A simple process to help you get started with video blogging
I’ve been recording these weekly video blogs for the past 15 months. And while what I’m doing is pretty simple, I wanted to share my process for those of you who are considering going in this same direction. My goal in recording these videos, and subsequently publishing the blog, is always to create something of value to my client avatar. I’ve talked about this before that you can’t market to the masses. You have to market to one person– your client avatar. That’s how I approach these videos.
Make a plan
The first step is to organize my thoughts. I’m never making this stuff up on the fly. I usually start by deciding what question I want to answer. I get lots of DMs and phone calls with questions from my audience. So I often make one of those questions the center of my message. I like to have music playing in the background to keep those creative juices flowing. I start by making a bullet point list of my main thoughts on how I’d answer that question. From there, I’ll add the supporting points for each main topic I plan to address in my blog. I try to keep it between 6-8 minutes on average, so I create a tight list filled with bites that will capture my audience’s attention. The end goal is to get one of my audience members to call me or reach out to me in some way or even just like/subscribe/comment on the post.
Get the right tools
Next I transform my office into a recording studio. I use four things:
- Green screen: the green screen goes up behind me. Sometimes it’s just easier than cleaning up my office space. Other times I think it just looks more professional. It’s up to you what you want your background to look like, but just make sure it’s a professional one.
- Microphone: I’ve talked about this before, but make sure you get a good mic for your videos. There’s no quicker way to lose an audience than to have bad audio. You can find a lot of good options on Amazon, and you don’t need to spend a fortune.
- Zoom: I like to use Zoom to do these recordings. It’s super easy to use and doesn’t require any special software. Plus I started with a free account so when I began creating these videos, it made a lot of sense to use it for this purpose.
- Edit video: I use Apple’s iMovie to do some VERY light editing of my videos. I don’t like to spend too much time on editing. Since I have my bullet point outline, and I know my subject matter fairly well, my videos don’t have lots of mistakes that I feel need correcting. And if I stumble over a word or two, I don’t think my audience will take me any less seriously if the content is strong.
From there, the video goes to my assistant, who cleans it up to turn it into the written blog and any other written content I need for my website or social channels. I store all these in Dropbox, and I like to do a few of these in one day. Once I get in the zone, I can really churn out these videos. I’m sure there is a more efficient way to do this, but this has worked for me. I’m always open to learning more, so feel free to share your ideas with me for how to make my videos better. And as always, you can join the Catapulting Commissions community by texting ‘hello’ to (661) 228-8967.
https://youtu.be/7aXAUx-zbWk
