Rehumanize Your Business

by Ethan Beute

  Before you buy an upgraded microphone, use these tips:

  Bring the mic as close to you as possible while still keeping a head and shoulders shot that also captures some hand gestures.

  Use your wired or wireless smartphone earbuds to capture sound for your smartphone videos—or even your laptop videos.

  Get great sound with just a single Apple Airpod; they connect wirelessly both to iPhones and Androids.

  If you don't like the “earbuds in the shot” look, hold the earbud mic immediately out of the shot as near to your voice as possible.

  In case you still want an additional microphone, we'll cover two main types: USB and 3.5 mm jack. It's not as technical as it sounds.

  To upgrade the audio from your laptop or desktop computer, look for a microphone that plugs in by USB. In the $50 price range, take a look at the Samson Meteor or Blue Snowball. There are others, but we use and like both. The Meteor is especially portable. Another standard is the Blue Yeti, which is priced around $125. Before you go down this road, know that most external webcams like the Logitech models mentioned earlier come with microphones that are better than your built-in. You don't necessarily need to buy a USB mic until you've tested the sound with your upgraded webcam first.

  For smartphones and other cameras, you'll look for the standard 3.5 mm jack—that short, skinny plug that's silver, copper, or gold in color and/or material. Until Apple moved to their proprietary lightning jack, all these devices used this size. For iPhone or iPad, you'll use the lightning-to-3.5 mm adapter they provide or get one that's already lightning compatible.

  The wired lavalier microphone plugs into your smartphone or camera and runs over to you. It's typically clipped to your clothing, high up on your chest near your voice. The little foam ball on it helps reduce wind noise and those pops we make when we enunciate words like “pop!” These work well when you're still, the camera's still, and you're near your smartphone or other camera.

  You can also buy a wireless kit, but then you've got two separate battery-powered packs that need to be synced up. One pack attaches to you; its wire runs up and the mic gets clipped near your voice. The other pack attaches to the camera, gets your audio wirelessly, and passes the sound into the camera. This allows you to move around a bit more. Wired or not, a single lavalier microphone is passable but not ideal for two-person interviews. It's better if each person has one. Wired and wireless handheld microphones are better for interviews, but they can look very old-fashioned.

  To capture sound from more than one person and to avoid having the mic attached to anyone, a camera-mounted microphone is a good option. Small ones are made to attach directly to smartphone. Larger ones are made to mount directly to your camcorder, DSLR, or mirrorless camera with a standard shoe mount. Look for one that allows you to switch from the standard foam cover to a “cat tail” or “wind buster”—that big, gray, and fuzzy cover that's crucial for outdoor use. The fuzziness and hairiness dramatically cuts down wind noise, which can ruin your sound. Some of these mics are even boom-mountable, so they can be held out of the shot but closer to the people who are speaking.

  VIDEO SETUP TIPS

  To provide a little more context and specificity to camera and microphone considerations, here are three of the most common video setups. The importance of being set up and ready is that it greatly increases the likelihood that you'll actually record and send a video when you know it's the right thing to do. You're more likely to get out the door for a run if you know where your running shorts and shoes are. And even more likely if you have them on!

  The Office Setup

  At a desk or in a cubicle. In an office or home office. This is the spot where you set up once and use it over and over again as needed; see some of the typical equipment in Figure 9.2. It's a familiar and comfortable space. Personalize the background with artwork, photos, trophies, diplomas, plants, or anything else that communicates that this is your unique space. There's so much people can learn about you from your office; it gives you the opportunity to tell a story about yourself.

  FIGURE 9.2 Be Ready to Record in Your Office

  Recommendations for Your Office Setup

  Keep the space basically tidy. Your background should help communicate who you are; make it personal, but professional.

  Your go-to camera here is your webcam, even though your smartphone is an option.

  Add a USB microphone if desired.

  Rely on all available natural light coming in from a window or an open door. Notice how it changes throughout the day.

  Supplement your lighting with overhead lights, a clip-on desk lamp, or a floor lamp. You might use this lamp or light only when recording videos.

  More light is always better than less light.

  Place your external webcam higher up and in a corner for a nice, wide shot. Use a bookshelf, wall shelf, or tripod for height.

  Place your built-in laptop webcam on a laptop stand, box, or stack of books to raise it up.

  Especially for live recording, a hardline internet connection is better than a WiFi connection.

  The Mobile Setup

  A perfect video won't convert more leads. A little handheld shake in your video doesn't mean you can't send it. Mixing up your locations by being mobile keeps video communication interesting for you and for your viewers. Being prepared to record with your smartphone means you're always prepared, because it's with you almost everywhere you go. As you see in Figure 9.3 and in the list below, you augment the arm-out selfie experience with add-ons.

  FIGURE 9.3 Be Ready to Record with Your Phone

  Recommendations for Your Mobile Setup

  If your arm isn't long enough to produce a nice, wide shot, get a selfie stick.

  Walking and talking provides visual interest. Use a device like the DJI Osmo, Osmo Mobile, or another mobile gimbal to steady the shot.

  The cheap solution for walk-and-talk videos is to record with the Hyperlapse app, but save the video at 1x speed instead of at a 6x or 12x lapse speed. It stabilizes the video. Or search for another stabilization app.

  If you don't want to stick with your wired or wireless earbuds, search for a mobile microphone. Search “mobile microphone” or “iPhone microphone” or “Android microphone.”

  Sitting safely parked in a car is a great place to record. You often have good light and good sound. If you're an on-the-go salesperson, this is a great way to spend those five or 10 minutes between meetings.

  If you want to set your smartphone in one place, get a mobile tripod head and use it with a small or full-sized tripod.

  Countless apps are available to edit your videos, add graphics, add transcriptions, and more. Just remember to focus on speed over production.

  If you're using a video email service provider, that company should offer mobile apps for recording, sending, and tracking.

  If you're on the move, consider recording straight to your camera roll, then uploading once you're on a stable, solid internet connection.

  A WiFi internet connection tends to be faster and more stable than a cellular connection.

  If you're on the move, pay attention not to drop off WiFi by moving out of its range.

  If you're on the move, especially as a passenger in a moving car (do not drive and record!), know that cellular connections can drop your video like they drop your calls.

  Note: Our mobile apps provide some protection from that last scenario. If you drop connection between cell towers, we pause the upload, then automatically resume when the signal picks back up.

  The Pro Setup

  Again, we're creeping into “marketing with video” territory, but we expect you may want some tips on a more traditional or “professional” setup pictured in Figure 9.4. And some of these ideas are transferable into “relationships through video” scenarios. We'll focus here on a simple setup in a small office or as a smaller part of a much bigger space.

  FIGURE 9.4 Studios Are More for Marketing Videos

  Recommendati
ons for Your Pro Setup

  You can use a webcam or smartphone on a tripod, but this setup is best with a camcorder, DSLR, or mirrorless camera.

  Get an on-camera microphone, a boom microphone, or a lavalier microphone to plug into your camera.

  If you experience echo, the space has too many hard surfaces that bounce sound and too few soft surfaces that absorb sound. Add soft surfaces like area rugs, pillows, blankets, soft-sided chairs, foam blocks, or similar. It doesn't have to be pretty if it's not in the shot.

  Use a plain colored wall, a tradeshow booth backdrop, a sign or logo, or another relatively clean background for your shot.

  Do not stand directly against the background. Create some distance. In a tight space like an 8′ × 12′ room, use the shorter wall as the background so you have the longer wall for depth. You can also shoot on an angle into the corner.

  Search for a three-light kit. Two good options include LED lights that are dimmable and with a sliding color temperature or a kit with at least one soft box.

  If you're not familiar with lighting a shot like this, search “three-point lighting.” Look at some diagrams and watch a video or two. It's very straightforward.

  Get a tripod. Look for more height rather than less (70″ or 72″, not 50″ or 60″). If you're not going to leave it up all the time, take note of how well it packs down. If you're primarily using it for locked-down shots, don't worry too much about panning and tilting fluidity.

  THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB

  The goal here was to provide a basic overview of equipment considerations to record videos reasonably well. Your goal is to use the right tool for the right job. If you're sending a Gmail video reply to answer a customer's question, just click “Reply,” click “Record,” then talk to him or her through your webcam. If you're recording a video for an email being sent to 27,464 potential customers, you can still get away with your webcam, but you'd also be justified in going over to the 8′ × 12′ video recording room, turning on some lights, and firing up the camcorder.

  Even if you're an absolute novice when it comes to video equipment, the basic answers are just a search away. Reading product reviews and watching how-to videos provides knowledge, but comprehension and application only come through setting up and recording some videos. You already own what you need to get started.

  NOTE

  1. Gamez, Victor. “Visual Realism: The Way to Build Trust with Your Audience.” Content Marketing Institute. February 19, 2016. https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/02/visual-realism-trust/.

  PART 4

  Improving Video Results

  CHAPTER 10

  How to Get More Opens, Plays, and Replies

  Sending video tends to yield better results than sending plain text. But it's not automatic or guaranteed. A little thought, intention, and care goes a long way toward better outcomes. In this chapter, we'll explore the leading causes of poor email results and best practices to get more emails opened, to get more videos played, and to achieve your desired outcome more often. If some of the language sounds too deeply rooted in sales or marketing, know that these principles and practices can be used in any context.

  TOP REASONS FOR VIDEO EMAIL UNDERPERFORMANCE

  If you put email on autopilot, pushed the “set it and forget it button,” let other people write your emails, let machines shoot them out, and just sat back waiting for replies, you may have made a costly mistake. According to recent research from the Relevancy Group and One Spot, email marketing's contribution to company revenue is up two percentage points to 20%, more than 10% growth year to year. Open rates and click rates are also up two points each, to 27% and 16%, respectively. And among companies using personalization, conversion rates increase 6% and average order value increases 5%.1 Because millennials use email more than any other generation, this trend will continue.

  Whether you're looking to directly drive revenue or trying to communicate more effectively, a little effort can make a big difference. Before sharing specific strategies to increase email opens, video plays, and overall conversion, we've got five specific reasons emails and video emails underperform.

  It's Not Sincere

  Sending selfish emails based on your interests instead of your recipients' interests is the easiest thing to do. As a consequence, it happens often. We've done it ourselves. And we expect you have, too. Before starting on an email, video email, or video message, ask yourself, “What's the benefit to the recipient?” Every message you send trains people to open or delete your next message. If there's no clear benefit, value, or sincerity in the message, you're failing to positively reinforce the next open. Employ the Empathy, Value, Call to Action framework introduced in the previous chapter to overcome this common weakness.

  Every message you send trains people to open or delete your next message.

  As you well know by now, sincerity, service, and passion come through much more effectively when you deliver it through video. These are qualities we can feel through nonverbal communication. And they're incredibly difficult to capture and convey in typed-out text.

  It's Not Clear

  Within 10 seconds of opening your email, a person should have a strong sense of why you sent it to him or her, what the opportunity is, and how to proceed. It should be set up with the subject line, sketched out in the email body, brought to life with your video, and closed down with a clear call to action. That action might be a reply, a click, a call, or any other means of proceeding on the offer you present.

  The video and text portions should be aligned and complementary, not redundant. Your text should help drive the video play. The video's job is to humanize the message, build connection, and persuasively drive that one, clear call to action. People are too busy and too distracted to deal with the friction of rambling or unclear emails, multiple calls to action, or a call to action that isn't clearly set up.

  It's Not Targeted

  If you don't send emails to lists of people, jump ahead to the next section. If you do send mass messages, this one's critical, especially with video email. Because in video your reputation isn't just tied to your name, email address, and logo. It's also tied to you—your face, voice, and personality!

  Whether it's a preference for vanity metrics, a transactional mindset that's satisfied with 0.6% conversion on volume, simple laziness, or another reason, mass emails are often sent to too broad a group of people. You might select everyone and click send. Or you might write an email for a specific persona or purpose and use it outside those bounds. Either way, it hurts to send without intention. It's like the Boy Who Cried Wolf. It only works a couple of times before we catch on.

  Narrowing your list by segmenting and targeting down to a more appropriate sub-list of recipients will drive up successful delivery, open rates, play rates, and response rates. You don't have to get too complicated with it, just be mindful. Any damage to your ego done by the smaller “send” count will be more than repaired by the lift you'll see in short-, medium-, and long-term results.

  It's Not Tracked

  The goal isn't just to send the video email or video message. We don't pat ourselves on the back for getting it recorded and clicking “Send.” The goal is to create conversation and get to “yes,” whether it's a micro-yes like a simple click through an email or a macro-yes like a signed contract. Tracking closes this gap. This is one of email's great advantages over other channels and the source of its incredible return on investment. You know exactly who's interested based on their actual behavior. Follow up one-to-one or one-to-segment messages based on who did or didn't open, play, or click. Understand what the behavior or non-behavior means relative to the opportunity you provided, then speak to it. The send is the start. The tracking tells you how to proceed. Especially with video.

  A video play is the ultimate gauge of interest and form of engagement. A one-second glance or accidental touch of your email can trigger an email open. But when people give you 45 seconds of their time and experience
you in person, they show real interest. Wouldn't you like to know that? What if someone watches you for 87 seconds on a follow-up send? It's a great indicator of the growth of “know, like, and trust.” Pay attention to who's watching and when to know where your best opportunities and greatest interest are. You don't know who those 529 people who watched your YouTube video are, but you know exactly who played the video in your email.

  It's Not Differentiated

  With the same black text on the same white screen, your email looks like his email. And his looks like her email, which looks almost identical to their emails. And all of our emails look the same as they did five or 10 years ago. For some sends, that may be just fine. You already have the relationship. The information is concise and easy to understand; it's not hard to capture in text. But when you need to really differentiate, connect, and convert, you need video. Sure, your signature or your header has a different color, logo, or headshot, but when your recipient is plowing through a couple dozen emails in a single pass, that's no longer enough.

  If you and I took the exact same typed-up email message and each delivered it in a video, our videos would be completely unique. You'd deliver it differently than I would. No one else can send the same video email as you. You're not one in a million; instead, you're one of a kind. You are the differentiator, so differentiate and rehumanize by blending some videos into your business communication.