Using Short Video Clips to Market Your Speaking Services

One of the best ways to market your speaking services is to use SHORT video clips of one of your presentations or of someone sharing a testimony about your presentation.

Some people hesitate using videos because they are afraid their clip is not professional enough or they are not sure how to edit videos. Below are 3 video clips -- each was edited by me -- that help illustrate how all types of videos can be used to market your services.

After watching these 3 videos, feel free to ask any questions. This discussion is designed to help you get videos online!

This video was professionally filmed, but I edited the clip on my MacBook.

This testimony video was filmed on a Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera with a simple lapel mic.

This video was filmed with a decent video camera set up on a table in the corner of the room. Definitely not the greatest quality, but very effective in marketing.

Tags: marketing, professional, services, speaker, speaking, your

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Martha Dominguez on April 14, 2011 at 6:57pm

Thanks for your help, Is a great idea! Recently I apply for a job and they answer me that I need to do a video for 1 1/2 minutes, I need to tell them what, how I'm going to do in this job.

Permalink Reply by Kent Julian on April 14, 2011 at 8:48pm

Have fun with it, Martha!

Permalink Reply by Celeste & Phil Davis on April 14, 2011 at 7:48pm

Thanks for this, we have been video taping our workshops with our Flip camera and have been working on some detox coaching videos as well.

One question, we have a lot of instructional type coaching videos and were advised to make them simple and to the point. They seem kind of dry to us, normally we are quite animated. What do you think about that?http://www.youtube.com/user/thewellnessworkshop1?feature=mhum

We've also been posting little shots on facebook to see what kind of reaction we get. I love doing the video testimonial, it is very effective!

Permalink Reply by Kent Julian on April 14, 2011 at 8:46pm

Celeste and Phil,

I watched your video...it was very informative. That's awesome!

My suggestion would be to do some videos like that one; then get creative with others. A balance would be great.

For examples, check out www.youtube.com/liveitforwardllc - this is my career coaching video site. You'll see that some are serious, while other are more fun. I'm attaching 2 here as examples:

Example of a sort of goofy video clip

Example of a more serious video

Permalink Reply by Andy Traub on April 14, 2011 at 7:55pm

Glad you started this discussion Kent. A speaker with out video clips is like a screenwriter without a script. Just doesn't make sense! I personally thin it makes sense to LEAD with video on your site if that's how you communicate the best. Why not put your best foot forward when people show up to check you out?

Permalink Reply by Kent Julian on April 14, 2011 at 8:47pm

Totally agree, Andy!

Permalink Reply by Caroline Gavin on April 14, 2011 at 8:08pm

Excellent discussion, Kent! I appreciate your posting these three videos. I agree with Gary that it is essentially necessary for speaking professionals to have video content readily available. Thank you for starting this discussion!

Permalink Reply by Kent Julian on April 14, 2011 at 8:48pm

You're welcome, Caroline.

Permalink Reply by Lynne Watts on April 15, 2011 at 8:40pm

I really appreciate this discussion and I am a total newbie with video taping anything. I need information on all the basics. I really don't even have a video camera. Do I need something special? Do you need a second person to tape you or is it possible to set it up and let it tape while you are speaking? What sort of mike do you use? Do you have to buy a program to edit the video once you download it to your computer?

Permalink Reply by Kent Julian on April 16, 2011 at 9:17pm

Lynne,

It really depends on what you are looking to do with video. If you want to tape an entire presentation, you probably need a better quality video camera than a flip camera. However, that does not mean you have to buy one...you can borrow one.

If you want to do interviews of people, short videos, etc...a flip video would be best. I really like the Kodak Zi8. You can get a cool lapel mic for this camera. This is the one we used at www.speakitforward.com.

You're computer might already have a video editing program on it...all Macs come with iMovie, and it's a great video editing program!

Hope this helps,

Kent

Permalink Reply by Jeff McManus on April 16, 2011 at 7:41pm

Kent my first thoughts after viewing was the first video showed me that you feel very comfortable in large venue and can deliver. Your third video showed me you do smaller venues just as well and are very comfortable in that settings. Even the blog videos makes you very approachable and starts my relationship with you.

Thanks for posting and did you ask the group ahead of time to give you a copy of the professional video?

Is it okay to use a flip video for starting out speaking even though they don't really zoom in well?

Permalink Reply by Kent Julian on April 16, 2011 at 9:09pm

Jeff,

Asking the event planner to provide you with a professional video is a great way to go about getting a video produced. In fact, if I know I'm going to get a fantastic video in a fantastic venue, I'll speak for a reduced price or even for free.

As for the flip video cameras, they are best for interviews, quick live shots, or blog videos. Probably not best for longer videos.

Great questions!

Kent