Slivercast or viral?
Don's post about using about my post about slivercasting (Ah! Recursive loop! CTRL-Break! :-) ) as a marketing tool got me thinking. Sure, a regular vodcast is a good way to get your name out to others, but you can also use video to increase your existing customer retention. Your clients take pictures in the spare time. Everyone does. I would have clients ply me for photo tips and camera advice all the time while I was shooting for them. So why not make a short movie on how to take better pictures and send it as an email with your branding on it, and encourage them to send it to others?
- Find a good online guide to taking snapshots, like this one, and script out the steps it lists to taking better pictures. Most of them will be 10 shots, max.
- Grab your digital video camera and a couple of assistants (or some other semi-willing volunteer), and go out and shoot each step, framing it as you would a still-photo shoot.
- Edit it in iMovie. I'm sure there are comparable Windows programs out there, but the iMovie/iPhoto/Garage Band integration of iLife makes this sort of thing a breeze on a Mac. Use basic transitions (cross-dissolves and fades) and throw a long (5 seconds at least) still shot of your logo and contact information as the beginning and ending credits.
- Send to Garage Band to record a short narration for the video. Don't worry about following the script tightly, speak naturally; you're supposed to be an expert at taking pictures. Act like it, and the narration will sound great.
- Save it as a QuickTime movie (320x240 at 15-20 frames is just fine), and publish it online.
- Send out an email to your clients with a brief (2-3 sentence) description of what you did, and a link to the video. Tell them how you think it'll make their personal photos better, and encourage them to send it to other people they know who have questions about taking better pictures.
This entry was posted by Kevin Creighton, on
3.14.2006.
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