In this week’s “From the Ground Up” interview, we sit down with Robert Weiss, vice president of sales & marketing at MultiVision Digital, an UpCity Certified Premium partner and New York City Local Excellence Awards winner. Below we discuss why MultiVision Digital doesn’t like to describe themselves as a video production company, how they integrate marketing and video for their clients, and more!
Q: Tell me a little bit about who MultiVision Digital is and what drives your company.
A: What makes MultiVision Digital different in the marketplace is that we don’t approach video like a traditional video production company. Since our founding in 2011, we’ve produced about 750 business promotional videos, but approach everything from a digital marketing focused standpoint. We aim to create sales and marketing content, looking at the business objective and the distribution channel, and then produce the appropriate video production project.
So if you were to meet me at a networking event and ask me about MultiVision Digital, I would say, “We’re a digital marketing company that focuses specifically on sales and marketing video content to affect every communication objective that marketers have.” We create and produce very high quality business promotional videos, but it’s the before and after the video, the video strategy and video distribution, that we do even better…and that is really important to businesses to ensure they get an ROI.
Q: Interesting. So how do you message that to potential customers who think they are looking for just a video production company?
A: Rather than just “producing video” like our competitors, we believe in creating business value. It is our holistic approach to strategy, production and distribution that is our main differentiator and it’s how we approach clients.
That might mean starting from the top of the funnel with a video that is specific to PR, lead gen, or marketing or it could mean creating a video marketing project content for further down the sales cycle. People need to realize the potential of video as it relates to the sales funnel. They currently do these things with paper (or through digital brochures, white papers, etc), but they don’t yet have the mindset that these things could be done more effectively with video.
This is contrary to what buyers know and do. Buyers look out for video because they know that it is quick and easy and gives them the most amount of information in the shortest amount of time.
Q: Is that something you run into often: people aren’t sure whether video is the right investment because they simply aren’t sure of the power of video?
A: Yes…all the time! We speak to companies everyday that say, “We aren’t doing video and don’t have any plans for video.” Honestly, we just scratch our heads…
I was recently speaking with a colleague and predicting when video will pass the tipping point like SEO and PPC did a few years back. Each year the amount of companies investing in video rises, and we’re almost to the point where people will turn to it without thinking, but almost is the key word there. There are just so many uses for video these days that smart companies can’t help but invest…but they aren’t yet.
So, we see it as part of our responsibility here at MultiVision Digital to inform and educate our clients so they can make the best decisions for their business. The right video will look very different from company to company. People need to understand that video isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon; smart companies consider the right cadence for them. One company’s cadence is going to be different than another company’s cadence, but the ongoing investment in video will continue. That’s because one video is not going to fit into every single use case, so you need that ongoing flow of video
Q: In your opinion, what are the things that are currently holding businesses back from really jumping into video and adopting it right now? Like you said, there are a lot of people that create other kinds of content but video seems to be intimidating for people.
A: I really don’t know. I wish I did, you know, because I would be a much better salesperson!
I don’t think there’s any one-size-fits-all answer. Obviously, cost is always the first thing that comes to mind, but I’ve heard every reason you could possibly imagine: our customers aren’t watching video, we’re too small to invest in video, video doesn’t fit into our marketing efforts. At the end of the day, the common thread seems to be the mindset that video isn’t as relevant to their business as other forms of content.
Like I said before, they just don’t have the mindset (yet) that the things they’re currently doing could be done better through video.
Q: I want to focus a bit on something that’s come up in other conversations with video production companies. We’ve heard time and time again that budget is usually a huge barrier to entry when it comes to video, especially since potential customers are already so familiar and comfortable with other forms of content that there isn’t as hard of a sell. When you can create five blog posts for the price of one 30-second video, it can be hard to convince the frugal, practical business owner to take the leap.
How do you approach those situations where clients are super focused on budget? How do you steer those conversations back towards looking at ROI and business value, rather than cost?
A: One of the first things we do is direct potential clients to our website. We practice what we preach and have produced a number of video marketing tips videos that help acquaint prospects with our methods and with business video strategy and business video production in general. We created a tips page and have videos for common questions we receive.
Since most companies have made major investments in business promotional video, we try to get them to understand the why, the how and then collaborate with them to make the best decision for their business. Making the right decision gets them to a positive ROI and thus gives them the internal use case for doing more business promotional videos.
So, we initially try not to have a budget conversation with them, because the reality is your cost is going to be entirely dependent on what it is that you need. Do they need one video, live or animated, or a number of videos to support an objective?
Our entire company knows we are not just producing video for you; we’re creating effective content that will help you hit your business objectives. The majority of people have never done video before and they don’t know how effective it can truly be, so we try to provide that information and really help them understand through experience.
The feedback we get from our thought leadership videos is that people really start to understand the strategy and how effective business promotional videos can be in the sales process or for marketing efforts or even for SEO. Thus the focus comes off budget becomes just a matter of what works best for each business. It’s really a business decision and we’re just there to help them to figure out what’s best for them.
Q: That must be easier depending on the cash flow of the business, no?
A: I still think it’s mostly about the mindset of the company and who you’re speaking to. One of my favorite case studies to discuss is this guy we worked with who had an idea for a business and was on the VC market for about six months pounding away and not getting anywhere. He had a pretty low budget, but we were able to create him a really clear video that helped him explain his idea in seconds. Previously, he spent 20+ minutes explaining the concept, which left him little time to pitch and discuss his business.
Opening his presentation with a 1:27 video, everyone in the room was able to understand the concept without him saying a word. With everyone smiling, he spent more time on the business plan and the financials because he was able to streamline communication (which, by the way, every salesperson needs to do). Within four months, he had $480k in the bank.
Q: And I’m sure he’ll be back for another video once his business takes off! Talk about an AHA! moment for the power of video.
A: That’s one of the biggest things for video, and I think that’s what so many people underestimate. Many of us have had that moment for another product or another service where we’ve seen a video and gone, “Oh, that’s really awesome.” For some people, they just never put two and two together and realize that video can do the same for their customers.
The one key takeaway that I want everybody to get from this conversation is that video is, or should be, a regular investment. You should be doing video every three, four, five, six months on different products: recruiting videos, corporate overviews, case studies. The possibilities are endless!
Q: That’s an excellent point. Let’s pivot a bit and move away from video production and towards video distribution. what have been the most successful vehicles or channels for promoting video content thus far? A lot of people utilize Youtube or Vimeo, but other than that, what options are out there?
A: I’d take a step back a bit. This is one of those misunderstood things for a lot of businesses. For most B2B businesses, Youtube isn’t a distribution channel, it’s more of a hosting provider. It’s free, it’s ubiquitous, everybody understands it and trusts it, and, most importantly, it’s available almost anywhere in the world.
Let’s say you’re a manufacturing company. You won’t be marketing your videos on Youtube, but you will send a link to a Youtube video in an email or it may be embedded on your website. That’s where people find the majority of value from Youtube or Vimeo.
When it comes to distribution, it comes down to what channels the business currently has and what channels will help get the video in front of the right eyes. That might mean that we help them distribute video through email, or maybe through social media, or it might be integrated into their sales or support processes.
We don’t just produce video for the sake of producing video. We make sure it’s the right video for that client, which means having the right strategy conversations beforehand. Those conversations help us define not only what video we will produce, but also how that video will be distributed. The first thing to do when you start thinking about video for your business is to stop thinking about video; think about your business objectives and just think of video as another form of content in your arsenal.
Bio:
Robert Weiss of MultiVision Digital, has over 16 years experience in internet marketing and sales processes. Because of online video’s ability to captivate potential clients, MultiVision Digital’s vision is helping clients use online video to gain more qualified leads and paying customers. Marketing with online video has quickly become the “must have” advertising, marketing and communications tool for small businesses and corporate giants.
Company Bio:
MultiVision Digital is a professional business online video production and website video marketing company that specializes in assisting New York- and New Jersey-based companies and in developing online sales video marketing strategies that will increase sales, lead generation, and client loyalty. MultiVision Digital’s website video production services include budgeting for, producing (planning, scripting, storyboarding and editing) and exposing online video production for marketing, advertising, shaping social media perception, SEO keyword optimization and YouTube distribution.
