SCORE Small Business Blog

When is it best to do-it-yourself or go with a pro?

“We are seeing a surge in online video watching that is driven by a combination of broadband access, the increasing use of social networking sites, and the popularity of video-sharing sites,” Kristen Purcell, Associate Director for Research and author of the report, the State of Online Video.

We have definitely reached a new technology tipping point. With the cheaper cost of flip-cams and bandwidth, anyone can quickly and easily create and post video.

Video, done well, and done authentically can help web visitors quickly feel more connected to you and your company. In essence, video is the fastest way to create the perfect salesperson – tirelessly working 24/7 and always projecting exactly the message you wish to convey.

But with this capability comes some risk and the temptation to try to save money by doing it yourself.  When creating a virtual salesperson for your company, consider two important points. First, you need to put your best foot (or face) forward to your worldwide audience.  Second, you need to focus your time, resources, and skills on your core business. Web Video is still an evolving area full of complexity and considerations. If you have a video background, doing it yourself is a great option. If not, you could find yourself diverting your precious time to all sorts of technical issues for a product that may or may not be high quality and achieve your goals.

For critical selling tasks (like your website home page, product demos and educational videos), contracting a professional web video firm may be a much smarter investment:

• A professional “director” will be able to make you look and sound your best.  Think of it as buying a smart, professional business suit for your website.
• A web video firm will create a storyboard and/or talking points to make sure you communicate effectively and succinctly.  You generally only have 60-90 seconds to get and keep a viewer’s attention so you need to make those seconds count.
• A professional web video company will optimize key words, links with social media and hosting options to capture the superior SEO benefits of video.

Above is an example (for both content and form) is part of a series on web video I recently did with MiniMatters.

Your Next Best Three Steps:

1. Think about your customer’s buying process. Does your website (or blog or other web location) play a critical role in creating awareness of your company? Do you need to “demo” or communicate your product or service to clients? Do you need to project personal trust? If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, you should consider investing in a professional web video production.
2. Research the characteristics of a good web video company. Do they understand SEO? Do they have expert directors, editors, sound? Can they integrate the video into your current website, electronic newsletters, and other outlets? Read articles such as this one from SCORE to learn what to expect.
3. What action do you wish the viewer to take?  Work backwards from there in building your script.

To see the rest of the Web Video 101 series, visit MiniMatters here or the tools section of my Web site.

Jeanne Rossomme – President, RoadMap Marketing Jeanne uses her 20 years of marketing know-how to help small business owners reach their goals. Before becoming an entrepreneur, she held a variety of marketing positions with DuPont and General Electric. Jeanne regularly hosts online webinars and workshops in both English and Spanish. www.roadmapmarketing.com | @roadmapmarketin | More from Jeanne