The Number 1 Mistake Businesses Make When Implementing Video

The winds of video change are blowing strong. What should you do? 

Fly a kite!

A Dad takes his daughter kite flying.

The Dad says to his daughter, “Do you know what keeps the kite in the air?”

The daughter says, “Duh…Dad… the wind holds the kite up.”

He says, “No it doesn’t. It’s the string.”

The daughter humours him, “The wind holds the kite up, the string holds the kite down.”

He says, “If you think that’s true, then let go of the string.”

She lets go of the string and the kite falters and tumbles and crashes to the ground.

She runs after it and accidentally steps on the string. The string goes taught and the kite lifts and flies high again. 

Kite flying and making effective business videos have much in common.

The String Matters

For a kite, the higher the better, right? But without a firm grasp on the string, there’s no kite flying at all.

For a video, the bigger, bolder, brighter the better, right? But without a firm grasp of what the string is when it comes to commercial videos for your business in Covid times, you may be throwing away effort and money.

So what is the string?

To understand the importance of the string, we must understand three of the winds of change that got us here?

The 3 Winds of Video Change Affect Every Business

1. There’s been a profound shift in who we trust. Banks have let us down. Churches have let us down. Politicians have let us down. We trust people more than brands.
   
   At the same time machine learning, artificial intelligence and the march of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are dehumanising business. We don’t want to talk to a machine when we phone in. We want to talk to a human.
   
   B2B and B2C are shifting to H2H: human to human. Businesses that don’t respond to customer demand for personalised service will struggle.
   
   
2. We’ve become addicted to the convenience of smart devices but there’s a problem.  Text on smart devices is fiddly. Video is more convenient. Customers are demanding more video that speaks to their problems delivered by a human who understands them and their struggle.
   
   
3. COVID is an accelerant. Video and virtual for business were like a grass fire advancing slowly. Humans who were already craving authenticity over spin suddenly found themselves isolated from humans. Covid has been like throwing petrol on the desire for H2H. Whoosh!

The business community is finally waking up to video. There’s a scramble to get into the game. Investing in video technology seems like the logical place to start. 

In the rush, most are overlooking this key factor.

The barrier to shifting to digital is not technology. The barrier is people. People don’t like change. Gartner Research

This brings us back to the string. What is it?

The ‘string’ is the fibre of who you are

Just like string is made up of bundles of fibres twisted as one, who we are as people is made of three main strands.

What we think. What we do. What we believe. Think of it like head, hands, and heart.

For decades, video across business has worked well using just head and hands. If you thought up a good strategy and outsourced it to be made, that worked perfectly.

COVID has changed all that. Without heart, without the authentic human element added to the videos you make, your videos probably won’t fly.

The secret sauce revealed

It’s clear that video and virtual have arrived. It’s not what and if anymore, video is here and now.

It’s clear that it’s a new game and there are new rules.

What’s not clear is that video is not the secret sauce, you are.

Humans within your business - with all their lumps and bumps and wrinkles - are the secret weapons to fulfilling the demand from customers that businesses start acting more human again. 

Video is just the vehicle. People are the fuel.

The 90:9:1 Rule

So what’s the mistake.

Remember the barrier to shifting to digital is people, not technology.

Most businesses I work with have a video implementation plan that looks like this

90% focus on tech

9% focus on strategy

1% focus on people

This is the #1 video implementation mistake I see. Businesses invest in tech instead of training. They are building the video vehicle but it sits stalled because they have no human fuel.

This is a recipe for disappointment. Your secret weapon is your people. They are already anxious. Adding to that anxiety with bewildering tech is counterproductive. 

From the coalface to the C Suite, everyone’s got a million reasons why they can put off presenting on video until next week, and the week after that. 90% of your effort needs to be uncrossing all those crossed arms. Adopt the 90:9:1 Rule

90% focus on people

9% focus on strategy

1% focus on tech

The fast track to trust

The first step to rehumanising your business so you meet customer expectations is to stop spending on tech. That will come. Right now it’s just another scary barrier you are putting between your people and your customer.

The second step is to get some training that shows you how to leverage the smartphone and the smile that every team member, every sales agent, every employee already has. It seems overly simple but it is the fast track to getting customers to trust you, want to buy from you, and never want to leave you.