Madeleine: Hi, Chris. I am so excited for this episode. This has been a long time coming, and I have gotten so many requests to talk about the concept of video on this podcast.
It’s something that is top of mind but a very intimidating aspect for a lot of small businesses doing their marketing and outsourcing. I think what a lot of businesses end up struggling with is making video do the thing they want it to do. So, I’m so excited to bring you on. You’re a local videographer in my area, and I’m super excited. I’m so happy to know you and get to learn from you.
We’ve talked a lot about storytelling and just how powerful video can be when it’s done properly. So thank you so much for being on today.
Chris: Well, thank you for having me. I hope I can bring some good wisdom and enlighten some people out there with their video content struggles.
Madeleine: Yeah, so please introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do, and what expertise you bring to the table with this.
Chris: My name is Chris Lawler. I am a videographer based out of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and I like to tell stories for brands and businesses. The art of storytelling can sometimes get lost in our short-term content machine that a lot of people make. It doesn’t mean that there’s not a place for that, but most businesses, especially business owners that I meet with, realize that the viral TikTok video isn’t going to be the thing that solves all their problems.
I cannot tell you how many times I walk into a business and they go, “Oh yeah, well, we just do these little dancing TikToks, and we get all these views.” I’m like, “Great. How’s your conversion?” Because if you’re not really focused on your conversion and what video can do for that, then you’re kind of missing out on the whole point of what we’re doing with video content to drive traffic.
I just kind of opened my eyes to how this can work in a marketing aspect, and I’ve made it my life’s mission to help business owners and educate them on what they should be doing. When I meet business owners, they have usually already hired a videographer or done video work themselves, and then they’re struggling with understanding why they didn’t see a return on that investment.
I want to make sure that business owners are not only informed, but that when I work with them, they are getting that conversion rate that leads to a good return on their investment when working with me.
So I’m an investment, not an expense. I obviously would love to help educate and inform people on what they might be missing out on or not even understanding about what they should be focusing on with their video content strategy.
Madeleine: Awesome. I love that! And I love that your skill set goes back to childhood. I think that is just so cool to see people have those passions that really come into fruition and define their career paths. I think that’s just such a unique piece of the puzzle that you bring to the table.
Chris: For sure. I just wish someone would have informed me sooner that I could have been making money off of that instead of doing the laps and all of that, going and getting a job and just being a Regular Joe for a while and realizing – You know, what I really love doing is editing and filmmaking and telling stories.
I was very happy during the lockdown. Like many of us, I had time to think about life and what is making us happy and what’s making us miserable. I happened to find some online education that just re-informed me about the whole culture around filmmaking nowadays. I’m old, guys! So I grew up making home videos with VHS tapes and two VCRs wired together. I needed to be brought up to speed on where we are with digital because when I was learning editing, digital was a joke. It was so pixelated; it was so bad that we didn’t even focus on it. You know, I remember so long ago trying to hook up a Zip drive so that we could install some footage that we had recorded.
Nothing was compatible. Everything was so pixelated. It was a joke. So we just stuck with VHS cassette tape. So I’m glad that I was able to learn the whole digital side of it and how to incorporate that into business marketing.
Madeleine: So Chris, I would love to start this concept of video creation, specifically for businesses. But I want to take it a step back and talk about the broader concept of storytelling.
I love your particular background in filmmaking and the creation of narratives. Because I think that’s where all marketing really needs to start. And when we go back to the roots of that, our marketing is so much more powerful for it. So can you define what storytelling means to you in the sense of marketing?
And just talk about that journey.
Chris: Okay. So, there is storytelling for film, right? We want to take people on an emotional journey. You take them from the starting point where there’s a problem, you’re following these characters all the way to the end, the final conclusion of what’s going on, not too dissimilar on the marketing side.
You’ve got a client out there, and it sounds just like the journey that they will take, so you can explain to them the transformation they’re going to experience by working with you. Because shopping is selfish, people do not go online thinking about Bill, the owner. They go online thinking about what this 50 bucks they’re about to spend is going to get them.
So your narrative, your storytelling, whether it’s one video or your entire content strategy, should still be following those beats. Are you someone who’s dealing with this? Stuck, experiencing this one thing, and you want this one result out of it?
Well, guess what? I’m the solution for that.
And that’s the kind of marketing narrative that should be happening. It doesn’t have to be long-form; it doesn’t have to be short-form. It needs to be exactly the length you need to tell your story. A financial advisor may have a way longer video piece of content to explain what that transformation is going to be, as compared to someone who might be selling basic skincare products.
That might be just a little bit easier to move along, and it’s a lower asking price point, right? It’s a lot easier to meet someone and ask them for 10 bucks for this cool solution. It’s another thing for someone who asks 10,000 for a solution. You’re going to have to warm those people up a little bit more and tell them about that transformation.
So that’s where I see narrative helping, especially with video content nowadays. People are always consuming it that way. It’s easier to consume. A lot of people don’t want to take time to read things. They don’t want to click nine things to go into this deep web funnel. They want to be told exactly right then and there what they’re going to expect at the end of this: what is the end goal and result that we’re going to see if we work together?
So having that narrative, having that story, and understanding your audience, your offer, and your message—those are my pillars that I always go back to.
Madeleine: I love that. I want to dive deeper into those three aspects, but just summarize: what are those narrative building blocks? What is that kind of hero’s journey?
I love the concept of the hero’s journey. I love the book Building a StoryBrand, which really taps into the concept of the hero’s journey, bridging the gap between marketing and storytelling. It’s a very parallel journey, but if you were to summarize what you should include in a type of narrative video, what would those be?
Well, I’m going to go back to those three things, and then I’ll answer your question, but I’m going to tell you a story first. Knowing who your audience is will help you define how to speak to them. So knowing who your target audience is one of the first stepping stones you’ve got to understand.
When I meet some business owners, they’re like, “Oh, we sell everything to everyone.” Are you sure about that? Are you sure your demographic is 12 and under?
“Oh, no, we don’t sell to kids.”
Okay, so now we’re understanding who we need to be talking to. The more you can niche down on your audience, the more detailed and specific your message can be. But knowing your audience is step one.
And you’d be surprised how many business owners don’t really have clarity on just who they’re selling to. Then it’s your offer, right? You want to know what it is that you’re offering to them. When you can marry those two, that’s when you find your messaging.
Then, obviously, you used some terms a second ago—bridging the gap—but you want to start with a good hook. Right now, you’ve got three to five seconds, especially in video, to hook people in. And we’re not talking fancy words. Sometimes it’s a visual, sometimes it’s a before image, or maybe it’s starting with the after and then telling the journey as you go along because then people want to understand what they saw first in the video.
There are many ways to hook people in. The more things you add to the beginning of your video to hook people in—whether that is an amazing offer, a verbal hook, or a visual hook on top of the verbal hook, with maybe some on-screen text as well—then you’re hooking them three different ways. Now your hook’s even stronger.
Then, of course, you want to start exposing the pain. You want to open that wound for them. Are you experiencing this, and is life so difficult because of X, Y, and Z?
And then you don’t understand why this keeps happening to you. Once again, you bridge the gap with your offer. Well, at so-and-so consulting, or whatever it might be, we do just that. And that’s how it is. Now, I see a lot of advertisers that start with their logos. No one cares about your logo.
I’m going to be completely blunt with business owners: no one cares about your logo or your branding. They want to know what it is that they’re going to get out of it. So make sure you’re telling that story and that narrative, which is why we work so hard on creating content that keeps eyeballs and attention for longer.
If you give them the answer right at the beginning, then there’s no inclination to watch the rest of it, and they won’t be as well informed. If you can inform someone before they even call you, then you’re answering fewer questions. You create a bridge over any static or resistance they might have by having a clear offer and message.
You can see sales growth from having that simple video do that legwork for you before you sit there and have a half-hour or an hour talk with a client, just to have them never work with you.
So, I think that answered it.
Madeleine: Thank you. Yes, I love the concept of being able to talk about their problem. This is something that we ended up studying a lot in persuasive copywriting and can be translated, of course, into video and any marketing format going forward.
But there is a persuasive copywriting technique called PAS. It stands for pain, aggravate, solve. You can lead with a problem and talk about how painful it is, and then rub a little salt in that wound, right? Make it really, really irritating. Imagine if you had to live with this issue. What could possibly happen? Go down that kind of trail and then solve it.
Come in, and as StoryBrand talks about, they talk about being the guide. You’re able to help take them from this pain and point them towards the solution. We’re the guide that takes you along and gives you that ultimate vision of success at the end of the day.
And that may sound evil—to do that and expose the wound and paint it—but you’re painting a picture inside their mind. You’re trying to solve something that they’re maybe not even consciously thinking about, but subconsciously is a problem in their life.
If you can give them pinpoint X, Y, and Z rather than just one, then you have a better chance of capturing your audience’s attention. So absolutely, it does sound a little vindictive. We’re going to open the wound; we’re just going to rub some salt in there. Don’t worry. It’s going to get better.
But that is the way. And guys, I mean, this may sound manipulative, but you’ve seen this advertising. This is nothing new either. This is advertising 101. We are just now being able to do it in more video content. You have more control over it.
You want that same message and offer to not just be in the video but on your landing page as well. If you are advertising one thing and they get to a very confusing website or landing page, they’re going to be turned off instantly. One video is not going to fix it all with this great messaging. You need to make sure that your messaging and offer are plastered in any kind of virtual storefront that you may have.
Madeleine: Let’s talk about that concept of a marketing funnel. Talk to me about what that journey looks like from that video ad on Facebook or Instagram all the way through that buyer’s journey to the end. What pieces of advice do you have for people building out that funnel?
Not one funnel fits every business. You have to make sure that you are thinking about how you intake clients, right? I see a lot of people who get their clients through consultations, but then their ads are all about their pricing and all of these things. Your ad should just be selling the consultation, not your services.
You shouldn’t be jumping over the conversation you need to have with them. Especially if you’re selling a consultation, that means you need to diagnose where they are and solve their problem. You don’t have a one-size-fits-all kind of solution. So make sure that your ad is selling what you want them to do in their next step.
If you’re selling an online course for 50 bucks, tell them it’s 50 bucks, how much they’re going to save, and how much value is in there, because then there is no consultation. You’re sending them to a website to make a purchase.
Not all funnels are the same, and not all of them have to be extremely robust. That’s one of the things that I think people are missing. Now, granted, there are a lot of businesses that don’t even think about how they’re intaking people, right? They open their business, they make their Facebook pages, they put this all out there, and they think, “I’ve got social media, I have a website; I should be good.”
Well, how are they all interacting? Is your message universal across all of those platforms? And once again, are you only talking about discounts and sales? Because people don’t care about that. They want value. So make sure that you’re leading with value, presenting yourself as the person with the solution, whatever that might be.
Then think about your funnel: how many steps do you want people to go through? Is it a low-ticket item? Then you probably don’t need as many steps for someone to take. It could be as simple as, “Here’s my ad. Here’s the website where you purchase T-shirts.” I’m not even going to think of other e-commerce stuff. E-commerce is definitely the easier thing where there should be very little friction to make a sale.
But if I’m someone that’s going to be selling 10,000 products, I’m going to want some friction. I don’t want to waste my time talking to a bunch of people that are not vetted. Right. So you could then set up your ad about the free webinar. Then you can have an already recorded webinar on a website. And if they like what you’re talking about in that 20, 30, 45 minute video, then they can schedule a consultation.
And then you can even send them an email with a video of what to expect. These are the questions. This is how I want you to be prepared. So that when they do show up for that phone call, you’re not wasting your time just having a conversation. You’re getting to the root of the problem. Are you the solution and can you make the sale?
And that’s kind of a brief overview. I think I could go even deeper into sales funnels, but that’s kind of what we were talking about with funneling people in and what that ecosystem can look like. It’s going to look different for every business, but you do want to have some kind of lead generation and offer out there
so that then you can warm up that lead and make the sale. Awesome. So to summarize what you were talking about, being able to first of all, understand your audience and your offer, and then understanding what that step, what that journey looks like for a customer to ultimately do what you want them to do at the end of the day.
What are the steps in between? So like, do you have that intermediary consultation or free demo or webinar or whatever it is, but have the ad be centered towards that concept first before going. Going for the gold. Yeah. I’ve seen those offers. I’m sure you’ve seen those too.
I know you help business owners big and small and, uh, yeah. And then when you look at their ecosystem, you’re like, wow, we’re going to have to reign this in so that we can make sure that your offer is front and center and not this, this, this, and all over the place. So yeah, that’s why I always go back to the first three pillars of just knowing your audience, your offering, your message, because that’s going to inform you on so many things that come afterward.
Madeleine: I love that. So a lot of the people who listen to this podcast are primarily service based businesses. That’s who this podcast is for, but a lot of them are in the trades or health and wellness services. So think things like landscapers, contractors, massage therapists, personal injury attorneys, financial advisors – those types of services.
So, I would love to pick your brain on what are good types of video concepts. Let’s talk about content strategy and just like video ideas to be able to get the ball rolling. What do you love to see when it comes down to those essential revenue driving storytelling videos?
Chris: Yeah, well, you kind of hit me in the head there when you said landscaper and I’m thinking of all the other local servicemen. There’s hundreds of them per city. There’s not one city where you go to and you’re just the dominant source of that service. And so what I like to see more for the trades is this is why we’re the most trusted.
This is why we’re the best because at the end of the day, when people are looking at trades – let’s just go back to landscaper, but we could also choose a roofer or fencing company. They’re not going to your website to say yes to you. They’re going to your website to say no to you. They’re just trying to go down the list and cross your name off the list and find the best.
So if you can start offering guarantees. We will be there within 24 hours for a free consultation or audit because I can’t imagine that anyone’s going to go to a landscaping website and go, “Yeah, water fountain feature and rocks and all these things.” They’re not going to know all that. They’re not going to be able to put together a package.
So you have to show up and do that. And you have to be the best. In your region and offer the best quality, best services. And that’s where you need to be talking about when you guys are making ads. It is one thing to show off the beauty, especially with the landscaping, right? It’s so appealing to look at online, especially since landscaping can be very different, per lawn.
You know, even if we went from one house to the neighbor’s house, it could be a totally different setup, and end result, so definitely showcasing that. Do you offer a lifetime warranty? Are you highly rated with the better business bureau? It’s those types of things. This is why you should choose us and cross off all of our competition. And I don’t see a lot of trades do that. They are still talking about what they offer. More so than what makes them the best at that offer. And that can be a little different.
Financial advisors, same thing.They are a dime a dozen in every city that I’ve ever been to. I can’t go networking without running into five of you guys. And for some reason, you’re always looking for a sale, but not out there offering value. Just so you know. You need to be offering value as a financial advisor. People are constantly coming out of high school, constantly coming out of college, constantly getting out of a marriage, constantly starting a new life with someone, right?
And they want to know how to put together plans of action for themselves, whether that is buying a house. Hell, even buying their first car is sometimes a big ask for some of these people. So, if you can show them how to build credit, how to build money, maybe even generate a new revenue stream, guess what?
When they have that money and they need a financial advisor to actually handle the money they’ve now made, they’re going to call the person of authority that has been teaching and coaching and guiding them the entire time. And that is going to be the easiest sale for a financial advisor even though it was four years in the making.
That may seem like a long time, but think about the entire, revolving door of people that can be coming through while you’re building value and trust. And then you’re going to be the person that they call them. Then you, before you know it, you’re a national financial advisor with plenty of people working under you offering the same kind of value.
And then you’re way bigger than all the little other people that are working out of their homes as financial advisors right now.
I mean if I’m a massage therapist. It might be a little bit easier of an ask because you can sign up for 110 hour long massage, right? You can do Swedish massages, hot rocks or whatever.
You can almost trust somebody to put together their own package. So if you teach them, this is what this kind of massage is. And this is the healing benefits of hot rocks, or this is the healing benefits of sound therapy. Now I’m trying to reach into my brain because I don’t work in that field, but those are the types of things.
So once again, still value and informing people of what the benefit is, instead of just constantly advertising or hammering them with discounts.
Madeleine: I love those ideas. I love when we can get specific with what we’re talking about. Because especially with marketing, we and the experts that come on here are just that—experts.
Being able to take this very thing that we know all about and love, and can get into all the jargon, but making it real with tangible examples that somebody can listen to and say, “Oh my gosh. Yes, I’m so inspired! I can then go and implement that myself.” I love those specific ideas. So, no, that was really fun to be able to go down the rabbit hole you can implement yourself.
We all have these phones right in our pockets. You can be making this content. And just by understanding the building blocks of what makes good content, you can do it yourself. I’m the best at talking myself out of work, because I will always guide you on how you can do it yourself. I want you, the business owner, to be so busy that you can’t do it anymore. And then it’s time to bring in Chris so that we can scale beyond where you’re at now.
Chris: I always love to empower people. I mean, we just live in a totally different age now where you have access to editing software, professional video cameras that actually look better than what I grew up filming with. It’s totally possible. It really is. The thing I think people miss the most is the focus. Once again, they don’t go back to those three pillars. They’re not really sure who their audience is, and they’re not sure of their offer.
That’s why I meet dentist offices that are local and should only be talking to their local region, and they’re making TikTok videos. I’m like, do you service, like, 25 and under people? And they’re like, no, that’s not really our demographic. Then I don’t understand what you’re doing on that platform. I don’t understand why dancing TikTok videos for dentistry would convert into anything. You’re not telling anyone about the transition, your offers, or why you’re the best.
I mean, once again, a dentist office is on every corner in this town. You should be talking about, “We offer lifetime warranties on this. We work with Medicare and Medicaid. We will work with your insurance to find you the cheapest solution possible to any problems you have.” People are petrified of going to the dentist. They also think it’s going to be astronomically expensive and that you guys are hungry for money and not looking out for our best interests and our wallets.
If you started presenting yourself that way, or maybe you came up with some cool dental program that they can pay monthly—which is a great way to monetize your business—and then they get discounted rates, like having insurance, but then the only insurance provider is your business.
What that brings to mind for me, I think jumping a little bit farther back in terms of the target audience discussion and really understanding what those problems are that your customer can face, video is a great option to be able to talk about and address those things.
A really fun little hack is to use ChatGPT to then go and identify, “This is my target audience. Can you tell me what problems they face?” ChatGPT will come up with a long list of problems as they relate to them and your industry. Then you can think about those and say, “Okay, how can I solve those?” Or, “How can I demonstrate authority, trustworthiness, and expertise in this particular area?”
Then you’re able to get a whole slew of content ideas just by being able to talk about those things and discussing those problems—not from a place of that kind of manipulative aspect, but really more from a place of empathy of, “We get it. We understand what you’re going through. We hate that pain too. That’s why we do what we do with the quality and integrity that we do it with, because we understand. We empathize.”
And that really tells a solid story that gets people to say, “They understand me more than any other dentist in the industry. They understand my anxiety, or they understand that I get turned away all the time because of my insurance. They get me.”
So you’re able to connect with your audience on such a deeper level and actually make the sale because you’ve connected with them on that point.
Madeleine: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I don’t see dental commercials that sound or look like that at all. It’s always like, “Hey, we offer this, this, and this. These are our services.” It’s like, you’re a dentist. How is that going to be beneficial to me? Why go to you over the competitor that’s literally one mile down the road from you? That’s what you guys need to be focusing on, especially when you are not a national company and you are just selling to the people within your region.
You need to start talking to those people and help them face their fears head-on.
Chris: I mean, that’s why I even created a commercial just like that for a barbershop. I noticed that the entire conversation was about, “I went to this place and I got this horrible cut. Then I went and did this, and my husband’s haircut was just horrible.”
I saw the word “horrible” come up a couple of times. I was like, people are terrified of getting horrible haircuts. So why don’t we just make all of our ad campaigns about, “Don’t be afraid to come to us because we will give you a great haircut that won’t make you look like a monster.” And so I made this whole 1950s kind of horror movie ad campaign for them that really traveled well because it was funny.
We were talking to the audience, and even though it was just a barbershop, we were able to start standing out amongst the other barbershops in the region because we were speaking to the thing that they were most afraid of: looking bad after spending 50 or 60 bucks on a haircut.
Madeleine: I love that. That’s so—I love that positioning. That’s so much fun to be able to bring that into place. But I love that you brought up ChatGPT. Guys, I know a lot of you are afraid of AI. ChatGPT is not going to just solve the problem, right? But it will help you with that market research. It’ll help you answer some of those questions that you’re having.
Chris: And then I even have some ChatGPT prompts that help us journal as your perfect avatar so we can understand what their day is like, why they’re tired, what is frustrating them. And then we take that and flip it right on its head and start writing ad content that speaks directly to those. Now, granted, it’s a fictional person, but I feel like it embodies what we’re speaking to.
And then we were able to write more of a story-based content and not just one piece, but multiple pieces that can stretch over the next few months and become part of this whole narrative and ecosystem that we build for our clients.
Another really great place to do that type of market research that’s not AI-driven is Reddit.
Madeleine: Oh yeah, I don’t mess with Reddit as much, but yes, I have heard that going into the subreddits, now, I guess with caution because you can definitely go down a rabbit hole in there, but there is good market research and you can talk to people. You can post questions and present yourself or speak to people that are already in positions of authority in that area.
Chris: Yeah. So diving into those subreddits about your topics around your industry because you can figure out really fast what people don’t like about the industry and what people do like about the industry, and the problems, and fears. But most importantly, what’s unique about Reddit is that you can get a sense of the language that your customer uses.
So another really powerful persuasive copywriting or storytelling technique is to be able to use the language that your customer uses. Not how you talk about the solution, but it’s how your customer talks about their problem and solution. You can really see those kinds of words that they use, the emotion attached to it, and then take that messaging, and you’re able to put it in your script to be able to address it as that guide to solve that problem.
But then that’s another way of really just connecting to the heart of that person on the other side of the screen, because if they’re using that same language and so are you, that’s a bond that you’ve been able to just create. And that’s like bringing in a test group. Like I said, nothing that we’re doing is completely different.
We just have to do it in a different format. So that’s like bringing in a test group and showing them your new product and just getting their feedback on it. Do they like it? Do they hate it? What words are they using? And you better believe there were people behind that glass writing down, “Oh, we’re going to use that kind of lingo.” And now we’re going to sell this product this way. They’re even taking your negatives and spinning it into a positive.
And I mean, yes, subreddits are great to do that, but don’t even be shy. If you’re a little hesitant with that, you can make a post in a public Facebook group. Let’s go back to the landscaper. What if you were in a region, and you could get into a couple of groups about homeowners or home buying, and you could talk to them about landscaping and ask those questions: like, “What do you hate about working with landscapers? Is it too expensive? Do they not show up? Unreliability?” Absolutely.
So starting that conversation and compiling your most frequently asked questions is a great way to make content. And then, of course, your most frequently said complaints as well can help you out with that narrative. Take the good with the bad because it can all inform you on something that you may be missing.
Madeleine: Let’s talk about how to actually bring this to life. We’ve talked a lot about those kinds of beginning steps of really solidifying your message and understanding those problems. Dabbling into script writing a little bit, but talk to me about the process of creating video. And I would love to hear it from both a DIY standpoint and if they outsource to a videographer, what does that process of video creation look like?
Chris: Don’t just rush into videotaping. That’s what I see a lot of people do. They say, “Let’s go get the cameras, go outside and film this thing,” and they haven’t thought it all through.
When you go see your favorite Hollywood movie, that movie spent months, if not years, in pre-production and maybe six weeks getting filmed. And then they spend three months editing. So the video aspect of it is actually the smallest part. You definitely need to make sure you’re focusing on pre-production, whether you’re hiring someone to come in and do that, or you’re going to sit down and make content yourself.
I had this conversation today in a sales meeting. I was talking with the business owner, and they were like, “I have all the ideas, but I don’t really know how to execute.” That’s because they haven’t laid out that path work. They’re not even really sure what they’re offering and selling, and then they’re mainly just locked in: “How do I film this?” I see so much content; I want mine to look like that. Well, reverse engineering, breaking it down in that pre-production.
And then the great thing is it’s going to get easier over time, but make sure you focus on your offer, your message, script out 30 things, make all 30 of them in one sitting, batching your content together, and then you can decide this one’s not as good.
Front there, maybe you back up to only 15 quality videos, but instead of just thinking on the whim, “Hey, I’m going to grab my camera or my phone, and I’m going to whip it out, and I’m going to just go ahead and make this quick video,” and then you put it all together, and then there’s no message.
There’s no offer. It’s just kind of a video to be a video. It can be good and bad. Once again, you’re still putting out content, but thinking that through, like, what is the end result you want someone to take away from that? So even if you’re filming yourself sitting down, once again, like we were talking about with ChatGPT, hash out those ideas.
And before you know it, you could be scripting some simple things that you could say either on camera, in person, or with voiceover. Or, guys, there’s even AI voiceover now. As a voiceover artist, I don’t really want to tell you that, but 11 Labs is pretty good now. And so you can actually type in your script and have an AI voiceover put that together.
And then before you know it, you’re just slapping that onto some basic video content you might have shot, maybe of an end result of something like that. And it could just be like, “We were able to show up and give this person exactly what they wanted. Now they’re really happy.” And that’s what makes us happy—helping people be happy, right? It can be a simple message like that.
Telling a customer journey could be a video concept idea, but making sure that you just take the time to put in the pre-production and also keep in mind your first video is probably going to suck, especially if you do it on your own. And that’s just me being blunt with it.
Even my first video for my YouTube channel is terrible. I don’t go back and watch it; I don’t share it with anybody. But we got way better over time, especially understanding our audience, our voice, and what we wanted to be doing. Just keep that in mind. Don’t get frustrated because the first one’s not coming together the way you want it to.
Work on it. It’s better to actually make a video, watch it, analyze it, write down all the things you want to fix, and then make it again. And you’re going to see how much faster that process goes. But if you do work with a videographer—and I’m going to speak kind of selfishly here—make sure that they actually care about your business and the end result.
There are so many business owners that I meet that have already hired a videographer, spent, you know, $1,000, $2,000, sometimes even $5,000 on video. And then I was like, “Great. Did they care about where this was going to go and what platform this was going to be on?” No, they didn’t ask any of those questions.
Okay. So then what did you do with the video? “Oh, we put it on our Facebook page.” How many followers do you have? “Oh, we’ve got 44 followers, and most of them are family and friends that are in a totally different state that just followed us on Facebook because we asked them to.” And that’s just a waste of money.
So I’m speaking selfishly: please stop hiring those guys because then I’m the one that comes in afterward and has to clean that all up and start over and build trust with someone, even though I didn’t break that trust in the first part. So just be cautious because there are videographers out there who just charge an astronomical fee, make a pretty video, and leave. I want to work with clients. I want to see growth. I want to see conversion rates happening. And I want to be the marketing guy that they work with for years. That’s what I want to see. Look for a videographer that talks like that, is passionate about your success as well.
Madeleine: Nice. Let’s talk about what to actually do with video. You mentioned a couple of little pieces of some mistakes that you’ve seen made of being able to post it on Facebook.
That’s it. That’s the only time that video is ever used—to that tiny little audience. So what are the ways that you can use video? How far can it go? And how long should you spend in that promotional process journey? Because I think a lot of mistakes that small businesses make is they’ve put 80 percent of their effort and time into producing the video and probably about 20 percent of the time marketing it, if that, and then just kind of let it fizzle and never really touch it again.
So what are the applications of video? How far can it go?
Chris: Video can go far, especially if you’re putting any video content on YouTube. That is not a flash in the pan; that is like growing, you know, a seed. You’re planting a seed; you’re watching it grow over time.
You do sometimes hit success on YouTube videos, but the great thing about YouTube—and this is the thing that blows my mind the most when I tell people about YouTube—they’re like, “Really? Why? We don’t have a YouTube channel.” I’m like, “Yeah, but it’s owned by Google, and it actually encourages you to put Google SEO keywords on that video on YouTube because they have found a way to monetize YouTube.”
So they would actually much rather send someone searching to YouTube to watch a video because then there’s ad revenue behind that for them, rather than just sending you to your Google business page. Videos actually are more likely to pop up, especially when you are tying them right into your business.
I’m going to go back to one of my barbershop clients. Same thing. “Hey, man, let’s take some of the video content we’ve been making. Let’s put it on YouTube.” “Why YouTube?” And within two weeks, he was like, “We’re getting subscribers, and those videos are getting views.” And I was like, “Yeah. And guess what? In the description is all of your information—your website, your phone number, everything is right there.”
So they’re searching “barbershops near me,” and this video is popping up rather than just Google profiles. So that is one of the strongest places any business owner—brick-and-mortar, service industry, anything—should start producing and publishing to that. But then, once again, you want to make sure that you’re going to any platform where your clients are.
If you sell high-ticket items and you’re a business coach, you should be on LinkedIn all day long talking about it, giving value. LinkedIn’s a little bit harder, but if you’re selling high-ticket items, you have to have less conversion. So that is a great platform for that. If you are a brick-and-mortar shop and you’re selling to the masses in your region, like I already said, YouTube, but your Google business profile as well.
You can be posting photos, videos, and events right there. Most people are overlooking their Google business profile, and it is free. It is right there at your fingertips, and you can be posting way more to it. And then that’s driven more by SEO and is more searchable. Then you’ve got Facebook, which I do believe is one of the strongest platforms still out there for business owners, but it can’t be your end-all be-all.
And once again, you need to be making sure that you’re talking about value rather than just, “Here’s my discounts.” Give someone a reason to like and follow your page. Not to say, “I can’t be on this anymore because all I see is a discount, and all they want me to do is shop and buy things.” What if you could start adding value to that?
For example, I was meeting with a skincare client, and I was like, “What if you just started talking about the value and the things that they are going to get—the end results—rather than just your product or your services?” And the way that her face lit up was like, “Oh, you haven’t thought about that yet. Okay. That is what you need to focus on from now on.”
That’s across all platforms. Now, I’m a little sour on TikTok, but that’s only because there’s a certain demographic that’s on there, and they require certain types of videos, and there’s not as good of a conversion rate from that. Now, if you’re an influencer, knock yourself out, but I don’t meet with influencers, so that’s not my area of expertise.
And then Instagram is totally a viable platform. It’s owned by Facebook. There is no reason, if you have a Facebook page, you shouldn’t have an Instagram profile. And then we can go into some of the smaller ones, like Pinterest, but those are less and less. They’re not as searchable. So you want to start with the big boys first because 75 percent of searches are happening on Google already. So your Google Business Profile and your YouTube page should be the number one things that you should be signing up for today. And both of them are free.
Madeleine: I love the concept of being able to start with that YouTube video, but then being able to multipurpose that video—that one piece of content that you were able to create—and put it on all of the other platforms.
Chris: So, I think that can be another big intimidation factor of video creation is like, “Oh my gosh, I have to do the TikTok dance. I have to upload a YouTube video. I have to make all of these videos for all of these platforms.”
No, you don’t. Make one video. You can make a really solid video that goes to the core of your target audience’s problem, that tells a story, and that is able to capture your brand and connect to your message of what you want people to actually end up doing. And that type of video can go everywhere.
Madeleine: It can! And don’t forget—this is one thing I see even more so—is I made a video once and I posted it once, so I should never share it again. Share it a year from then. “I can’t believe a year ago we were doing this thing. Hey, we might as well bring it back.” And now you’ve just repurposed a video and gotten even more eyeballs on it.
So just because you made it once and posted it once doesn’t mean you shouldn’t talk it up. Repurpose it. I mean, you can even use a snippet of that to make a new video. So just repurposing is definitely to your advantage because then it’s less work. You know you’ve already got the content; you’ve already filmed it. Tell another story and use the same footage. There’s nothing wrong with that. People think, “Oh, well, people already saw that.” Yeah, but how many views did you get? 84? I think it’s safe to say you can repost that, and you might be able to hit a bigger audience because you’ve grown since the last time you posted that.
So don’t hesitate to repurpose some of your content.
Madeleine: Thanks. I’m going to say it again: don’t hesitate to repurpose some of your content. Chris, is there anything that I did not ask you that you think is really important for scaling service-based businesses to know regarding video?
Chris: It’s not going to be a flip of the switch. Do not hire someone and fire them a month later. You have to give things more time, especially when you’ve got a smaller ad budget, because $500 may seem big to your bank account, but it’s really a drop in the bucket when it comes to running ads online. And it takes time to not only study the analytics but also the platforms you advertise on, or also learning as well.
So they’re actually going to get stronger and better the more that you focus on your analytics. I’m not going to teach you guys all analytics, because that’s going to be a whole hour-long course, and I’m not even the best person to talk about it. But there are conversion numbers you should be focusing on.
And if something’s underperforming, kill it. If something’s overperforming and doing great, find out why. Make more of that content. Run ads again, even while that one’s running strong. Don’t wait for things to die. Constantly be reinventing and trying new things. Shelf lives for advertising nowadays are very short.
But I have seen it where people have worked really hard on their ad content and were able to run the same ad for four years and still see a conversion off of that. So it is possible, but it’s not going to happen overnight. And I cannot tell you how many businesses that I come across, and they’re like, “Well, we hired this guy.” And then after like two months, I was just tired of spending that money. And it was like, “You didn’t give that enough time.”
Unless you were throwing $5,000 a month at ad spend, you didn’t learn much with the little drip that you put on there. And I know that sounds like, “Well, Facebook just wants my money.” No, they want your money to go far. They actually want you to succeed because then you’re going to keep spending money with them month after month.
And if you keep seeing a 5X ROI, you’re going to be inclined to spend more money. So actually, Facebook and Google are not against you guys. They are there to help you, but it does take time for them to get the correct data points on your audience so that then they can learn how to target them more specifically going forward.
Madeleine: Yes, you are speaking my language. That’s amazing. Well, thank you so much, Chris. This has been a lot of fun. Tell us, Chris, how people can find you.
Chris: Well, I’m on the, I’m on the basic socials. I’m on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Nothing too crazy. I’m on altitude productions. My LinkedIn is under Chris R. Lawler. And then I have a small YouTube channel for some of my work, which is still in development right now. I know I still have stuff to work on for myself, but it does happen to even the best of us.
My content always comes last, but I do have some video content out there on YouTube. You can look up altitude productions over there as well. And then just a shameless plug. If you guys like film, video games, and TV shows just as much as I do, I’m a screen jockey and that’s my other YouTube channel and that’s just pure entertainment.
But if you want to see how I execute my content, make it look good and tell a great story, that’s a great place to check me out.
Madeleine: Awesome. Thank you so much.
Chris: Well, thank you so much for having me. This was an absolute blast. I hope I get to do it again.
