging and informative content on your site to convert those visitors into leads for new business.  It’s what we call the “video conversion point”. A video conversion point is the place where surfers view a video of your business that works to convert them into customers.

Video has proven time and time again to be a powerful medium. Just last year, YouTube had roughly 1 billion daily hits; now they’re up to 2 billion. This fact alone shows how placing a video on your site could make it more enticing–people like video and continue to want more of it. More importantly, video harnesses the ability to condense a wide array of information about your business into a format which is much more accessible than navigating through a website.  The services of your company, examples of your work, testimonials etc could all be immediately shown in a video professionally produced by Skillman Video Group. These video conversion points are placed on your site based on where people will most easily view them. All people have to do is sit back and watch while the key points of your business are served directly to them.

Skillman Video Group is a proven example of the power of the video conversion point; since introducing more video to our website, along with other marketing techniques outlines in our recent case study, our search engine traffic and positions have spiked and we continue to increase lead generation through our site and signing new clients weekly. Video conversion point is just one piece of our newly offered Social Video Marketing, for more information about this service click on the link below!

http://www.skillmanvideogroup.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/allure_dark_10/SVG_case_study.pdf

Internet & Video Marketing Internship at Skillman Video Group

This week concludes my time at Skillman Video Group. Three months ago, I signed on as a Internet & Video Marketing  Intern with the company. In the beginning I was not sure what to expect, however, I am happy to report that it could not have been better. Like all young people pursuing internships, I was looking to gain real-world experience and at Skillman Video Group I got experience, real experience. At no point was I relegated to busy work; I did not make one photocopy or get a single cup of coffee. Instead, I was given the chance to explore many different avenues, both creative and professional.

I worked as a production assistant on many video shoots, working with a crew,  setting up lights, moving equipment, and learning the intricacies of professional video production. I was able to produce a  “behind the scenes ” video press release and edit it myself for the company website.  At the same time, I was given the chance to write for this blog and learn SEO and online marketing techniques. Perhaps most noteworthy, was my opportunity to create my own original viral video from start to finish. The Producers at  Skillman Video Group gave me the leeway to be creative and funny and I wrote and produced our  first ever viral style video Gerry’s Waterbed Emporium. Making this video was a great experience and a lot of fun. I was given the chance to explore new styles of shooting & editing, like utilizing a green screen, in a safe and educational environment.  This internship was a wonderful opportunity. It gave me the chance to work on the professional level in video production, writing, and marketing. I would recommend working for or with Skillman Video Group to anyone.  I can’t believe my time is over already and would like to thank everyone at SVG for making this experience so positive.

Mike McGuinness

Online Marketing Videos

At Skillman Video Group we believe, when used correctly, online marketing videos are of the most successful and cost effective way to market your company on-line. We will soon be releasing a case study on our new service, Social Video Marketing. Social Video Marketing combines the use of high quality video marketing with Internet marketing technology to convert web visitors into new leads.  As we have mentioned before, Internet Marketing works in two ways.  1) getting people to first come to your site through SEO and social media and then 2) once on your site, the content must be engaging enough to compel the casual visitors into a valuable lead.  This is what we call at Skillman Video Group the “video conversion point” .  Combining the power of the video medium with the power of the Internet gets our clients the best return on investment possible!   We focus not just on producing the highest quality video, but also  on the importance of routing as many viewers as possible to that video thereby expanding your presence in the marketplace. By using the right keywords and tags, we make sure your videos can be found on the web. Also, by incorporating a  blog posts and web announcements on your site, you can keep your content fresh and Google relevant.

We started implementing these techniques ourselves in October 2009. Google ranks website traffic and searches on a scale of zero to ten, with nines and tens being the Facebooks of the world. When our new site launched in October 2009, our website was ranked a zero by Google. Our old html site was static and we weren’t generating leads from the web. In October 2009 we started an agressive Internet marketing plan using the services outlined in our soon to be published Case Study.  By the time our case study had concluded, we were coming up as #1 in 9 targeted key words.  Within 6 months of us launching our new program, our paged jumped to a number four ranking on Google, a very impressive feat for a company of our size. The results of this online marketing effort is that our traffic is up, our content is fresh, and it’s helping our business grow. For example, our recent blog post on Video Legal Depositions was the direct source for Duane Morris LLP locating our services (please read about that job below) though a Google search and booking us just a day later. Our Social Video Marketing program is the most efficient way to market on the web. Our online efficiency techniques direct maximum traffic to your site, and our quality videos tell your story in the most effective and dynamic way possible. Call us today about your Online Marketing Video!

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