One thing we don't really do enough of on this blog is feature others' exemplary video content. We try our best to lead by example with our own videos, but there are a ton of different ways to approach video marketing, and to make a great video and use video effectively, you don't necessarily have to craft an over-the-top, high-budget, viral phenomenon.
When we found Squareflair's "Squareflair Documentary," we knew pretty quickly that we'd stumbled upon something special. Alan Houser does a great job of using video to tell his story and introduce himself to his customers. One of the things that video is best at is scaling personal (and personable) communication.
What We Love About This Video
Alan's documentary uses a sepia color scheme, quaint music, and emotional candidness to connect his work to his personal values. Instead of just a name on a website, we see who Alan is and whether he's a person we'd like to meet and work with: he describes his history and what made him want to work in his field. He showcases the beauty of where he lives and explains how that connects to his work. He admits to some mistakes he made in choosing jobs in the past, but connects them to positive realizations, like his need for focus in his beautiful, simple web design work and how he was able to find that focus.
The video transitions into full color as it showcases some of his portfolio in action and describes how he uses video to show his customers how to use the websites he's built for them (a great way to use video -- they can always refer back to the recording instead of trying to retain all of that information from a single conversation!).
Using video allows Alan to contextualize phrasing that might, in plain text, come across as insincere -- Alan says he likes to "empower" his customers, but it's accompanied by the modest statement that he doesn't usually like to talk like that. Using video lends sincerity to the message that just can't be achieved using text alone.
After watching this video, we really felt like we understood Alan and his thinking. We, too, try to use video to personalize Wistia -- we want you to know that we're a fun bunch of individual people, not just an anonymous company-shaped blob! What are your favorite companies that do an awesome job using video to get personal?
Content Strategist
