Grinding out a another feel good corporate video with “puff piece” interviews and roaming travelogues is not meant for public consumption in my opinion. That type of content is more appropriate for new hires and investors. But that doesn’t prevent that YouTube upload. What I’m seeing lately is not passing the “So What?” test. What am I watching here?

How about a thought leader in your field who has breaking news? The new product or new indication? The viewer needs to walk away with something besides “well, wasn’t that nice?” If your fishing for eyeballs and hoping for that “lean in” moment, you’re gonna have to kick it up a notch.

Viewer empathy. It has taken me years and lots of hard lessons to understand that for anyone to hang on for more than 30 seconds of a “hey aren’t we great?” video, there has to be a WIFM. (Unless, of course there’s a quiz later.) To continue on the beef analogy, there has to be a certain amount of “fat” to keep the content together. Go too lean and it all falls apart.

Best advice I ever got: “It’s not about you, Bob”.

I am amazed to see companies with great reputations shoot them self in the foot by offering up a half cooked, self indulgent video production to the public. It ends up being an opus with bad audio, lighting and on camera talent, and worse, non existent editing. At first it’s fun and even amazing to create something like a corporate video.The coolness factor.

But then you find out the “viewer participation rate” was less than expected. Way less. You get that glazed look when you ask someone if they watched it. I must confess, I have produced thousands of DVDs that are still being used as coasters.

Your audience knows quality.

We all watch TV, been doing it for years. That makes us experts. But when it comes time to get on the receiving end of a lens it all goes out the window. On playback the focus is not always where it should be. That’s why God made producers:)

Video is not an afterthought or a cute little project that came about after a group hug in the cafeteria. It is the only game in town. Know thy audience.