Everybody Says This is the Year of Video. But What Exactly Should My Business Do to Best Leverage Video? [Scott Miller Interview]

Every year we come out saying that this is the year of video.

Seems that way doesn't it?

Even if you know you SHOULD be doing more video as part of your marketing, it can be challenging if you don't know exactly what you SHOULD do.

I also face this challenge, which is why I'm excited to present to you this interview I had with Scott Miller, content marketing expert and Founder and CEO of Centerpost Media.

We discussed:

Understanding the power that video can have for your marketing.

Did you know, for instance, that 64% of internet users are more likely to buy a product after watching a video?

How to create the perfect video.

If budget allows, hire a professional to help you with videos, but if you are going to produce the videos yourself, there's a LOT to consider.

How to best use your videos on social media

and more!

Needless to say if you are trying to play catch up with video, this episode is for you!

Key Highlights

[01:35] Introduction of Podcast Guest, Scott Miller

[06:48] Why We Need To Focus On Video Today?

[09:25] How To Create A Perfect Video?

[12:28] Balancing Professionality With Authenticity

[14:22] Tips And Tricks On Preparing Recorded Videos

[16:00] Scott's Suggestions On How To Come Up With Ideas For The Video

[16:37] Expert Marketing

[18:00] How To Best Use Videos On Social Media

[20:53] Balancing Videos With Other Content Type

[23:32] Connect With Scott

Notable Quotes

• I think it goes back to one of the trends we're seeing in marketing is being authentic. And so more and more consumers want to know, what does the CEO stand for? How are they treating their employees? Video allows you to convey who you are and tell your story. And I think that's the reason why it's so powerful. 
• I think for me, it always starts with what are you trying to accomplish? I think that's that's step one. When we talk about creating video, you do not have to have video on every single platform.
• It doesn't have to be huge, you know, it doesn't have to be complicated Neil, it just has to be something that if I'm watching your video, am I getting your message? Is that coming clear? Are you communicating that? And certainly the video does it. But I think having a closed captioning and having the text helps with that as well.
• 80% of the content needs to be free advice. So think to yourself, what are some things I can offer for free, and that scares business owners, right? If you give me something for free, and I try it, and it works, and I want a deeper level, who am I going to go to? This is really about you know, you call it expert marketing, it's about you are already expert in your field.
• Stop worrying about following the social media trends that do not bring you additional business.

Guest Links:

• Centerpost Media: https://cenpostmedia.com/
• Connect with Scott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottmillermedia/

Learn More:

• Join My Digital First Mastermind: https://nealschaffer.com/membership/
• Learn about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/cmo
• Download My Free Ebooks Here: https://nealschaffer.com/freebies/
• Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/nealschaffer
• All My Podcast Show Notes: https://podcast.nealschaffer.com

Transcript

Neal Schaffer: 0:00

Everybody says this is the year of video. I think we've said that every year and hey, I've been saying that as well. But what exactly should your business do to best leverage video? That is going to be the topic of this next episode of The your digital marketing coach podcast. Digital social media content influencer marketing, blogging, podcasting, blogging, tick tocking, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, SEO, SEM, PPC, email marketing. Whew. There's a lot to cover. Whether you're a marketing professional entrepreneur, or business owner, you need someone you can rely on for expert advice. Good thing you've got Neil, on your side, because Neal Schaffer is your digital digital marketing marketing coach, helping you grow your business with digital first marketing one episode at a time. This is your digital marketing coach. And this is Neal Schaffer. Hey, everybody, welcome to episode number 249. Of the your digital marketing coach podcast. My name is Neal Schaffer. Obviously, your digital marketing coach, you already knew that video, video video, get it? You got to do video? Well, what if you don't have the resources to do video? What if you don't even know where to start? What if you're doing it and you don't see the results of what you think you should be getting. So today, I invited a very, very special guest. And we have a really, really great and honestly fun conversation about the different ways that you can use video. Obviously, not just understanding the power the video has that you should understand. But we're going to talk a little bit about that to serve as a reminder, but how to create the perfect video and how to best use your videos on social media. So my guest today is Scott Miller. Scott is the CEO of the content marketing agency center post media. But Scott is a really, really interesting guy who has experience in traditional radio and television before, well, what the way we talk about video today. So he really brings this mature look at radio and video and content, and digital media, and really gives us some awesome advice on what we can be doing with our videos, I always like to balance my podcast episodes with my advice, as well as the advice that I get and that you're all going to get from being a fly on the wall. Or in this case, a podcast listener from conversations that I have with various experts that are out there in the world. And there are a lot of them. I can't invite them all on the show. I try to be selective as to who I bring on. But I think you're really going to enjoy this conversation. So without further ado, here is my interview with Scott Miller, CEO and founder of center post media. You're listening to your digital marketing coach, this is Neal Schaffer. Scott Miller, welcome to the your digital marketing coach podcast.

Scott Miller: 3:15

Nail, it's my pleasure. Thanks so much for having me.

Neal Schaffer: 3:18

It's an honor to have you on the podcast, you know, as the CEO of center post media. I know that you work with a lot of clients across everything digital marketing, but before you you founded your agency, let's first you know, go a little bit back in history of of Scott Miller. And how did you get into doing what you do today?

Scott Miller: 3:39

That's great question. A media has always been a passion of mine. And it started off actually with radio. I used to be on air DJ doing country music. Yeah, got into news and sports did play by play for a while. I did a lot of on air stuff. And my career started into the programming side, I had the pleasure I got hired to launch a national talk channel as a Christian talk channel four series, this is before Sirius and XM merged. And that got me into programming. And you know, your path kind of goes down, I led me to programming a national TV network. So really, my background is more in traditional linear broadcasting. And if you look at our agency, it that's even our history. We own a couple of TV networks and a radio network, where the agency came into play is just seeing the shift in media and how we can better help our clients go beyond just creating a television commercial spot. And that's really where the content agency came into play.

Neal Schaffer: 4:44

Makes a lot of sense. And I'd say being I don't know what Jenny, you're looking younger than me but I'm a Gen X or an understanding the traditional media and that space. I think it also gives you a sort of unique advantage of understanding that when you deliver content regardless what format, if you go back to the radio station analogy, or the TV station, you had people plugged in, you know, listening, watching for 30 minutes an hour. And that's really hard to do today. And I think a lot of people take, you know, for granted just that your content really needs to be of that sort of caliber of the old radio station or the TV station. What do you think about that?

Scott Miller: 5:21

No, I agree. And to answer your question, I'm Gen X as well. But I'm on the bubble, right? So I think some people call me the millennial. Because I grew up everything growing up was analog, right? I had the record player, even eight track. And then as I got into my professional world, everything was digital. So I kind of speak both languages. But there Listen, there's more content available today than in the history of mankind, there's more options, I think, they'll I spend more time in my house trying to search what I'm going to watch and actually watch.

Neal Schaffer: 5:54

Oh, true. And you know, that's a great point, I always think the Gen Xers have this unique role of being able to bridge, the analog and the digital, like you said, and I sort of feel like I play the same role. That's awesome, where we're sort of sort of coming from the, you know, the same, same mindset. So in your role center, post media, you work with a lot of clients. And today, this is something you really wanted to talk a lot about. And I think that our listeners need to understand as well, is this power of video, we've heard like for the last decade, like, hey, the next year is going to be the year for video. And even though we hear it, and we understand it, we just don't do it. Or maybe we don't do it right. And I still see. And I think you'd agree tremendous opportunities, even on things like YouTube, I still think there's tremendous opportunities for business out there. So let's take a step back. And of all the different you know, you started with with your radio, TV, and obviously, you do a lot more types of content. Now. Why do you see the need to focus on video today?

Scott Miller: 6:52

I think it goes back to one of the trends we're seeing in marketing is being authentic, being authentic. And so more and more consumers they want to know, what does the CEO stand for? How are they treating their employees? I mean, we've seen recent backlash. Just look at the headlines when and when a company does it the wrong way. Right? That gets headlines, negative headlines, video allows you to convey who you are and tell your story. And I think that's the reason why it's so powerful. When you look at what the consumer is wanting, I think video really helps deliver that message.

Neal Schaffer: 7:29

Yeah, and I so agree. And I think that the emergence and popularity of a social network, like tick tock, and a content format, like you know, real slash tick tock selects YouTube shorts. It's it's raw, it's authentic, right? You can't, I mean, yes, you can edit in stuff, but it's still that person. That authenticity. And I think that's what really draws people into it. Hmm. It is.

Scott Miller: 7:51

And when you talk about the next generation, that's coming up, I mean, like my teenage daughters going to college? What does she look for? What is this new generation look for? And they want to connect with a brand in a very personal way that you and I grew up didn't think about, right? You didn't know who the CEO of Coca Cola is? Nor did we care? Yeah. But that's becoming more and more of an issue or concern or what this new generation wants to see.

Neal Schaffer: 8:17

Yeah. And I think that the democratization of sort of media influence we could also say, sort of the democratization of the brand. I have a teenage daughter myself, she's a junior high school, and she'll do business with brands that you know, she she sees on Tik Tok sees an influencer, talk about them, check them out, you know, I look at Hey, are they really that big of a shop and to her, it doesn't matter if they stand for the right thing. And she sees great word of mouth about it, she'll go with it. And that's how you know with video, and I'm sure you'd agree. Even smaller brands can really compete with the bigger ones,

Scott Miller: 8:50

it's really levels, the playing field, if you know how to use social media, you don't have to be a fortune 500 company to be able to get traction, you just have to know how to create content and push it out.

Neal Schaffer: 9:02

So let's move on to sort of the next question. So anybody who's listened to any of my previous podcast that you know, I will let them know sort of the future just looking at social media, the future of social media really is short form video. But obviously, you have long form video in YouTube, you have webinars and live streams, all sorts of different types of video we can do. And, you know, there's many, many different types. But if you were to give advice on okay, we, you know, we need to do more video, what is your advice and how you would create the perfect video for whatever type of video or whatever objective you have for that video are there? You know, being the CEO of an agency, I'm sure you have certain guidelines and certain steps you walk your clients through. What does that look like?

Scott Miller: 9:45

Well, I think for me, it always starts with what are you trying to accomplish? I think that's that's step one. So, nail if I'm meeting with you and you're one of my clients, the first thing I want to understand is, what is it you're trying to move? What needles what levers you're trying to move when We talk about creating video, you do not have to have video on every single platform. That's the first thing. I think there's this pressure of, oh, I have to have tick tock, if tick tock doesn't fit your brand. Like we have a Content Agency, we don't have a tick tock account. It doesn't make sense, right? We're reaching the b2b. So we spend a lot more time on LinkedIn than we do on these other platforms. So I think that's key. And then when you get into the video, I want to know what we can create that's, again, authentic. And I'll tell you our secret sauce is we actually do what you're doing. We have interviews where we have people come on, interview our clients in a way to draw out their expertise. And it's so much more authentic, because for me to come on, like if I came on your show, and just said, Let me tell you how great senator Postmedia is, that's not authentic, right, that's going to come across? Well, of course, you think it's great. You're not objective. But because you're interviewing me, you're drawing out questions that shows what I know. And those are the kinds of videos I think have the most power as far as what you push out on social media.

Neal Schaffer: 11:06

Yeah, you know, and I know this may be geared more towards b2b, although it's relevant for b2c as well so that people know what your brand stands for. Absolutely. I always thought my background for social media as b2b sales. And whenever I brought the CEO out to meet our clients, he had so many stories to tell of how the company was founded that, you know, the first customers the unique technology. And I always thought that every company out there has so much IP that never gets told, right? Maybe gets told offline. But how do you transfer that into into digital and doing a lot of what you just said there? So here's the question for you, obviously, I think now with with Zoom, and obviously, we're conducting this over zoom as well. For those that are curious. We're seeing repurpose videos from zoom webinars from zoom interviews. So it gets down to the question of quality, right? We see if we're interviewing in person, more and more people just using their iPhone. Now I know that you we were talking before head, so I know that you also have access and have your own professional video studio. So it sort of raises the question about sort of authenticity versus having something professionally recorded. I have stuff professionally recorded as well, in a studio here locally, I'm going to give a shout out to Jason Duncan and medipharm studio. But to me, it comes down to what you talk about rather than you know, you want to have a clean looking video, you want to have the right lighting the right audio, and I think that's the professional part. But I'm just curious, how do you balance the professional with the authenticity?

Scott Miller: 12:32

No, I think I think you're dead on with that. The consumer is used to looking at videos on cell phones now. As long as your lighting is good, and your audio is good. And your story is right. That's what it matters. If your audio is bad. I can't hear you. I'm not I'm not gonna watch that video. If the lighting is bad, I can't see you. I'm not gonna watch that video. But But think about where the consumers watching most of this content. There's been a shift, right? Yeah, my kids, you know, we talked about our kids, they're not watching that big screen TV I have in the living room, unless it's, Hey, it's family movie night, I'm sort of forcing it. They're sitting there with the big screen turned off, and they're on their mobile device. This is where people watching content. So I think with technology, look, I'm Big Apple guy, iPhone, HD quality camera, I think you can produce content from your mobile device or webcam. But you're right, the content itself is more important to me, then how we shoot that video.

Neal Schaffer: 13:31

And I think what some people forget is when you are in a, you know, when you're in a studio environment that the lighting is controlled, the audio is controlled, but you also have the ability of like teleprompter. So if you have a script, you can really make sure you stick to it and make sure that what you want to talk about gets gets across. Whereas just shooting outside an iPhone, you may not have the luxury of being able to do that.

Scott Miller: 13:54

Like if you have the budget to shoot something professionally, I'm always gonna say go that route. But if you're if you're at a place where you just don't let that be a stumbling block from stopping you from getting into content marketing,

Neal Schaffer: 14:07

any other advice on so you know whether it's a studio or we're using your iPhone, or we're doing an interview like this, we talked about the lighting, the audio, so the teleprompter when we get into sort of the editing phase, is there anything you know any tips or tricks you'd recommend, as to how to now prepare that video to publish after we record it?

Scott Miller: 14:30

But you said earlier short video is key. We call it more content. The longest year your video needs to be if you're talking about social media platform, two minutes, and really it's a little bit less than two minutes. You have to think where the consumer is they're scrolling through their Facebook page, your video pops up. Make sure you have closed captioning. Most people are not listening to social media. Listen, they're at work, right? They're scrolling through they see the video they're gonna read the closed captioning. Those are things to kind of Consider, I think lower thirds anytime you can give some sort of bullet points to move things along. And again, it doesn't have to be huge, you know, it doesn't have to be complicated nail, it just has to be something that that if I'm watching your video, am I getting your message? Is that coming clear? Are you communicating that? And certainly the video does it. But I think having a closed captioning, and having the text helps with that as well.

Neal Schaffer: 15:23

Yeah, I've been doing a lot of Facebook reels, actually, I figure if I can, if I can do Facebook reels and get my get my engagement up my business page, then it shows that that this works. And it's limited to 30 seconds. And I tell you, if you haven't done short form video, it's like, it's like that, right? But it really forces you to think differently. And I think that's what's necessary going forward. Right, doing the short, it's just a different way of communication. And hopefully everyone understands that. But now that hopefully everybody gets over the stumbling block of the video and they're ready to do it. What are they going to talk about? What are they going to shoot a video about? You know, you mentioned it comes down to your objectives. And you mentioned so the interview scenario, what are some other suggestions that you give your clients to help them come up with ideas for the video

Scott Miller: 16:08

80% of the content needs to be free advice. You do not this is not a commercial, right? You're not creating a 32nd or two minute commercial. People don't want to follow you on social media. And if all you're doing is promotion, promotion promotion, so 80% of it. So think to yourself, what are some things I can offer for free, and that scares business owners, right? Like, you know, if you're a marketing agency, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Your clients don't want to give things away for free. But but here's the key. If you give me something for free, and I try it, and it works, and I want a deeper level, who am I going to go to this is really about you know, you call it expert marketing, it's about you are already expert in your field. All videos doing is highlighting where you're an expert. So like for me on my SEO accounts, I'm I'm actually giving tips on how to create a video. I'm giving that away. Listen, could I be losing business? I mean, there's always at risk, right? But I'm establishing myself as man, I'm the expert, I'm going to help you. So then when they want to do a bigger project, they're reaching out to me to help. Yeah, you

Neal Schaffer: 17:15

know, I remember a conversation I had with a well a millennial back at the time, but it was like a Gen Z age millennial. And he's like, you know, in your generation, you thought that information was power today it we can get any information, we want it at our fingertips. So hopefully people are not just like, you know, saying I can't give away information. Because if you're not going to do it, your competitors well, and they're going to build that relationship with with the public, like you're talking about. And I'm a firm believer in that as well. So we've hopefully come up with ideas to showcase our company, our thoughts, how we help our customers, maybe unique things about our products, what people say about our products, How then would you recommend we use these videos? So now we're creating lots of videos? How do you recommend that we best use them on social media?

Scott Miller: 18:04

That's an excellent question. You need to have a planned out calendar. I think the problem with social media is it's still do you think about that you mentioned the traditional the linear the television, and those are legacy marketing outlets, social media in our lifetime nil. When we were kids, there was no social media in a way, I'm very thankful for that just as a side note. But it's there. And it's still new, but you have to treat it like you would any other marketing campaign. So don't wake up on a Monday with an idea, create a video and just push it out. I want to challenge you to actually sit down, come up with a calendar, what am I going to focus on in January, February and March, and then start to plan out those videos. And then you can support it graphically with things you're doing your website. So if you have a big push, and you're talking about, let's say, as an example, it's March, and you're going to do a big webinar, to talk about how to increase sales, maybe that's your business. So then your videos in March, you're going to get into some practical tips pushing people to that webinar. I want to go to your website, I want to see that video. I want to see graphics that support it and have everything planned out. Don't just be a fly on the wheel. And then one of the thing I would add to that big passion of mine is stop worrying about following the social media trends that does not bring you additional business, telling people what you think about the color of a dress, or putting a little Bernie Sanders somewhere in in your in your office. That's not going to bring you more sales or doing a weird dance. During the week. Definitely please, we don't need to see that right. Just focus on what is going to actually bring you more business and then plan it out have a calendar in advance.

Neal Schaffer: 19:50

Yeah, it's so true. In fact, I'm a big fan of Pat Flynn and his podcast and he doesn't talk about it but whenever he's about to launch a new course like on podcasting his previous several weeks of episodes will be about podcasting. So, you know, what you recommend is something that definitely the experts are doing. And it's something that everybody should, you know, really think about what are the things they want to push, if you don't have something to push, maybe what are the trends at that time a year, I work with consumer brands like a hair color brand. So there's certain times of the year where people want to get dressed up, they want to, you know, get their hair colored for, for go outdoor and see friends or what have you. So there are ways of either you know, seasonal holiday trends or trends with your products, or just industry trends, if there's a big conference coming up, where every company is announcing new things, obviously, that's where you'd want to prepare that. So I think that's great advice of sticking to the editorial calendar. So when you meet with new clients, obviously, their objectives are all over the place, every company is different. I'm assuming that video is something that you would always recommend as part of the strategy. How do you balance now, the video with the other types of content? So we have social media video content, then we have sort of like SEO, video content for YouTube? And then we have like blog content? How do you sort of balance all that together? Since we're talking about an editorial calendar?

Scott Miller: 21:09

No, I mean, we do it all, on video is a big portion of it. And certainly, we talked about SEO and those other other things, I'll say, video is actually going to help your SEO, you know, Google bought YouTube. So is it any surprise that their algorithm really kind of focuses on video? So you know, video is part of that. But I think I think it has to be all encompassing. I think that's a very good point. No, it's not, you can't go into it or only strategies video, you still need to talk about blogs need to talk about, and one of the things that's you know, mentioned about trend, I kind of made a joke about it. But if a trend pops up that is in your in your lane, then absolutely. You want to leave margin, you know, using the dress example, if you if you own a dress shop, and Ulsan, the world's talking about what color dresses, you absolutely should jump in on that conversation. But But yeah, so as far as planning, going to answer your question, I think you've got to have a balance. A full slate, not just video, for sure.

Neal Schaffer: 22:06

Yeah. And it just Pantone just announced their color of the year. So if your dress manufacturer, you may want to jump in on that trend and introduce those dresses, you know, representing the colors of the year. So absolutely. So Scott, this has been really great sort of down to earth advice, and I think is is really actionable and helpful. Is there anything else about you know, video, or just the way that your agency sees that the struggles that you know your clients may have and how you help them anything else you'd like to, you know, add in terms of additional advice for our listeners,

Scott Miller: 22:34

or the practical advice. If you're new to video, and I know some of your listeners may have not even ventured into video, there's some practical things to consider. Things you wouldn't think about. Were solid colors. Don't wear something that's a busy pattern. Don't wear anything that's distracting. Consider what's behind you don't, you know, don't be in your bedroom and create a video for your business. Right? You want to frame the shot, you got to think of yourself as a video production company. That's what's so crazy. You know, every business today is a video production company.

Neal Schaffer: 23:06

We used to say every business is media now their video production.

Scott Miller: 23:10

Right, right, exactly. I mean, you have to think about all of these things. And I think zoom as only really kind of made things on a fast track where we were already had, like, I think a lot of things we're seeing because of the pandemic, then we were already trending that way. Yeah, pandemic just sort of forced us there faster.

Neal Schaffer: 23:26

Agree 100%. Scott, thank you so much for your time sharing your you know, your experience your wisdom with all of us. If our listeners want to get in touch with you, what's the best way to find you and center plus media?

Scott Miller: 23:36

That's great. You can find me on social media, and I'm easy to find whether it's Facebook, or Twitter, or Instagram, just look for at Scott Miller CEO. And you can find me on LinkedIn, Scott Miller media, really easy to find,

Neal Schaffer: 23:51

and great personal branding advice. By the way, even if you have a very common name like Scott Miller, you can get those usernames by by you know, adding a CEO or something that's really great. And then what is the URL for center plus media?

Scott Miller: 24:03

It said, post media.com C and post media.com

Neal Schaffer: 24:07

cm plus media comm Scott, thank you so much. And it'll be really interesting to see how video plays out in the next six to 12 months. Maybe we'll have you back on the show again once once we see how things evolve.

Scott Miller: 24:18

That'd be great. Thanks so much now.

Neal Schaffer: 24:19

All right. Thank you, Scott. All right. I'll stop talking about video now that the interview is done. But I hope that gives you some practical, actionable roadmap items that you can start to put on a to do list and go through no matter what stage you are in with your video marketing video to me, has also become more and more important. I am more and more committed to publishing more videos on my YouTube channel. I am getting closer to that 1000 The big 1000 subscriber milestones. I'd really appreciate if you could check it out youtube.com/neal Schaffer, I also have redone my website, Visa v net Two main offerings that I have for businesses, fractional cmo consulting and my digital first group mastermind community. In fact, if you go to both of these pages, you'll find them going to Neal schaffer.com. The first after home the first menu item is fractional CMO. The next one is mastermind. I've completely redesigned them. And they all start with a video at the top. These videos also are on YouTube. But I do believe that there's just so many ways that we can be using video and video is such a huge search engine, the algorithms love them. It's just a no brainer, but I do think we also need to be strategic. And hey, check out what I'm doing and hopefully that will inspire you to do more as well. So that's it for another episode of The your digital marketing coach podcast. This is your digital marketing coach Neal Schaffer signing off. You've been listening to your digital marketing coach, questions, comments, requests, links, go to podcast dot Neal schaffer.com. Get the show notes to this and 200 plus podcast episodes, and Neal schaffer.com to tap into the 400 Plus blog posts that Neil has published to support your business. While you're there, check out Neil's Digital First group coaching membership community if you or your business needs a little helping hand. See you next time on your digital marketing coach.