Using Video For Internal Enterprise Communication

Video is ideal for for telling the stories that build trust with your customers and scaling your key messages, so it’s no surprise most technology companies invest primarily in customer facing videos, e.g. videos that will be used specifically for “external” sales and marketing communication.

The biggest strategic asset of any technology company however, from the large enterprise to the small startup, is the talented people it is able to attract and retain.

Here is a behind the scenes look from a segment of an internal communication video we are currently producing for GSN Digital.

The best performing companies have top notch communcation. All team members understand exactly how their role in the business matters, and have a crystal clear understanding of the mission, vision, and core values of the company. As companies grow and teams become distributed globaly, internal communication must scale to match this growth. Video can play an essential role in this.

Ask Skyscope Creative how we can help scale the key stories that drive your enterprise.

Win Customers Over With Behind-the-Scenes Video

Creating compelling video content that gives prospects the inside view of your business is one of the simplest and most effective ways to demonstrate your expertise, showcase your talented and personable team, and build the trust that drives new business.

Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the Skyteam in action on a recent shoot for FitnessClick, a social media marketing startup for performance health clubs.

Behind-the-scenes videos have been utilized effectively by organizations such as IBM and GE to engage their audience, so why aren’t more brands following suit?

Three common excuses why most organizations aren’t utilizing behind-the-scenes video.

1. Perceived privacy & IP risk. Showing the behind-the-scenes is a departure from the old paradigm of business secrecy. For companies with real IP to protect, showing some of the “secret sauce” can seem like a risky proposition.

Some brands are “laggards” in terms of changing their attitude towards behind-the-scenes content. Brands should however, at least entertain the process and strive to find an ideal balance between establishing trust and protecting trade secrets. An outside consultancy can provide the perspective needed to find an ideal medium.

2. Lack of belief in the final product. Thinking their solutions are “unsexy” and customers will not be interested.

A common excuse for not giving customers the inside view goes something like “ that makes sense if you are a creative services company, but we build enterprise software.” This is perhaps the easiest challenge to solve, as every single business has some something that makes them unique, or else they would not still be in business. Maybe instead of your highly technical product development (which the end user may or may not care about) – you highlight your awesome implementation process and customer service.

3. Lack of production skill. Customers want to see behind-the-scenes, not hear about it in a press release or blog post, so video is the ideal medium to give them the inside look. Good video takes a specialist to produce however, and poor video, especially when it’s a behind-the-scenes look at your company, can do more harm than good.

Skyscope Creative is a video communication consultancy with a fully integrated production department. If you see potential value in a series of behind the scenes videos of your enterprise, but need a solution to any (or all) of the three challenges discussed, get in touch.

Whether it’s your design, development, customer service, or company culture, figure out what makes you unique and highlight it. Don’t underestimate people’s interest in seeing how your “secret sauce” is made. Let prospects and customers see the inside view – you’ll stand out and win new business because of it!

Skyscope Creative is a web video production company specializing in business video production for technology innovators. Say goodbye to boring corporate videos. Say hello and get more of our news and views by connecting on Twitter and Facebook

Think Like an Entrepreneur: Guest Lecture by Skyscope Creative

How does thinking like an entrepreneur help you kick ass in business and in life?

Hear some humourous stories about the founding of Skyscope and find out what cofounders Alex and Sam have to say about it in their recent guest lecture at the Clark University – Innovation & Entrepreneurship event, “The World is Yours.”

The talk was centered on challenging conventional wisdom and highlighting unconventional principles and tactics that are surprisingly effective.

5 Principles of Entrepreneurship That’ll Help You Kick Ass

1. Pain points are good! Learn to reframe challenges as opportunities for innovation and profit.

For many people, a problem with an existing product or service is something to complain about. For the entrepreneur, this is a signal that there is opportunity to improve on it…and within this opportunity lies a profit.

2. Focus! Prioritize on doing one thing better than everyone else.

Startups can be hesitant to target a narrow and specific niche since it can feel like you are losing opportunities from the market at large. The reality is that specialists stand out to buyers. Don’t try to appeal to everyone. The same goes for your product or service. Don’t fall into the “featuritis” trap. Instead, focus on doing less…just do it better than anyone else out there!

3. Set Real Goals! Most people agree but in reality set ineffective ones.

95% of the entrepreneurs you ask will say they set goals for their startup. The issue is, the majority really just have ideas about what they hope will happen, not true goals! Setting S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time based) goals is a start, but you also want to set big goals that almost anyone outside your company would deem unrealistic. Having a big vision keeps you motivated when the going gets tough.

4. Sell! Sales is not what you think…and more important than you imagine.

As the saying goes, sales cure all. Many people have adopted the conventional wisdom that sales is all about pitching why you are better: “My product this, my product that.” In reality, no one cares about “you,” and whether it’s an email or a sales call, as soon as you start talking about why your product or service is sooooo much better than your competitors, most people tune out. Discuss and make suggestions about how you can help them. If they want to hear why you are different, they’ll ask!

5. Branding Matters! Branding choices affect every aspect of your business.

Branding may start with design and visual perception, but it cascades through every aspect of your business. It’s never too early to consider the brand message that will resonate with your target audience.

As past Clark graduates, it was awesome to come back and be on the other side of the classroom for a change! Many great questions from the students…very excited for the bright futures awaiting these Clarkies!

Boston Startups Learn to Win with Seth Godin (Video)

Just over a month ago we shot a riveting event over at Intelligent.ly that featured master storyteller and blogger extraordinaire Seth Godin.

The format was unusual, but refreshing; from a group of over 100 applicants, Intelligent.ly selected a handful of Boston startups to serve up their greatest marketing challenges to Godin for advice. Head over to Intelligent.ly’s blog to watch the video.

Skyscope Creative is a web video production company specializing in business video production for technology innovators.  Say goodbye to boring corporate videos.  Look for our video production services in Worcester, Boston, Providence, and NYC.

The “Harlem Shake” Gold Rush

“The Harlem Shake,” and Internet memes in general, are a lot like gold rushes.

At first, they’re exciting and new, and everyone wants to hit the “mother lode” and score a million hitter on YouTube. The original “Harlem Shake” video was uploaded on January 30th and immediately set off a mad dash to replicate its success. YouTubers ravenously mined the meme and uploaded over 12,000 versions within the first 12 days of February. By the time the dust settled, everyone and their mother had witnessed a profusion of offices, students, sports teams, and even small armies unleash a dance enferno of unabashed emotion.

Although the original “Shake” video was first seen less than a month ago, it has already lost most of its original appeal, much like a massive rush on a prolific gold field. Soon, our collective memory of the “Harlem Shake’s” explosive popularity will fade and we’ll all glom on to the next alluring meme.

Regardless of its short lived fame, the Internet had a field day with The Harlem Shake…and so did we. Here’s Skyscope’s unusual rendition, shot last weekend. Enjoy.

Skyscope Creative is a web video production company specializing in business video production for technology innovators.  Say goodbye to boring corporate videos.  Look for our video production services in Worcester, Boston, Providence, and NYC.

Canon 5D Mark II vs. Mark III from the Videographer’s POV

Hey guys, so we recently got a new Canon 5D Mark II and wanted to talk about why we still think it’s the best value for price conscious DSLR shooters over the newer Mark III. Curious why we think a 5 year old camera can still compete with one from last year? Check out the video below.

This keyword-heavy content piece was a good opportunity to practice what we preached in our SEO blog post and input a video transcript for YouTube. This is super easy (if sometimes monotonous if you didn’t script your video!) and can improve your SEO in a big way. Though Google’s getting better at crawling videos, uploading transcripts is a necessary step to take if you want to make sure search engines know your video and its content. Because a transcript associates searchable text with your video, including one boosts the likelihood people will arrive at your video from a web search containing keywords that appear in your video.

Uploading a Trascript to YouTube

•Save your video transcription in a plain-text file format (TextEdit on Mac, for example).
•Head to the YouTube Video Manager and find your video. Click the drop down arrow and select “Captions.”
•Click “Upload caption file or transcript” and select your file. Voila! That’s it.

Skyscope Creative is a web video production company specializing in business video production for technology innovators.  Say goodbye to boring corporate videos.  Look for our video production services in Worcester, Boston, Providence, and NYC.

Using Video to Boost SEO: Get Your Videos Seen!

Not only is video the ideal way to convey complex information quickly online, but it’s also becoming one the most vital SEO assets you can have. Recently, Skyscope worked with Applied Interactive, Coghlin Companies’ strategic web marketing and SEO firm, to produce this video explaining Class 1 and Class 2 Medical Devices, the primary items manufactured by Coghlin’s medical device branch, Cogmedix. Properly optimized, this new video will significantly boost the company’s pagerank for keyword searches including “class 1 and class 2 medical devices.” Google strives to display the most interesting and relevant content for users, and good video is becoming an ever larger part of increasing your traffic and getting some nice “Google Juice.”

There’s a lot to consider when optimizing your videos, so we’re just going to focus on the absolute essentials. Here’s our quick playbook on video SEO best practices.

Posted Video vs. Hosted Video

Your first question is “do we post or host our video?” Basically, should you host video through a video hosting provider, or should you post the content on YouTube or Vimeo? You’ll have your own goals with video and SEO, but you’ll likely want to do some combination of the two (The folks at ReelSEO have devised a super useful chart detailing the pros and cons of each approach). Your audience is on YouTube, so it’s important to have your video content uploaded there for marketing purposes, but in most cases you’ll want to choose a specialized video hosting service (we use Wistia for ourselves and our top clients) for the actual video on your website for two big reasons:

More control & detailed reporting

• •See exactly how well your video is performing with detailed analytics
• •Customizable video player interface for a clean, professional look.
• •Choose custom thumbnail images that are more likely to be clicked.

Visitors stay on your site

• •Clickable “call to actions” that leads viewers to a newsletter signup, other videos, etc.
• •Only 1% of your YouTube viewers make to to your site. Remember YouTube’s goal is to keep people on YouTube.

We also love that Wistia automatically optimizes our videos for reliable playback on a range of mobile devices so we don’t ever have to worry about our videos not loading. This is a critical assurance when more than half of U.S.’s mobile subscribers have smartphones, and 46% of them are watching video on their phone.

Help Google Find and Index Your Videos

There are lots of small but important ways to help Google make sense of your video content and boost your videos’ SEO for the right search terms. Here’s a simple checklist that applies whether you’re hosted or posted:

• •Give your video a title one that people will search for. There are lots of resources out there for titling best practices.
• •Surround your video with relevant textual content as well as related info and links.
• •Include a keyword rich description.
• •Provide descriptive and relevant metadata and tags.
• •Transcribe your video. This makes it really easy for Google to know your content.

Follow these simple steps and you’ll be on the path to getting your videos in front of more of the right people. Always remember that good SEO won’t save content that isn’t relevant, unique or informative. If you have any questions about getting a great video made for your business or how to optimize your existing content, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Skyscope Creative is a web video production company specializing in business video production for technology innovators.  Say goodbye to boring corporate videos.  Look for our video production services in Worcester, Boston, Providence, and NYC.

Getting Experimental for Better Business Video

Although we specialize in business video at Skyscope, we also have a background in and a passion for filmmaking.

When we’re not making client videos, we experiment on all manner of projects to grow our skills and increase future creative options for our clients.

Here’s a short piece of “test footage” Sam shot just outside our office with some new gear we recently picked up.

One thing you immediately notice is the intentional utilization of copious amounts of bokeh (pronounced Boh-ka), the blurred, out of focus area of the image.

Effective bokeh directs the attention of the viewer and adds emotion and sophistication to the image. You can view more conventional examples in the marketing videos in our portfolio.

Experimenting in new directions and testing our creative boundaries helps us to continue to produce visually strikingly videos for our clients that help them stand out and communicate with impact.

Skyscope Creative is a web video production company specializing in business video production for technology innovators.  Say goodbye to boring corporate videos.  Look for our video production services in Worcester, Boston, Providence, and NYC.

Skyscope Launches Tech Frontier TV!

Today we launched Tech Frontier TV, a “micro documentary” web channel focused on telling the stories of innovators making an impact in technology driven industries.

In this first episode, we vist Intelligent.ly, a Boston company that helps entrepreneurs win by providing expertise and guidance from experts who have done it before.

Most of the videos we make are quite short, and for good reason. There is a well documented drop-off in audience viewership of business videos after the first minute. People want to quickly understand the big ideas driving your business. Video does this in a powerful and engaging way.

But video comes in more varieties than the 60-90 second showcase videos we produce for the majority of our business clients. Tech Frontier TV is chance for us to further develop our cinematic “micro documentary” style and tell in-depth stories for our viewers to enjoy.

We look forward to bringing you more awesome video content detailing interesting stories and innovations in the tech sphere soon. If you’d like us to consider your organization for an episode, tweet us at: @TechFrontierTV

Skyscope Creative is a web video production company specializing in business video production for technology innovators.  Say goodbye to boring corporate videos.  Look for our video production services in Worcester, Boston, Providence, and NYC.

Awesome Interns Wanted!

Skyscope is on the search for an awesome intern! Watch this video to get an idea of what we’re looking for, and get in touch with us if you think you might be “the one.”

Inquiries to: info@skyscopecreative.com
Subject line: Awesome Intern

Skyscope Creative is a web video production company specializing in business video production for technology innovators.  Say goodbye to boring corporate videos.  Look for our video production services in Worcester, Boston, Providence, and NYC.