By Full Compass LiveThe most crucial piece of marketing that you have is your website. I call it your “money portal.” Your target demographic, most likely in this day and age, is finding you via web search. Once they reach your site, you have to reel them in. How? First off, great photos and secondly, video content.
When you have a chance, go check out www.bunndjcompany.com. What’s the first thing you see? Videos loopingDefinition:
1. (sampling) Repeating a section of a waveform so that it can sustain indefinitely. 2. (audio) The process of repeating a phrase or section of sound within a composition or recording. 3. (video) See: ADR. in the background of people partying, my gearDefinition:
Musical or performance equipment. starting up, energy! Also, sprinkled throughout are pictures of my DJs, past clients, and basically people having the time of their lives. The photos and videos are meant to entice buyers, to get them to stay on the site, and to make them believe that they can be those people partying if they hire our company.]
PHOTO
Getting great photos is easy. It really is. Every weekend that you work, you probably run into a wedding photographer. Exchange cards with that person, check out their work online the next day, then connect with them if they are talented. I promise you that they would love to shoot your next group DJDefinition:
(Disk Jockey): 1. Traditionally applied to people who played recorded music on the radio or at events. 2. Artists who perform using any combination of pre-recorded music, samples, turntables, and musical instruments. shot or your new head shot. I haven’t paid for those in years! Why? Because I make sure to let everyone know who took them when I post them or use them. I hyperlink to their @username or website or even watermarkDefinition:
Displaying a logo in a television image or photograph, typically translucent, in the right-hand bottom corner. some of them with their logo depending on the usage. The photographers appreciate the love and I appreciate the free promo photos!
Here are a few photography tips:
- Do new head shots and a group photo each year. Your look changes, suits change and DJs come and go. You want your photos to be up to date.
- Be consistent. If everyone is wearing dark suits, then send out that memo to your staff before the shoot. You don’t want some odd ball showing up in a white Colonel Sanders suit thinking he is fresh.
- Look at the photos in all of your marketing pieces right now—your website, your brochure, mailers. Are the photos diverse? In other words, do you have people of all races repre- sented? How about same-sex couples? Celebrate diversity!
VIDEO
Let’s move onto videos. Did you know that YouTube is the second leading search engine behind Google? Why is that important? Video content can lead people to your website, which can lead to more inquiries, which can lead to more money. Just as there are tons of great photographers in your market, I’m betting there are some great videographers and filmmakers around as well. They want to shoot your videos. Remember, you scratch their back and they’ll scratch yours.
We use two types of videos in the marketing plan here at Bunn DJ Company. Vlogs (video blogs) that myself and one of my DJs, Randy Bennett, do, and professional videos that I create with a local company called Heart Stone Films. With the vlogs, Randy and I write them, we shoot them in my office on a DSLRDefinition:
DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex): 1. Camera that uses a mirror to view the image. 2. Mirrorless camera with an electronic eyepiece viewfinder. camera, and then I edit them on iMovie. Check out and subscribe to our
YouTube channelDefinition:
1. In radio, television, citizen's band radio, and other wireless communications modes, a specific frequency for communication. 2. In mixers and video, an input or output signal path with controls. 3. In MIDI, one of 16 data paths. to see all of those vlogs. The pro videos are a lot more time consuming.
In essence, I am the producer in charge of finding locations to shoot, getting all the props needed, hiring talent, and arranging a schedule for getting it done. Heart Stone does the shooting and editing—and they do it well. Visit www.vimeo.com/bunndjco to see our full portfolio of pro videos.
Vlogs are really to get us showing up more on Google searches, whereas the pro videos are more for marketing pieces once people reach the site. All of our videos are posted on YouTube and gain anywhere from 1,000 to 40,000 views depending on the subject. Here are a few video tips:
- Keep them short. People have very short attention spans these days. There is no need to shoot a long video; it will never get watched.
- Create 15-second Instagram trailers/teasers to promote the full-length video.
- For vlogs, write out what you are going to say, maybe even put the script (in a large font) by the camera. It will save you lots of editing later if you can record it in one or two takes.
- For the pro videos, like an Eagle Scout, be prepared! There is nothing worse than having tons of people show up for a shoot only to realize that you didn’t rent the right lens or lighting.
Photos and videos are extremely effective elements of your marketing.
by Joe Bunn
Originally published in Mobile Beat issue #169 – link to http://www.mobilebeat.com/emagscurrent/169