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Five Reasons to Use Video to Tell Your Story

I could start telling you a tale with "It was a dark and stormy night." Or I could hand you a photograph of a lightning strike across a black midnight sky.

But what if I took it one step further and I played for you a two-minute video of the thunderstorm that rolled through town recently? You'd see the darkness and the lightning, you'd hear the thunder and you'd have no doubt about the severity of the storm.


Video Sidebar: A Personal Story
Hammock videoed NFIB members as part of our comprehensive event coverage for the National Small Business Summit. These personal stories explain NFIB's work.
(View on YouTube.)
So, if a thousand words are just a thousand words and a picture is worth a thousand words, then what must that two-minute video be worth? At Hammock, we believe that video should be a part of an organization's content strategy, but how do you decide when to use it over just text or pictures? Here are some examples of when we advocate the use of video:

  1. When you're interviewing an "expert" or a celebrity in a certain field, integrating their face and voice will tell a more powerful story than just their words in black and white.

  2. When sound plays an important role in what you're sharing, whether it be featuring an event or a member's voice.

  3. When there is more than just lips moving. While sometimes effective, a sitting "talking head" alone is usually not an exciting video. Make sure there is action or background to make the use of video worthwhile.

  4. When a certain tone or emotion needs to be conveyed. We don't all read words in the same tone in which they may have been written, but being able to hear and see someone speaking those words through video will cement their meaning.

  5. When you don't want to get left behind. Video is everywhere. Our cell phones even capture it. Using video will ensure that you're on the leading edge of a very popular technology.

See Hammock videos -- some for fun, some for clients.

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