“Let’s see, I’ll send you a script and you send me a final price.”

Remember ” How to Negotiate and Build a Corporate Video Production” in your college business classes? No? I didn’t think so. That’s because there isn’t one. I know because I see it every day. Better yet, I don’t see it every day.  Just yesterday we got a call from Manhattan from a well known entrepreneur looking to put together a two minute video for a pharmaceutical company. She said, “I’ll send you the script and you send me a price.”

So typical. So you scramble around looking for some examples of her previous endeavors and sure enough, there she is, standing in her foyer being shot vertically from an iPhone complete with hallway echo and background noise. Your heart sinks. From her web site you get the feeling of a well established business with a mission and a vision. So where do you go from here?

Let’s establish some basic facts first. Business as we know it today is over. The fat old days of huge marketing budgets, sales force saturation and waste are a thing of the past. 2008 taught us all a lesson. We don’t need to go over that. You know it, see it and feel it. You, as a business, just simply can’t go on with business as usual.

What a company needs and has always needed is to have their persona out there. How do you do it today? Video. No getting around it. Access, attention and approach need careful thought and guidance.

I’ve been a corporate video producer for more than 17 yrs. I’ve produced hundreds of corporate, small business and executive communication projects. In that time I have seen the proliferation (love that word) of video as the go to vehicle for sales, marketing, HR, corporate events and cultural communications.

What I see today runs the gamut from high quality, well thought out messaging, to what I call “weapons of self destruction.” Successful, moving, credible on camera presentations don’t usually come naturally. It takes practice and technique.

To go from credible to cringe worthy is a short leap. Video marketing without a strategy and the proper audience is a waste of time and money. Hey, no big deal, send ‘em an e-mail. Trust me, you might be better off.

We are approaching the world of “ALLABOUTME.TV.”

Everyone has access to cameras, accessories and a pathway to an on line audience. What is lacking is viewer empathy and what makes an audience move.

You are actually broadcasting yourself whether you are using social media in any of its forms. That being said, there is, and will be, enormous amounts of eye gouging, visine inducing, clutter.

The state of the art is not good. Attention is currency. How you gain it requires objective, empathic, strategic thinking when it comes to how you present yourself on camera.

In this continuing series I will be addressing issues that come up time and again as a consultant. I’ll be sharing some of my insights on how to approach this medium so that you will have a better grasp on how to create your own successful video communications to be effective today.

You want to get through that glass and reach people.

You want your audience to feel as though you’re imparting valuable information. You’re transferring emotion. You are going for impact, not trying to get them to pay a ransom.

Think I’m bluffing? Call me!