Powerful, Personal Self-Promotion Videos and How They Can Focus Business

Since producing their promotional film, “You Wash, I’ll Dry,” Justin and Mary Marantz have been able to book their ideal client and be more creative with their wedding shoots (as shown here). Photo © Justin & Mary Marantz

Forget those static behind-the-scenes promo photos of you and your team frozen on a set or out on location; clients today have short attention spans. The quicker you can connect to your viewer with your personality, approach and work ethic, the more deeply engaged they will be with what you have to offer. Want to create a strong marketing piece that connects on an emotional level? Make a film.

Our Love is Your Love
Co-created by triple Emmy award-winning agency Stillmotion, the biographical film “You Wash, I’ll Dry” draws you into photographers Justin and Mary Marantz’s world in under 3 minutes. By taking viewers on a journey into their kitchen (while the couple does the dishes), they offer a glimpse at their own love story. 

When they created the plan for their video, the Marantzes say, “The trend was for high-energy, fast-moving, almost music video/celebrity type of promos, and that just didn’t fit our style.” Instead, the photo duo “wanted something that showed how we see love in the world because of how we see it in each other.” With a script including lines like “I dance to the beat in my own head and he breathes the melody,” the results have been “game-changing” in terms of bookings the types of clients the couple want to work with. Justin says, “Our ability to find, attract and book our most ideal couples went from just a few here and there to a whole calendar booked full of them.” In addition to creating a connection with their clients, their film has been featured on CreativeLIVE, photography blogs such as Fstoppers and PhotoShelter, and shared thousands of times on Facebook.

Film the Fun
Authentically upbeat and enthusiastic, Seattle photographer Laurel McConnell has a promo video that takes viewers behind-the-scenes on a real shoot. Shot and edited by Edit 1 Media, the film is peppered with stop-motion clips and a soundtrack from Triple Scoop Music, perfectly complementing the energy that McConnell brings to her work and matching her tagline “photography for really fun people.” 

To create the video, McConnell did a “soft storyboard,” brainstorming the details and content that included fun vignettes captured within the shoot. Choosing a couple with the attitude and style of subsequent clients she would like to attract helped to further define her niche. “My clients mention the video all the time and how helpful it was for them to see how they would be photographed,” McConnell says. “The video raises their confidence level and has increased my percentage of bookings to inquiries for the last three years.” With nearly half of her clients mentioning the video on their first consultation, it’s obvious her efforts are paying off.

Priceless Memories
In this 1-minute and 46-second video, Jamie and Heather Schneider of Dark Roux Photography in New Orleans get straight to the point with a highly personal story. Speaking directly to the camera about the loss they feel from not having photographs of their own wedding, tears come to Heather’s eyes and Jamie shifts uncomfortably in his seat. From there, viewers get a glimpse into how they shoot with the understanding of the priceless, emotional value of good photography. 

“We are so glad we took the time to invest in our business,” the Schneiders say about the film, which was shot and edited in only two days by StreetCar Films. “We can’t even count how many times brides have told us they bawled their eyes out watching our story, and how many of their friends have booked us because of it.”

Courtesy Mikhail Glabets

Filming Outside the Box
Other successful videos with their own unique approaches include a silent project by New England photographer Mikhail Glabets (above) that helps him connect with like-minded clients by sharing his personal hobbies—riding his motorcycle, skateboarding and stunt driving; and from Fer Juaristi who takes you on “this adventure called life” to explore the deeper meaning of how we learn and find ourselves through photographs and memories of the people we love.

If you’re ready to shoot your own piece of marketing magic, focus on the following seven tips before the shooting begins.

1. Create a Detailed Plan
According to the photographers featured in this article, a good video can take two to five days or more to write, shoot and edit, and cost anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000-plus. To ensure your efforts bring results, outline the parameters of your shoot, then drill down to be as precise as possible about the details. Choose the video production company you will be working with, set your budget, define your goals, and plan on how to promote your final product.

2. Use Visuals that Match Your Brand
This may seem obvious, but if you’re a digital shooter with fashionable, saturated images and you hire a cinematographer to shoot your video on Super 8 film, chances are it won’t work. Think about what makes your work distinctive, and be sure that the backgrounds, subjects and content you choose on video support your style.

3. Be Camera Ready
Remember to smile and lean in if you’re talking directly to the camera. Leaning back with your arms crossed or keeping your facial expressions serious can make you look unapproachable—not the best message when you’re trying to create a relationship.

4. Define Your Message
Unless you’re making a silent piece, like Glabets, what you say is just as important as how you say it. Even the Schneiders—who did their video without a script—had to think carefully about what story would connect most with their clients. To make your video relatable, choose an emotional message and deliver it the way you would to a friend or a client you love, keeping in mind that authenticity is magic and words from the heart always work better than a sales pitch. If you are sharing your personal life, create bridges that other people can identify with—after all who wouldn’t love your Labrador puppy or think it’s sweet that you and your partner were childhood sweethearts? On the other hand, be conscious of TMI; does your audience really need to know that you’re allergic to bees or not a fan of country music? You don’t want to make them wonder what will happen if you get stung at their wedding, or how judgmental you’ll be when their first dance is a George Strait song.

5. Make it Concise
Most ads on TV are 60 seconds or shorter, and not just because advertising is expensive. Analytical data from YouTube and dozens of other companies show that the number of people who watch a video through to the end decreases substantially every 10 seconds; after 2 minutes, most lose half their audience. The takeaway? Keep your film as concise as you can without losing important content. “With the perpetual barrage of imagery every day, people don’t absorb information as they have in the past,” says Kristi Drago-Price, founder of Editor’s Edge Visual Consulting. “Engaged couples, planners and editors are very busy people accustomed to skimming, listening or watching with a ‘just tell me what I need to know’ attitude. A short, 2- to 3-minute bio video provides concise information and enables a stronger personal connection with the viewer than just the written word.”

6. Watch Your Work from Your Client’s Point of View
No matter what you do to market your business, always have it edited, and field-test the experience you’re creating. Watch your video on your computer and phone using multiple browsers. Ask family members and friends with slow Internet connections to tell you about their download times, and get their feedback on quality, overall impact and emotional appeal.

7. Don’t Just Post it, Promote it!
I briefly mentioned this in tip No. 1, but it bears elaborating on: get your work out to followers, friends and industry influencers that can push it to a larger audience. Post it on Facebook, show followers a snippet on Instagram, and be sure your title and metadata is optimized for keywords and terms that potential clients are searching for. Email wedding and photo industry bloggers and editors who may be interested in your unique take (we found Glabet’s video after he personally emailed us a link) and be sure your video link is embedded in all your online advertising and profiles.

Blair deLaubenfels is the co-owner of Get to Bizness, a Seattle-based consulting company that specializes in producing effective written and visual marketing for wedding and portrait photographers, and artistic entrepreneurs of all kinds.

Related Links

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Justin & Mary Marantz on How to Market with Love

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