How Online Video Can Benefit Your Small Business Or a Video Resume!

I had the chance to ask Lisa Lubin a few questions about how using video can benefit any women in the STEM fields with her small business or even working with a video resume! Lisa Lubin is a three-time Emmy® Award winning television writer/producer/editor/video consultant with more than fifteen years of experience. Lisa has recently launched LLmedia (http://www.llmedia.co/) Video Consulting and is now using her expertise to help others improve their video for the web & their business. For nearly ten years, Lisa produced an award-winning weekly lifestyles, travel, and entertainment magazine show on ABC Chicago.

"Video. Many say it is what the internet will 'be' a few years from now. It's engaging and hooks viewers faster and easier than text. YouTube is said to be the second highest search engine after Google. So there are definitely consumers out there who are hungry for video. 1 minute of video is worth 1.8 million words according to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research. The amount of information contained in one single frame can take 3 pages to describe. The feeling, the colors, the message is seen immediately in a video. It informs and entertains people and, good or bad, today most people prefer to watch a video rather than read a page of text. " - Lisa Lubin

Questions for Women who own their own STEM related business.

What is the benefit to adding video to a small science based business?

For any business, video gives us more of an 'inside peek' at your business and perhaps even you. If you are in the video yourself, then it humanizes you and makes it more personal. Your clients and customers can 'get to know you' in a way they can't from text alone; they can relate and even feel you are more approachable since now you are speaking directly to them yourself. For STEM businesses, I would think it has an even greater benefit - a video showing something, rather than explaining it in text alone is probably much easier for viewers to comprehend. It allows you to 'show us' something instead of just 'telling us' about it.

I'm not creative at all, how can I come up with videos about my business?

Any video, no matter how short, tells us a story. So, first think about what story you are trying to tell? Find ONE focus - your bio, a new product, a new study - and stick with it. The more focused you are, the easier you will make it for yourself to create, as well as easier for the viewer to understand and remember your point.

How do I get started?

Nowadays, creating videos is cheaper than ever. You no longer need to be a 'professional' with thousands of dollars worth of shooting and editing equipment. Now, nearly everyone owns some form of video recording device, on their phone or their point and shoot camera. Start small. You can make decent quality videos without 'top of the line' gear, as long as you use good technique and learn some basics about shooting and editing video.
Some very basic tips:

* Always use a Tripod
* Always use a microphone (not just the camera mic)
* Only record good, useable footage (don't record when you are just focusing and setting your shot)
* Don't overuse camera movement (too many pans, zooms, tilts are unnecessary)

Video Resumes

How do I keep my video short and to the point?

You do not need to recite your whole resume. The point of the video resume is to allow us to get to know your personality and to highlight a few interesting points. You can find ways on camera to condense the rest of it and expand on some interesting things that will let your character shine through.

I don't have professional lights or sound, but what can I do with an HD camera at home?

You can do a lot! For lighting, you can either shoot outside and use daylight (but not direct sun), or sit inside near a window (with the light from outside shining on your face). You can also cheat a bit and use lamps to add light to your face. Just make sure you have light 'on' you and not 'behind' you. Light behind you will cause a 'backlighting effect' which can make your face dark to the camera.

As far as sound, if the room is very quiet and you sit close to the camera, you MAY be able to get away with using the built-in camera microphone. But, I would strongly suggest investing in an inexpensive clip mic that you can plug into your camera. Having a mic clipped to your collar allows for a much better sound quality, than a camera mic which can pick up unwanted ambient sound (even the sound of air-conditioning or heating can cause unwanted noise). Besides that, to look professional, you need to shoot on a stable surface. If you have a tripod, use it! If not, find somewhere at eye level that you can place your camera so it is completely still, level, and stable. A shaky, hand-held camera is a sure giveaway of an amateurish video and something fairly easy to prevent.


If you want to find out more about basics of video more and learn shooting, writing, and editing best practices, Lisa has written a great eBook: Video 101: Tips and Tricks for Awesome Visual Storytelling. Find out more information at http://www.llmedia.co/buy-ebook/

Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of WITI.