January 17, 2022 • 24 mins
In Episide 13 we caught up with Tyler Lessard Vice President of Marketing at Vidyard to discuss a recent book he Co-Authored with Marcus Sheridan called "The Visual Sale" on how the use of video is transforming the selling landscape.
About the Book:
More than ever before, buyers and consumers are demanding for more video. Just "reading" about a product, service, or company will no longer do the trick. Today, they must "see" it. Not withstanding this increased demand for video, most businesses and organizations have struggled to quickly adapt. In fact, many have no idea as to how or where to get started. For this purpose, The Visual Sale was written. Finally, businesses and organizations have a clear guide that will literally show them, in simple, clear, and actionable terms, exactly how they can build a culture of video and start "showing it" moving forward, ultimately leading to a dramatic improvement to their sales numbers, marketing strategy, and overall customer experience.
Read the Book
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Play the King (00:00):
Our guest today is Tyler Lessard, VP of
marketing at Vidyard.
And he's here to discuss hisrecent book, which he
co-authored with MarcusSheridan, and it's called The
Visual Sale on how the use ofvideo is transforming the
selling landscape.
Here's Tyler.
Tyler Lessard (00:17):
Hey, it's great to be here.
My name is Tyler Lessard.
I am the Vice Presidentmarketing here at Vidyard.
I've been at this business forjust over eight years now, if
you can believe it, like that'slike 75 years in the world of
SaaS technology.
So I have had the chance to livein this world of video in
business during that time.
And it's actually been a reallyphenomenal experience to see the
(00:39):
rise of this market.
It outside of that, I have fourwonderful kids who are all still
at home trying to do school.
So bear with me.
If you hear anything in thebackground and I am an avid
basketball player in my sparetime.
All right, Tyler,
Play the King (00:53):
This is sort of a two- fer starting off easy here.
I'd like to hear, you know, wewere all around eight years ago,
but it's easy to forget of thestate of things back then, as
you said, things move soquickly.
What was online video like eightyears ago when you entered the
space and then maybe you couldtransition from there to telling
me how you got to where you areright now?
Tyler Lessard (01:14):
Well, it's a, it's a great question and a
great point, because as we lookback nearly a decade video, of
course was already a big thing,right?
Youtube was proliferating.
We had people in their personallives consuming more and more
online digital video contentobviously than ever before.
And it was absolutely part ofthe main stream.
(01:34):
B2C companies, large consumerbrands were already figuring out
online and digital video as apart of their business marketing
programs and ways to engageconsumers, but in the world of
what I'd call either B2Bbusinesses or, or frankly just
your average business ormarketing team video was still
(01:55):
very much in its infancy.
It was difficult and expensiveto create.
It was largely used just forbrand marketing or social media
programs where we could get alot of reach.
And most of us, if very fewfrankly, had the ability
in-house to create videocontent.
So it was very much a premiummedium, if you will, fast
(02:18):
forward to today and like, wow,have things changed.
And even over the last 18 monthsto two years have really
accelerated to the point wherebusinesses and even individuals
in those companies can and docreate video content frequently.
There's lots of different wayswe can now create video and it's
become such an important part ofhow people consume information
(02:39):
that we all need to be thinkingabout it in how we market and
how we sell and how we cancommunicate our important
messages.
So over this last eight years orso, it's been really interesting
to see the demand for videocontent from our audiences has
always been there, but theability for us to supply it as
marketers, as sellers, asbusiness leaders, is able to
level up to that.
We're able to create, sharedifferent styles and different
(03:02):
formats of content much morefrequently and across our
different programs.
And I think that's been thebiggest thing that I've seen.
And the thing that gets me mostexcited is this accessibility of
video and how we can all make ita part of how we communicate our
important messages.
Play the King (03:16):
So looking back to sort of the infancy of
commercials, let's say likevideo, video marketing, it was
on TV, right?
And it was a 30 second spot ormaybe a little longer, it was
pretty uniform from that sense,these days you could be seeing
video anywhere.
I mean,you're walking d own times square and there's a huge
screen or you're on your phoneor you're watching TV still, or
you're streaming.
How does the complexity of sortof the delivery of video?
(03:39):
How has that sort of changed theway that people who are using it
for marketing have to thinkabout, I guess what they're
doing?
You know,
Tyler Lessard (03:45):
One of the big things you're saying there,
which is so important for us tobe mindful of in today's
business world is the definitionof what is video, you know, as a
marketing medium, as a sellingmedium and so on, what is it?
And you know, how can we use itis changed significantly.
Again, if you go back to thisdawn of video, you would say,
well, what was video inmarketing?
It was a commercial, it was anadvertisement.
(04:09):
And it was a very narrowdefinition of how it was used,
but in today's world, peopleexpect video, not just as a
promotional medium, but as a wayto learn about different topics
as a way to interact with brandsonline in both short form and
long form content we'reproducing and sharing our long
(04:30):
webinars that people arewatching and binging on during
business hours to learn about acompany or to learn about a new
topic.
We're watching two minuteexplainers, we're watching 10
minute deep dives, again, asways to learn to self educate
and to also get a more personalconnection to the people behind
these businesses and the expertsout there that we're listening
(04:50):
to.
So that's been this big shiftand what we all need to embrace
is this notion that video as amedium isn't one thing or
another, it is a way to deliverour message, to deliver our
content to our audiences.
And that changes the way wethink about it as marketers.
And in last year, I had theopportunity to, to co-author, a
book called The Visual Sale withmy great friend Marcus Sheridan.
(05:13):
And we dive into this quite abit in the book and it's
something I had a, a lot of timeto research and understand how
are different marketers usingit.
And why like, what is so specialabout video, that's making it
work for them.
And I'll just end the answer tothis question with one of the
things we talk about in the bookis what I call the four E's of
video.
That's the letter E not the wordE so the four E's of video are
(05:36):
the things that make itparticularly compelling over
other content format.
And as we about the ways we useit as marketers, the four E's
can help guide us and thinkabout where might video play a
better role.
T he first E is that it's moreeducational than other static
forms of content, right?
Our brains process, visualinformation differently than we
(05:57):
do the written word.
And even the listened voice,it's more engaging in many ways
than other forms of content,because we have the ability to
do more storytelling, to drawpeople in with visuals.
It h as the opportunity to allowus to be more emotional t han
static content and the fourth E,w ell, like any good marketer.
I'm gonna w ait t o t he end ofthis episode to tell you about
(06:18):
that one.
Play the King (06:19):
All Right! I'd like to drill down a little bit
on some of the things you werejust sort of addressing at kind
of a high level, what are someof the ways that companies need
to, or have been needing torethink how they go to market
and what are the, you know,specifically as it pertains to
video and the content they'recreating?
Tyler Lessard (06:34):
Yeah, well, so much of this is driven by
something I alluded to earlier,which is the changing
expectations and preferences ofour prospects, of our buyers, of
our online audiences.
Right?
If you go back again, you know,10, 20 years, when a lot of our
businesses kind of rebuilt ourengagement and content
strategies, it was a verydifferent world in terms of what
(06:54):
people expected.
You know, social media was thebig thing where we said, oh my
goodness, if we can actuallystart to share stuff on a daily
basis on social channels, likethat's a whole revolutionary
thing.
Well, what's happened sincethen, is that again, people's
expectations of the types ofcontent they're consuming, the
accessibility of that content.
The frequency of that contenthas continued to change a lot of
(07:16):
course, things like Netflix andAmazon and all those we know
have had an influence on that.
We're very spoiled.
, that's a communicationculture, if you will.
And again, we have very highexpectations.
So we know that a lot of ourprospects and customers in most
business worlds are listening topodcasts, right?
Those of you listening rightnow, right?
10 years ago, you probablyweren't listening to business
(07:37):
related podcasts, but now becomea part of your day to day
repertoire.
You're watching videos, ofcourse, both in your personal
life, but also your businesslife and your expectation for
what those videos are, has alsochanged.
Again, going back 10 years, evenfive or three years, we
typically expected when we sawvideos start to play, we
expected and really lean towardsthings that were a much higher
(07:59):
production.
They felt like commercials,things like that.
But nowadays we see thisinteresting shift where people
are actually gravitating moreand more towards more authentic
content, things that wereactually created much more
genuine and a much more easyway, right?
We have sales reps who justrecord a quick video on their
phone or on their webcam andsend it out to a prospect.
(08:20):
We have marketers who get theirexecutive on camera.
And when I say on camera, I'mdoing air quotes, because again,
they may just be holding uptheir phone, recording an update
on something important andputting it out there into their
channels.
And people are devouring thatkind of content.
So again, as we think about thisas marketers and where do we go,
there's been this big shift inwhat our audience has expect
(08:40):
from us, the kinds of contentthey want to engage with.
And if your content strategy asa business is still just the
written blog post or updates onyour website or text based post
on social media, right?
Now's the time when you reallyneed to think about this
evolution of video, audio, andother forms of media as a day to
day way you engage youraudience.
Play the King (09:01):
That's an interesting point.
I guess, you know, when I thinkabout an executive who maybe
holds up his phone and, or herphone and records a message and
puts it out there and everyone'slike, oh yeah, that's just like,
that's the raw stuff.
You know, that it feels thatway.
Right.
But to do it well still requiressome Polish, some behind the
scenes magic.
Some I, I guarantee you, if youask, nine out of 10, VPs of
(09:23):
marketing, say to hold u p their phone and record a message.
It's not gonna come out the wayyou necessarily picture it in
your head.
I guess I want you to reflect onhow companies, how teams can
sort of hit that magic middle,where they're like, you know, it
feels authentic and raw andreal.
Y eah.
But has like, you know, it's notembarrassing a nd, a nd it works
and i t's not, you know what Imean?
Tyler Lessard (09:41):
You're spot on.
And it's such a great point.
And I, I honestly believe that,you know, a number of years from
now call it three years, fiveyears, I don't know at the time
horizon, but you know, we'll getto that point where now this is
just a natural part of whatpeople do and much the, like,
you know, as a salesperson, youmake your first cold calls.
And it really sucks when youstart.
(10:01):
And then, you know, you get intoa rhythm or, you know, as a
writer, you write your firstblog post that takes forever.
It comes out really difficult,but practice, practice.
And eventually it just becomessecond nature.
And I think we, as a businessculture are going to get there
in the, not too distant future.
But until then, you'reabsolutely right that most
people aren't yet comfortable.
They're not equipped.
(10:22):
They're not savvy at getting oncamera, being a one take wonder,
making it feel just right andputting it out there.
So I think today there's anumber of things that we can do
to, to start to get there.
I mean, number one is to, justto that point, start to make,
get a part of the culture of thebusiness.
Start to make these shortvideos, featuring real people
(10:43):
from your company, somethingthat you do in a continuous
fashion, because if you make onevideo of your executive doing a
big annual update and that's itfor the year, right?
Every year it's gonna be a biglift.
But if it's something that theystart to do continuously again,
they will start to get a betterfeel for their style, what works
for them.
And every video is gonna feel alittle bit more natural, a
(11:05):
little bit more authentic.
The second thing in addition toconsistency is a reminder that
with something like videopre-production or pre-planning
is more important than theactual production itself.
So to say it another way, don'twing it, don't freestyle it.
You always think, well, oh, tobe the most authentic, we should
just freestyle it.
(11:25):
And it never actually works thatway to be the most authentic, to
be the most valuable in yourcontent.
You want to be confident goinginto it and confidence comes
with preparation.
And if I go into making a video,having a good sense for, okay,
what are we going to talk about?
What's the story arc here?
What are the three main points Ineed to hit?
Where do I start?
(11:46):
And where do I end?
Right.
Those things are going to giveme the confidence to then
communicate naturally to deliverit in a way as if I were having
a conversation with somebody.
And that tends to come out thebest.
So don't mistake, authenticityfor off the cuff.
In fact, you know, again, themore preparation that you can
(12:06):
do, especially when folks areearly in their video careers, if
you will, the more that it'sgonna give you a better finished
product.
Play the King (12:12):
So we talked about, you know, use of video in
, in modern marketing.
I think that's where my braingoes, because, you know, as a
consumer on Instagram andwhatever, YouTube, I'm
constantly seeing ads, but let'sdrill down on a slightly
different, I guess, genre, whichis videos for sales teams and,
and people who are, who areusing it to, to sell.
Wonder if you could just talkabout what you're seeing, that's
(12:34):
really working for, for teamsthat are doing this virtually
and what, what role is itplaying in, in, in their
arsenal?
I mean, in relation to some ofthe other more traditional
methods, I guess, well,
Tyler Lessard (12:44):
Let me start by saying, I love the word genre
for this.
So kudos to you for bringingthat out, uh, because this is a,
a new genre of the kinds ofvideos that're, we're seeing in
the world of business.
And when you say sales repsusing video, there's a few
different things that that canmean.
And that it does mean first ofall, is as marketers are
recreating video content thatour sales teams can be using
(13:07):
throughout the sales process,knowing that their customers
will probably rather see thanjust hear about things that you
do.
So arming our sales team withgreat demo videos, great
customer story videos, greatexplainer videos, things they
can be sending to theirprospects that they can watch
and consume on their own time tolearn right back to that one E
(13:29):
of video, it's more educationalto really draw them into your
story and build almost apersonal relationship part of
the engaging nature of video andsomething that makes them well,
frankly, just kind of feelsomething like get excited just
back to the emotional piece ofvideo, but the other way that
sales reps have started to usevideo.
And this is what I find, youknow, really exciting right now
is this rising use of their ownrecorded and, you know,
(13:53):
generated video messages andkind of custom screen recording
videos, which actually brings meto the fourth E of what makes
video so compelling is that itallows you to be much more
empathetic to your audience.
And by that, I mean, it allowsyou to come across and be more
human, to be more relatable tothem, to demonstrate through
(14:16):
your own, not just words, butthrough your tone, through your
body language, that youunderstand them, that you're
appear to them in thisconversation.
And you're genuinely here tohelp them and sales reps who are
recording and sending videomessages instead of just text
based emails or leavingvoicemails, those short video
messages, they're oftendelivering the same information,
(14:37):
but they're delivering it in amore impactful, new way, right?
It's a way in which they gettheir face in front of their
prospects.
I mean, take yourself, George.
You probably get the odd emailfrom somebody trying to sell you
something, right.
I'm sure you can reflect on yourinbox and think about every once
in a while.
Yeah.
To maybe a hundred emails, youget a day from a sales rep
trying to get your attention.
(14:58):
I would, I would even ask youhow many of those emails that
you open up, have a video inthere of that salesperson
actually authenticallydelivering the message to you
where you can get to know them.
Have you, have you ever receiveda video message from his sales
rep yourself?
Yeah,
Play the King (15:11):
Yeah, I can't think of, I can't think of one
actually.
No,
Tyler Lessard (15:14):
No.
And now that you reflect on it,you, you might even go like,
yeah, why is that?
Like I get text based emails,right?
That's 99% of what I get fromsales people.
Every once in a while I knowpersonally on LinkedIn, I'll get
a, a voice memo because LinkedInallows them to send little voice
memos.
Those are still rarely used aswell.
But the interesting thing iswhen a rep sends you an email,
an email, doesn't just have tobe text.
(15:35):
And you know, there are toolsout there now, Vidyard being one
of them.
Of course, that's why I'm soclose to this topic that make
it, you know, simple for a salesrep to record a 30 to 62nd video
and send it over via email.
It shows up as a nice bigthumbnail image in the email.
So you can see them click theplay button that pulls up the
browser, the video automaticallyplays.
And again, now you can hearthem, get to know them and maybe
(15:57):
even see something right.
Sometimes they'll do a screenshare video where they'll
actually quickly walk youthrough.
Hey, I just wanted to show youthis one thing.
So you understand what it's allabout.
So these little short videomessages are becoming an
integrated part of a lot ofpeople's sales processes and, uh
, are really changing thatdynamic of how they connect.
And it goes back to where westarted, which is this is, you
know, it's, it's tapping intothose changing expectations of
(16:19):
these audiences, right?
People are consuming video allday long zoom and all the things
that have happened have madethese like kind of ad hoc,
personal videos, more, you know,accepted and in many cases
appreciated.
And now when they see a shortvideo come through from a
salesperson, in many cases, it'squite refreshing and it's a lot
more valuable than the otherthings that they tend to receive
normally.
So that's having a really bigimpact on a lot of different
Play the King (16:41):
Books.
No, that's interesting.
Tell to wrap it up, I would likeyou to make some recommendations
for people who are listening,who maybe you want some
inspiration, some, some moreknowledge, I, you wrote a book,
the visual sale, which I I'msure is the, the top of your
list for recommendations.
So I'll make that recommendationfor you, but you see a lot of
video.
What, maybe one recommendationfor something, something people
(17:02):
can go and maybe read or watchto understand this even further.
And then maybe two, threeexamples of video that you've
seen that is super effective,maybe innovative, something that
, really can inspire people to,to sort of think about their own
business, their own salespractices, uh, and incorporating
video into, into those.
Tyler Lessard (17:21):
Yeah.
So I, I will amplify what yousaid, and I appreciate that The
Visual Sale is a book that it'sa culmination of so much of what
I've had the opportunity to seein the market.
So many different examples fromcompanies doing video
successfully, but to be clear onvery little budgets, right?
So we're, we're not out talkingabout, Coca-Cola making a
(17:42):
million dollar commercial.
These are like real day to daybusinesses who have just made
video a part of their culture.
So certainly the book is atremendous asset for that.
And we talk about the strategyand execution ideas for video
throughout both marketing andsales.
I'll sort of continue on thatbecause some of the best
examples I've seen are ones thatwe share, of course, in the book
(18:03):
and we share their stories.
So I'll, I'll just share acouple quick ones here.
One is we've seen more and morecompanies moving to on their
websites, offering online ondemand, very clear and
transparent demonstrations ofwhat they do, of what their
products do, of how theirservices work and so on.
And this it's a really simpleidea, but it is having such a
(18:25):
huge impact on a lot ofbusinesses right now.
Because again, think about yourown life as a consumer.
If you were researching, let'ssay you were researching Vidyard
as a potential solution and youcame to our website and you had
two buttons available to you.
And one said, book, a meetingwith sales.
And the other button said, watcha demo right now, right?
Like which one would you clickon?
(18:46):
I've never had anybody say I'dclick the button that says talk
to sales.
And yet that's what most of ourwebsites say today.
And so companies that have madethat small shift and said, what
if we offered an online videobased demo of what we do, how
could that change?
How many people engage with uson our website?
How many people actually learnwhat we do?
And a lot of people are afraidto make that because make that
change because it's, it's a bigchange to their sales process.
(19:09):
But, every time we see it doneconsistently, it is higher
conversion rates on the website,more leads for the sales team
because people click, they watchthe demo for 3, 5, 10 minutes,
they learn a ton.
And those that you like, whatthey see are way more inclined
to book that meeting with thesales rep.
So that's a very simple idea.
Online video baseddemonstrations of what you do to
(19:31):
educate your audiences.
The one other thing that we'veseen a lot of recently is
organizations investing in morethought leadership, video
content, things that aren'tabout themselves that are more
about topics in their marketquestions.
Their audience may be askingsimilar, the kinds of things we
would traditionally tackle inwritten blog posts, but now
tackling that in video formatbecause it gives us again, an
(19:53):
opportunity to visually describedifferent ideas, to have hosts
that actually buildrelationships with your audience
and create more of an emotionalconnection.
And so that's another placewe've seen.
A lot of businesses investing isin those educational videos to
share with their communities, toget on their websites, to get on
their YouTube channels and insome cases doing them as
episodic series instead of justsort of random acts of content.
(20:16):
So those are a couple of thingsthat, that get me really excited
as ways to engage kind of onetoin audiences today.
And again, there's lots ofexamples of those in the book.
As we dive into some veryspecific stories of people who
have done it really, reallywell.
Play the King (20:29):
Tyler, I am going to force you to give me a couple
of examples here of, of videosthat you've seen that were super
effective.
Maybe people could just like pop'em in the Google and search'em
and find'em out.
But like who like call, call oneout call, call two out would
love to see an example of, of acompany that's doing this well,
in your opinion.
Tyler Lessard (20:44):
So, you know, it's funny because when I think
about those doing it well, I'mlike I'm, I'm back to like the,
the, the net results.
It's very rarely like the videoitself crushed this, but let me
give you a couple of specifics.
So when I just talked about the,allowing you to watch a demo on
your website, if you go tomarketo.com, right?
I I'm, I'm thick in the B2Bmarketing world.
(21:07):
Marketo is somebody that I'veworked with a lot in the past.
And if you go to their site,you'll see a big flashing, watch
a virtual tour or take a touror, or get a demo, watch a demo
on their website and you'll seethey have like a dozen different
demos up there.
That, again, what's so greatabout this, George is that the
videos themselves they're reallystraight forward, right?
(21:28):
They weren't like massiveproductions, but it's the
content value that is so high.
And when people go in there andthey binge on these demos, I've
seen the conversion rates,they're astronomical, it has
been hugely successful.
So there's just one examplewhere again, you're not gonna be
blown away by the content.
What I hope you're blown awaywith is the, the strategy behind
how it's execute it.
(21:48):
That's great.
Play the King (21:49):
That's great, I know I put you on the spot and,
but hearing you talk about whyit's so important to
contextualize the video itselfwithin, you know, all the other
things going on is, is just, youknow, I think that's a great
point to make, so I appreciatethat.
Tyler Lessard (22:00):
Yeah.
Well it's like it's back tothis, you know, video is just,
it's not, it's it's own siloanymore for us.
It is a part of these differentand strategies that we do a
great thought leadership series.
I mentioned that, you know, foreducational content and some of
them are doing episodic series.
One of my favorites from,another B2B brand is a series
called lucid thoughts by acompany called lucid works.
(22:23):
And they're a company who doestechnology for AI, artificial
intelligence and machinelearning.
And you know, this is a reallygreat example.
You can, you know, it's a, theyhave a YouTube channel dedicated
to it.
You can search, uh, YouTube forlucid thoughts.
You should be able to find it.
And it's just a great example ofa really well executed video
based series, where they answera lot of the common questions
(22:46):
that business people have aboutartificial intelligence and
machine learning, but they do soin a way that's very visual,
very engaging, very helpful.
And it's not about theirproducts and services, right?
It's very much thoughtleadership, but you can see the
connective tissue back to theirbrand.
And as you watch these and theyanswer some of these questions,
(23:07):
if you're really interested inAI technology it's always one
click away to go and check outlucid works and see how they
actually help you do this.
So it's a couple of examples youcan go out there and, and Google
and check out that I think againare well executed strategies for
the use of video in marketing.
Play the King (23:24):
All right! Your Website is vidyard.com.
Do I have that right?
vidyard.com?
Tyler Lessard (23:27):
Well, that's another great place to see lots
of videos, isn't it?
Yes.
vidyard.com.
And actually we have atremendous amount of resources.
Uh, we invest a lot ourselvesin, in helping to share best
practices around the use ofvideo.
So yeah, on vidyard.com you cancheck out our resources, our
blogs, our video libraries.
There's lots of helpful contentthere on how to do a lot with
(23:50):
video and, again, be successfulwith it!
Play the King (23:52):
Yeah.
Tyler Lessard VP of Marketing atVidyard co-author of a book that
everyone listening to thisshould probably check out The
Visual Sale.
Tyler Lessard (24:00):
Yeah.
And if you are interested inchecking out the visual sale
head to thewww.thevisualsale.com and you
can learn more about the book, alot of the background of why we
wrote it, the approach we tookand how to get the most out of
it, or you can just search onAmazon or your favorite online
bookstore for the visual sale,and you should be able to find
it there it's available in bothof course.
(24:20):
Good hardcover copy as well ason your Kindle or other E- book
tablet machine.
Play the King (24:27):
Well, we are selling a book, uh, via podcast
about video.
So I think we've covered allthis and appreciate you being
here.
Thanks a lot.
Thank
Our guest today is Tyler Lessard, VP of
marketing at Vidyard.
And he's here to discuss hisrecent book, which he
co-authored with MarcusSheridan, and it's called The
Visual Sale on how the use ofvideo is transforming the
selling landscape.
Here's Tyler.
Tyler Lessard (00:17):
Hey, it's great to be here.
My name is Tyler Lessard.
I am the Vice Presidentmarketing here at Vidyard.
I've been at this business forjust over eight years now, if
you can believe it, like that'slike 75 years in the world of
SaaS technology.
So I have had the chance to livein this world of video in
business during that time.
And it's actually been a reallyphenomenal experience to see the
(00:39):
rise of this market.
It outside of that, I have fourwonderful kids who are all still
at home trying to do school.
So bear with me.
If you hear anything in thebackground and I am an avid
basketball player in my sparetime.
All right, Tyler,
Play the King (00:53):
This is sort of a two- fer starting off easy here.
I'd like to hear, you know, wewere all around eight years ago,
but it's easy to forget of thestate of things back then, as
you said, things move soquickly.
What was online video like eightyears ago when you entered the
space and then maybe you couldtransition from there to telling
me how you got to where you areright now?
Tyler Lessard (01:14):
Well, it's a, it's a great question and a
great point, because as we lookback nearly a decade video, of
course was already a big thing,right?
Youtube was proliferating.
We had people in their personallives consuming more and more
online digital video contentobviously than ever before.
And it was absolutely part ofthe main stream.
(01:34):
B2C companies, large consumerbrands were already figuring out
online and digital video as apart of their business marketing
programs and ways to engageconsumers, but in the world of
what I'd call either B2Bbusinesses or, or frankly just
your average business ormarketing team video was still
(01:55):
very much in its infancy.
It was difficult and expensiveto create.
It was largely used just forbrand marketing or social media
programs where we could get alot of reach.
And most of us, if very fewfrankly, had the ability
in-house to create videocontent.
So it was very much a premiummedium, if you will, fast
(02:18):
forward to today and like, wow,have things changed.
And even over the last 18 monthsto two years have really
accelerated to the point wherebusinesses and even individuals
in those companies can and docreate video content frequently.
There's lots of different wayswe can now create video and it's
become such an important part ofhow people consume information
(02:39):
that we all need to be thinkingabout it in how we market and
how we sell and how we cancommunicate our important
messages.
So over this last eight years orso, it's been really interesting
to see the demand for videocontent from our audiences has
always been there, but theability for us to supply it as
marketers, as sellers, asbusiness leaders, is able to
level up to that.
We're able to create, sharedifferent styles and different
(03:02):
formats of content much morefrequently and across our
different programs.
And I think that's been thebiggest thing that I've seen.
And the thing that gets me mostexcited is this accessibility of
video and how we can all make ita part of how we communicate our
important messages.
Play the King (03:16):
So looking back to sort of the infancy of
commercials, let's say likevideo, video marketing, it was
on TV, right?
And it was a 30 second spot ormaybe a little longer, it was
pretty uniform from that sense,these days you could be seeing
video anywhere.
I mean,you're walking d own times square and there's a huge
screen or you're on your phoneor you're watching TV still, or
you're streaming.
How does the complexity of sortof the delivery of video?
(03:39):
How has that sort of changed theway that people who are using it
for marketing have to thinkabout, I guess what they're
doing?
You know,
Tyler Lessard (03:45):
One of the big things you're saying there,
which is so important for us tobe mindful of in today's
business world is the definitionof what is video, you know, as a
marketing medium, as a sellingmedium and so on, what is it?
And you know, how can we use itis changed significantly.
Again, if you go back to thisdawn of video, you would say,
well, what was video inmarketing?
It was a commercial, it was anadvertisement.
(04:09):
And it was a very narrowdefinition of how it was used,
but in today's world, peopleexpect video, not just as a
promotional medium, but as a wayto learn about different topics
as a way to interact with brandsonline in both short form and
long form content we'reproducing and sharing our long
(04:30):
webinars that people arewatching and binging on during
business hours to learn about acompany or to learn about a new
topic.
We're watching two minuteexplainers, we're watching 10
minute deep dives, again, asways to learn to self educate
and to also get a more personalconnection to the people behind
these businesses and the expertsout there that we're listening
(04:50):
to.
So that's been this big shiftand what we all need to embrace
is this notion that video as amedium isn't one thing or
another, it is a way to deliverour message, to deliver our
content to our audiences.
And that changes the way wethink about it as marketers.
And in last year, I had theopportunity to, to co-author, a
book called The Visual Sale withmy great friend Marcus Sheridan.
(05:13):
And we dive into this quite abit in the book and it's
something I had a, a lot of timeto research and understand how
are different marketers usingit.
And why like, what is so specialabout video, that's making it
work for them.
And I'll just end the answer tothis question with one of the
things we talk about in the bookis what I call the four E's of
video.
That's the letter E not the wordE so the four E's of video are
(05:36):
the things that make itparticularly compelling over
other content format.
And as we about the ways we useit as marketers, the four E's
can help guide us and thinkabout where might video play a
better role.
T he first E is that it's moreeducational than other static
forms of content, right?
Our brains process, visualinformation differently than we
(05:57):
do the written word.
And even the listened voice,it's more engaging in many ways
than other forms of content,because we have the ability to
do more storytelling, to drawpeople in with visuals.
It h as the opportunity to allowus to be more emotional t han
static content and the fourth E,w ell, like any good marketer.
I'm gonna w ait t o t he end ofthis episode to tell you about
(06:18):
that one.
Play the King (06:19):
All Right! I'd like to drill down a little bit
on some of the things you werejust sort of addressing at kind
of a high level, what are someof the ways that companies need
to, or have been needing torethink how they go to market
and what are the, you know,specifically as it pertains to
video and the content they'recreating?
Tyler Lessard (06:34):
Yeah, well, so much of this is driven by
something I alluded to earlier,which is the changing
expectations and preferences ofour prospects, of our buyers, of
our online audiences.
Right?
If you go back again, you know,10, 20 years, when a lot of our
businesses kind of rebuilt ourengagement and content
strategies, it was a verydifferent world in terms of what
(06:54):
people expected.
You know, social media was thebig thing where we said, oh my
goodness, if we can actuallystart to share stuff on a daily
basis on social channels, likethat's a whole revolutionary
thing.
Well, what's happened sincethen, is that again, people's
expectations of the types ofcontent they're consuming, the
accessibility of that content.
The frequency of that contenthas continued to change a lot of
(07:16):
course, things like Netflix andAmazon and all those we know
have had an influence on that.
We're very spoiled.
And again, we have very highexpectations.
So we know that a lot of ourprospects and customers in most
business worlds are listening topodcasts, right?
Those of you listening rightnow, right?
10 years ago, you probablyweren't listening to business
(07:37):
related podcasts, but now becomea part of your day to day
repertoire.
You're watching videos, ofcourse, both in your personal
life, but also your businesslife and your expectation for
what those videos are, has alsochanged.
Again, going back 10 years, evenfive or three years, we
typically expected when we sawvideos start to play, we
expected and really lean towardsthings that were a much higher
(07:59):
production.
They felt like commercials,things like that.
But nowadays we see thisinteresting shift where people
are actually gravitating moreand more towards more authentic
content, things that wereactually created much more
genuine and a much more easyway, right?
We have sales reps who justrecord a quick video on their
phone or on their webcam andsend it out to a prospect.
(08:20):
We have marketers who get theirexecutive on camera.
And when I say on camera, I'mdoing air quotes, because again,
they may just be holding uptheir phone, recording an update
on something important andputting it out there into their
channels.
And people are devouring thatkind of content.
So again, as we think about thisas marketers and where do we go,
there's been this big shift inwhat our audience has expect
(08:40):
from us, the kinds of contentthey want to engage with.
And if your content strategy asa business is still just the
written blog post or updates onyour website or text based post
on social media, right?
Now's the time when you reallyneed to think about this
evolution of video, audio, andother forms of media as a day to
day way you engage youraudience.
Play the King (09:01):
That's an interesting point.
I guess, you know, when I thinkabout an executive who maybe
holds up his phone and, or herphone and records a message and
puts it out there and everyone'slike, oh yeah, that's just like,
that's the raw stuff.
You know, that it feels thatway.
Right.
But to do it well still requiressome Polish, some behind the
scenes magic.
Some I, I guarantee you, if youask, nine out of 10, VPs of
(09:23):
marketing, say to hold u p their phone and record a message.
It's not gonna come out the wayyou necessarily picture it in
your head.
I guess I want you to reflect onhow companies, how teams can
sort of hit that magic middle,where they're like, you know, it
feels authentic and raw andreal.
Y eah.
But has like, you know, it's notembarrassing a nd, a nd it works
and i t's not, you know what Imean?
Tyler Lessard (09:41):
You're spot on.
And it's such a great point.
And I, I honestly believe that,you know, a number of years from
now call it three years, fiveyears, I don't know at the time
horizon, but you know, we'll getto that point where now this is
just a natural part of whatpeople do and much the, like,
you know, as a salesperson, youmake your first cold calls.
And it really sucks when youstart.
(10:01):
And then, you know, you get intoa rhythm or, you know, as a
writer, you write your firstblog post that takes forever.
It comes out really difficult,but practice, practice.
And eventually it just becomessecond nature.
And I think we, as a businessculture are going to get there
in the, not too distant future.
But until then, you'reabsolutely right that most
people aren't yet comfortable.
They're not equipped.
(10:22):
They're not savvy at getting oncamera, being a one take wonder,
making it feel just right andputting it out there.
So I think today there's anumber of things that we can do
to, to start to get there.
I mean, number one is to, justto that point, start to make,
get a part of the culture of thebusiness.
Start to make these shortvideos, featuring real people
(10:43):
from your company, somethingthat you do in a continuous
fashion, because if you make onevideo of your executive doing a
big annual update and that's itfor the year, right?
Every year it's gonna be a biglift.
But if it's something that theystart to do continuously again,
they will start to get a betterfeel for their style, what works
for them.
And every video is gonna feel alittle bit more natural, a
(11:05):
little bit more authentic.
The second thing in addition toconsistency is a reminder that
with something like videopre-production or pre-planning
is more important than theactual production itself.
So to say it another way, don'twing it, don't freestyle it.
You always think, well, oh, tobe the most authentic, we should
just freestyle it.
(11:25):
And it never actually works thatway to be the most authentic, to
be the most valuable in yourcontent.
You want to be confident goinginto it and confidence comes
with preparation.
And if I go into making a video,having a good sense for, okay,
what are we going to talk about?
What's the story arc here?
What are the three main points Ineed to hit?
Where do I start?
(11:46):
And where do I end?
Right.
Those things are going to giveme the confidence to then
communicate naturally to deliverit in a way as if I were having
a conversation with somebody.
And that tends to come out thebest.
So don't mistake, authenticityfor off the cuff.
In fact, you know, again, themore preparation that you can
(12:06):
do, especially when folks areearly in their video careers, if
you will, the more that it'sgonna give you a better finished
product.
Play the King (12:12):
So we talked about, you know, use of video in
, in modern marketing.
I think that's where my braingoes, because, you know, as a
consumer on Instagram andwhatever, YouTube, I'm
constantly seeing ads, but let'sdrill down on a slightly
different, I guess, genre, whichis videos for sales teams and,
and people who are, who areusing it to, to sell.
Wonder if you could just talkabout what you're seeing, that's
(12:34):
really working for, for teamsthat are doing this virtually
and what, what role is itplaying in, in, in their
arsenal?
I mean, in relation to some ofthe other more traditional
methods, I guess, well,
Tyler Lessard (12:44):
Let me start by saying, I love the word genre
for this.
So kudos to you for bringingthat out, uh, because this is a,
a new genre of the kinds ofvideos that're, we're seeing in
the world of business.
And when you say sales repsusing video, there's a few
different things that that canmean.
And that it does mean first ofall, is as marketers are
recreating video content thatour sales teams can be using
(13:07):
throughout the sales process,knowing that their customers
will probably rather see thanjust hear about things that you
do.
So arming our sales team withgreat demo videos, great
customer story videos, greatexplainer videos, things they
can be sending to theirprospects that they can watch
and consume on their own time tolearn right back to that one E
(13:29):
of video, it's more educationalto really draw them into your
story and build almost apersonal relationship part of
the engaging nature of video andsomething that makes them well,
frankly, just kind of feelsomething like get excited just
back to the emotional piece ofvideo, but the other way that
sales reps have started to usevideo.
And this is what I find, youknow, really exciting right now
is this rising use of their ownrecorded and, you know,
(13:53):
generated video messages andkind of custom screen recording
videos, which actually brings meto the fourth E of what makes
video so compelling is that itallows you to be much more
empathetic to your audience.
And by that, I mean, it allowsyou to come across and be more
human, to be more relatable tothem, to demonstrate through
(14:16):
your own, not just words, butthrough your tone, through your
body language, that youunderstand them, that you're
appear to them in thisconversation.
And you're genuinely here tohelp them and sales reps who are
recording and sending videomessages instead of just text
based emails or leavingvoicemails, those short video
messages, they're oftendelivering the same information,
(14:37):
but they're delivering it in amore impactful, new way, right?
It's a way in which they gettheir face in front of their
prospects.
I mean, take yourself, George.
You probably get the odd emailfrom somebody trying to sell you
something, right.
I'm sure you can reflect on yourinbox and think about every once
in a while.
Yeah.
To maybe a hundred emails, youget a day from a sales rep
trying to get your attention.
(14:58):
I would, I would even ask youhow many of those emails that
you open up, have a video inthere of that salesperson
actually authenticallydelivering the message to you
where you can get to know them.
Have you, have you ever receiveda video message from his sales
rep yourself?
Yeah,
Play the King (15:11):
Yeah, I can't think of, I can't think of one
actually.
No,
Tyler Lessard (15:14):
No.
And now that you reflect on it,you, you might even go like,
yeah, why is that?
Like I get text based emails,right?
That's 99% of what I get fromsales people.
Every once in a while I knowpersonally on LinkedIn, I'll get
a, a voice memo because LinkedInallows them to send little voice
memos.
Those are still rarely used aswell.
But the interesting thing iswhen a rep sends you an email,
an email, doesn't just have tobe text.
(15:35):
And you know, there are toolsout there now, Vidyard being one
of them.
Of course, that's why I'm soclose to this topic that make
it, you know, simple for a salesrep to record a 30 to 62nd video
and send it over via email.
It shows up as a nice bigthumbnail image in the email.
So you can see them click theplay button that pulls up the
browser, the video automaticallyplays.
And again, now you can hearthem, get to know them and maybe
(15:57):
even see something right.
Sometimes they'll do a screenshare video where they'll
actually quickly walk youthrough.
Hey, I just wanted to show youthis one thing.
So you understand what it's allabout.
So these little short videomessages are becoming an
integrated part of a lot ofpeople's sales processes and, uh
, are really changing thatdynamic of how they connect.
And it goes back to where westarted, which is this is, you
know, it's, it's tapping intothose changing expectations of
(16:19):
these audiences, right?
People are consuming video allday long zoom and all the things
that have happened have madethese like kind of ad hoc,
personal videos, more, you know,accepted and in many cases
appreciated.
And now when they see a shortvideo come through from a
salesperson, in many cases, it'squite refreshing and it's a lot
more valuable than the otherthings that they tend to receive
normally.
So that's having a really bigimpact on a lot of different
Play the King (16:41):
Books.
No, that's interesting.
Tell to wrap it up, I would likeyou to make some recommendations
for people who are listening,who maybe you want some
inspiration, some, some moreknowledge, I, you wrote a book,
the visual sale, which I I'msure is the, the top of your
list for recommendations.
So I'll make that recommendationfor you, but you see a lot of
video.
What, maybe one recommendationfor something, something people
(17:02):
can go and maybe read or watchto understand this even further.
And then maybe two, threeexamples of video that you've
seen that is super effective,maybe innovative, something that
, really can inspire people to,to sort of think about their own
business, their own salespractices, uh, and incorporating
video into, into those.
Tyler Lessard (17:21):
Yeah.
So I, I will amplify what yousaid, and I appreciate that The
Visual Sale is a book that it'sa culmination of so much of what
I've had the opportunity to seein the market.
So many different examples fromcompanies doing video
successfully, but to be clear onvery little budgets, right?
So we're, we're not out talkingabout, Coca-Cola making a
(17:42):
million dollar commercial.
These are like real day to daybusinesses who have just made
video a part of their culture.
So certainly the book is atremendous asset for that.
And we talk about the strategyand execution ideas for video
throughout both marketing andsales.
I'll sort of continue on thatbecause some of the best
examples I've seen are ones thatwe share, of course, in the book
(18:03):
and we share their stories.
So I'll, I'll just share acouple quick ones here.
One is we've seen more and morecompanies moving to on their
websites, offering online ondemand, very clear and
transparent demonstrations ofwhat they do, of what their
products do, of how theirservices work and so on.
And this it's a really simpleidea, but it is having such a
(18:25):
huge impact on a lot ofbusinesses right now.
Because again, think about yourown life as a consumer.
If you were researching, let'ssay you were researching Vidyard
as a potential solution and youcame to our website and you had
two buttons available to you.
And one said, book, a meetingwith sales.
And the other button said, watcha demo right now, right?
Like which one would you clickon?
(18:46):
I've never had anybody say I'dclick the button that says talk
to sales.
And yet that's what most of ourwebsites say today.
And so companies that have madethat small shift and said, what
if we offered an online videobased demo of what we do, how
could that change?
How many people engage with uson our website?
How many people actually learnwhat we do?
And a lot of people are afraidto make that because make that
change because it's, it's a bigchange to their sales process.
(19:09):
But, every time we see it doneconsistently, it is higher
conversion rates on the website,more leads for the sales team
because people click, they watchthe demo for 3, 5, 10 minutes,
they learn a ton.
And those that you like, whatthey see are way more inclined
to book that meeting with thesales rep.
So that's a very simple idea.
Online video baseddemonstrations of what you do to
(19:31):
educate your audiences.
The one other thing that we'veseen a lot of recently is
organizations investing in morethought leadership, video
content, things that aren'tabout themselves that are more
about topics in their marketquestions.
Their audience may be askingsimilar, the kinds of things we
would traditionally tackle inwritten blog posts, but now
tackling that in video formatbecause it gives us again, an
(19:53):
opportunity to visually describedifferent ideas, to have hosts
that actually buildrelationships with your audience
and create more of an emotionalconnection.
And so that's another placewe've seen.
A lot of businesses investing isin those educational videos to
share with their communities, toget on their websites, to get on
their YouTube channels and insome cases doing them as
episodic series instead of justsort of random acts of content.
(20:16):
So those are a couple of thingsthat, that get me really excited
as ways to engage kind of onetoin audiences today.
And again, there's lots ofexamples of those in the book.
As we dive into some veryspecific stories of people who
have done it really, reallywell.
Play the King (20:29):
Tyler, I am going to force you to give me a couple
of examples here of, of videosthat you've seen that were super
effective.
Maybe people could just like pop'em in the Google and search'em
and find'em out.
But like who like call, call oneout call, call two out would
love to see an example of, of acompany that's doing this well,
in your opinion.
Tyler Lessard (20:44):
So, you know, it's funny because when I think
about those doing it well, I'mlike I'm, I'm back to like the,
the, the net results.
It's very rarely like the videoitself crushed this, but let me
give you a couple of specifics.
So when I just talked about the,allowing you to watch a demo on
your website, if you go tomarketo.com, right?
I I'm, I'm thick in the B2Bmarketing world.
(21:07):
Marketo is somebody that I'veworked with a lot in the past.
And if you go to their site,you'll see a big flashing, watch
a virtual tour or take a touror, or get a demo, watch a demo
on their website and you'll seethey have like a dozen different
demos up there.
That, again, what's so greatabout this, George is that the
videos themselves they're reallystraight forward, right?
(21:28):
They weren't like massiveproductions, but it's the
content value that is so high.
And when people go in there andthey binge on these demos, I've
seen the conversion rates,they're astronomical, it has
been hugely successful.
So there's just one examplewhere again, you're not gonna be
blown away by the content.
What I hope you're blown awaywith is the, the strategy behind
how it's execute it.
(21:48):
That's great.
Play the King (21:49):
That's great, I know I put you on the spot and,
but hearing you talk about whyit's so important to
contextualize the video itselfwithin, you know, all the other
things going on is, is just, youknow, I think that's a great
point to make, so I appreciatethat.
Tyler Lessard (22:00):
Yeah.
Well it's like it's back tothis, you know, video is just,
it's not, it's it's own siloanymore for us.
It is a part of these differentand strategies that we do a
great thought leadership series.
I mentioned that, you know, foreducational content and some of
them are doing episodic series.
One of my favorites from,another B2B brand is a series
called lucid thoughts by acompany called lucid works.
(22:23):
And they're a company who doestechnology for AI, artificial
intelligence and machinelearning.
And you know, this is a reallygreat example.
You can, you know, it's a, theyhave a YouTube channel dedicated
to it.
You can search, uh, YouTube forlucid thoughts.
You should be able to find it.
And it's just a great example ofa really well executed video
based series, where they answera lot of the common questions
(22:46):
that business people have aboutartificial intelligence and
machine learning, but they do soin a way that's very visual,
very engaging, very helpful.
And it's not about theirproducts and services, right?
It's very much thoughtleadership, but you can see the
connective tissue back to theirbrand.
And as you watch these and theyanswer some of these questions,
(23:07):
if you're really interested inAI technology it's always one
click away to go and check outlucid works and see how they
actually help you do this.
So it's a couple of examples youcan go out there and, and Google
and check out that I think againare well executed strategies for
the use of video in marketing.
Play the King (23:24):
All right! Your Website is vidyard.com.
Do I have that right?
vidyard.com?
Tyler Lessard (23:27):
Well, that's another great place to see lots
of videos, isn't it?
Yes.
vidyard.com.
And actually we have atremendous amount of resources.
Uh, we invest a lot ourselvesin, in helping to share best
practices around the use ofvideo.
So yeah, on vidyard.com you cancheck out our resources, our
blogs, our video libraries.
There's lots of helpful contentthere on how to do a lot with
(23:50):
video and, again, be successfulwith it!
Play the King (23:52):
Yeah.
Tyler Lessard VP of Marketing atVidyard co-author of a book that
everyone listening to thisshould probably check out The
Visual Sale.
Tyler Lessard (24:00):
Yeah.
And if you are interested inchecking out the visual sale
head to thewww.thevisualsale.com and you
can learn more about the book, alot of the background of why we
wrote it, the approach we tookand how to get the most out of
it, or you can just search onAmazon or your favorite online
bookstore for the visual sale,and you should be able to find
it there it's available in bothof course.
(24:20):
Good hardcover copy as well ason your Kindle or other E- book
tablet machine.
Play the King (24:27):
Well, we are selling a book, uh, via podcast
about video.
So I think we've covered allthis and appreciate you being
here.
Thanks a lot.
Thank
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.