Rehumanize Your Business

by Ethan Beute

  Tip 2: Set Your Camera at or Above Eye Level

  If you're hung up on your appearance, this one'll help. Take a look at a teen in your life. When he whips out the phone, lines up the shot, and snaps a perfect selfie in under five seconds, where is his phone? Above his head, tilted downward. He holds the camera out and up for a nicer shot. Looking straight at or slightly down at yourself is a more flattering shot of your face, chin, and neck than looking up at yourself. Your goal is head and shoulders, not too tight, with room for hand gestures—all at a slight downward angle.

  Arm not long enough for a nice, downward mobile shot? Get a $15 selfie stick (really). Setting up your laptop webcam shot in your office or home office? Set it up higher. Consider a $35 laptop stand, a box, or even a stack of books to help. Have an external webcam that plugs into your laptop or desktop? Set it atop your monitor or something even higher, like a shelf. And try for the corner of the room for a wider shot. Shopping for a tripod? Get one with a maximum height of 72 inches instead of 50–60 inches. Take these suggestions literally or just use them to stay mindful of where your camera is placed.

  Tip 3: Look into the Lens

  This may seem obvious, but many people have a tendency to look at themselves on the screen instead of into the camera lens. Looking into the lens is how you make valuable eye contact with your viewer. As you would over coffee or lunch, make regular eye contact as you speak. Don't stare the lens down throughout the recording, but also don't look down at your screen or look off at something or someone else for too long. Locate the camera lens prior to recording; it may be hard to see if it's set against a black background on the rim of a laptop or smartphone.

  Tip 4: Talk to One Person

  When you're sending a one-to-one video, it's easy to talk to that person directly. But when you're recording and sending a video to 10 or 10,000 people, each person watches as a single viewer. Create a personal experience. Communicate and connect with each individual. Picture or imagine one person as a proxy for the entire audience. If you struggle to do this, narrow or segment your list of recipients to unify the audience, increase timeliness and relevant for each person, and make it easier to talk just to one person.

  Tip 5: Don't Use a Script

  Yes, we've mentioned this before. But it's worth saying again. You don't work from a script in a voicemail, presentation, or meeting. You have a handle on the situation. You know why you're connecting and what the desired outcome is. Simply speak to it. Be conversational, approachable, and human. Use bullet points on a notepad or support yourself with visuals by screen recording. But don't type words on your screen then read them off. Not only will it feel unnatural and robotic, you'll also break eye contact with your viewers.

  Tip 6: Know Where the Light Is

  You don't need a professional light kit. Just orient yourself toward one or more sources of light. If you're outside, turn toward the sun rather than have it at your back. Clouds help filter and even out the sun. Standing in the shade often gives a better and more even look than standing directly under the midday sun. If you're inside, pay attention to the overhead lights, available lamps, and nearby windows. Reorient your desk so the light comes from the front or the side rather than from directly behind you. If you can't, close the blinds behind you. How is the light in the morning compared to the afternoon? Turn on extra lights to supplement when you need to. In general, more light is better than less. Steve and I both record with standard overhead lights in our offices. Steve also has a window in front and to the right of him, but I've only got a fluorescent box straight overhead.

  Tip 7: Smile

  “Smile before you dial,” as the saying goes. And smile before you click “Record.” You'll instantly be in a better mood and your viewers will confer upon you several positive attributes, even if they're not conscious of it. Smiling is a healthy habit. And it's a great practice at the beginning, at points during, and at the end of your videos. It might sound simple but think about something that makes you happy before you hit “Record.” Positive thinking affects your brain, your mood, and your performance.2

  YOU'RE NOT ALONE

  Anything slowing you down or holding you back has been faced by thousands of your peers before you. And we've seen, heard, and experienced most of it ourselves.

  If you don't like how you look or sound in video, that's natural. You're not used to seeing or hearing yourself. But others see and hear you all the time. Let go.

  If you don't know what to say, think about what you would have typed out or what you would have said in a voicemail. It really is that simple.

  If you don't have a system or process, focus on one or two common situations that benefit from a more personal touch. Know your surroundings and be ready to record whenever those situations arise. Once you've gained comfort and confidence, add in more situations.

  If none of these is the issue, perhaps you're hung up on which camera to use, whether or not you need extra equipment or apps, or other technical questions. We cover all the basics in the next chapter. Spoiler: you already have everything you need to get started.

  NOTES

  1. Browne, Brené. “The Power of Vulnerability.” Filmed June 2010 in in Houston, TX. TED Video, 20:13. https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability?language=en.

  2. Reynolds, Susan. “Happy Brain, Happy Life.” Psychology Today, August 2, 2011. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/prime-your-gray-cells/201108/happy-brain-happy-life.

  CHAPTER 9

  The Salesperson's Guide to Video Cameras

  A decade or two back, only a “video person” created videos regularly and well. Cameras, editing software, and equipment were more expensive and complex. Live recording tools were few. Viewers' expectations favored full production—scripts, lights, and other specialized tools and techniques. As someone who needed or wanted a video created, you had three primary options:

  Hire a video person or video team into your organization.

  Contract a video person or video team from outside your organization.

  Become a “video person” yourself in addition to serving in your primary role.

  Many of those barriers to entry are gone. Video is no longer the exclusive realm of marketing departments, creative agencies, and production teams. You've got everything you need in your purse or your pocket all day, every day. Among the most prolific video users we know, their smartphones are their most-used cameras. These are people who've done one, two, or all three of the options above. With easy, inexpensive add-ons like a smartphone tripod or gimbal, a wired or wireless microphone, a lightweight LED light, or advanced camera apps, you can use your phone for almost any video. Most phones now shoot 4K or HD video at 60 frames per second. Most of them have a wide field of view and every one of them is internet-connected.

  Are smartphone and webcam videos sufficiently professional for messages to your boss, your CEO, or an executive at a Fortune 500 company? Yep. We've seen countless prospecting videos recorded with a webcam and sent to directors, VPs, SVPs, and C-suite officers that generate replies and land appointments. The rise of video in social media, the democratizing effects of YouTube, and the heyday of user-generated content have lowered the bar for “good enough” production.

  Furthermore, more than half a year after we published the Shiny/Authenticity Inversion, a powerful story from the Content Marketing Institute explained how global, multibillion-dollar brands are dumbing down the quality of their marketing photos and videos in order to bring authenticity and build trust. Images are no longer perfectly posed or elaborately set. Errors and imperfections are intentional. Videos are shaky and unrehearsed. “The result is a visual style that creates a sense of identification with the photographer or videographer as a real person.”1

  While you're in your own head about whether or not your personal video is “good enough,” massive and well-heeled brands with mind-blowing budgets are intentionally turning down the quality level to be imperfect, authentic, trustworthy, unrehe
arsed, and real. The funny thing is that you already have all those things in your favor, but you're hiding behind a keyboard. They're attempting to make “marketing through video” feel more like “relationships through video,” so they're starting at a deficit compared to your sales or support efforts as an individual or team. You're already “a real person.”

  In this chapter, we provide the absolute basics of webcams, smartphones, other cameras, and microphones before putting them into the context of common video setups.

  VIDEO CAMERA TIPS

  The top camera tip we've got: start with what you already own. Your webcam and smartphone will take you a long way. When you feel like stepping up your game, that is when you could start looking at add-ons or upgrades. Don't let purchasing decisions be your excuse for not getting started today.

  Webcams

  Built into nearly every laptop is a high-definition (HD) webcam. Some are even built into computer monitors. If that's all you've got, start with that webcam. If you don't like the angle, prop your computer up on a stand or even a stack of books. If it seems fuzzy or grainy, be sure to turn on some lights. The resolution of most webcams is high enough that a poor image quality is more likely the result of poor light than of poor camera quality. When you use the one built into your laptop, it's with you everywhere you carry it—office, conference room, coffee shop, hotel room (for you road warriors), and beyond.

  If you're wondering how “high” your high-definition webcam is, the progression of image size and quality can be seen in Figure 9.1. It applies to all cameras, so you'll see these numbers and terms when you evaluate smartphones and other cameras, too.

  FIGURE 9.1 Comparison of Video Resolutions

  The more pixels in your image, the more detailed the image is. A 4K video, sometimes called ultra-high-definition (UHD), is twice as wide and twice as tall as 1080. When they're displayed in the same size viewing window, 4K looks twice as detailed as HD. 4K isn't ideal or necessary when recording personal videos; it's overkill. On the other hand, if you watch a 720-video at full screen on a 1080 monitor, it'll look a little soft and lack detail because it's scaled up. For now, 1080 HD is a good middle ground.

  If you want more detail or higher quality than whatever's built into your laptop or monitor, you can buy an external webcam that plugs in by USB. There are several brands and manufacturers, but Logitech is the standard. You can get a full 1080 HD for $50 to $100 (Logitech C920, C922, C930e). For $175, I picked up a nice webcam (Logitech BCC950) with a wide field of view and a remote control to point it up, down, left, or right and even to zoom in and out. You can also go up to 4K resolution if you're willing to go up to or beyond $175 right now. Of course, all this changes quickly and there are multiple makes and models to choose from. So, don't get too hung up on specifics. Just search and browse “HD webcam” or something even more specific like “1080 HD webcam.”

  A webcam is great for email and social messaging videos and for video conferences. One of its key advantages is that once you get your shot setup, it's ready to go every time you need it. Have a familiar setup for your office, your home office, a conference room, or anywhere else you'll regularly use a webcam. I leave my external webcam in one spot and my laptop built-in everywhere else. Steve uses his laptop webcam all the time.

  Smartphones

  The camera is a key battleground in the great smartphone wars of the early twenty-first century. Each new model from Apple, Samsung, Google, and the others gets upgraded camera hardware and software as leading features. Smartphone camera specs are key talking points in ads, reviews, and comparison tables. They've evolved much more quickly than webcams.

  The same resolution measures apply (720, 1080, 4K), so here's a quick take on frame rates, which are expressed in frames per second (fps). Like films in the old days, your video is comprised of multiple still images played in sequence. A higher frame rate tends to make videos look more detailed.

  24 fps—The standard film rate

  30 fps—The standard video rate

  60 fps—A high video rate

  120 or 240 fps—Rates for slow motion video

  For quick, simple videos, 30 frames per second is standard. It'll keep your file size down, which makes it faster to upload and send. Some platforms don't support higher frame rates on upload or on playback anyway. As with 4K resolution, it won't hurt to record at 60 frames per second, but it's not ideal or necessary. It'll take up more space on your phone, take longer to upload, and may not be experienced by viewers.

  Your smartphone's easy to operate. It's with you everywhere you go. And it's got a great video camera. If it's not your sole or primary device for video, it should definitely be in the mix.

  Other Cameras

  When you go beyond webcams and smartphones, you start crossing over from “relationships through video” to “marketing through video” pretty quickly. When you pick up a Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Sony, GoPro, or another type of camera, you're committing to spend more time on your video. Offloading. Editing. Uploading. Hosting. Buying and learning additional equipment. As we established in the introduction and carry as a theme throughout the book, you can and should pursue this style of video. It can be great for your business. But its best use is for a large audience, long shelf life, or high-profile distribution.

  That said, I've set up a mirrorless camera on a tripod, turned on a few lights in our small office studio, and recorded a dozen different videos for a dozen different individuals. From there, I popped out the little memory card, dragged the video onto my MacBook Pro, trimmed off the fronts and backs of the clips, batch exported the edited videos, uploaded them to BombBomb, and sent each one out to each person. Is it worth the effort? Not really.

  Camcorders

  Camcorders are designed for one thing: recording videos. That's their strength. Some tout an ability to capture still frames, but your phone's better. Unlike your smartphone or webcam, most have a proper lens system that allows optical zoom (rather than digital zoom, which just enlarges the image and reduces its quality). Most can be mounted directly to a tripod or held in the palm of your hand. Most have plugs for external microphones and can have a small light mounted atop it. Many come with remote controls, which is helpful when recording videos of yourself. Most have flip-out screens and automatically help stabilize handheld shots. Unlike the next two camera types we'll cover, camcorders can record for an hour or two straight—uninterrupted, all in one clip. This makes them great for recording presentations, speeches, trainings, team meetings, and similar.

  Target: $400–$1,200 (any less and you should stick with your smartphone, but for any more you should look at the next two categories)

  Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) Cameras

  Essentially a digital version of the old 35 mm film cameras, the digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera category is led by Nikon and Canon. DSLRs are excellent for still photo images and quite good for video. Their advantage over camcorders is the versatility that comes with your ability to change out lenses—wide angle, telephoto, zoom. Not all lenses work with all DSLRs. When you commit to a brand, you're committing to an entire lens ecosystem, so do your homework.

  Here, image quality is derived from lens speed and glass quality. You can buy a very expensive camera body but be disappointed with the image quality if you put a cheap lens on it. Most video streamed on the web has reduced sharpness and image quality, so this may not be noticeable. Fast, high-quality lenses can give you a beautifully blurred background that feels very polished. Do a Google image search for the word “bokeh” and you'll know the look. If it's in your budget, get nice lenses.

  Like camcorders, most DSLRs mount directly to a tripod, have plugs for external microphones (a must-have feature), include image stabilization, have flip-out screens, and directly support a mounted light.

  Target: $600–$2,400 (plus another $1,000–$3,000 for lenses)

  Mirrorless Cameras

  To the video layperson, these look identical to DSLRs, ex
cept their bodies and lenses are smaller and lighter. But there's a big difference inside the camera body that gives a mirrorless camera a video advantage. They're not the digital version of the old 35 mm film cameras that use a mirror to reflect the light that comes in through the lens up to a sensor. The light goes directly from the lens to the sensor because they're … mirrorless! One important consequence of this design is that autofocusing, face detection, and eye detection while recording videos is superior to the DSLR.

  Beyond this, they have most of the same features and advantages of a DSLR. The only downside is that battery life may be a little shorter for perpetual reliance on the screen or the electronic viewfinder to display the shot's subject. Sony, Panasonic, and Olympus have led the way in mirrorless cameras, but all the main manufacturers, including Nikon and Canon, are in the mirrorless game.

  Target: $999–$3,500 (plus another $800–$2,400 for lenses)

  For more camera types and links to examples, visit BombBomb.com/BookBonus

  Microphones

  Low image quality is more tolerable than low sound quality. As with cameras, use the microphone you have right now until you reach its limits. Your laptop or webcam has one built in. Your smartphone has a great microphone because it's actually a phone; it's designed to be talked at and spoken into! Don't use the fact that you've not researched, shopped for, and purchased a microphone as an excuse not to get started with personal videos.