Call it serendipity. That moment when you are working on one project and you discover something huge that applies directly to another part of your business. While working on my third business video, it became immediately clear why most businesses fail within five years: they confuse “intention” with “result”.

Video allows small businesses to directly compete with large businesses. It gives you a chance to reach potential customers anywhere and at any time in the world. Think of your videos as an “international sales team” that works night and day telling people about your business (attribution to John Locke) The key is that you must produce a video that engages, entertains, and enriches your intended audience. Oh, that’s the hard part – YouTube has millions of examples of bad video.

My second video (Never Make This Video Mistake) was an abject failure. My intention was to drive eBook sales (a result, not an intention). Was it professional? Yes. 60 – 90 seconds in length? Yes. Was it fun, engaging, entertaining, and enriching for my intended audience? No! In this case: Failure = producing the video based on my results (eBook sales) rather than the intention to have fun, inform, entertain, and enrich my viewers. With video, two out of three equals “fail”.

I had no clue as to why my video didn’t work until I started reading Steve Stockman’s book: How To Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck (examples from his website). A business video designed around a desired result has a 99.9% chance for failure. I count myself lucky to have learned this lesson only after producing two business videos and 100+ hours of production!

Stockman explains that a clear “intent” is what guides the making of a successful video (what to shoot, why you are shooting it, what to cut, etc.) whereas “result” is what happens AFTER the video is produced. There are so many possible creative ways to explore a subject that without a specific intent, you have no clear path for making decisions along the way that your viewers will appreciate and rave about!

A business plan helps you identify your intention: whom you will serve, what problem does your product and/service address, and how you will serve them well through your business. Without this clarity, you end up falling prey to making business decisions based on desired results.

Using Stockman’s advice, my third video project starts with a clear intent: Use humor to show how a lack of understanding of golf etiquette produces the same chaos and frustration that a conference call leader faces when conference call etiquette is not established.

If, like me, you didn’t go to film school, and you are thinking about or are producing videos for your business, I highly recommend reading Stockman’s book – even if you’ve hired a professional to produce the video! He’s made the complex simple and gives business people a step-by-step approach to shooting video that will engage and entertain your potential customers.

Now comes the hard part: How will you apply this concept in your business or video?

Please add comments, stories, and video examples so others can benefit.

Byron

PS: Thank you Steve Stockman for writing your book and to my niece Lisa for giving it to me as a Christmas present!