Author: A/MCP

  • Why Online Video Is Vital For Your Content Marketing Objectives

    Why Online Video Is Vital For Your Content Marketing Objectives

    If you feel online video is just another over hyped, passing fad, think again.

    Online video is gaining strength as a source for content marketing.

    Michael Conti Productions has seen an increase in its video production services as more companies have come to see the value in having a professional do their online videos for them.  This same dramatic increase has also occurred for professional wedding photographers after an initial decrease in business as everyone got their own digital camera and started taking pictures at these one off events.  The results proved that having a single point of view is better.  The important point is that we know the subtle tricks to insure that what we capture provides the maximum benefit for your audience without being distracting from the overall message.

    Take a peek at some pertinent data from Software Advice‘s B2B Demand Generation Benchmark Report. This is just one of the survey topics: Percentage of Marketers Using Each Content or Offer.

    The graph below illustrates the percentage of marketing respondents that use each content or offer:

    Why Online Video Is Vital

    The take-away? Most respondents prefer online video over white papers, case studies, even live demos with reps. And you should factor that into your future content marketing strategy.

    Marketing automation giant Eloqua and CMO.com (Adobe’s content site providing digital marketing news and insight for senior marketing executives around the globe) also partnered with Software Advice on the research project. Read the blog post with all the details and an insightful video here.

    Thanks to Ashley Verrill at Software Advice  for this sharing this deeper insight.

    So, Why Video?

    The web trending towards video is made obvious by much more than the example above. After all, YouTube is the number two search engine in the world. This may lead you to the conclusion that we simply don’t like to read anymore. But the video preference situation we’re witnessing is much more detailed than that. So the question you may be asking yourself (or your boss may be asking you) is: Why video?

    For this, let’s reference an expert. A real Ph.D. level expert, Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D. — also known as The “Brain Lady.” As a leading speaker, author and consultant to brands like Amazon, Disney, Walmart and South By Southwest, she brings a deep understanding of the psychology of customers and why they do what they do.

    She has uncovered four core, very human reasons we are drawn to video:

    #1: The Fusiform Facial area makes us pay attention to faces – this is an actual brain function that hard-wires us to use the human face as a gathering point for information and believability.

    #2: Voice conveys rich information – yes, the simple sound of a human voice speaking to us has an amazing way of converting information into meaningful content.

    #3: Emotions are contagious – here’s a subtle but powerful aspect that we may take for granted. The body language of emotions is an appealing and we naturally love to share.

    #4: Movement grabs attention – another trait that runs deep in our collective anthropological DNA is the power of peripheral motion. Since the stone age, we’ve survived by noticing things in motion – looks like we still do!

    You can watch Susan’s detailed presentation here.

    These are important details to consider when you approach doing a video in-house or seek to hire a professional that is well-versed in capturing visual and auditory signs to help your audience to connect with your message. 

    The following article was abridged.

  • Special Video Documentation Rate for Boulder Practitioners

    Special Video Documentation Rate for Boulder Practitioners

    A MICHAEL CONTI video production provides a Special Flat Rate* to Boulder-based alternative practitioners whom might benefit from having a healing, meditation, therapy, dance/yoga or gathering documented on video.

    For only $400 dollars which includes a rough cut with the all the footage,  MCP will attend your function for a minimum of 2 hours.  Additional time can be booked if necessary.  You can use the resulting footage to review for performance or create additional shorter videos for online marketing, instruction or social media.

    Post production costs are in addition to the production services fee.  Editing is much more open ended than videotaping which is why it is important to have a conversation with us prior to the video being shot.  Generally, expect to require 2 hours of editing time for each hour of content captured during a video shoot.   Depending upon what your needs are with the final video, your post production costs can be covered within an additional $500 dollars. Additional time can be booked if necessary.

    Production Services – MCP uses high definition and standard definition video formats to meet your production value needs; Lights – flat panel, soft boxes; Sound – Sony wired and wireless mics and boom.

    Post Production – Video Editing, DVD authoring, Web streaming and digital video encoding for all social media outlets.

    We are non-intrusive  with our video documentation and can forgo additional lighting and sound equipment if the situation warrants it.  Having worked with many alternative practitioners, we can bring an unique visual insight to documenting your own process.

    Please call 303-641-7228 or visit us online at www.michaelcontiproductions.com to learn more about our services.

    *Subject to Change.   Travel costs added to areas outside of Boulder County.

  • SEO Video for Premier Group Insurance

    A Michael Conti Video Productions of Boulder prides itself on creating cost-effective yet professionally produced seo videos for their marketing clients. Companies face many challenges  in our new economy and doing a video shouldn’t be one of them. Talk to MCP before you talk to anyone else, and you’ll get a no-obligation quote that you can use to shop around.  Depending upon the project, MCP will beat any reasonable counter bid, and will guarantee their work 100% or your money back.*  Don’t let your next video become a car wreck!

    We know how to get the job done in a timely and professional manner while presenting a visual and compelling final product.  And we do it on a surprisingly reasonable budget too. Why?  MCP wants your video to be successful so that you can grow your business.  Isn’t that why you are doing a video in the first place? A successful business means more opportunities for all of us.  As you can see MCP brings a lot more to the table than just a guy with a video camera.

    So you might be asking yourself how much something like this costs, so when you have a similar project in mind, give us a call at 303-641-7228 and we will tell you.

    The following client’s videos illustrates the trademarks of MCP’s cost-efficiencies, quality of services and film making professionalism:

    Michael Conti Productions completed four web commercials for Premier Group Insurance of Denver.  The subject matter of the four videos was:  join as an independent broker, availability of business, home and automobile insurance to new customers. Each video was comprised of one of the company’s principles
    speaking to their area of expertise while seated in an office setting. The longer of the four videos involved seven different independent brokers answering off-camera questions on why they chose to work with PGI.

    Here are the four videos on the client’s website:

    http://www.thinkpremierfirst.com/automobile/default.aspx

    http://www.thinkpremierfirst.com/homeowners/default.aspx

    http://www.thinkpremierfirst.com/business/default.aspx

    http://www.thinkpremierfirst.com/become-an-agent/default.aspx

    The technical setup was a SONY HDV-Z1U Digital Video Recorder mounted on a tripod along with a three point lighting kit, and wired lav along with a painted backdrop.  A simple setup to control without needing a crew at hand and on the clock.

    All the footage was filmed in one day at both the Denver and Greeley offices.  In order to keep a consistent look for the independent broker’s testimonials, MCP  employed the use of a painted backdrop and switched the seating half way through the shoot. This enabled the final video to have a nice fade from the person on the right hand side of the screen to the next person speaking, appearing on the left hand side.  It also reduced any background distraction and made the shoot in Greeley look seamless.  It is also possible to flip the person in post but sometimes this can look strange.

    For filming efficiencies, it is important to be prepared with your questions before the person giving the testimonial appears on camera. Better yet, PGI provided the questions to their brokers the day before along with suggestions on what to wear.  Because of that early effort along with fact that someone from the company was actually asking the questions, the actual shooting went very smoothly.  The two other spots were more script intensive and required the on-camera talent to read the script as it was held just to the right of the lens. Obviously, this solution isn’t perfect as the eye-line drops unless the paper “scrolls” up.  Another easier solution is to employ a teleprompter which MCP has provided in the past.

    Post production involved providing the client with online access to a rough cut along with a DVD that could be used to create a timing edit list.  This approach was especially important for the broker testimonials as the initial rough footage ran close to 45 minutes, and the final video needed to be under seven minutes in length.  Once the client provided the initial notes, the video was down to 17 minutes, and finalized in a short video editing session.  The product  presentations were more straight forward since they involved a single person, and takes could be combined by adjusting framing from wide to tight with out appearance of a jump cut.

    The final videos comprised 12 minutes of material which Premier Group Insurance will highlight on their website as well as promote through social media channels.

    Read the mention for Michael Conti Video Productions of Boulder in the Boulder Camera‘s Briefcase in the Business Section for Monday, January 31, 2011.