Video Spokesperson: Owner or Professional Actor?

Video spokespeople on websites add a personal touch and provide site visitors with guidance and information along the way. When it comes to choosing the person to act as a virtual greeter, you have several options including having the company owner play the role or hiring a professional actor. Both can work beautifully. However, when the company owner steps in front of the camera, problems can occur.

When it Makes Sense to Feature the Company Owner as the Video Spokesperson

For some companies, the company owner is the obvious choice. For example, if you were in charge of casting a virtual spokesperson for MarthaStewart.com, who would be your first choice? Martha Stewart! Companies that are led by well-known personalities who already have a strong media presence should take advantage of the brand and talent available to them.

A company owner doesn’t need to have Martha Stewart’s reach in order to make a strong impression as a video spokesperson. Basic speaking skills and confidence in front of the camera may be enough for small business owners who want to appear on their websites as virtual spokespeople, especially when combined with a good script and a professional video production crew.

Websites that lend themselves to featuring the company owner as a video spokesperson include:

  • Websites where the user needs to “get to know” the company owner such as individual attorney websites, photographer websites, and professional speaker websites. For example, it makes sense for a motivational speaker’s website to feature the speaker as the video spokesperson.
  • Websites where the company owner has a local or national following. For example, an accounting firm owned by a retired NFL quarterback could benefit from featuring the owner as the video spokesperson.

When it Makes Sense to Hire a Professional Virtual Spokesperson

Hiring a professional video spokesperson makes sense most of the time. After all, professionals can project the exact image that you want to project and they’re able to quickly and naturally deliver the script’s message.

Even if it makes sense to feature the company owner, it may also make sense to hire a professional actor. For example, if the quarterback-turned accountant is uncomfortable in front of the camera, it may be best to let a professional spokesperson handle the job.

Websites that lend themselves to professional virtual spokespeople include:

  • Websites that are trying to reach a specific demographic. For example, a clothing company catering to skateboarders may want to feature an urban, young adult and not the balding, 50-year-old company owner.
  • Websites that want a polished image. While it’s possible for a company owner to project the right image, hiring a professional ensures site-wide continuity.

Each website and website owner is unique. Before you make the final virtual spokesperson decision, ask your video production company for input.

How Often to Update Video Spokespeople

Your website is now live, complete with a video spokesperson who greets site visitors and provides them with compelling calls to action. It’s hard to imagine that someday you’ll have to update this part of your website eventually. How often should you update the virtual spokesperson? Or is it even necessary?

In an earlier discussion, we talked about creating “evergreen” virtual spokespeople. The concept of an evergreen presence involves originally creating content, in this case video content, that can stand on its own now and in the future. For example, a video spokesperson who says, “This offer expires on December 31, 2011” will be obsolete on January 1st, 2012 while the video spokesperson who says, “Hurry, this offer expires soon” can stay on your site for years to come.

With that in mind, updating a video spokesperson depends a great deal on the script. If the script remains current and relevant, you may not need to update this element at all unless the spokesperson starts to look dated as time passes and styles change.

As your product line changes, your video spokesperson may need to change with it. Again, if the spokesperson discusses specific products, such as by saying “Our laptop 5000 is built to last,” those segments will become obsolete as soon as you discontinue those products. On the other hand, the video spokesperson that says, “Our laptops are built to last” will have a longer shelf life.

Because of the possibility of discontinuing products in the future, it’s smart to shoot several scenes at once so that you have alternative versions to display when you need to remove a product-specific scene. If you didn’t do this originally, you may need to contact your video production company and hope that the original spokesperson is still available for updated content. When shooting new content, think ahead and shoot with “evergreen” content and alternative scenes in mind so you don’t find yourself back in the studio again in a few months.

Since the initial investment in video production must pay for itself, your video spokesperson shouldn’t need a major update for at least one year, if not two or more. However, like any initiative, you should closely monitor results and tweak your site as needed. Just as advertisers pull underperforming commercials off the air, if your research indicates that your audience is not responding to, or worse, offended by, your virtual spokesperson, decisive action is necessary. Fortunately, if you team up with a professional video production company and choose your video spokesperson wisely, these issues shouldn’t be a problem.

In short, plan your video script for longevity and shoot alternative, non-product specific scenes, and you shouldn’t need to update your video spokesperson segments for at least one year, if not more.

What do you think? How often should you update a video spokesperson? Share your thoughts below.

Creating “Evergreen” Video Spokespeople

Adding a video spokesperson to your website requires an investment of time and money. However, once the video has been shot and edited and the video overlay has been set up on your website, your video spokesperson can last for years. If your message doesn’t change drastically, you may not need to update the video spokesperson for years. But, if you don’t think in terms of the future when you shoot, you could end up with a spokes model that looks dated prematurely.

For example, remember when Fedora hats were all the rage back in 2008? A video spokesperson wearing a Fedora would’ve been fashionable back then, but would stick out now as being dated. Currently, “jeggings,” a cross between jeans and leggings, are popular, but will they be a distraction a year or two from now? In addition to clothing and accessories, the video spokesperson’s hairstyle could be problematic in the future if it is trendy now.

Because you want your video spokesperson to last for more than the current season, you’ll need to create an “evergreen” look. The term “evergreen” is commonly used to indicate Web content that is built to withstand the test of time. For instance, an article about the latest football game will be relevant for about a week until the next games are played while an article about the differences between American and European football will be relevant for years to come. Of the two articles, the latter is considered “evergreen.”

Creating an evergreen look for your video spokesperson involves choosing a spokesperson with a timeless overall look or a look that can be transformed to pass the test of time. Work with a video production company that has a wide selection of classic wardrobe options. Choose wardrobes that will look as good tomorrow as they do today and avoid those that are trendy, flashy, or bold. Just as navy blue suits are safe choices for job interviews, solid classics are generally safe for video spokes models.

Another consideration when creating an evergreen video spokesperson for your website involves the script. Avoid catchphrases and buzzwords that are popular today but will likely be short-lived. These will date your video spokesperson as soon as they become clichés or fall out of favor. Soon, these phrases may even be forgotten and their context lost on future visitors. Avoid references that will date your spokesperson as well.

For example, if your script mentions President Obama, it will be obsolete as soon as President Obama is no longer the president. References to future dates are especially problematic as once that date passes, the script is no longer relevant. For example, if your video spokesperson says, “This offer is good until December 2010,” the video will be hopelessly out of date from January 2011 forward. A better choice would be to say, “This offer expires soon” and use other easy-to-change elements on the webpage to indicate the actual expiration date.

Selecting an evergreen wardrobe, hairstyle, and script for the video spokesperson allows you to extend the final video overlay’s life on your website.

Conducting a Video-to-Lead Funnel Audit

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring the video-to-lead funnel and how you can use online videos to engage, convert, and nurture your site’s visitors. Your website may already have Web videos working diligently on these tasks. However, without first understanding how the video-to-lead funnel works, it’s possible that your current online video strategy doesn’t conform to the funnel’s structure. For example, your site may contain dozens of engaging videos but few designed to convert prospects into leads. Similarly, your site may have many nurturing videos, but few engaging ones. In either situation, gaps should be identified through a video-to-lead funnel audit.

Online Video Audit Step 1: Identify All Web Videos on Your Site

You’ll need a notebook and a block of uninterrupted time for this step. Go through your entire website and list each Web video featured. Watch all videos and identify which phase of the funnel (engage, convert, or nurture) the video falls under. Keep in mind that some videos may have elements from each phase. At this point, focus on the primary purpose of the video.

While you’re at it, write down where the video appears and how viewers get to it. For example, is the video on your home page? Is it on a landing page accessible from an advertisement? Is it on a page your email campaigns point to?

Online Video Audit Step 2: Identify Online Video Gaps

Now that you have a list of web videos and have identified each video’s purpose within the video-to-lead funnel, it’s time to see if any gaps exist. You should have a nice mix of engaging, conversion, and nurturing videos. If your site is filled with conversion and nurturing videos but lacks engaging videos, your online video strategy may not be effective because you haven’t earned the right to jump to those phases yet. Likewise, if your site lacks conversion videos and is heavy on those that engage, you could be missing an opportunity.

Online Video Audit Step 3: Analyze the Progression from One Online Video to the Next

Finally, consider how viewers interact with your online videos. Is there a natural progression leading from one phase of the funnel to the next? For example, after viewing an engaging video, is the user directed to additional options? Is there a call to action to view additional videos or sign up for a newsletter (where you can later send links to additional videos)? Are additional videos easy to locate and well organized?

The Web video audit should show you areas that could use improvement. Whether you need to produce additional Web videos or rearrange navigational elements so that users can easily move through the video-to-lead funnel, taking the time to audit your existing efforts can help you to optimize it for success.