What makes a good video great? Talking heads can get very boring very fast, but it doesn’t take much to make them stand out from the crowd.
When I presented to the AdviserEdge conference in Melbourne on using video in your business, I did it by video link. Why? Well, two reasons – first, my twins were turning two on the same day so naturally I had to be in Perth, but also because I wanted to demonstrate the benefits of video by presenting in the same medium.
The point of my presentation was to share the experiences Elixir has had going from a business which did not take video all that seriously, to one which uses it more and more in our everyday lives. Along the way we have made mistakes, found different, better ways to achieve results, and continue to learn a whole lot about what does and does not work.
Many people feel daunted by the prospect of using video in their business, but thanks to the wonders of the interwebs, it can really be quite easy, and not at all expensive.
At the most basic level, with just an iPhone you can shoot a good quality video. Of course, there are many more options depending on your budget, but the advances in mobile phone technology present this as a very real option.
Once you have shot the video, you can either edit it yourself, or have someone else do it for you. Editing your own video can be fun, but time consuming, and outsourcing it is not anywhere near as expensive as you might think.
Now, it is during the edit process that a range of different media can be incorporated to really add some life to your video. Since you will most likely not be speaking to camera while sky diving from 40,000 feet, a bit of ‘zazz’ can help keep the interest of the viewer, and highlight the key points you want to make. For this you can use music, stock photos and videos, animations, and even have voiceovers done for you.
So where do you go for all these? Let me help you out with a few to start with. We use all the sites listed below and are happy to recommend them. Also, keep your eyes out for ElixirTV- we will be releasing snippets of the presentation I gave at AdviserEdge to provide you with more information on using video in your business.
Video editing and hosting
elance.com – Great choice of video editors at very reasonable prices. Can also be used for VA’s and virtually any other service!
sproutvideo.com – Our choice of video hosting services. Allows for various levels of privacy, including password controlled access to individual videos. Plus great analytics.
Music
You don’t want to breach copyright when adding music to your videos, so buy a ‘ royalty-free’ track, meaning you pay for it once and use it wherever you like. There are lots of sites around – we’ve used:
royaltyfreemusic.com – Buy music tracks for business use. Searchable by a range of criteria, including style, tempo and mood.
audiojungle.net – Another great site for music. Use it if you can’t find what you want on Royalty Free Music, and vice versa.
fiverr.com – Want something out of left field? For just $5 you can have your company logo painted in different places around the world, get someone to sing a song just for you, animate almost anything – whatever you can think of it can be done.
Stock photos and videos
shutterstock.com – Choose from over 25 million stock photos and videos for as little as $10, royalty-free.
pond5.com – Like Shutterstock, get a huge range of stock photos and videos, as well as illustrations and after-effects.
Animations
goanimate.com – A fantastic and fun way to make animated videos very easily.
fiverr.com – Another great option for animations.
Voiceovers
fiverr.com – Amongst all the benefits listed above, if you don’t like the sound of your own voice, use someone else’s!
We love Sprout so much we are now affiliates, so we may receive a small gratuity for referrals, but this does not influence our recommendation in any way. We were already using and recommending them well before we became affiliates.
We’d love to hear what you’ve used to zazz up your videos, comment and provide links to show off!
***Since writing this post, we have had some great feedback and have added the following sites as additional resources:
- powtoon.com for animated videos
- envato.com, an ecosystem of creativity sites
- photodune.net for royalty free images
