When creating videos for businesses, one of the goals is often to connect with clients through the power of people. Video is a great tool for making your business more personable, relatable and authentic. You can highlight the people behind the business who make it what it is!
With this, though, comes the danger of overstepping the boundary between professional and casual. You want to remain reliable and trustworthy so that people feel they can buy from you, but this should be intertwined with your real personality. Finding the balance between your at-home and at-work persona is the key! Think, if you acted at work how you acted at home would your business be anywhere near as successful as it is?
Knowing where this imaginary line that you’ve got to tread is can be tricky. As mentioned above, video is amazing for building trusting relationships between clients and your business. This is because on video we get to see more of the people within the team. It’s actually you - not just some typed words or a still image.
In short, on video we seem more honest and authentic. And it seems that way because we are! But you need to remain aware of the fact that you’re still running a business and trying to impress clients. This means there’s a limit to the level of transparency you want to operate at.
Here’s an example of some things you shouldn’t say:
“Heyyyyy it’s me! Your bestie from YouMore! Is your content really sh*t and boring? Without us working on it, let me tell you, it probably is! Our videos are the best, they’re funny as f*ck and will get you so many likes. We specialise in blooper videos, where we basically just take clips of you messing up on camera, edit them all together, then post them on your own social media pages to publicly embarrass you. It’s hilarious! So come join us to make some funny videos.”
There are so many things wrong with this! Firstly, whoever’s speaking will come across as incredibly unprofessional. Secondly, they might be so open and honest that no one would actually buy from them! By revealing too much about how your business works you can put people off using you - there’s a limit. By being too relaxed you fail to show the value you have to offer in a professional capacity.
At the other end of the spectrum you risk being overly serious and dry. Here’s an example:
“Here at YouMore we make videos to promote your business. We will film you talking about your business. We take this very seriously, and will make sure you come across as the model professional. We cut out the parts of the video where you break character and show your real personality. Your real personality is bad. Laughs are bad. Being a straight faced professional is good. This is what we will promote.”
A script like this is likely to produce a pretty boring video! Your video still needs to engage people with a bit of personality and fun or else people will stop watching after 10 seconds. To get people to work with you, it’s important that they trust you as a professional, but it’s equally important that they like you!
Finding the balance is the best way to connect with potential clients whilst offering an insight into how your business will benefit them. Don’t be afraid to show your personality, but it’s important to remember your end goal – improving your business and securing clients. It might take you a while to get used to at first – we’re more inclined to be reserved when on camera – but soon enough you’ll be able to channel that perfect blend of relaxed and professional that puts people at ease whilst gaining their trust.
Do you think you’ve found the right balance?
