13Mar

Case Study: Video that Builds Business

Last week brought us two of the most popular viral videos ever. The first, Kony 2012, has over 74 million views since it launched on March 5. It’s the fastest spreading video of all time. It’s engaging, stimulating, and provocative. It hopes to change the world through discussion and revelation.  It’s  very good.

Its also a major anomaly.  It would be a mistake to think that everyone can rush out, follow this ‘formula’, and instantly bag this sort of audience. The flint hits the steel like this very rarely.

The second video is from DollarShaveClub.com  – and this one deserves a look not just because it’s funny – but because it’s a business model.

This video launched on March 5th as well, and now has close to 3 million views. Compared to 70 million, this seems like child’s play. But from a business perspective, I bet this video created more fans that turned into buyers that turned into repeat buyers.

Here’s how:

  • Create a brilliant video that makes razors fun, exciting, and something you want to be a part of.
  • Point your audience to a fun, easy to use website that leads to conversion. This approach wasn’t just about the video.
  • Present a real problem: getting razors is a drag and expensive.
  • Provide a real solution: for a few bucks a month, we’ll send you high quality razors and remove this drag from your life forever.
  • Begin building repeat customers that you can communicate with forever.

My guess is the conversion was pretty substantial. Every time I tried to go to the site for the first few days, the traffic had crashed the servers. And I’m betting the good natured spirit of the video combined with the expert website resulted in a healthy number of sign-ups, me being one of them. Not to mention the press and blogosphere buzz for substantial Earned Media bonus points.

The takeaway: great video that speaks to brand is an important key. But only in the context of the big picture business plan. Whether a non-profit organization looking to raise money or a business looking to drive more sales, you have to know what success looks like to you before deciding on the best way to get there.

DollarShaveClub.com is certainly one great approach.

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02Jan

The Two Most Important Words in Business

The Two Most Important Words in Business

As we close a tremendous year and begin another, all of us at Hand Crank Films want to focus on the two words that mean the most to us.

Thank you.

Thank you for seeing something in us. Thank you for reaching out. Thank you for taking a risk and letting us in on your story and your life. It’s something we cherish.

Thank you.

If we haven’t said it enough, we’ll make amends. We’ll work harder. Because we understand that at the end of the day, there is only one thing that makes our company special: Our clients. Our friends. Our co-workers. The people we’re lucky enough to do business with.

Thank you.

Here’s to an amazing New Year, 2012 and beyond.

 

09Dec

Part 10: Social Media and Rocket Launchers

Part 10: Social Media and Rocket Launchers

 

This is Part 10 in a 10 part series discussing Social Media and video production. For some, this will be remedial. For others, a good refresher. For others still, a whole new world.  If you missed Part 1, start here.

The surging currency these days is attention. Those companies that can earn people’s attention by providing relevance will win. Those countries that pay attention can overthrow governments, rebel against oppression, get new laws passed and change the world. So can we.

But the opportunity is schizophrenic. Yes, it’s never been easier to tell your story and communicate your message. The tools are there. But so are millions of other people. Where you might have an advantage is with your insight. Your approach. The right strategy that will raise the roofbeams and build audiences that count. People are doing it everyday. New flags are being are raised everywhere you look.

So the question isn’t if you are going to participate in the revolution. The question is how.

How are you going to connect?

How are you going to remain authentic?

How are you going to tell your story?

Hand Crank Films is expert at one thing: Telling Stories. Your Stories. There are other great ways to connect, but film and video are unsurpassed in sheer power. People want engagement fast. And whether you do it yourself, have someone in your company do it, or hire an outside shop to help, a good video strategy is the new business imperative.

Maybe you’re not selling freedom. Maybe your goals are a little more modest than world peace (that’s next on the ‘to do’ list). Maybe instead of rocket launchers next to your pillow you have a collection of great ideas, a good product and service, and a plan. That’s a beautiful thing. That’s enough.

Get it out there.

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05Dec

Part 9: Supercharging the Content Engine

 

This is Part 9 in a 10 part series discussing Social Media and video production. For some, this will be remedial. For others, a good refresher. For others still, a whole new world.  If you missed Part 1, start here.

The burning question: How do you get it all done?

Everybody’s time starved. Nobody is saying ‘Wow, I wish I had more things to do’. Tonight, maybe, you even want to get home in time for dinner. So how do we possibly make good on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, your website and Google? How do we get into these important channels to drive good business without burning every last bit of midnight oil?

The Answer: A bite at a time.

If you’re new to this stuff, maybe just play with Facebook for awhile. Dive in, research the heck out of it, see what works. Post crazy pictures of employees juggling cats. Whatever. Let everyone know in your organization that this is a new initiative and ask them to spread the word, participate. Before long, who knows?

If you’ve been in the game awhile, maybe you just need a new strategy to create content. An editorial calender or a new way to keep it fresh. In the video world for example, a lot of our clients are starting to recognize the value of what Max calls the Content Pyramid, a way to keep the Content Engine chugging along. It looks like this:

It boils down to coming up with a strong concept and creating overarching videos that tell your story.  From that, we can then create a content library full of product highlights, training videos, stuff that can be used for Public Relations efforts and pushed through your social media channels. Even photo stills suitable for publication across brochures, the web, print collateral and magazines.

The result? When we’re done with a shoot, we aren’t handing people one video, we’re handing them a package of media assets they can use for a variety of purposes, throughout the year. That way, our clients aren’t reinventing the wheel each and every time.

That said, it’s still a lot of work. Nothing can mitigate that. You can hire agencies, production companies like ours, or dedicate internal resources to content and video production, sure.

But first, take a bite. Start. Participate. The ROI is that you’ll still be relevant in 5 years.

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28Nov

Opening a New Video Production Office in a Strange City – SCARY!

Opening a New Video Production Office in a Strange City – SCARY!

About 4 months ago – or was it 5? – we opened our new Seattle office. Why? We had to. We are headquarted in here in Bellingham, and while we love Bellingham, as a town it is sort of like the anti-business vortex. Difficult to explain, but for some reason I think people actually have a harder time making a buck in this town than any other. Consider that many places refuse to take credit cards – cool yes, business friendly, not-so-much. Yes, you can have lots of fun, but god help you if you’re trying to raise a family and eek out a living! We’ve done pretty well here, overall, thanks in a large part to the fact that a bunch of our biz comes from outside of the ‘ham, but we needed more opportunity right around us. Actually, there are a lot of reasons why we opened another office, and I’ll get into those more later, but for now, suffice to say, we opened one.

Anyhow, Seattle (we’ve heard) is somewhat better business-wise. Also, there are ALOT more companies there with the budgets to be able to afford to hire us to do what we love to do – tell beautiful, albeit sometimes expensive stories about them.

But, surprise!, there are also ALOT of video and film production companies down there. Just go on Google and type Seattle Video Production. I did, and to my personal horror I found pages, and pages, and pages of them – with us ranked on like the 13th page or something. Of course, I just did this search now – 5 months after we opened our office.

Okay, so sometimes we jump first and then look. Doesn’t matter, I’m still (and I’m pretty sure I speak for everyone at the Crank) ridiculously stoked we’ve got a place down there. We have our work seriously cut out for us, though, to get noticed.

I hope you’ll stick around for the ride as we try to crack the emerald city. Should be interesting. So far, we have one new client thanks to the move. No one is actually working full-time down there, but there is a lot of expensive commuting going on that paying for is a bummer (can’t you people carpool??) Koser is supposed to move down there soon, but Bellingham has a tractor beam that no old man could get out of commission (can you name that?). In the meantime, I’m working my ass off trying to learn Search Engine Optimization to get our web-rankings hire so at least people there think we exist.

Also, I should say, Seattle is really cool to hang out in. I need to do it more. We did get a fold-out bed down there…

More to come…

Max

25Nov

Part 7: YouTube and 5 Ways to Own a TV Network

Part 7: YouTube and 5 Ways to Own a TV Network

 

This is Part 7 in a 10 part series discussing Social Media and video. For some, this will be remedial. For others, a good refresher. For others still, a whole new world.  If you missed Part 1, start here.

A few years ago I was listening to the always impressive ‘This American Life’ with Ira Glass about a guy who wanted to start a TV channel that showed nothing but puppy dogs. Puppy dogs eating. Puppy dogs running. Puppy dogs wrestling. Puppy dogs being puppy dogs. The idea so obsessed this poor guy that he wrote business plan after business plan, made pitch after pitch, but with no luck. The studio execs, the gatekeepers, the pencil pushers, just didn’t think an idea like this would sell. Puppy dogs 24/7? You’ve got to be kidding me.

That poor guy was ahead of his time. Here’s a cute puppy dog video that’s received over 10 million hits. Not a bad place to promote a pet store. Or dog toys. And keyboard cats? Now there’s something that really connects.

You don’t have to get permission anymore. You can start your own TV show about anything you want. Distribution platforms like YouTube are waiting for you and so are millions of people. So if you’re engineering the next revolution in footwear, like one of our clients, then why not start a TV show on healthy feet? Why not become the veritable Walter Cronkite about posture, podiatry, and happiness from the ground up?

Here’s 5 ideas on how might start your own TV Network:

  1. Start a YouTube account: YouTube is a great hub for your video content, especially since its the second largest search engine in the world. Here’s a good article about starting a YouTube Channel from Duct Tape Marketing. (Always a good resource.)
  2. Define the Goal: Think about your video objectives in the context of your overall brand strategy. Do you want to attract customers, provide customer support, or build your network? It helps to have a plan in place before you hit the ‘upload’ button. Create content that matches goal.
  3. Build the Schedule: Create an editorial calendar. This is one of the great secrets to creating content:  planning the next week, month, and quarter of content to meet your objectives. Maybe you want to do a video a week or a video a month – you still need to know where you want to go and what you want to say. So write down 50 topics you’d like to talk about and drop them into a calendar.
  4. Be Social: Do you know what people want? If you haven’t been listening to your customers, reading Twitter, and making comments on blogs in your space, then chances are you don’t know what the topic of the day is. Do the research, engage with people, and then create content based on what you learn. Be relevant.
  5. Embed, Embed, Embed. Both Max and I are going to be talking a lot about this in the next few weeks. But think about creating video content that you can share/embed across all your channels, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and your site. If you want to know more about this today, email me.
  6. Bonus Tip – Shake the Test Tube: Be suspect of anyone who calls themselves a ‘Social Media Expert’. There are a few out there for sure (and I’ve got my favorites). Instead, don’t be afraid to take chances, experiment, and throw things out there to see what works. You’ll soon become the expert at what works for you and what doesn’t, regardless of what the ‘gurus’ say.

We get it: doing all this takes a lot of work. We know you’re time starved. So find other people to help lighten the load. Most of all, make it fun – an extension of the passion and joy of why you’re doing the work in the first place. That way, you can create great content that fulfills your audience, makes a connection, and improves business. And make every good studio executive jealous of your success.

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23Nov

10 Reasons Why SCARLET-X Will Beat Canon C300 to a Pulp

Over here at the Crank, we love all things RED.

Don’t even ask us why, they are just a very cool company, making excellent cameras far outside of the Sony/Panasonic/Canon stranglehold.

But, we all love our DSLR’s, yes? And, we were all waiting for the new DSLR from Canon that was going to knock our socks off, and bury RED.

Well, Canon finally came out with their C300 and RED came out with SCARLET and by and large all of the blogosphere (who usually HATE RED for whatever reason) are coming saying Canon is the winner. The price point is about the same at $16k or so complete.

They are saying that the Canon comes with everything you need, whereas with RED you have to put your package together and eventually the price would be a bit more than the Canon.

They are saying that people like shooting the DSLR format and don’t like shooting RED because it takes a lot of computing power.

They are saying that RED “lures” its customers into spending more and more money on “parts” for their cameras.

They are saying that the C300 will become the new standard.

THEY ARE DEAD WRONG.

These people must not be shooters themselves, or they must never have shot on a RED.

1) The #1 best thing about shooting RED, the most professional aspect, is being able to shoot all of your footage RAW and then process it however you want. This is a HUGE deal – Canon don’t do that. They shoot in 422, which locks you out of a lot of colorspace in post. This is a format of the past. (By the way, anyone who shoots DSLR know that the format stinks and is a pain.) SCARLET shoots in 444 RAW 4K.  Check out the data rates: SCARLET – 440MBS, CANON 50MBS. That’s a lot of data you’re not getting with Canon.

2) RED is about 1000 times cooler company to work with than Canon. When did you ever see Canon give a 75% discount to customers who upgraded their old cameras? NEVER. RED does this. I guess because Jannard is rich, or crazy – doesn’t matter – you benefit. Either way, so much for the “predatory” RED company.

3) SCARLET cameras can be Canon OR PL mount with interchangeable parts. Canon – you have to buy one or the other – this is 100% limiting and would be the end of it for most. Having the option allows you all sorts of different weights, lens expenses, etc.

4) SCARLET interchangeable parts are the BEST grade. There are no parts for the Canon – so you can’t grow the camera.

5) RED is considered PRO, no matter what they make. Coming on a big set with the Cx300 isn’t going to have the same catchet. Perhaps a minor point, but appearances matter.

6) RED is being constantly upgraded. I’m not talking about a once a year firmware upgrade like Canon might do. I’m talking about game-changing upgrades nearly every two weeks from RED. They had an upgrade at one point that increased the cameras sensor from 4k to 4.5k with R1 – I’d like to see that from Canon.

7) RED allows you in as a company. Last Spring I went to RED studios in LA with Koser and was able to hang out with the owner himself. By the end of it, we were exchanging posts on their extremely popular bulletin board that Jannard post to nearly every day (sometimes many, many times a day).

8) The Canon only outputs 1080p. A link to more on this here. I’m not totally a stickler on this stuff, but from reports, it appears that in output resolution the RED trumps.

9) RED is a little guy – just like me, just like you. I love working with the underdog. I get enough of the big guys in my banking, thank you. Visiting them, you get the sense they are cowboys, just making this up as they go along – seeing how big they can dream. Sound familiar?

10) My final proof. In the end to predict sales, etc., look around you. I know of two other people just here in little old Bellingham ALREADY that have put their money down on a SCARLET – I know of no one that is impressed enoug with what Canon is offering to put down cash. These guys were both DSLR guys. There are going to be 2 EPICS and 2 SCARLETs here in Bellingham, and lots more in Seattle. RED is starting to build a real, dedicated user base. Great things will happen with additions, etc. People who shoot WANT a RED because they are awesome work with, to handle, and the proof is in the pudding.

In the end, we’ll all keep our DSLRs for those midnight shoot under the radar in Bangladesh and India, but when we have the choice (and the budget) we’ll go for the RED.

Max

16Nov

Part 5: Twitter and Why You Should Care

Part 5: Twitter and Why You Should Care


This is Part 5 in a 10 part series discussing Social Media and video. For some, this will be remedial. For others, a good refresher. For others still, a whole new world.  If you missed Part 1, start here.

In Monday’s Post, Max discussed the surge in online video viewing, with over a 50% increase for marketers. Why? Because video is simply the best way to connect with viewers – especially given all the great platforms like Facebook, Google/YouTube and Twitter.

I can guess your first question: do I really need to care about Twitter?

Let’s answer it this way: if you could interact in real time with potential customers at practically zero cost, would you want to?

The answer is most likely ‘yes’. So if you take nothing else away from this post, remember this: Twitter is a search engine for potential customers. For people who want to connect.  For people who share the same interests you do.

Try this simple experiment:

  1. Go to the Twitter search page: http://twitter.com/search
  2. In the search bar, enter your profession. Let’s say ‘Certified Public Accountant’.
  3. A list of search results appear – all the people talking about CPA’s. Some of these posts have links to interesting content, some are trash, some are people looking help. You can even narrow these conversations down to your specific area.
  4. Now imagine signing up to Twitter and striking up a conversation with these people. Not necessarily selling them, but helping them. Providing value. Becoming relevant. Credible. A resource.
  5. Before you know it, you might even be engaging people and creating leads. Bingo.

Not bad. But don’t be fooled into thinking this sort of sales cycle happens over night. It takes time and commitment. Giving. Then giving some more. Then giving again. And if you’re smart and generally helpful, you become a person/company that people trust and find useful. People will call if you’re the one giving the best advice about 401K’s. And as you become credible, you might want to point people to content on your blog, website or Facebook page. You may want to start a video series on best accounting strategies for small businesses, or talk about a hot issue of the moment that is relevant to your audience. Pushing content to your waiting users is a great way of developing rapport, even if it is in 140 characters or less.

But for now, just stick your foot in the stream and listen to what people are talking about. The water is warm, and I bet you’ll find something worth the trip.

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09Nov

One AMAZING Example of how to Get Viral Video


We get asked ALL THE TIME  - “HEY, I want a viral video – you know, something that gets over 100K hits.”

First of all – this is a really tall order. The sad thing is, if you have Miley Cyrus getting out of a car you can have 1M hits in no time, but without celebrity, and without something disgustingly funny, you probably don’t have a very good chance – unless you are very clever and actually build your video, and a campaign around the video, to be viral.

Check out this wonderful diabetes video that got over 100k hits…Take the BIG Blue Test

How did they get all those hits?

1) They had a great looking video – absolutely essential.

2) They had a soft sell on their product.

3) They had a way to easily get their people to “pass on” the video.

1, and 2 go without saying. 3 is the one I’d like to dig in on.

Just a because a video is great doesn’t mean anyone is going to see it. There is simply too much going on in our lives to watch everything on YouTube.

So, you’ve got to get people within the niche of your product to be the people to pass on your video. In this case, they got the maker of the video to agree to pay $1 for every time someone clicks on this video and watches it. They advertised this fact in the video, and got people to feel good about passing it along.

What’s your message and how do you want to get it seen? We’ll be looking out for more of these  great examples as we go.

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