Profitable Video

Chris Hartnett
(Formerly) Digital Publisher ? Hart Energy

June, 2018

At the recent gathering of B2B media leaders during MediaGrowth Summit 2018, Chris Hartnett, Digital Publisher at Hart Energy brought practical advice for designing or evaluating a profitable video strategy.

MediaGrowth:
With a dedicated staff, an on-site studio and resources to travel internationally, Hart Energy is the leading B2B media producer of content-rich programing, news, promotions/enhancements and custom video for the Oil and Gas industry.? Video feeds all segments of Hart?s business and yields high margins.? Chris outlined a number of considerations that make up a well thought out video strategy.? The following are just a few of his recommendations for maximizing success and avoiding pitfalls.

Chris Hartnett:
An intentional video strategy that rapidly turns ideas into value for audiences and clients should:

• Have support from the top of the organization as well as a day-to-day ?Video Champion? with the knowledge, passion and ability to motivate and coordinate all departments to work toward common goals.

• Define the Primary Objective that will drive all efforts surrounding the videos produced; either Revenue or Content Enhancement. ? Avoid the tendency to go in too many directions at once which results in bandwidth constraints.? The Revenue objective is based on what sales can sell against, and success is measured in dollars.? If a program is being viewed but your team is unable to sell against the topic, fail fast and kill it, to free up time for programs and efforts that will work. The Content Enhancement objective is based on topics of interest to the audience regardless of revenue generation and success is measured in views.

• Base video production on Business Priorities.? To which segments of the business will video efforts be directed and in what percentages?? Ensure that all stakeholders are in agreement on this and then track over the course of the year to ensure that video utilization is in line with business goals.

• Base the decision to keep the operation in-house on the well thought out strategy.? If you have staff that can shoot, edit, and create graphics, consider going ALL IN.? In-house talent can be discovered and utilized effectively.? Top-of-the-line cameras and equipment may not be necessary for your purpose, but all talent and efforts must be suited to the jobs to elevate your company?s brand.? ?

• Consider an outside vendor when first starting out or when in-house bandwidth makes it necessary.? Be clear about your goals.? A videographer?s experience in the B2B space, ability to travel and turnaround time are as important as rates.? The vendor?s culture must also be considered as their peoples? work habits are an extension of your company?s brand.? ?

• Enhance user experiences while informing, educating and influencing.? Videos drive engagement as standalones or accompaniments to articles, products and services, event and client promotions, newsletters, website walkthroughs and video libraries? to name just a few examples.

• Consider revenue from recurring programs and newsletters which include sponsorships (logo seen throughout, links, banners).? Create ?talking head? videos for clients.? Give them full privileges and promote them to your audience as well.? Whether basic or sophisticated, custom videos produce significant margins.? In addition, promotion of clients? videos compliments content marketing, adds to your library and provides analytics/insights on audience behavior and preferences.

• Include the promotion of events.? Pre-event videos, hosted on your event page, drive traffic.? Booth interviews and scheduled conversations at the event promote after the fact. ? Archived videos build your event page.

MG:
Thanks again, Chris!