The Most Effective Way to Brainstorm for a Marketing Video

So somewhere along the way either through an article, friend, colleague, or video, it was brought to your attention that video content marketing is the way of the future. According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, “74% of all internet traffic in 2017 will be video”. Chances are you have thought over your own marketing video throughout your spare time and have come up with an idea for what the perfect video would look like, and the idea is just bursting out of your head because you are so excited to get it going. But before you create this baby, you need to backtrack slightly. Sit down and dedicate a solid hour of your time to clarify what the ideal video should do. Slow down and take some time to consider how the video is going to impact a viewer by clarifying a clear intent. This process should be painful or you are not doing it right. Use the following questions to guide your thought process.

What is the client’s need that this product fills?

It is easy to get carried away with features in our perfect expectation of a video, focusing primarily on the product or service we offer without considering the true need the product or service is filling. But if you want to make a great video, this is the first question you need to consider as well as how the video can convey the resolution of this need to the viewer. Ultimately, that is what you are selling. The product or service is merely a means of resolving a client’s need. Approaching the video from the client’s perspective will help the viewer relate to the overall message of the video.

How do you want the video to affect a viewer? What do you really want the viewer to do after viewing it?

You could have a great technical video, beautifully shot, perfect audio, great color, extremely informative, and amazing quality, but if the viewer can’t relate to the video, then the video will fail to inspire the result you are after. On the other hand, how many times have you seen a video that lacked in technical quality, but when you finished watching the entire video you reached for your wallet? Keep in mind, poor quality video is uploaded all day long online. Viewers are accustomed to watching poor quality videos while still receiving emotional value from the content portrayed. Which is quite opposite from the most hated videos which come across as commercials. Rather than strive for a goal of selling a product, aim to create an emotional investment in the product, service, or brand.

Does the video establish credibility?

Imagine going to a doctor, telling them you are sick and without asking your symptoms or checking your vital signs, they prescribe medicine. How confident would you be that whatever medicine they gave you is going to make you feel better? When is the last time you discussed your doctor’s credentials? Probably never. Based on the discussion with the doctor, you figure a normal person would not talk to me like this, they must know what they are talking about. Basically, you want the video to be believable. The best way to do this is to establish credibility. I am not saying a video must show credentials, I am just saying the content must pass the “sniff” test. If the viewer thinks it smells fishy, they won’t tell you why, they will just walk away. As you are considering what content to include, remember it is better that a message comes across genuine, rather than as a commercial.

Shift mindset from selling to showing

The field of dreams method of marketing has come and gone (and seriously should have never worked anyway). The “if you build it they will come mentality” doesn’t work when marketing to a generation of millennials that disdain being sold anything. When it comes to video content marketing, to make a video that impacts the viewer in a profound and thought out way, you need to connect with the viewer first, in order to inspire and motivate specific action. It is more effective to use an Inception technique: you need to go three levels deep, plant a seed, an idea, nurture that idea like you would a fragile plant and patiently wait for the fruits of your labor to develop their own roots. The largest mistake in creating a video is jumping straight to harvest when it is time to plow the field. Dedicating an appropriate amount of time to brainstorming and planning, when it comes to video content marketing, will be the most important step in creating a successful video campaign for your business that will inspire and motivate your clients and potential consumers. So if you don’t rush this process you will reap large dividends.

August 2015 Published Videos Update

Every month I post a list with links of the videos I published and share my motivation/inspiration behind each video. 

Taylor'd Photography

I use this YouTube channel for professional projects using professional DSLR cameras.

Engagement Slideshow: Ben & Dom

This is a slideshow Elise and I made for a couple of lovebirds this last month. This is a combination of still photos with a few short video clips. For certain Photography and Videography combination packages, I tag along for the engagement shoot. Although, we like to think of engagement sessions as more of a date night rather than a photoshoot. And what more of a romantic setting can you get besides the Whites Sands National Monument at sunset. I couldn’t resist filming the symbolism as the sun goes down representing the end of “I” in their relationship as two single strangers in love, and the sun will soon come up representing the beginning of “we” for the rest of their happily married lives. Of course, only one half is recorded and shown in the slideshow. I am excited to film the other half in a month.         

Melody's Dad Videos

 I use this channel as an outlet for my personal videos using point and shoot cameras (even my cell phone)

The Last Nap and S6 SloMo Video 

This video was just a tribute to my late phone, my Samsung Galaxy S6 which drowned in a swimming pool last month. The last video I shot on it, all shot at 60 FPS (frames per second). I wanted to see how a cell phone could handle slow motion. So in the video I was going to Melody’s room to borrow pennies during her nap time, but she was awake and goofing off. She has reached the age where naps are out of the question. Realizing that, I borrowed the pennies from her and went to the desert. I set the phone a few inches away from a few pennies, and shot the pennies with gun. In post-production I slowed the footage way down, and reversed it a couple of times as well. Needless to say, 60 FPS is not fast enough to catch a bullet, but from a nerd’s perspective, the footage still looked pretty cool.

Melody’s First VLOG 

This video was entirely shot by Melody. I made the video using my favorite clips. I want to clarify one of the videos she made that I used several clips from. She had a ten minute rant that started with the words: "My Dad is really scary, I don't like him". Then she proceeds to talk about people turning into monsters. Let me clarify and alleviate some of the many horrible thoughts you had about me when you saw that clip by telling you the back story. That afternoon, while Skye was taking a nap, Melody and I perused Netflix for a movie to watch. We came across one that sounded pretty exciting and had a kid friendly rating. It was called Spy Kids 1. Melody and I were getting pretty far into the movie when Skye woke up. I went and changed Skye's diaper and we were leaving her room when Melody comes running up saying "I don't like that movie, it’s scary". She then went into her room and apparently recorded this video. That night while the kids were in bed, I told Elise what happened and how I had to see the rest of the movie, 1 to see what scared her so much, and 2 to let her know it had a happy ending. It turns out, that in the movie the Dad of the "Spy Kids" gets turned into a monster by the evil villain. Less than 5 minutes later in the movie, the Dad gets turned back into a human, but Melody didn't make it that far. Moral of the story, if everyone gets turned into monsters, Melody wouldn't like it.

I publish videos regularly to both YouTube Channels (Taylor’d Photography and Melody’s Dad Videos). Subscribe to, comment on, and share both.

July 2015 Image Round Up

Here are a few of my favorite photographs from this month's sessions!

Sven and Jan celebrated 30 happy years of marriage with an Anniversary Photo Session. Well done, you two.

What do you do when family is in town? Create a beautiful portrait with backlighting in some wonderful morning light of course.

I had such a hard time choosing a favorite from Juliette's baby photo session. Her sweet expression and the dreamy bokeh won me over on this image.

Speaking of dreamy bokeh and sweet expressions....Life goals: Follow the good light and create a photograph just like this of Melody and Skye. Sisters forever.

Jade, you are killing me. I am in love with the moodiness of this image and the subtle teenage angst just screamed for a black and white edit.

I created these portraits with Andrew to document and celebrate the awesome fitness goals he has accomplished. I used an HDR edit on this image to accentuate the muscles tones and create a monumental feel to the image.

We Forgot One Thing When Expecting a Baby

We had a bag sitting in our closet, full of a change of clothes for both Elise and I, personal hygiene items like toothpaste and toothbrushes, and we even had newborn clothes. That bag sat there for over a week, waiting for a little piece of sunshine to enter this world and join our family.

Of course we had a bassinet in our room next to our bed and a crib we assembled ourselves with instructions that made no sense to me. Elise had to translate the pictures for me to understand. They don’t make furniture the way I would make it. We had a rocking chair. We had a changing table with a padded changing cushion, a box of diapers, baby wipes, and even a diaper genie. We painted a bookshelf and dresser white symbolic of our pure love for our baby girl. The book shelf had stuffed animals and a small collection of books ready to be read for the first time. We labeled the dresser drawers with Dr. Seuss fish pictures, “1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, blue fish”, and we filled the drawers with clothes so small they could only be described as cute. We painted the walls with rolling hills and blue skies, long tall Lorax trees, and the elephant Horton next to the quote “A person’s a person no matter how small”. We even hung custom wall art; framed Dr. Seuss vintage Lorax cards Elise found online. Most importantly we hung 6 wooden painted letters on the wall that spelled Melody.

Melody over five years.

We had all the important things ready. We were excited for our little girl to come into this world. I remember the effort we put into getting every little detail ready for her. I remember waiting for her to be born and then it was time. Elise demanded I take her to the hospital. The nurses at the hospital were surprised how far along Elise was. I thought it could happen any minute. After 6 hours of Elise’s labor, blood, sweat, and tears, she came into the world. My little sweetheart. Everyone said that was a fast birth. To me watching my wife screaming in pain, and being overwhelmingly polite to me in between contractions, it seemed to drag a little. Everyone says time flies, and as you get older it just moves along faster. I never got it, until now. Melody is 5 years old. Where did the time go? It didn’t seem to be flying by but now it is gone. All I have left is the memories I went out of the way to make. And now I am telling people time flies and the older you get the faster it goes.

Skye baby year one.

We had all the important things ready, all the things a little baby girl could never know she needed. But what about the things she would want later? Or the things I want now. She wouldn’t remember the look in Elise’s eyes when they first made contact with hers. Or the way Elise held her, the youngest baby Elise and I had ever held. She won’t ever get to see how much I didn’t want to cut her umbilical cord, the mean look I gave the unaware doctor that forced me to do it, how scared I was when she almost put her foot right in the way, or how nervous I was the first time I held her like a little fragile egg. Melody will never see the panic that hit when we stepped out of the hospital realizing all of the support we had for the last two days was staying there and we weren’t even given an instruction manual. We spent the next few months worrying about getting sleep while Melody grew up. She learned how to smile before she had hair. She was my cuddle buddy; we took naps all over the house. I sang the same song to her every night “As I have loved you”. She crawled, she walked, she talked, and we witnessed our little helpless baby turn into a social butterfly. I will remember. Elise will remember. But those memories although they happened slowly, went by fast. And other than in our minds, those memories were only recorded with pictures taken from time to time. We don’t have video of those moments, and I know it is a luxury and not a necessity, but I want it, and I know Melody wants it to. Life happens whether or not we record any of it. To watch later is up to us.  

We had all the important things ready, but we forgot that someday we were going to want to sit down with our daughter and watch the beginning of her story together.

Planning for a Successful Newborn Portrait Session

Ah, newborns! The wrinkles, tiny toes, and sleepless nights. The first weeks of a baby’s life can sometimes be a little hectic and, let’s face it, outright exhausting. Here are my suggestions to make your baby’s newborn portrait session less hectic and exhausting.

Think Ahead

Ideally, you have met with and selected the photographer you will be working with before your baby is born. I am a planner at heart, so I find planning to be half the fun. Plan your maternity session for around 37 weeks. Don’t skip on a maternity session, trust me. You may be feeling larger than life and uncomfortable (I’m sorry!) but in 10 years you will love looking back at the beautiful pregnant body that brought a new soul into the world. Expect to schedule your newborn’s photo session within 6 to 10 days of giving birth. How do you schedule a session ahead of time when you do not know when the baby will be born? Usually I place dad in charge of this. Once mom and baby are home from the hospital, dad will send me a text or phone call to set up a time for the newborn session as soon as possible. BONUS TIP: Consider adding a “Fresh 48” session. “Fresh 48” sessions are short in hospital sessions that capture sweet memories of where baby was born.

It’s Your Photo Session Too

Even though your baby is the star of the show, do not think you will not be in a photo or two. Photographs of moms and dads holding baby are by far my favorite images created during newborn sessions. Do not fret too much about your outfit. Solid colored tops will work well to create a timeless image of parent and child.

Relax and Enjoy

Newborn portrait sessions typically last longer than 1 hour. Everything happens at baby’s pace. We may stop several times, as many times as is necessary, to feed baby, soothe baby, burp baby, and change baby. And that is perfectly wonderful. There is no need to rush. A hurried attitude will only lessen your (and baby’s) enjoyment of this time together. Take this moment and breathe it in!

By spending an evening or two thinking about the newborn session before your baby’s arrival you can eliminate in the moment stress of planning a newborn session while you are sleeplessly caring for a newborn. Ultimately, my goal is to help you remember these first hectic and exhausting days of your baby’s life. But with as much exhaustion will come an even greater dose of the most powerful joy you have ever felt. Do not miss this chance to remember. As you will soon find out, these days go by so darn fast. 

Check out this cutie's Fresh 48 and Newborn Portrait Session slideshow.