Seven deadly SME video sins: get Ojay Valley Taxidermy's views minus the cringe

The founders of Smudge Publishing, Jonette George, Daniele Wilton and Katie Wilton use video in their business to great effect. Photo: Kaitlyn Wilton

Research published this year by Cisco found by 2019 online video will make up about 80 per cent of internet traffic. There has never been a better time yell "action" to your colleagues. And Aussie bosses are heeding the call, increasingly self-making corporate videos to share on media platforms and, hopefully, build their market reach.

Chuck Testa's Ojay Valley Taxidermy commercial is proof it is possible to be so bad you look good. The US preserver of dead animal's advert went viral, attracting millions of YouTube views with its cringe-worthy content and delivery.

Use our KISS principle – Keep It Short Spielberg 

Wayne Cunningham

But we can't all enjoy the luck of Chuck. And, in reality, many small business attempts at filmmaking will fail to wow an audience, experts say. Why do some attract while others repel? Here are 7 film-making crimes every SME boss with a camera should avoid:

Placing talent against bland backdrops

Film Stretch managing director Claire Stretch, whose business made $100,000-plus turnover in 2014-2015, says DIY corporate video novices often use poorly chosen settings.

"They place the person very close to a wall and don't think about what's in the background," Stretch says. "The background will be highly visible so think about what impression you want to make."

Melbourne business Smudge Publishing, which turned over $2.1 million last financial year, is so serious about its videos it has an in-house videographer. It has produced more than 50 of its own videos.

"We shoot the clips in either the cafe, restaurant, bar, winery or wherever our location is that day," says Daniele Wilton, managing director of the publishing business.

"For example we went foraging for mushrooms one day with a famous 'mushroom man' so that meant we were in the middle of the woods in Daylesford, Victoria."

Video content agency creative director Wayne Cunningham, of RedBikini, says interior light can often look "very flat and lifeless". Hire or buy lights if budget allows.

"If you can afford it ... use one behind your subject as a back light, use another facing them on one side as a key light and a third on the other side as a fill," Cunningham suggests.

Shadows instantly make a corporate video look amateur, Stretch says.

"Always be conscious of lighting, if shooting inside make your subject pop out by making sure there is light on their face."

Putting deer in headlights

Coming across on screen natural is a deal-maker in corporate video land.

If your talent is uncomfortable speaking directly to a camera, set up the three-quarter profile shot and have someone off camera, asking questions to give the talent the opportunity to share content with viewers, Stretch suggests.

"Something like; 'so tell us about your USP' gives the subject the opening to reply 'actually we have two unique features of our product ...'" she says.

Richard Kuipers, boss of Two Men and a Truck, says his company always makes its own videos to promote the $10 million removal company and its brand.

His company has made about 30 videos this year, which, he says, have a social media viewer hit rate of about 50,000 on average.

"Our how-to [video] demonstrators are our professional staff, so no need for training and it also seems more natural."

Dodgy camerawork and sound

Nothing deters customers quicker than straining to hear or see your moving image masterpiece.

Trish Radge and husband Nick run The Chartist and have made more than 20 mostly education videos. They are so convinced of the value of video they converted one of their bedrooms to a studio and upload their videos to YouTube, their web site and digital newsletters. Last year their business turnover was $570,000.

"Poor sound quality and a shaky camera is a sure way to have people turn off your videos in frustration," Radge says.

"I made that mistake initially and have gradually invested in a high quality lapel microphone, tripod and camera."

"It's more important to get the audio right than the video. It can be so cheap to improve your audio, from $50, there's no excuses," says Tracey Gilmartin, manager of Y Marketing, which also self-produces video content.

Cunningham agrees: "Audio. Viewers will pretty much forgive everything else but if they can't hear you clearly, you will lose them in seconds."

Taking too long to make your point

"Use our KISS principle – Keep It Short Spielberg," Cunningham says. "As hard as it is to accept, the shorter your video, the more likely people will watch it." 

This shorter-is-better message is reiterated by marketing and promotion manager Linda Dwyer of Shon Productions. "Make it snappy," Dwyer says."If you're going to put your video on Facebook, your images need to grab people's attention in the first 10 seconds. 

"Aim for one minute, if it's longer than that and people can't be bothered waiting for the 'punch line' then they're not as likely to share it."

Ad-libbing or using a sloppy script

Jules Blundell, director of VideoBuzz, says a powerful, well-crafted script "is the foundation of an awesome explainer video". Take time writing it because if you nail it, you are already ahead of the game, Blundell says.

"With only 10 seconds to grab your viewers' attention, the beginning must go kapow but also keep them enthralled for a further 60 to 90 seconds." Good scripts usually have some humour, find a hook to connect with the target audience and challenge viewers' thinking, Blundell says.

One example of a zinger script is The Dollar Shave Club video. The US small business spent $4500 on the production and received more than 12,000 orders within 48 hours. It's clocked nearly 21 million views on YouTube. 

Seeing your video like an ad

Scott Perry, founder of Drink Lab, has made 80 videos so far. The drink and cocktail recipe web site has hit 1.6 million video views on YouTube, according to Perry. Subscriber numbers have grown more than 150 per cent since last October to 20,500.

Aussie businesses must stop thinking corporate video is a moving advertisement, he says. "Most businesses go wrong in treating videos as an ad for their businesses (but) videos that work well should answer a question or problem or help them in some way and then lead to your product, service, website, mailing list etc to learn more."

"We recently we reposted a old video from last Halloween on Facebook. Over 123,000 people have watched it."

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