By Georgia Kirke with special guest Simon Owen
How much of “you” do you showcase in your business? The more that you can make your values known and share personal stories, the more successful you’re likely to be when it comes to building a thriving personal brand.
When your target market gets to know more about you and find out what you stand for, it sets you apart from other business owners in your industry.
Creative entrepreneur and Managing Director of Standby Productions, Simon Owen, set up his film production business more than 10 years ago. Since then he’s helped small businesses and big brands find novel ways to create video content, and what better way to personalise your business than to show your face!
In this blog we’re going to explore how you can creatively merge “the personal and the professional”, and I’ll share five of Simon’s top tips to help you create standout video content.
How to create a personal and professional blend
Simon: “I’m also a wildlife filmmaker but I’ve never really mixed that passion with my work productions, even though in many ways they are the same. However, if we can also start to build in some kind of subtle environmental message (not in a preachy way) that helps change people’s behaviours for the better, we’ll do it.
I’m not an eco-warrior, but I am ‘conscious’ when it comes to the environment; if we have just one shot of someone using a recycling bin in a promotional film or shots of nature outside our office it’ll help people begin to address a huge issue in the world in a powerful and positive way.
We have to also back up what we say with action; this might mean recording in the UK instead of Ibiza, or bringing a big water canister on a shoot so everyone can refill their own bottle rather than buying bottled water. We’ve also created a page on our website to showcase what we are doing.”
What would your business feature?
When it comes to our own businesses we often struggle to see what’s unique or different about us; thankfully Simon’s got that covered!
Simon: “We work as a creative agency; we know how to make content interesting. We’ve had so many people come to us and say ‘I love the idea, but our business is really boring; I don’t know how you’re gonna make this interesting.’ When I hear someone say that it’s like a red rag to a bull and I know we will find a way to make it look amazing! We’re really happy to come up with the ideas.”
Using video to share your personal stories is an incredibly powerful way to highlight your unique selling proposition, but even with all the unexpected practice gifted to us by lockdown some people are still a little camera shy.
If that’s you, Simon shared five great tips to help you build your personal brand through video content.
- Create clear visuals.
Simon: “If you’re recording your own videos, pay attention to your setup; nobody wants to see right up your nose! If you have a window behind you it’ll turn you into a silhouette, or make you look like you’re in a crime documentary! It’s important to think about your setting and create clear visuals.”
- Get comfortable.
Simon: “The more you practise being on video the better you’ll become. Don’t be scared to experiment with it.”
- Be intentional.
Simon: “What’s the actual strategy behind your video content? What do you want from it? What are your goals? What is it that you want people to know? What would be your ideal return on investment from your video content? What do you want your audience to feel now or a year from now? Be clear on your end goal and you’ll produce far better video content to meet your needs.”
- Share your content everywhere.
Simon: “People always ask where’s the best place to share video content; as a general rule LinkedIn seems to be a good place for business-related content, but if you’ve got audiences on other platforms share your videos everywhere.”
- If you need it, get help! “If you don’t have the creative flair when it comes to video or feel uncertain about how best to market yourself and your business, seek professional help because you’ll feel more confident and be in a better position to meet the needs of your crowd.”
How creative will you let yourself be? I can’t wait to find out!
In the meantime, if you’d love to know how to optimise your personal brand using content and bring your business book, blog or podcast to life click here (you’ll also get to see me on video!).