I recently visited a marketing website with a welcome video on the home page. Naturally, I clicked on it and was excited to hear what this particular guru had to say. However, what happened next really disappointed me. It wasn’t that the content was uninteresting or even that the person talking wasn’t engaging, it was that the star of the video was not looking at me! Instead, the video was shot in profile and done interview-style which made it seem like some sort of documentary.

Now I’m sure it’s suppose to look more modern and maybe there’s even research to prove how effective it is to shoot video in this way. However, the effect it had on me was to make me feel left out. It was like I was eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation. You know who I want the expert to be addressing?… Me. I want to feel like they are speaking directly to me, empathizing with my pain and offering the exact solution I am desperate to find.

Whether you are using video or not, your audience should feel like [Read more…]