Customers have embraced video. It’s time for business to catch up.

Customers are using new video tech to form tribes of people speaking a truth that resonates and in the process creating record amounts of online traffic AND businesses - who are desperate to create lasting relationships with these customers - have unique staff with authentic stories, each with a smartphone capable of making video and they aren’t using them.

THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE

Look at the banks in Australia. Even after the grilling they’ve received at the 2018 Banking Royal Commission commentary suggests they will return to business as normal. (1)

The public won’t cop that, and smaller smarter faster fintechs will jump in and poach customers. They will design simpler, friendlier apps that appeal more to today's buyers.

Come on banks. Lick your finger and hold it up and feel which way the breeze is blowing.

41% of customers cite “experience” as the top reason for opening a new account. EY Global banking survey (2)

This is where simple videos made on your smartphone can make you shine. Smart bankers will start sending short personal video messages that make a human connection that no app can match.

DO YOU KNOW WHICH WAY THE BREEZE IS BLOWING?

Remember the Senate hearings into Facebook, when straight-faced Senators asked Mark Zuckerberg how did Facebook make money? This is an indication of how out of touch some parts of the older generations are with digital trends.

Your business cannot afford to be out of touch. Here’s a simple summary of the situation.

TRAFFIC TECH TRIBE TRUTH

TRAFFIC

Globally, IP video traffic will be 82 percent of all consumer Internet traffic by 2021 (3)
Take a moment. Let that sink in. Four out of five things your customers do on the internet in their day to day life will be video.

Live Internet video will account for 13 percent of Internet video traffic by 2021. Live video will grow 15-fold from 2016 to 2021 (3) Have you got team members who are ready to jump online and be the face of your business to customers. You are going to need them.

Keep in mind the frustrating slow upload and download speeds we endure now will pass. The 5G mobile network is on the way. It won’t happen overnight. There will be a lot of broken promises. Overall speeds are getting faster, much faster, not slower. (4)

TECH

A woman was preparing a leg roast. She sawed the end of the bone off. Why do you do that she was asked?

“Because it makes it taste better.” Really? “Yes, my mother taught me that.”

They went to her mother and asked where’d you learn this secret? She said she learned it from her mother.

They went to the grandmother and asked the same question. She said, she too, had learned it from her mother.

The great-grandmother was still alive so they went to her.

Why does sawing the end from a leg roast make it taste better?

The great-grandmother said, “Well I don’t know about the taste but - and she spreads her hands twelve inches apart - my oven was only this big.”

Day to day utility isn't romantic but it drives much of what we do in our lives.

3 DOWN-TO-EARTH REASONS WE WILL HAVE TO LEARN TO SPEAK VIDEO

1. More people own a mobile phone on the planet than own a toothbrush (5) There’s a conversation starter for you. The number of mobile phone users in the world is expected to pass the five billion mark by 2019. (6)
2. We have become addicted to the convenience of the smartphone. We can’t stand in line for anything without pulling out our smartphone to ‘check in’ or ‘check on’ something. It is how we consume information these days.
3. Text on smartphones is small and fiddly and our fingers, by comparison, are large and clunky. Unless our fingers mutate into five thumbs on each hand, then video is simply the easier way to communicate on smartphones.

Just like a big leg roast wouldn’t fit in a small oven, big fingers won’t fit on a small screen. That is the ho-hum, garden-variety, matter of fact reason why you, me, we will be ‘speaking video’ to communicate more and more.

TRUTH

The world hungers for truth. Feed it.

We are not immune to the winds of politics blowing through our times. The voice of the international resurgence of political populism is straight talking. Take this cue. Video is better at delivering honesty and revealing deception.

Look no further than the USA to see this playing out. So desperate are the American people for truth that they accept a proxy for truth, that is Trump’s self described straight talking.

Few want their children to grow up to be him but they are willing to accept him over the unrelenting diet of government and corporate doublespeak they are forced to endure.

We must return to speaking ‘public’ language.

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.- George Orwell

Your customer would love to have a chat with you about their needs. Stop making it so hard. Speaking simply and directly will improve your K.L.T. factor. That’s your Know Like and Trust. How’s yours?

Evade or Enlighten?

Don’t confuse Media Training with Getting Video Smart. They are two different things. Media training can help you lead through a crisis and protect the interests of your investors. Just beware that traditional media training is a double edged sword.

Many of the skills learned in media training can work against you when communicating with customers, staff and peers. You can unwittingly look and sound like a politician and bore your clients to death. You need to match the tool to the specific job.

TRIBES

Generic responses don’t cut it anymore. The internet has allowed us to group into tribes of people who have become used to, and expect, personalised service. Amazon gives us personalised readings lists, Youtube suggests videos we might like, dating apps show ‘our type’ of partner.

According to the 2017 Epsilon Research online survey of 1,000 consumers ages 18-64, the appeal for personalisation is high, with 80% of respondents indicating they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalised experiences and 90% indicating that they find personalisation appealing. (7)

Like a handwritten card, many people assume personalised videos take time, effort and investment to create. Think of how you feel when you get something hand written these days? The software for personalised videos, that currently exists, is so easy to use … and it is just going to improve.

Video is very good for initiating and closing deals.

SO, AGAIN, WHY ARE YOU KEEPING TOUR CUSTOMERS WAITING?

You already have everything you need to start giving your customers what they are asking for and, in the process, get a jump on all those businesses that ignore the signs that this is a smart thing to do.

Right now, as you read these words, without spending an extra cent, you could send a personal video to a client and connect in a genuine way that is good for you and good for them. Now multiply that by the number of people you have in your business.

You have Purpose, People and the Pipeline. You have massive potential, literally, at your fingertips.

PURPOSE

What so many individuals yearn for, businesses don’t have to look for. It’s built into their foundations: purpose. You know why you exist. Your business was created to solve the problem of people who had a problem that needed solving.

PEOPLE

All those beating hearts that sit behind the desks have smiling faces and intellect and empathy. They’ve walked in other people’s shoes before. They understand people’s problems. Using your humans to humanise your company is a sound strategy.

PIPELINE

What’s your telecommunications bill? All your $1500 smart-devices, phone plans, internet connections. You already own the pipeline to your customers.

So if life has given you lemons, why aren’t you making lemonade?

We are on the verge of the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history. It is expected Australia will see more than $3 trillion change hands over the next 10 to 20 years as the Baby Boomer generation pass on their wealth to others. At the same time, wealth management is one of the least tech literate sectors of financial services (8) The opportunity for personal video here is staggering.

Younger buyers now see home ownership as a financial investment rather than as a life milestone and are more likely to be interested in the granular details of the home – green and energy-efficient amenities, low-maintenance yards, and neighbourhood “vibe.”

Personalised video is tailor-made for detail-oriented buyers who expect to have questions answered 24/7. Real estate agents, are you hearing this?

Now you know where you customers and clients are and you understand the pathway to better connect with them, let’s communicate well when we get there.