E19: Grow Your Brand with Video: Interview with Rachel B. Hughes

“You can’t wait until it’s perfect because nothing is perfect.  We have to embrace our imperfectness and put out what we think is the best that we can do.”

- Rachel. B. Hughes

I admire Rachel for the confidence it took to quit her collegiate career path and dive into learning about and creating her own video marketing business.  She is truly following her dream and loving her career. 

Rachel creates engaging videos for entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses.  From helping launch online courses to creating monthly content for brands, Rachel elevates entrepreneurs to share their knowledge, build their brands, and be authentic.  She has a weekly blog where she shares about her client experiences, how video marketing can be made easy, and some personal #hugheslife experiences as well.

“COME ON BOARD WITH YOUR VISION AS AN ENTREPRENEUR AND SHOW YOUR EXPERTISE SO THAT YOU CAN REALLY SHOW UP FOR YOUR AUDIENCE WITH AUTHORITY USING VIDEO.”

HOW TO USE VIDEO TO GROW YOUR BRAND

When creating a video, first ask yourself why you are creating this post or video.  What educational purpose does it have?  Each video should be intentional with addressing a need or solving a problem.  And always make sure it’s searchable and discoverable by those you want to see it.  Who is your audience?  How can you make sure your target audience sees this post?

Using videos and branding, you can educate your audience by rotating the three pillars of your business:

• Who you are - Your name, business name, how you got started, etc.

• What you offer - Your product or service.

• Lifestyle - Highlight your region, town, and relatable icons in your community.

Branding videos tell who you are, what you offer, and prompt potential clients to engage with you.  You and your business are unique, so use video to not only educate your customer on your product or service, but also show some behind the scenes of who you are.

The Lifestyle videos show your lifestyle as well as that of your potential clients.  These videos highlight the style, speech, activities, and areas of your region that apply to your potential clients.  You want your customers to relate to and visualize living the lifestyle in your video.  

Having music that complements the video is crucial in guiding the customer into the feelings and emotions of your business and its offerings.  Music can bring out feelings of suspense, happiness, sadness, excitement, compassion or any other emotion.  

Adding B-roll (supplemental) footage enriches the story of the main footage.  It adds interest and dimension to the main focus of your video.  This would include showing you engaging with customers or your product being used in real life situations.

STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING VIDEO MARKETING

It can take about fifty videos before a person is comfortable on camera.  A couple great places to start is 1) sending friends and family video of yourself over text and 2) creating some Instagram Stories.  This allows you to see yourself on camera, your mannerisms, speech, posture, eye contact, etc.

Once comfortable on camera, start creating videos using the three pillars:

• Who you are:  

  • What got you into this field?  

  • Why do you continue your work in this field?  

  • What’s your favorite thing about this field?

• What you offer:  

  • What is your product or service?

  • What differentiates your company from others in the industry?

  • How can you solve the needs of your audience?

• Lifestyle:

  • Show your place of business or location.

  • Demonstrate how users can use your service in their lives.

  • Show current customers using your product in your city.

Watch to see what works - listen to your audience, pay attention to your metrics,

and keep tweaking your content to make it better.  

WAYS TO REPURPOSE EXISTING CONTENT

• Take snippets of a video and create a promo clip that lives on social media platforms and takes customers to the site where the longer promo is located.

• Create small (30 seconds) teaser clips to be used in social media as well as embedded in email marketing.

• Slightly edit existing content and repost on social media sites because algorithms change constantly and new people will see it each time.

Check out my lightning round of questions for Rachel - you’ll never guess her second career choice!

“PROGRESS OVER PERFECTION. KEEP MAKING PROGRESS, WHETHER IT BE LITTLE BABY STEPS OR HUGE STRIDES, YOU’RE STILL MAKING PROGRESS.”

CONNECT WITH RACHEL!

Check out her website: rachelbhughes.com 
On Instagram: @rachel.b.hughes
On Facebook
On Youtube