Any business owner who remembers John Travolta dancing in a white suit instead of stumping for Scientology knows that videos and social media are not the only way to grow a business. So I’ve had to accept that the world, and the business world, has changed, and that we needed to do more than direct mail campaigns and trade shows to increase revenues. And we did. At my company, we do regular email marketing, keep our website current and cutting edge, and write our daily/weekly blogs. Some might argue it’s an economical tradeoff for brand awareness, promoting business and generating leads. But what about producing entertaining, ambitious videos, that aren’t even necessarily trying to sell? All that time, resources, and money, just to say “Hey world, we’re here. Look at us!” It’s a tough pill to swallow for the CFO, even if I do consider myself the progressive partner. Where’s the return? Where’s the ROI? That’s what I hear… outside… and inside my head.
But wait, there’s more to this story. At Holdcom, we’ve committed to producing 3-4 “viral” videos a year. Define “viral?” Some might define it as useless, possibly funny or entertaining videos that wastes a lot of business time for no discernable results. We see it differently.
Our latest production, a short parody of the new Disney Pixar movie Inside Out wound up involving more than half of our staff. Working creatively, we brainstormed, wrote, cast staff (and a few pros) costumed, location searched (thank you Buehler Challenger & Science Center) filmed, recorded, visually post-produced, audio post-produced, brainstormed some more, and produced a pretty slick entertaining piece of video. So will it generate leads, increase revenues, grow our business? Statistics say 46% of users who recall watching a video ad take action after viewing a video ad, and video attracts two to three times as many monthly visitors while doubling their time spent on a site.
I guess we’ll find out soon.
But here’s what it’s already done: It got our creative juices flowing, enhanced the sense of collaboration, created a sense of participation, enhanced internal comradery, generated an internal buzz, got people talking. And we had fun.
Just like John Travolta in a white suit.
