February 17, 2025 • 35 mins
Video marketing can feel overwhelming. Between setting up equipment, figuring out what to say, and the fear of seeing yourself on screen, it’s easy to put it off. But according to Nick Niehaus, CEO of Business Video School, video is one of the most powerful ways to connect with your audience. In this episode, he shares why video marketing is worth the effort, how to get past the fear of being on camera, and simple ways to ease into creating videos without overcomplicating the process.
If you’ve been avoiding video because it feels too intimidating, this conversation is for you. Nick’s insights will change the way you think about video marketing and give you practical steps to start feeling comfortable on camera. Plus, he shares a game-changing tip that makes getting started easier than you think.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Janice Hostager (00:04):
I'm Janice Hostager.
After three decades in themarketing business and many
years of being an entrepreneur,I've learned a thing or two
about marketing.
Join me as we talk aboutmarketing, small business and
life in between.
Welcome to My Weekly Marketing.
(00:35):
So how do you feel aboutcreating video?
If you're anything like me andI'm finding that there are lots
of people like me out there,video isn't something that you
love to do.
For me, it's not only the issueof getting past watching myself
on a screen, but also the timeit takes to brainstorm ideas,
pick out the clothing, get theequipment set up, record it and
for me, that typically takesseveral takes and then edit the
(00:57):
video.
No, thank you.
But as my guest on my podcasttoday, Nick Niehaus, points out,
video allows us to connect withpeople in a way that's unlike
any other kind of marketing, andhe makes a really good argument
why it's worth all the hassleand the discomfort of doing it.
Nick is a CEO of Business VideoSchool and he comes with a
(01:17):
unique perspective.
He understands the marketingside as well as the technical
side of video, and I know thatyou'll love his insights.
If you've ever experienced anyhesitation about doing video,
then this episode is for you.
Here's my talk with Nick.
Hey, Nick, thanks for joiningme today.
Nick Niehaus (01:36):
Yeah, of course, been looking forward to it.
Janice Hostager (01:39):
So video is one of those things that we all
know we need to do more of,right?
So tell us like why you'repassionate about it, so like how
did you, why did you decide tomake a career out of it?
Nick Niehaus (01:52):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question, because
actually what I was doing beforeI got into video was still
doing marketing.
You know, we came into video inmy business from the marketing
angle.
We were doing like flyerdelivery, you know, and mailings
and things like that.
And this was about 10 years agoand it was right around the
time that Facebook releasedtheir video advertising product,
(02:15):
so before that you could runads on Facebook, couldn't run
video ads.
And so I saw that news and Istarted thinking about it and to
me it was sort of this momentof realization of like, hey,
that's kind of like a TV ad,except you know, it starts at a
dollar a day in terms of thebudget, you know, and you can
upload anything you've made andrun an ad with any of it.
And it sort of felt like amoment where it was going to be
(02:37):
obvious.
To me it was obvious, it's sortof like all right, now we can
all have our own television ads,and TV ads have been the gold
standard in advertising for bigbusinesses for a long time.
So I kind of assumed, likesmall businesses are just going
to dive in.
You know they're going torealize, oh wow, now I can, I
can sort of have my owntelevision ads and they're going
to do it.
It did not turn out quite assimple as that.
I didn't predict the amount offear and anxiety and angst that
(02:59):
would come in when it came topeople getting on camera.
And so you know, initially itwas, I got into it because I
just sort of saw it as like a nobrainer marketing move.
You know, it just seemed likeit was going to be a big deal.
Obviously, it has turned out tobe a big deal since then and
I've stayed with it and I'vekind of become more passionate
about it because of howchallenging it seems to be for a
(03:21):
lot of people.
And so you know, my, my kind ofmission has become helping
people realize.
It's just a form ofcommunication, you know, it's
just a new way we talk to eachother.
It's just another way to getyour face out there and let
people develop.
You know we call it aparasocial relationship with you
and yeah, so now, now that'skind of my, my full-time focus
is helping people.
You know, not just realize.
(03:43):
They're not just learning howto use video, but realize you
know what they're doing tothemselves that's preventing
them from using it and thenletting go of some of those
things.
Janice Hostager (03:54):
That is cool.
First off, I just want to say Ireally wish the days where we
could do a dollar a day onFacebook ads were still around,
because those were the goldendays.
It was just nobody realized itat the time.
Nick Niehaus (04:10):
.
I, uh, you're absolutely right.
Janice Hostager (04:11):
Right, and you're absolutely right.
It's like nobody, it was justan unexplored frontier, right?
Nobody knew what was going tohappen with video ads.
Um, and I, I love it's, it'sreally been interesting and I
could go on a whole tangent onthis.
This is my ADD talking, so Iwon't do that.
But, um, you're, you're alsoright that it really there's a
lot of psychology involved ingetting in front of a camera,
(04:34):
because you're so far removedfrom the individual that you're
going to be talking to who youdon't even know who you're
really going to be talking to.
I mean, we, we all know who weour ideal customer is, but there
is a lot involved like how toget in front of the camera and
feel comfortable, and I know somany of my audience members feel
that way too.
So how can small businessowners build confidence to be
(04:56):
able to get in front of a camera?
So I'm just going to go rightinto that one.
Nick Niehaus (04:59):
That's a huge one.
Right, I know that's a big one,right.
So you know it's interesting.
It's coming back to part ofwhat you said there was we don't
know who's going to see thevideo, you know.
And I think that I think that'swhere a lot of the fear and
sort of.
You know, everybody has allthese explanations for why they
don't do something, right?
I mean, we all know how to makeexcuses.
We tend to get better at it aswe get older, I think.
(05:19):
So it's one of those thingswhere it's easy to tell yourself
I'm not, you know, people usedto tell me I'm not a video
person.
You know, like I have a facefor radio, all kind of stuff,
right, um, and I always kind of,you know, roll my eyes because
it's like, well, you, you arestill meeting with people face
to face, they are seeing you.
It's really no different, youknow, they're just going to see
your face in a different sort ofcontext.
(05:41):
But I think a lot of it comesfrom I'm not necessarily scared
to talk to people I already knowthrough a video.
I don't know who's going to seethis, right, and so then we
started to imagine, you know,and for a lot of people I always
point out like a lot of folksgrew up with video meaning TV or
video meaning movies.
It's only recently that it'smeant, you know something else,
something on the internet, Zoommeetings, video messages, stuff
(06:03):
like that.
So I think our brains tend togo to oh my God, I could be seen
by hundreds of thousands ofpeople and I don't know who
they're going to be and theymake fun of me and I've got that
one really mean cousin.
They're going to see this andthey're going to give me crap
for years and I get all that.
Yeah, I mean that's part of it,right.
I mean that's just kind ofperformance anxiety.
What I find is you're going toget over that with exposure.
(06:27):
But that's not a great answer,right?
A better answer is to say whydon't you start with videos
where you do know who's going tosee it, right?
So you kind of eliminate thatuncertainty or that potential.
So I almost tell people I don'twant you to try to go viral,
maybe ever.
I think sort of trying to goviral can be a mistake, but you
know, I certainly don't want youto do that initially.
(06:48):
I want you to focus on let'sstart as easy as we can Like
what's the most basic, theeasiest kind of video we can
make.
There might be more than oneanswer to this, but my answer is
always a birthday video message, right?
So we're talking about a videoyou send to somebody on their
birthday.
It is only being sent to them.
You are saying their name, soit's a video that you're
(07:10):
recording one time for one otherperson, and I mean talk about
low pressure, talk about apositive thing.
I mean people don't we'regetting more of these now, like
other folks have started todiscover the power of this stuff
, but it's still very uncommon,you know.
So.
So you're doing something thattakes you just as long as it
would to post on their Facebookwall.
You can do it literally throughFacebook it's where most of us
(07:32):
wish each other happy birthdayat this point in time but
there's a message button and youcan literally send a message
that just contains a video, andyou can even record it in the
Facebook messenger app.
So technologically it's reallysimple.
No one's going to judge you forhow your hair looks, you know.
Nobody's going to get to a 10second video of you saying hey,
happy birthday and go.
Oh, I don't like that shirt,you know.
(07:52):
And if the person does.
You probably don't want to knowthat person anymore, right?
So that I think I mean that's along answer.
There's obviously other partsto it, but I think especially
initially right, if you're wehad a lot of people that have
been putting this off for years.
You know, I knew I should havebeen making videos four years
ago.
I still haven't done it and Ithink because of that they think
I got to go all in on day one.
(08:14):
Like I, I need to makesomething that's going to get me
business tomorrow.
That's just not a good way tolearn.
It's not going to work.
You're probably going to reallyhurt and embarrass yourself and
you're not going to want to doit again.
So put it aside.
Give yourself a couple weeksand start with something like
one-to-one video messages, happybirthday videos, you know,
checking in with people youalready know, and you're going
to get familiar with it, right,and as we start to eliminate
(08:35):
some of those challenges, youknow, if we start to learn the
tech, we start to learn whatdirection to face, how to get
our lighting dialed in a littlebetter, then the more complex
stuff that's going to be seen bystrangers will become a lot
easier.
Janice Hostager (08:50):
Oh, I love that idea.
I mean, one thing I did myselfto try and get a little more
comfortable with is just to kindof videotape myself, like
around the house, you know, like, or in the car.
I'll just, you know, have avideo chat with myself,
basically.
But it did kind of get me alittle more comfortable with
being on camera.
But I love your idea becauseyou're actually sending it to
(09:11):
another person.
Another human is going to seeit, it's not just for your eyes.
So I really like that.
Another thing you said that justmade me realize something that
you're right when, especiallypeople like my age with, who
didn't have grow up with a phonein their hand, you know that
they could just videotape orwhatever.
I think we all have thestandard of if we're going to be
(09:36):
on video, we need to look likethey do in Hollywood or that
they do on a newscast orsomething like that.
Like that standard is superhigh, it's super professional,
it's super polished, superedited, right.
So I think that that feeling ofjust like getting on camera and
being casual and talking likeyou are actually talking to
another human being is a littleforeign initially and I think
(10:00):
that may be part of thechallenge that people face.
Nick Niehaus (10:03):
Oh, for sure.
Janice Hostager (10:03):
That's my theory.
Nick Niehaus (10:04):
No, I mean, you're right, I think it's a huge part
of it.
You know, I think we I like tosay you know, video is a
conversation, not a performance.
And it can be a performance,right.
So that's not entirely true,because, you know, if I'm going
to, for instance, go on ainterview show or something and
there's going to be thousands ofpeople that see it like you
should probably still try todress nicer and, you know, do
(10:25):
your makeup correctly and allthat kind of stuff.
But most of what we do onsocial media I mean the truth is
like, if you look at some ofthe research that's been done,
typically, if you, if you try todo your videos sort of a too
high of a polish, you know, ifyou try to dress up too fancy or
lighting, looks like you're ina studio that can turn people
off, and they actually get lessviews and shorter views on that
(10:47):
content.
So people tend to like thestuff that sort of feels like
you know, it's a spur of themoment.
Granted, most of those videosare not right, but that sort of
feeling of like I just pulled myphone out of my pocket and I'm
walking down the street and I'mjust having a conversation with
you.
That is what tends to get themost views, that's what tends to
get the longest views, the mostengaged followers, all that
kind of stuff, and I just thinkthat just goes to show like
(11:09):
there is a place for the polish,but most, most of the viewers,
they don't expect that, theydon't want it.
You know, like that that's justnot, it doesn't work.
And so, yeah, we, we have to.
It is a reset right, cause we,we, we all have that idea in our
heads of, like this is.
You know, this is like I'mgetting up on stage.
You know, it feels a lot likekind of public speaking.
Um, it just isn't.
(11:30):
You know, and the truth is, alot of people like this, this,
some folks that I've known foryears but I have not talked to
in years I hadn't been to thisnetworking event in quite a
while and they're talking aboutthe videos that I've made
recently.
They don't comment on thosevideos.
I've never seen any comments,I've never seen any likes.
You know, like, as far as theevidence is concerned, like they
(11:51):
were not seeing this stuff, butthey were.
And a lot of viewers are thatway, right, so it's not.
You know, a lot of people likethey just they just want to have
kind of this little sample ofwhat you're up to you know what
you're thinking about, what'sgoing on.
They can watch a few seconds.
Here's the crazy part they willremember that few seconds for
weeks, if not months, if notsometimes even years, because of
(12:13):
the way our brains work and ourbrains remember faces.
So you could post somethingtext-based over and over again
and I may or may not rememberlater, but if I see you, if I
see your face for a few seconds,that will stick with me.
Again, this is getting into thepsychology of it and the kind
of social relations and all that, but that's what it is right.
So I think it's much better tojust think of it as like look,
(12:34):
this is just another 30 secondsor a minute's worth of an
ongoing conversation that I'mhaving with people and this
networking event that I went to.
It's a weekly meeting, so I'mnot in the group anymore, but
that's how they do it.
They meet every week.
I think that's a great analogyfor video.
You know, it's like just what.
You know, what's the 30 secondsor minute worth of stuff you
(12:55):
would say to like your referralpartners at a weekly networking
meeting?
That's your video for the week,you know, and if you put that
out, a few hundred people see afew seconds of it.
You don't have to perform, youdon't have to dress up, you
don't have to overthink it, butyou will have talked to a couple
hundred people that week andthat's that's amazing, right?
I mean?
That's part of whyI'm not in the weekly network
(13:17):
anymore is because I get moreout of the videos that I do,
quite frankly, you know.
So again, long answer to thatquestion as well.
But it's the familiarity, right.
It's just the fact that I'mseeing your face, quite frankly,
and I've done a lot of thesetypes of experiments and stuff.
It doesn't really matter whatyou're talking about in a lot of
cases, like you want to talkabout the right things, you want
(13:38):
to attract the right people.
But especially for the folksyou already know and I think
that's where a lot of missedopportunity is I know a few
thousand people at this point,right, like I just run into
people, network all this kind ofstuff over the years.
I just got to remind them Iexist and if I do that
consistently enough, they willcome to me when they need my
product or service.
Janice Hostager (13:58):
That is cool, and I love what you said about
the psychology of seeing a face,because that's true.
When you see a video, youreally feel like you almost like
you had a conversation withthem or you know, or you
listened to them in person.
Somehow, you know, there isthat kind of that element to it
that it makes it feel life insome ways.
Nick Niehaus (14:17):
I mean really, really non-consciously.
Your brain doesn't know thedifference, you know I mean when
we see a face, like our brain.
You know, like sure, consciously, we in the past, you know, 100
years have invented this thingcalled video and you know,
consciously, we're aware of whatthat is.
But all that instinctualreaction stuff doesn't, it does
not know.
It's different, right right,and there's a lot of negatives
(14:39):
there, like I think it's part ofwhy we have like a lot of
really sort of obsessivecelebrity relationships, you
know, because they've gotten alot stronger over the years,
because now, instead of seeingsomebody on tv every couple
weeks or in a movie every nowand then, we can get on
Instagram and see them multipletimes a day, every single day.
And who do you see that?
Often like family members,maybe, you know, like your
(15:00):
absolute closest friends, andyour brain a lot of levels, it
doesn't know the difference.
So so I see a lot of feet.
You know people, especiallyyounger folks, that you know
they they almost seem to havethese like really deep
connections with the influencersor celebrities they know, and
that might be a fact I'm notsaying it is, I don't know, this
is my area of expertise but itmay be having effects on other
(15:20):
parts of their life.
You know, other relationshipsand whatnot.
So yeah, but it is true when Isee your face.
(15:48):
Look at Zoom, right, look atthe pandemic.
There is a reason we went toZoom.
It might have been frustrating,I know we got all burnt out on
it after awhile.
But we still wanted to see eachother's faces.
We could've done a bunch ofconference calls.
We could've on the phone allthe time.
There's a reason we turned toZoom, right.
Cause that face of the personis what our b rain is looking
for.
That's what.
There's literally a part of ourbrain called the fusiform face
area that just recognizes faces.
Janice Hostager (15:53):
That's interesting.
I was just going to bring upZoom.
Yeah, the pandemic, I think,has done a lot for that, and we
do feel like I mean there arepeople that a lot of people
actually that I've actuallynever met in person.
Clients, people you know that Iprobably will never meet like I
will probably never meet you inperson, Nick, but you know, I
feel like we've had aconversation and it is it's that
(16:15):
seeing of the face so ispowerful stuff.
So thanks for bringing that up.
For me personally, I've gottena lot more comfortable being on
video, but for me the hang up isthe amount of time that it
takes to think of an idea, getmy clothes in order, set up the
lighting, the camera and thenfilm it.
So do you have a way in whichyou recommend now I think you
(16:39):
kind of just answered this likethe small business owners kind
of go about managing their timewhen it comes to planning and
shooting and editing video?
Nick Niehaus (16:47):
Yeah, What I like to do there is I
(17:22):
will actually, I'll set up twoblocks of time in my schedule.
One is for planning and sothat's where I'm, you know,
writing scripts.
If I have a script, a lot ofthe times I don't.
I'm just kind of picking atopic and then I'm just sort of
talking off the cuff on it.
Depends on your audience whichof those you want to go with and
kind of how comfortable you are.
But you're going to want tohave the ideas figured out and
you're going to want to have anykind of notes on how you're
going to shoot it.
(17:43):
And I like to do thatseparately from recording,
because if you do that in thesame time block and this is
again just my personalexperience, it tends to fill the
whole time block as a way ofprocrastinating, right?
So I'm like, oh, I'm going tocome up with ideas and then I'm
going to film them.
Okay, it's been an hour.
I have four ideas.
I didn't film anything, guess Ididn't get to it, you know, and
it's just sort of asubconscious procrastination.
(18:04):
So I separate them.
I have the calendar note in thesecond block, then that just
has the ideas, and so that way Ican you know, that's my day
where I'm putting my nicer shirton or whatever it is, and doing
my hair, and you know that kindof thing.
Um, it helps me.
I'll say this like, depending onwhat I'm filming, I either try
to not worry at all, and thishas really changed.
(18:25):
And I've been, I've done videoa lot and I've only recently
kind of got to the point whereI'm able to just take my phone
out and record, no matter whereI am.
Like one day I had just workedout and I'm like you know what,
just go record your videos.
Right now, like sweaty hair andmy towel around my shoulders,
you know, and part of it wasjust to kind of practice, you
know, being ready to make videosand not worrying about your
(18:45):
appearance, and lo and behold, Ithink those videos actually
perform better, because peopleare like what is what's going on
?
Why is this hair all messed up?
Youknow, what's that, you know?
Just kind of natural humancuriosity.
But if I am going to setanything up, I like to get all
that ready.
I do think if you want to havea polished look or if you're
making videos where you need toproject a certain level of
(19:06):
professionalism a lot ofprofessions probably need to do
that, it does help to have adedicated space as well.
That way you know that you'reeither facing like so for
natural light you want to beturning towards your source of
light, so like if there's awindow in the room, you want to
face the window, put your camerabetween you and the window.
That way you're getting thatlight directly on your face.
(19:27):
If you don't have that, maybeyou have a couple lights.
You turn on something like that.
So, for instance, like where Iam right now, I have, I have a
sort of studio set up and I canliterally just turn it all on at
about one minute, sit down, andit's going to look and sound
pretty, pretty clear, which isall I'm really worried about.
I don't need it to look, youknow super fancy.
I just want to make sure myvoice is clear and you can very
clearly see my face, and then Ijust sit down and I crank them
(19:50):
out right.
So whatever I have scheduled,it's all batched.
I get it all done.
So that's kind of theproduction side.
I think, in particular,separating the planning from the
shooting is a huge help, I willsay on the planning, this is
where AI is very helpful now.
So this is obviously relativelyrecent.
But if you're not sure whatideas to work with, I mean you
(20:10):
can talk to ChatGPT, like wehave a tool that's literally
available on our blog and ourwebsite that will generate 48
different video ideas for you.
So you just sort of put in,like what your business does and
who your ideal customer is, andhere you go, you got an entire
year's worth of video ideas.
So that's, that's gotten a loteasier.
It used to be a big excuse.
I don't know what to make myvideos about work with AI, or
just you can rip other peopleoff.
(20:33):
There's a million ideas outthere, and so that's that side
right.
So let me put that down.
I want to talk about editing forone second here too.
Lots of things, and we couldget into that separately.
But what I will tell you justfrom my personal experience, is
either record stuff thatrequires minimal editing which
is why I've always liked livevideo, because you can't edit it
, it's already gone out, it'sdone or pay somebody to do it,
(20:58):
and I know when you're firstgetting started, maybe you don't
want to have to have that cost,but you can find people
overseas.
Fiverr, like it's gotten reallyaffordable at this point.
And I will say, of all thepeople I've worked with,
probably the number one sort ofmistake for people that get
themselves to start makingvideos right, um, those people,
the mistake they often make isthey record something and they
(21:20):
sit on it because they stillneed to edit it, and then they
never edit it and it sits ontheir phone or their computer
for months and months, and I'vedone that.
I did that a lot, so I ended upjust hiring a full-time editor
to help me out.
Um, but editing, yeah, editingcan be a major time suck.
If you like it, if it's fun, ifit seems like a cool hobby, go
for it.
I mean, then it's your hobby.
You're going to be doing itseveral hours per video,
(21:42):
depending on what you're making.
But for most folks they don'tlike doing it, they don't want
to have to do it and I think,getting that off your plate.
I mean, if you record something, you put it in a Google Drive
folder and four or five dayslater you have a polished,
edited version of it, you're alot more likely to go ahead and
share that.
But again, some people likeediting.
(22:02):
I just don't.
Janice Hostager (22:03):
Yeah, no, and it does take a lot of time, for
sure.
Even if you enjoy the editing,it is definitely time consuming.
So I run into a lot.
I know we talked a little bitabout different types of videos,
for sure, but and social mediais one thing, I think, just
pulling your phone out, maybeeven walking down the street,
and you were just at an eventand you had an idea and you
(22:23):
thought and I thought, and youcan just share it on the fly.
However, a lot of my clients Ireally feel like they need to
have video on their websites andI do recommend that they do
that.
Do you have certain videos thatyou think every business should
have on their sites?
Nick Niehaus (22:43):
Yeah, I mean, what I will say is I think I agree
with you every businessabsolutely should have video on
your website.
I could probably think of anexample or two, or maybe they
shouldn't, but I mean reallyit's pretty universal, right.
I mean video, I mean peoplejust understand content better
typically through video, right,I mean they can hear you, they
can see you, you can show versusjust tell.
So anything you would have todescribe in text, like you can
(23:04):
literally show it in a video,and you know 99% of the time
that makes it way easier tounderstand.
Now, in terms of what kind ofvideo I mean, that will, in my
mind, that does depend a littlebit on the business.
I do think some sort ofintroduction or overview,
everybody needs that, right.
So you're sort of one to twominute, maybe a little longer.
Some people might call it abrand video.
You know something that does agood job of kind of summarizing.
(23:26):
You know, like, basically, if Ishow up on your website and I
can click a video, that 90seconds later I know who you are
, what you do and probably how Ican hire you if I need your
service.
That's probably a no brainerright.
Another one I think that prettymuch everybody should have if
you can get it is testimonialvideos.
Not the easiest thing to getcause you gotta have clients
that are willing to get intocamera for you.
But sometimes that's easier anda lot of people seem more
comfortable making a videotalking about somebody they
respect and like and enjoyedworking with rather than they
would talking about themselves.
Sometimes we get those a littlebit easier.
But I think that's a huge one.
I will say if you do gettestimonials, it's very helpful
if you explain to the customer,restate or actually start here.
(23:48):
Don't ask questions, makestatements.
So instead of saying like youknow what was it like to work
with me, say tell me what it waslike to work with me.
(24:25):
Right, tell me what that waslike and the reason you do that.
It's a little psychology trick.
If you say tell me what was youknow what was it like to work
with me, they'll say, oh, it wasgreat.
Yeah, that's not a good video,right.
You need them to say it wasgreat working with this person.
Here's why you know, get intothe details and then give them
several, you know, ask thembecause you're going to want to
cut their testimonial down.
Most people are going to talkfor five or 10 minutes and you
need 30 seconds of it, right?
(24:46):
So testimonial, that's a bigone.
I think you know something thatgoes into your processes or how
your business functions or youknow kind of gives people a
sense of what it's going to belike to work with you.
That can sometimes come fromtestimonials or that can just be
you kind of explaining andtalking it through.
So those are a few kind of barebones.
(25:07):
I would say you know entrylevel type things.
And then from there, you know Iwouldn't necessarily sacrifice
something and replace it with avideo, like if I'm going to make
a blog, I don't need to say, oh, it's just a video now and I'm
not blogging anymore.
But I like to think of video asa perfect supplement, you know.
So anywhere it makes sense tosort of sum up what is in text
(25:28):
in a video form and add it tothat page.
That's going to be very helpful.
It's going to help with yourSEO.
It gets people to stick aroundyour site longer.
It makes you know people justmore interested in spending time
there.
It's going to develop trust.
That's probably the biggestthing.
Because back to the face, right, if I've seen your face and I
feel like I've talked to you fora couple of minutes, so that's
(25:49):
a lot of it.
And then one that doesn'tnecessarily go on the site.
But one more I'll recommend iswhen you get a lead, you should
probably always have some sortof video that gets sent to that
person very early in the process, maybe not the first thing you
send.
So, for example, if I get alead on my website, I don't
necessarily want the very firsttext to have my video in it,
(26:09):
because it'll be a link, andthat can be.
You know, I get a random text.
You know, yeah, I just signedup on your site, but the first
thing I get is a link, you know.
So I probably want to start bysaying, hey, you just signed up
on our website, thanks for doingso.
I'm going to send you a videoin just a moment, you know.
So just keep an eye out for it.
Now, I know this is atrustworthy phone number, and
then I get the video right but Ithink a video very early in
(26:30):
your conversion process.
That really does help a lot.
It's always the same thingright.
Now I've seen you.
Now you're real, you're a realhuman being, and it just
increases the trust right.
So now, when I get that nexttext, that next email, you're
not a stranger, you're a realperson.
I know who you are, I have abit of a relationship there.
They're just more likely torespond as a result.
Janice Hostager (26:53):
I love that idea.
That would work really well inemail too.
Like if you've got an emailwelcome sequence that goes out
like the first or second emailcould certainly include a video.
I love that idea, gosh.
So a lot of people have saidthat really all you need is like
a good iPhone to shoot thevideo.
(27:13):
Do you kind of agree with that,or do you feel like that people
should invest in something alittle better if they're going
to do a lot of video, or whatare your thoughts on that?
Nick Niehaus (27:20):
Well, I do agree with it especially the past few
years, the cameras in thephones, there's like four five
cameras in your phone now.
I mean, it's really ridiculous,you know.
So it really is more of acamera than a phone.
I mean, we kind of it's kind ofa misnomer now to call it a
phone anymore.
But I agree with that.
I think it's a great camera.
I think you know Android,iPhone, pretty much.
Any of them anything less thanthree or four years old is
(27:42):
probably plenty.
Now the only case in which Iwould say you maybe do want to
invest in a nice you know, quoteunquote nicer camera or a
webcam is just if you want adedicated setup, right.
So, for example, like in myoffice here, I do have a
mirrorless camera.
You know it's set up, it's, youknow it's got a big old lens on
(28:03):
it and all that kind of stuff,not because my phone wouldn't
record good enough video, butbecause I do this so often that
it's just easier, because itstays there, it stays focused.
You know all that kind of stuff.
If I use my phone, I got to setit up on my tripod, I got to,
you know, wipe the lenses, doall that kind of stuff.
Not the end of the world, butfor me it just made sense to
have a more permanent setup.
But realistically, yeah, I meanyou can.
You know, there's two thingsequipment-wise that might be
(28:26):
helpful with your phone, butthat and I think those things
are a tripod so you can mountthe phone, so you can get it out
of your hands Right and you getit nice and stable, and that
can be a desktop tripod or afull size tripod.
And then the other is amicrophone.
Again, a microphone is reallyonly necessary if you're going
to be far away from the camera,like if you're going to set it
(28:47):
up in one spot, maybe you'regoing to walk around a little
bit while you're on camera, orif there's like a lot of noise
in the environment.
You want to make sure youisolate your voice a little bit
better, and that can be, you canget wireless ones, literally
like something that just clipsto your shirt, you know, six,
eight inches below your mouth.
That's kind of where you wantto put it.
We've all seen these now.
Five years ago it was lesscommon, but now we see all the
you know influencers with alittle wireless mic clipped on
(29:09):
their shirt.
We're used to that now.
Some people put it like intheir hat, you know, like that
kind of thing.
But that's it.
I mean if you you don't needjust to be clear, try to record
without anything, right?
So just take your phone out andrecord and see how it looks and
sounds and then if you feellike, okay, it was really.
You know I was shaking around alot.
Okay, I need a tripod, you knowmy voice is hard to hear.
Okay, maybe I need a microphonebut yeah, I mean, these are all
(29:31):
things like.
I know a lot of people years agothat told me well, I got to
invest all this equipment, I gotto, you know, I still got to
buy the lights, I got to buy thefancy computer, and they did.
And they set up a studiosomewhere in their house and all
it did was just give them 10other things they had to learn
how to use before they couldmake any video, you know, and it
just became another reason toprocrastinate.
And unfortunately, thecorrelation is, I think more of
(29:55):
those people have not madeprogress than the people that
never bought all this stuffbecause they didn't have
anything else to learn, right?
So don't.
Yeah, I always tell our studentsin our school my rule is you
buy a piece of equipment onceyou've encountered the problem
that that equipment solves,right, so like if I've never had
the problem of my lighting isterrible.
I'm not buying a light.
Yet you know if I've never hadthe problem of not being able to
(30:15):
hear what I'm saying in a video?
I'm not buying the microphone,and you know.
In that case you probably don'tneed a lot of it.
And if you do, you know youneed it and then there's a
reason to actually go learn todo it.
But you've already made someprogress at that point.
Janice Hostager (30:27):
Okay, that makes perfect sense.
I was gonna ask you about thelighting, but, um, I think
that's a, that's a good way ofputting it.
Yeah, it's like you don't needthe three-point lighting setup,
like, or something like that.
Where you have it, you know,light over here and a light over
there and a light behind you,kind of thing.
Yeah, like I I have a ring, aring light setup here that I use
(30:47):
quite a bit, which is kind ofnice to fill when, especially
today, is a kind of cloudy daykind of thing.
Nick Niehaus (30:52):
So right, right and well, yeah, and especially
if you're, if you're usingnatural light, it's good to be
able to supplement it, becausethe natural light changes every
day, right?
Janice Hostager (30:59):
Right, yeah, so that's good to know.
So I don't need to invest inanything, anything big and
special, unless I'm going to dothis all the time.
Is what you're saying?
Nick Niehaus (31:07):
Yeah, I mean again , I think the, you know, if you,
if you follow the way that alot of influencers, you know
people that maybe kind of grewup with this stuff, you know
that's what they tend to do,right, it's like their earliest
videos are like them in front ofa laptop and you know they're
in front of a blank wall and youknow it sounds and looks very
kind of poor quality.
But that's where they started.
Yeah, you like everybody askslike, okay, what kind of light
(31:31):
should I buy?
What kind of this, what kind ofthat?
It's like well, everybody'sgonna have their own preference,
you know.
So, for example, like a ringlight, ring lights are great for
a lot of people, right, if youwear glasses, you probably don't
want to have a ring lightbecause you see the, the ring in
in the glasses, right?
So so, everybody, you knowthat's just one example.
But there's yeah, I mean there'sdifferent lighting setups.
You mentioned the three point.
You know there, there's there'sfour point, there's two.
(31:52):
I mean you know you can do allkinds of different things.
Um, it's going to depend onyour space, it's going to depend
on where you live in terms ofthe natural light.
You know, like, I've got, uh,in this room I'm in, we ended up
just putting like really darkcurtains on the on the windows,
just so that we didn't have toworry about it cause we couldn't
really set it up in a way thatwe could face the windows?
So we had to kind of block themoff, right.
So you know, again, everybody'sgoing to have something
(32:14):
different, but I do think therewill be cases where it is
helpful to have those lights andthat equipment.
Try to do what you can withoutthem and you may be surprised.
And the last thing I'll saythere too, is AI is getting to
the point where you're able tofake the lighting, which is kind
of mind blowing.
So you know, most people aren'tgoing to be using those tools.
(32:34):
That's fairly advanced stuffright now, but I don't, I don't
think it's going to be that muchlonger before you'll basically
have a button in an app thatjust fixes your lighting, you
know.
So, even if it wasn't greatwhen you recorded, you click a
button.
Now you look like you're in aprofessional studio, and if you
bought a bunch of equipment atthat point, you won't be using
it anymore.
Janice Hostager (32:52):
Wow, that blows my mind.
So you just you think, like wejust upload a video.
I suppose that makes sense,because I can see that even now,
just using Photoshop or some ofthe other design software that
I have, that you can pull the AIin really easily.
So that will probably happenwith video too.
You're thinking down the road.
Nick Niehaus (33:11):
It's, I mean there are some tools that are
basically able to do it.
Now I mean it's superprocessing intensive and kind of
expensive in that sense and Idon't, you know, a lot of this
stuff is like if you're making aTV show or a movie or a
documentary or something likethat, stuff's maybe justified.
If you're just making somethingfor your business, for a few
people to see, like, don't messwith it, it's just not worth the
(33:33):
effort or the cost.
But yeah, I mean, it all justgets cheaper as it evolves.
So I mean really and I play withAI all the time I would predict
, I don't know, one to two yearsthat's probably about it before
we're at a point where thesetools are kind of just, you just
sort of talk to it and it fixeswhatever you want it to fix.
And yeah, that's going to be.
I mean, that's both good andbad, right, because it's good in
(33:54):
the sense that we can do it.
It's bad in the sense that, man, we're going to have all you
know, people are going to betrying to fix things they don't
need to be fixing, just as areason not to put their video
out.
You know, I can't get thelighting quite right.
It is exciting.
It's like lot of fun for sure.
Janice Hostager (34:15):
That is cool.
Well, Nick, where can peoplelearn more about you?
Nick Niehaus (34:17):
Sure, so probably the easiest place to find me is
I'm very active on Facebook.
I'm fairly active on LinkedInas well, and so you can just
look up my name.
You know Nick Niehaus, butreally you're going to want to
go to bizvideoschoolcom.
So B-I-Z videoschoolcom.
That's our website, and if youcheck out our blog I think I
mentioned this earlier we dohave a tool on there that will
(34:38):
actually give you 48 video ideascompletely customized to your
business.
It's an AI tool that I built.
You just put in what yourbusiness does and then what kind
of clients you want, and it'llgive you an entire one-year
content calendar plan for free.
So it's pretty cool.
So, yeah, that'd be.
That's probably a good thing totry and kind of just to see
what we're doing.
And then there's all kinds ofother good stuff on there.
(34:59):
Yeah.
Janice Hostager (35:00):
Oh, that's awesome.
No more excuses.
right, I'm talking about myselfhere.
Nick Niehaus (35:03):
That's the point, yeah, trying to eliminate all
excuses for people you know.
Janice Hostager (35:07):
All right, well , we'll put the links to those
in the show notes for sure.
So well, thank you so much,Nick.
I have learned a lot today andI need to go make some more
videos.
So did our conversation helpconvince you to do more video?
If so, I'd love to hear aboutit.
If you post a video onInstagram or Facebook, please
tag me in it at Janice HostagerMarketing.
(35:28):
Thanks so much for joining ustoday.
For more information onanything we talked about today,
visit myweeklymarketingcom.
Forward slash 95.
If you enjoyed our conversation, I would so appreciate a follow
on iTunes or your podcastplatform of choice.
See you next time.
Bye for now.
I'm Janice Hostager.
After three decades in themarketing business and many
years of being an entrepreneur,I've learned a thing or two
about marketing.
Join me as we talk aboutmarketing, small business and
life in between.
Welcome to My Weekly Marketing.
(00:35):
So how do you feel aboutcreating video?
If you're anything like me andI'm finding that there are lots
of people like me out there,video isn't something that you
love to do.
For me, it's not only the issueof getting past watching myself
on a screen, but also the timeit takes to brainstorm ideas,
pick out the clothing, get theequipment set up, record it and
for me, that typically takesseveral takes and then edit the
(00:57):
video.
No, thank you.
But as my guest on my podcasttoday, Nick Niehaus, points out,
video allows us to connect withpeople in a way that's unlike
any other kind of marketing, andhe makes a really good argument
why it's worth all the hassleand the discomfort of doing it.
Nick is a CEO of Business VideoSchool and he comes with a
(01:17):
unique perspective.
He understands the marketingside as well as the technical
side of video, and I know thatyou'll love his insights.
If you've ever experienced anyhesitation about doing video,
then this episode is for you.
Here's my talk with Nick.
Hey, Nick, thanks for joiningme today.
Nick Niehaus (01:36):
Yeah, of course, been looking forward to it.
Janice Hostager (01:39):
So video is one of those things that we all
know we need to do more of,right?
So tell us like why you'repassionate about it, so like how
did you, why did you decide tomake a career out of it?
Nick Niehaus (01:52):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question, because
actually what I was doing beforeI got into video was still
doing marketing.
You know, we came into video inmy business from the marketing
angle.
We were doing like flyerdelivery, you know, and mailings
and things like that.
And this was about 10 years agoand it was right around the
time that Facebook releasedtheir video advertising product,
(02:15):
so before that you could runads on Facebook, couldn't run
video ads.
And so I saw that news and Istarted thinking about it and to
me it was sort of this momentof realization of like, hey,
that's kind of like a TV ad,except you know, it starts at a
dollar a day in terms of thebudget, you know, and you can
upload anything you've made andrun an ad with any of it.
And it sort of felt like amoment where it was going to be
(02:37):
obvious.
To me it was obvious, it's sortof like all right, now we can
all have our own television ads,and TV ads have been the gold
standard in advertising for bigbusinesses for a long time.
So I kind of assumed, likesmall businesses are just going
to dive in.
You know they're going torealize, oh wow, now I can, I
can sort of have my owntelevision ads and they're going
to do it.
It did not turn out quite assimple as that.
I didn't predict the amount offear and anxiety and angst that
(02:59):
would come in when it came topeople getting on camera.
And so you know, initially itwas, I got into it because I
just sort of saw it as like a nobrainer marketing move.
You know, it just seemed likeit was going to be a big deal.
Obviously, it has turned out tobe a big deal since then and
I've stayed with it and I'vekind of become more passionate
about it because of howchallenging it seems to be for a
(03:21):
lot of people.
And so you know, my, my kind ofmission has become helping
people realize.
It's just a form ofcommunication, you know, it's
just a new way we talk to eachother.
It's just another way to getyour face out there and let
people develop.
You know we call it aparasocial relationship with you
and yeah, so now, now that'skind of my, my full-time focus
is helping people.
You know, not just realize.
(03:43):
They're not just learning howto use video, but realize you
know what they're doing tothemselves that's preventing
them from using it and thenletting go of some of those
things.
Janice Hostager (03:54):
That is cool.
First off, I just want to say Ireally wish the days where we
could do a dollar a day onFacebook ads were still around,
because those were the goldendays.
It was just nobody realized itat the time.
Nick Niehaus (04:10):
.
I, uh, you're absolutely right.
Janice Hostager (04:11):
Right, and you're absolutely right.
It's like nobody, it was justan unexplored frontier, right?
Nobody knew what was going tohappen with video ads.
Um, and I, I love it's, it'sreally been interesting and I
could go on a whole tangent onthis.
This is my ADD talking, so Iwon't do that.
But, um, you're, you're alsoright that it really there's a
lot of psychology involved ingetting in front of a camera,
(04:34):
because you're so far removedfrom the individual that you're
going to be talking to who youdon't even know who you're
really going to be talking to.
I mean, we, we all know who weour ideal customer is, but there
is a lot involved like how toget in front of the camera and
feel comfortable, and I know somany of my audience members feel
that way too.
So how can small businessowners build confidence to be
(04:56):
able to get in front of a camera?
So I'm just going to go rightinto that one.
Nick Niehaus (04:59):
That's a huge one.
Right, I know that's a big one,right.
So you know it's interesting.
It's coming back to part ofwhat you said there was we don't
know who's going to see thevideo, you know.
And I think that I think that'swhere a lot of the fear and
sort of.
You know, everybody has allthese explanations for why they
don't do something, right?
I mean, we all know how to makeexcuses.
We tend to get better at it aswe get older, I think.
(05:19):
So it's one of those thingswhere it's easy to tell yourself
I'm not, you know, people usedto tell me I'm not a video
person.
You know, like I have a facefor radio, all kind of stuff,
right, um, and I always kind of,you know, roll my eyes because
it's like, well, you, you arestill meeting with people face
to face, they are seeing you.
It's really no different, youknow, they're just going to see
your face in a different sort ofcontext.
(05:41):
But I think a lot of it comesfrom I'm not necessarily scared
to talk to people I already knowthrough a video.
I don't know who's going to seethis, right, and so then we
started to imagine, you know,and for a lot of people I always
point out like a lot of folksgrew up with video meaning TV or
video meaning movies.
It's only recently that it'smeant, you know something else,
something on the internet, Zoommeetings, video messages, stuff
(06:03):
like that.
So I think our brains tend togo to oh my God, I could be seen
by hundreds of thousands ofpeople and I don't know who
they're going to be and theymake fun of me and I've got that
one really mean cousin.
They're going to see this andthey're going to give me crap
for years and I get all that.
Yeah, I mean that's part of it,right.
I mean that's just kind ofperformance anxiety.
What I find is you're going toget over that with exposure.
(06:27):
But that's not a great answer,right?
A better answer is to say whydon't you start with videos
where you do know who's going tosee it, right?
So you kind of eliminate thatuncertainty or that potential.
So I almost tell people I don'twant you to try to go viral,
maybe ever.
I think sort of trying to goviral can be a mistake, but you
know, I certainly don't want youto do that initially.
(06:48):
I want you to focus on let'sstart as easy as we can Like
what's the most basic, theeasiest kind of video we can
make.
There might be more than oneanswer to this, but my answer is
always a birthday video message, right?
So we're talking about a videoyou send to somebody on their
birthday.
It is only being sent to them.
You are saying their name, soit's a video that you're
(07:10):
recording one time for one otherperson, and I mean talk about
low pressure, talk about apositive thing.
I mean people don't we'regetting more of these now, like
other folks have started todiscover the power of this stuff
, but it's still very uncommon,you know.
So.
So you're doing something thattakes you just as long as it
would to post on their Facebookwall.
You can do it literally throughFacebook it's where most of us
(07:32):
wish each other happy birthdayat this point in time but
there's a message button and youcan literally send a message
that just contains a video, andyou can even record it in the
Facebook messenger app.
So technologically it's reallysimple.
No one's going to judge you forhow your hair looks, you know.
Nobody's going to get to a 10second video of you saying hey,
happy birthday and go.
Oh, I don't like that shirt,you know.
(07:52):
And if the person does.
You probably don't want to knowthat person anymore, right?
So that I think I mean that's along answer.
There's obviously other partsto it, but I think especially
initially right, if you're wehad a lot of people that have
been putting this off for years.
You know, I knew I should havebeen making videos four years
ago.
I still haven't done it and Ithink because of that they think
I got to go all in on day one.
(08:14):
Like I, I need to makesomething that's going to get me
business tomorrow.
That's just not a good way tolearn.
It's not going to work.
You're probably going to reallyhurt and embarrass yourself and
you're not going to want to doit again.
So put it aside.
Give yourself a couple weeksand start with something like
one-to-one video messages, happybirthday videos, you know,
checking in with people youalready know, and you're going
to get familiar with it, right,and as we start to eliminate
(08:35):
some of those challenges, youknow, if we start to learn the
tech, we start to learn whatdirection to face, how to get
our lighting dialed in a littlebetter, then the more complex
stuff that's going to be seen bystrangers will become a lot
easier.
Janice Hostager (08:50):
Oh, I love that idea.
I mean, one thing I did myselfto try and get a little more
comfortable with is just to kindof videotape myself, like
around the house, you know, like, or in the car.
I'll just, you know, have avideo chat with myself,
basically.
But it did kind of get me alittle more comfortable with
being on camera.
But I love your idea becauseyou're actually sending it to
(09:11):
another person.
Another human is going to seeit, it's not just for your eyes.
So I really like that.
Another thing you said that justmade me realize something that
you're right when, especiallypeople like my age with, who
didn't have grow up with a phonein their hand, you know that
they could just videotape orwhatever.
I think we all have thestandard of if we're going to be
(09:36):
on video, we need to look likethey do in Hollywood or that
they do on a newscast orsomething like that.
Like that standard is superhigh, it's super professional,
it's super polished, superedited, right.
So I think that that feeling ofjust like getting on camera and
being casual and talking likeyou are actually talking to
another human being is a littleforeign initially and I think
(10:00):
that may be part of thechallenge that people face.
Nick Niehaus (10:03):
Oh, for sure.
Janice Hostager (10:03):
That's my theory.
Nick Niehaus (10:04):
No, I mean, you're right, I think it's a huge part
of it.
You know, I think we I like tosay you know, video is a
conversation, not a performance.
And it can be a performance,right.
So that's not entirely true,because, you know, if I'm going
to, for instance, go on ainterview show or something and
there's going to be thousands ofpeople that see it like you
should probably still try todress nicer and, you know, do
(10:25):
your makeup correctly and allthat kind of stuff.
But most of what we do onsocial media I mean the truth is
like, if you look at some ofthe research that's been done,
typically, if you, if you try todo your videos sort of a too
high of a polish, you know, ifyou try to dress up too fancy or
lighting, looks like you're ina studio that can turn people
off, and they actually get lessviews and shorter views on that
(10:47):
content.
So people tend to like thestuff that sort of feels like
you know, it's a spur of themoment.
Granted, most of those videosare not right, but that sort of
feeling of like I just pulled myphone out of my pocket and I'm
walking down the street and I'mjust having a conversation with
you.
That is what tends to get themost views, that's what tends to
get the longest views, the mostengaged followers, all that
kind of stuff, and I just thinkthat just goes to show like
(11:09):
there is a place for the polish,but most, most of the viewers,
they don't expect that, theydon't want it.
You know, like that that's justnot, it doesn't work.
And so, yeah, we, we have to.
It is a reset right, cause we,we, we all have that idea in our
heads of, like this is.
You know, this is like I'mgetting up on stage.
You know, it feels a lot likekind of public speaking.
Um, it just isn't.
(11:30):
You know, and the truth is, alot of people like this, this,
some folks that I've known foryears but I have not talked to
in years I hadn't been to thisnetworking event in quite a
while and they're talking aboutthe videos that I've made
recently.
They don't comment on thosevideos.
I've never seen any comments,I've never seen any likes.
You know, like, as far as theevidence is concerned, like they
(11:51):
were not seeing this stuff, butthey were.
And a lot of viewers are thatway, right, so it's not.
You know, a lot of people likethey just they just want to have
kind of this little sample ofwhat you're up to you know what
you're thinking about, what'sgoing on.
They can watch a few seconds.
Here's the crazy part they willremember that few seconds for
weeks, if not months, if notsometimes even years, because of
(12:13):
the way our brains work and ourbrains remember faces.
So you could post somethingtext-based over and over again
and I may or may not rememberlater, but if I see you, if I
see your face for a few seconds,that will stick with me.
Again, this is getting into thepsychology of it and the kind
of social relations and all that, but that's what it is right.
So I think it's much better tojust think of it as like look,
(12:34):
this is just another 30 secondsor a minute's worth of an
ongoing conversation that I'mhaving with people and this
networking event that I went to.
It's a weekly meeting, so I'mnot in the group anymore, but
that's how they do it.
They meet every week.
I think that's a great analogyfor video.
You know, it's like just what.
You know, what's the 30 secondsor minute worth of stuff you
(12:55):
would say to like your referralpartners at a weekly networking
meeting?
That's your video for the week,you know, and if you put that
out, a few hundred people see afew seconds of it.
You don't have to perform, youdon't have to dress up, you
don't have to overthink it, butyou will have talked to a couple
hundred people that week andthat's that's amazing, right?
I mean?
That's part of whyI'm not in the weekly network
(13:17):
anymore is because I get moreout of the videos that I do,
quite frankly, you know.
So again, long answer to thatquestion as well.
But it's the familiarity, right.
It's just the fact that I'mseeing your face, quite frankly,
and I've done a lot of thesetypes of experiments and stuff.
It doesn't really matter whatyou're talking about in a lot of
cases, like you want to talkabout the right things, you want
(13:38):
to attract the right people.
But especially for the folksyou already know and I think
that's where a lot of missedopportunity is I know a few
thousand people at this point,right, like I just run into
people, network all this kind ofstuff over the years.
I just got to remind them Iexist and if I do that
consistently enough, they willcome to me when they need my
product or service.
Janice Hostager (13:58):
That is cool, and I love what you said about
the psychology of seeing a face,because that's true.
When you see a video, youreally feel like you almost like
you had a conversation withthem or you know, or you
listened to them in person.
Somehow, you know, there isthat kind of that element to it
that it makes it feel life insome ways.
Nick Niehaus (14:17):
I mean really, really non-consciously.
Your brain doesn't know thedifference, you know I mean when
we see a face, like our brain.
You know, like sure, consciously, we in the past, you know, 100
years have invented this thingcalled video and you know,
consciously, we're aware of whatthat is.
But all that instinctualreaction stuff doesn't, it does
not know.
It's different, right right,and there's a lot of negatives
(14:39):
there, like I think it's part ofwhy we have like a lot of
really sort of obsessivecelebrity relationships, you
know, because they've gotten alot stronger over the years,
because now, instead of seeingsomebody on tv every couple
weeks or in a movie every nowand then, we can get on
Instagram and see them multipletimes a day, every single day.
And who do you see that?
Often like family members,maybe, you know, like your
(15:00):
absolute closest friends, andyour brain a lot of levels, it
doesn't know the difference.
So so I see a lot of feet.
You know people, especiallyyounger folks, that you know
they they almost seem to havethese like really deep
connections with the influencersor celebrities they know, and
that might be a fact I'm notsaying it is, I don't know, this
is my area of expertise but itmay be having effects on other
(15:20):
parts of their life.
You know, other relationshipsand whatnot.
So yeah, but it is true when Isee your face.
(15:48):
Look at Zoom, right, look atthe pandemic.
There is a reason we went toZoom.
It might have been frustrating,I know we got all burnt out on
it after awhile.
But we still wanted to see eachother's faces.
We could've done a bunch ofconference calls.
We could've on the phone allthe time.
There's a reason we turned toZoom, right.
Cause that face of the personis what our b rain is looking
for.
That's what.
There's literally a part of ourbrain called the fusiform face
area that just recognizes faces.
Janice Hostager (15:53):
That's interesting.
I was just going to bring upZoom.
Yeah, the pandemic, I think,has done a lot for that, and we
do feel like I mean there arepeople that a lot of people
actually that I've actuallynever met in person.
Clients, people you know that Iprobably will never meet like I
will probably never meet you inperson, Nick, but you know, I
feel like we've had aconversation and it is it's that
(16:15):
seeing of the face so ispowerful stuff.
So thanks for bringing that up.
For me personally, I've gottena lot more comfortable being on
video, but for me the hang up isthe amount of time that it
takes to think of an idea, getmy clothes in order, set up the
lighting, the camera and thenfilm it.
So do you have a way in whichyou recommend now I think you
(16:39):
kind of just answered this likethe small business owners kind
of go about managing their timewhen it comes to planning and
shooting and editing video?
Nick Niehaus (16:47):
Yeah, What I like to do there is I
(17:22):
will actually, I'll set up twoblocks of time in my schedule.
One is for planning and sothat's where I'm, you know,
writing scripts.
If I have a script, a lot ofthe times I don't.
I'm just kind of picking atopic and then I'm just sort of
talking off the cuff on it.
Depends on your audience whichof those you want to go with and
kind of how comfortable you are.
But you're going to want tohave the ideas figured out and
you're going to want to have anykind of notes on how you're
going to shoot it.
(17:43):
And I like to do thatseparately from recording,
because if you do that in thesame time block and this is
again just my personalexperience, it tends to fill the
whole time block as a way ofprocrastinating, right?
So I'm like, oh, I'm going tocome up with ideas and then I'm
going to film them.
Okay, it's been an hour.
I have four ideas.
I didn't film anything, guess Ididn't get to it, you know, and
it's just sort of asubconscious procrastination.
(18:04):
So I separate them.
I have the calendar note in thesecond block, then that just
has the ideas, and so that way Ican you know, that's my day
where I'm putting my nicer shirton or whatever it is, and doing
my hair, and you know that kindof thing.
Um, it helps me.
I'll say this like, depending onwhat I'm filming, I either try
to not worry at all, and thishas really changed.
(18:25):
And I've been, I've done videoa lot and I've only recently
kind of got to the point whereI'm able to just take my phone
out and record, no matter whereI am.
Like one day I had just workedout and I'm like you know what,
just go record your videos.
Right now, like sweaty hair andmy towel around my shoulders,
you know, and part of it wasjust to kind of practice, you
know, being ready to make videosand not worrying about your
(18:45):
appearance, and lo and behold, Ithink those videos actually
perform better, because peopleare like what is what's going on
?
Why is this hair all messed up?
Youknow, what's that, you know?
Just kind of natural humancuriosity.
But if I am going to setanything up, I like to get all
that ready.
I do think if you want to havea polished look or if you're
making videos where you need toproject a certain level of
(19:06):
professionalism a lot ofprofessions probably need to do
that, it does help to have adedicated space as well.
That way you know that you'reeither facing like so for
natural light you want to beturning towards your source of
light, so like if there's awindow in the room, you want to
face the window, put your camerabetween you and the window.
That way you're getting thatlight directly on your face.
(19:27):
If you don't have that, maybeyou have a couple lights.
You turn on something like that.
So, for instance, like where Iam right now, I have, I have a
sort of studio set up and I canliterally just turn it all on at
about one minute, sit down, andit's going to look and sound
pretty, pretty clear, which isall I'm really worried about.
I don't need it to look, youknow super fancy.
I just want to make sure myvoice is clear and you can very
clearly see my face, and then Ijust sit down and I crank them
(19:50):
out right.
So whatever I have scheduled,it's all batched.
I get it all done.
So that's kind of theproduction side.
I think, in particular,separating the planning from the
shooting is a huge help, I willsay on the planning, this is
where AI is very helpful now.
So this is obviously relativelyrecent.
But if you're not sure whatideas to work with, I mean you
(20:10):
can talk to ChatGPT, like wehave a tool that's literally
available on our blog and ourwebsite that will generate 48
different video ideas for you.
So you just sort of put in,like what your business does and
who your ideal customer is, andhere you go, you got an entire
year's worth of video ideas.
So that's, that's gotten a loteasier.
It used to be a big excuse.
I don't know what to make myvideos about work with AI, or
just you can rip other peopleoff.
(20:33):
There's a million ideas outthere, and so that's that side
right.
So let me put that down.
I want to talk about editing forone second here too.
Lots of things, and we couldget into that separately.
But what I will tell you justfrom my personal experience, is
either record stuff thatrequires minimal editing which
is why I've always liked livevideo, because you can't edit it
, it's already gone out, it'sdone or pay somebody to do it,
(20:58):
and I know when you're firstgetting started, maybe you don't
want to have to have that cost,but you can find people
overseas.
Fiverr, like it's gotten reallyaffordable at this point.
And I will say, of all thepeople I've worked with,
probably the number one sort ofmistake for people that get
themselves to start makingvideos right, um, those people,
the mistake they often make isthey record something and they
(21:20):
sit on it because they stillneed to edit it, and then they
never edit it and it sits ontheir phone or their computer
for months and months, and I'vedone that.
I did that a lot, so I ended upjust hiring a full-time editor
to help me out.
Um, but editing, yeah, editingcan be a major time suck.
If you like it, if it's fun, ifit seems like a cool hobby, go
for it.
I mean, then it's your hobby.
You're going to be doing itseveral hours per video,
(21:42):
depending on what you're making.
But for most folks they don'tlike doing it, they don't want
to have to do it and I think,getting that off your plate.
I mean, if you record something, you put it in a Google Drive
folder and four or five dayslater you have a polished,
edited version of it, you're alot more likely to go ahead and
share that.
But again, some people likeediting.
(22:02):
I just don't.
Janice Hostager (22:03):
Yeah, no, and it does take a lot of time, for
sure.
Even if you enjoy the editing,it is definitely time consuming.
So I run into a lot.
I know we talked a little bitabout different types of videos,
for sure, but and social mediais one thing, I think, just
pulling your phone out, maybeeven walking down the street,
and you were just at an eventand you had an idea and you
(22:23):
thought and I thought, and youcan just share it on the fly.
However, a lot of my clients Ireally feel like they need to
have video on their websites andI do recommend that they do
that.
Do you have certain videos thatyou think every business should
have on their sites?
Nick Niehaus (22:43):
Yeah, I mean, what I will say is I think I agree
with you every businessabsolutely should have video on
your website.
I could probably think of anexample or two, or maybe they
shouldn't, but I mean reallyit's pretty universal, right.
I mean video, I mean peoplejust understand content better
typically through video, right,I mean they can hear you, they
can see you, you can show versusjust tell.
So anything you would have todescribe in text, like you can
(23:04):
literally show it in a video,and you know 99% of the time
that makes it way easier tounderstand.
Now, in terms of what kind ofvideo I mean, that will, in my
mind, that does depend a littlebit on the business.
I do think some sort ofintroduction or overview,
everybody needs that, right.
So you're sort of one to twominute, maybe a little longer.
Some people might call it abrand video.
You know something that does agood job of kind of summarizing.
(23:26):
You know, like, basically, if Ishow up on your website and I
can click a video, that 90seconds later I know who you are
, what you do and probably how Ican hire you if I need your
service.
That's probably a no brainerright.
Another one I think that prettymuch everybody should have if
you can get it is testimonialvideos.
Not the easiest thing to getcause you gotta have clients
that are willing to get intocamera for you.
But sometimes that's easier anda lot of people seem more
comfortable making a videotalking about somebody they
respect and like and enjoyedworking with rather than they
would talking about themselves.
Sometimes we get those a littlebit easier.
But I think that's a huge one.
I will say if you do gettestimonials, it's very helpful
if you explain to the customer,restate or actually start here.
(23:48):
Don't ask questions, makestatements.
So instead of saying like youknow what was it like to work
with me, say tell me what it waslike to work with me.
(24:25):
Right, tell me what that waslike and the reason you do that.
It's a little psychology trick.
If you say tell me what was youknow what was it like to work
with me, they'll say, oh, it wasgreat.
Yeah, that's not a good video,right.
You need them to say it wasgreat working with this person.
Here's why you know, get intothe details and then give them
several, you know, ask thembecause you're going to want to
cut their testimonial down.
Most people are going to talkfor five or 10 minutes and you
need 30 seconds of it, right?
(24:46):
So testimonial, that's a bigone.
I think you know something thatgoes into your processes or how
your business functions or youknow kind of gives people a
sense of what it's going to belike to work with you.
That can sometimes come fromtestimonials or that can just be
you kind of explaining andtalking it through.
So those are a few kind of barebones.
(25:07):
I would say you know entrylevel type things.
And then from there, you know Iwouldn't necessarily sacrifice
something and replace it with avideo, like if I'm going to make
a blog, I don't need to say, oh, it's just a video now and I'm
not blogging anymore.
But I like to think of video asa perfect supplement, you know.
So anywhere it makes sense tosort of sum up what is in text
(25:28):
in a video form and add it tothat page.
That's going to be very helpful.
It's going to help with yourSEO.
It gets people to stick aroundyour site longer.
It makes you know people justmore interested in spending time
there.
It's going to develop trust.
That's probably the biggestthing.
Because back to the face, right, if I've seen your face and I
feel like I've talked to you fora couple of minutes, so that's
(25:49):
a lot of it.
And then one that doesn'tnecessarily go on the site.
But one more I'll recommend iswhen you get a lead, you should
probably always have some sortof video that gets sent to that
person very early in the process, maybe not the first thing you
send.
So, for example, if I get alead on my website, I don't
necessarily want the very firsttext to have my video in it,
(26:09):
because it'll be a link, andthat can be.
You know, I get a random text.
You know, yeah, I just signedup on your site, but the first
thing I get is a link, you know.
So I probably want to start bysaying, hey, you just signed up
on our website, thanks for doingso.
I'm going to send you a videoin just a moment, you know.
So just keep an eye out for it.
Now, I know this is atrustworthy phone number, and
then I get the video right but Ithink a video very early in
(26:30):
your conversion process.
That really does help a lot.
It's always the same thingright.
Now I've seen you.
Now you're real, you're a realhuman being, and it just
increases the trust right.
So now, when I get that nexttext, that next email, you're
not a stranger, you're a realperson.
I know who you are, I have abit of a relationship there.
They're just more likely torespond as a result.
Janice Hostager (26:53):
I love that idea.
That would work really well inemail too.
Like if you've got an emailwelcome sequence that goes out
like the first or second emailcould certainly include a video.
I love that idea, gosh.
So a lot of people have saidthat really all you need is like
a good iPhone to shoot thevideo.
(27:13):
Do you kind of agree with that,or do you feel like that people
should invest in something alittle better if they're going
to do a lot of video, or whatare your thoughts on that?
Nick Niehaus (27:20):
Well, I do agree with it especially the past few
years, the cameras in thephones, there's like four five
cameras in your phone now.
I mean, it's really ridiculous,you know.
So it really is more of acamera than a phone.
I mean, we kind of it's kind ofa misnomer now to call it a
phone anymore.
But I agree with that.
I think it's a great camera.
I think you know Android,iPhone, pretty much.
Any of them anything less thanthree or four years old is
(27:42):
probably plenty.
Now the only case in which Iwould say you maybe do want to
invest in a nice you know, quoteunquote nicer camera or a
webcam is just if you want adedicated setup, right.
So, for example, like in myoffice here, I do have a
mirrorless camera.
You know it's set up, it's, youknow it's got a big old lens on
(28:03):
it and all that kind of stuff,not because my phone wouldn't
record good enough video, butbecause I do this so often that
it's just easier, because itstays there, it stays focused.
You know all that kind of stuff.
If I use my phone, I got to setit up on my tripod, I got to,
you know, wipe the lenses, doall that kind of stuff.
Not the end of the world, butfor me it just made sense to
have a more permanent setup.
But realistically, yeah, I meanyou can.
You know, there's two thingsequipment-wise that might be
(28:26):
helpful with your phone, butthat and I think those things
are a tripod so you can mountthe phone, so you can get it out
of your hands Right and you getit nice and stable, and that
can be a desktop tripod or afull size tripod.
And then the other is amicrophone.
Again, a microphone is reallyonly necessary if you're going
to be far away from the camera,like if you're going to set it
(28:47):
up in one spot, maybe you'regoing to walk around a little
bit while you're on camera, orif there's like a lot of noise
in the environment.
You want to make sure youisolate your voice a little bit
better, and that can be, you canget wireless ones, literally
like something that just clipsto your shirt, you know, six,
eight inches below your mouth.
That's kind of where you wantto put it.
We've all seen these now.
Five years ago it was lesscommon, but now we see all the
you know influencers with alittle wireless mic clipped on
(29:09):
their shirt.
We're used to that now.
Some people put it like intheir hat, you know, like that
kind of thing.
But that's it.
I mean if you you don't needjust to be clear, try to record
without anything, right?
So just take your phone out andrecord and see how it looks and
sounds and then if you feellike, okay, it was really.
You know I was shaking around alot.
Okay, I need a tripod, you knowmy voice is hard to hear.
Okay, maybe I need a microphonebut yeah, I mean, these are all
(29:31):
things like.
I know a lot of people years agothat told me well, I got to
invest all this equipment, I gotto, you know, I still got to
buy the lights, I got to buy thefancy computer, and they did.
And they set up a studiosomewhere in their house and all
it did was just give them 10other things they had to learn
how to use before they couldmake any video, you know, and it
just became another reason toprocrastinate.
And unfortunately, thecorrelation is, I think more of
(29:55):
those people have not madeprogress than the people that
never bought all this stuffbecause they didn't have
anything else to learn, right?
So don't.
Yeah, I always tell our studentsin our school my rule is you
buy a piece of equipment onceyou've encountered the problem
that that equipment solves,right, so like if I've never had
the problem of my lighting isterrible.
I'm not buying a light.
Yet you know if I've never hadthe problem of not being able to
(30:15):
hear what I'm saying in a video?
I'm not buying the microphone,and you know.
In that case you probably don'tneed a lot of it.
And if you do, you know youneed it and then there's a
reason to actually go learn todo it.
But you've already made someprogress at that point.
Janice Hostager (30:27):
Okay, that makes perfect sense.
I was gonna ask you about thelighting, but, um, I think
that's a, that's a good way ofputting it.
Yeah, it's like you don't needthe three-point lighting setup,
like, or something like that.
Where you have it, you know,light over here and a light over
there and a light behind you,kind of thing.
Yeah, like I I have a ring, aring light setup here that I use
(30:47):
quite a bit, which is kind ofnice to fill when, especially
today, is a kind of cloudy daykind of thing.
Nick Niehaus (30:52):
So right, right and well, yeah, and especially
if you're, if you're usingnatural light, it's good to be
able to supplement it, becausethe natural light changes every
day, right?
Janice Hostager (30:59):
Right, yeah, so that's good to know.
So I don't need to invest inanything, anything big and
special, unless I'm going to dothis all the time.
Is what you're saying?
Nick Niehaus (31:07):
Yeah, I mean again , I think the, you know, if you,
if you follow the way that alot of influencers, you know
people that maybe kind of grewup with this stuff, you know
that's what they tend to do,right, it's like their earliest
videos are like them in front ofa laptop and you know they're
in front of a blank wall and youknow it sounds and looks very
kind of poor quality.
But that's where they started.
Yeah, you like everybody askslike, okay, what kind of light
(31:31):
should I buy?
What kind of this, what kind ofthat?
It's like well, everybody'sgonna have their own preference,
you know.
So, for example, like a ringlight, ring lights are great for
a lot of people, right, if youwear glasses, you probably don't
want to have a ring lightbecause you see the, the ring in
in the glasses, right?
So so, everybody, you knowthat's just one example.
But there's yeah, I mean there'sdifferent lighting setups.
You mentioned the three point.
You know there, there's there'sfour point, there's two.
(31:52):
I mean you know you can do allkinds of different things.
Um, it's going to depend onyour space, it's going to depend
on where you live in terms ofthe natural light.
You know, like, I've got, uh,in this room I'm in, we ended up
just putting like really darkcurtains on the on the windows,
just so that we didn't have toworry about it cause we couldn't
really set it up in a way thatwe could face the windows?
So we had to kind of block themoff, right.
So you know, again, everybody'sgoing to have something
(32:14):
different, but I do think therewill be cases where it is
helpful to have those lights andthat equipment.
Try to do what you can withoutthem and you may be surprised.
And the last thing I'll saythere too, is AI is getting to
the point where you're able tofake the lighting, which is kind
of mind blowing.
So you know, most people aren'tgoing to be using those tools.
(32:34):
That's fairly advanced stuffright now, but I don't, I don't
think it's going to be that muchlonger before you'll basically
have a button in an app thatjust fixes your lighting, you
know.
So, even if it wasn't greatwhen you recorded, you click a
button.
Now you look like you're in aprofessional studio, and if you
bought a bunch of equipment atthat point, you won't be using
it anymore.
Janice Hostager (32:52):
Wow, that blows my mind.
So you just you think, like wejust upload a video.
I suppose that makes sense,because I can see that even now,
just using Photoshop or some ofthe other design software that
I have, that you can pull the AIin really easily.
So that will probably happenwith video too.
You're thinking down the road.
Nick Niehaus (33:11):
It's, I mean there are some tools that are
basically able to do it.
Now I mean it's superprocessing intensive and kind of
expensive in that sense and Idon't, you know, a lot of this
stuff is like if you're making aTV show or a movie or a
documentary or something likethat, stuff's maybe justified.
If you're just making somethingfor your business, for a few
people to see, like, don't messwith it, it's just not worth the
(33:33):
effort or the cost.
But yeah, I mean, it all justgets cheaper as it evolves.
So I mean really and I play withAI all the time I would predict
, I don't know, one to two yearsthat's probably about it before
we're at a point where thesetools are kind of just, you just
sort of talk to it and it fixeswhatever you want it to fix.
And yeah, that's going to be.
I mean, that's both good andbad, right, because it's good in
(33:54):
the sense that we can do it.
It's bad in the sense that, man, we're going to have all you
know, people are going to betrying to fix things they don't
need to be fixing, just as areason not to put their video
out.
You know, I can't get thelighting quite right.
It is exciting.
It's like lot of fun for sure.
Janice Hostager (34:15):
That is cool.
Well, Nick, where can peoplelearn more about you?
Nick Niehaus (34:17):
Sure, so probably the easiest place to find me is
I'm very active on Facebook.
I'm fairly active on LinkedInas well, and so you can just
look up my name.
You know Nick Niehaus, butreally you're going to want to
go to bizvideoschoolcom.
So B-I-Z videoschoolcom.
That's our website, and if youcheck out our blog I think I
mentioned this earlier we dohave a tool on there that will
(34:38):
actually give you 48 video ideascompletely customized to your
business.
It's an AI tool that I built.
You just put in what yourbusiness does and then what kind
of clients you want, and it'llgive you an entire one-year
content calendar plan for free.
So it's pretty cool.
So, yeah, that'd be.
That's probably a good thing totry and kind of just to see
what we're doing.
And then there's all kinds ofother good stuff on there.
(34:59):
Yeah.
Janice Hostager (35:00):
Oh, that's awesome.
No more excuses.
right, I'm talking about myselfhere.
Nick Niehaus (35:03):
That's the point, yeah, trying to eliminate all
excuses for people you know.
Janice Hostager (35:07):
All right, well , we'll put the links to those
in the show notes for sure.
So well, thank you so much,Nick.
I have learned a lot today andI need to go make some more
videos.
So did our conversation helpconvince you to do more video?
If so, I'd love to hear aboutit.
If you post a video onInstagram or Facebook, please
tag me in it at Janice HostagerMarketing.
(35:28):
Thanks so much for joining ustoday.
For more information onanything we talked about today,
visit myweeklymarketingcom.
Forward slash 95.
If you enjoyed our conversation, I would so appreciate a follow
on iTunes or your podcastplatform of choice.
See you next time.
Bye for now.
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