How Online Video Marketing Can Improve Your Business.

Last month Christiaan and I attended Chris Cardell's excellent 3 day Entrepreneur Summit to gain some insight into the latest business growth and marketing techniques. We're currently trading at 48% year on year increase in turnover – so we already know a bit about business growth. But although marketing has always contributed to our success, there's always more that could be done. You'll notice on this website that we're using video to promote ourselves and to humanise the site, and indeed over 45% of our video clicks belong to our home page player and the 'Meet the Team' page. Our new clients tell us that these videos are one of the reasons they chose to run with Spectrecom, so we know the videos work.

Now, I've been banging on about the benefits of online video since we started in business back in 2005, but as I sat and listened to Chris Cardell (and other speakers) promote the use of video as a major marketing tool, I thought how refreshing it was to hear how the far the concept has entered the mainstream. As it happened, it was Chris Cardell's own videos that persuaded us that we needed to attend the summit in the first place!

So what, from the speakers' point of view (they included Sir Bob Geldof, Gerald Ratner and Karren Brady) makes video an essential marketing tool? Well, I can't reproduce the summit here for you, but here are a few thoughts:

• It's now very cheap to produce and easy to put online
• Technology has evolved sufficiently to offer a great viewing experience
• It can be distributed across multiple video-sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo, as well as an increasing number of trade directories that will to bring new visitors to your site
• It allows you to communicate personally with a much wider audience than you could ever hope to achieve with networking and face-to-face meetings
• It's available to view online, 24/7
• Compared to traditional advertising, it's effectiveness can be easily measured
• It's great for SEO
• It humanises your website

I could add to this list, but that's for another time. However, you'll see us increasingly use video on this site to promote what we do in a variety of different ways, and we'll be testing and measuring the success of each of those videos. To start with, I'm going to be presenting a series of video workshops to look at the effectiveness of online video for different types of organisation and I'll be starting with student recruitment for higher education. This will go online in September and I'll be pleased to share our results with new and existing clients. If you want to view any of these new video workshops, or if you have any suggestions for specific subject areas you want me to cover, please e-mail info@spectrecom.co.uk with the subject headline "video workshops".

Spectrecom moved to new premises at Waterloo in January and we've been very busy transforming the building, originally a news distribution warehouse, into a fully integrated 4 studio complex.

Given that the premises was still essentially a building site and that the hospitality areas were rudimentary to say the least, we refrained from publicising the studios beyond the pages on this website. However, there's been a steady stream of clients using the new facilities - despite the limitations - and the good news is that we're almost there. Studio 2 became operational in mid-February and Studios 3 & 4 soon followed. The kitchens are finished and the 3 green rooms comfortably furnished. 

 

We're now making good headway with Studio 1. At 2,000 sq ft, this is the largest studio and we've had to put in a new concrete base to level off the sloping floor (the image of a camera crew riding on a track & dolly, and hurtling down-hill into the cyc wall, just didn't bear thinking about!). So, like the other studios, we're building a 'U' shaped cyc wall, sound-proofing the walls and ceiling, and installing a lighting grid. This studio though, will also have a viewing gallery, and finally, with vehicle access through a shutter door, it'll need two giant steel-framed doors to be specially constructed. The first shoot for Studio 1, running for 5 days, is set for 7th June and we're comfortably on schedule.

To those clients who have already hired one of our studios, thank you for your patience and tolerance as we've continued to build (quietly, I hope) around your shoots. And if you haven't yet visited us, we're ready to welcome you and give you the guided tour.

And no, you won't need to bring your hard hat!

On April 1^st, Spectrecom turned 5 years old. Trading began in a small business unit at Faircharm Studios in Deptford with very limited funds, no staff and no customer base whatsoever.

Three friends from my university days, Sarah Aynesworth, Steve Milton and Steve Ryan, helped me form the company. From the outset our idea was to combine a corporate video production company with a studio operation. It was an unusual business model but it stood us in good stead. In that shaky first year, whilst we were slowly building up our corporate video client base, when we could barely afford the coffee bills, the studio accounted for over 50% of our business and kept us going.

Steve Ryan left Spectrecom in 2007 to focus on his own special interests in Bristol, but Sarah, Steve Milton and I remain. Over champagne to celebrate our anniversary, we rather un-modestly agreed a few achievements that I thought worth recording here.

We felt that by and large, we'd succeeded in our intention to put corporate responsibility at the heart of our business, leading to very positive and tangible environmental benefits and training outcomes. For example, we were thrilled when one of our trainees, Georgina Studd, won at the First Light Movie Awards last year.

Something else worthy of note, we've retained our core staff from the early days, and we're delighted that Ben, Christiaan, Pearl and Jonny are still with us.

We made a success of the video / studio model too, resulting in our recent expansion to new studio premises in central London here at Waterloo.

Of course, a business is nothing without it's customers. Over the years we've built up a fantastic client base, won some major awards (including IVCA Gold) and become the UK's undisputed leading producer of University Recruitment Videos. So to all of those clients who have helped Spectrecom become what it is today – a big thank you!

Naturally we recorded quite a few more achievements, but by the time we'd got onto celebrating the upgrade to a much larger stationery cupboard here at Waterloo (it really is spacious), it was felt we were scraping the barrel somewhat. So finally, we toasted Byron Barrett who took over the Faircharm Studio operation from us (now Live Vision Studios). Byron is starting out exactly as we did 5 years ago, combining studio operations with corporate video production, and we wish him the very best of luck.

 

Where it all started! Andrew's and Sarah's desks at the Faircharm Studio on 1 April 2005.

When Spectrecom began trading at our offices and studio in Deptford in 2005, the idea of operating a small film/TV studio in Deptford was dismissed by doubters as being non-viable. Given the location in South East London, and with our comparative inexperience in studio management, it was easy to see why. However, fortunately it proved to be an instant success, and we were right in at the deep end with our very first shoot – the music video for Miss Dynamite's Judgement Day. In the earlier years especially, when the corporate video side of our business was still growing, our studio provided much-needed regular cashflow and stability. To view some of the productions we've hosted here in the last few years, just click on the video above. 

However, as our business has continued to expand, we've outgrown our space and recent visitors have seen just how cramped our offices and studio facilities have become. Small picnic tables have become an all-too-regular supplement to our office desks! So I'm very pleased to announce our relocation to much larger premises in Waterloo on 4th January 2010. Construction work has already begun and soon we'll be able to offer our clients:
•    4 x sound-proofed studios, 2 with drive-in access
•    4 x green rooms
•    3 x make-up rooms
•    3 x wardrobe rooms
•    3 x production offices
•    2 x kitchens
•    Shower facilities

I believe that our studio at Deptford was so successful because not only were the hire rates attractively low, but we also kept the pricing structure as simple as possible. The support facilities, lighting, studio manager – all were included in the basic hire rate. And of course, we had a memorably striking green room. So we'll continue the successful format with our new studios. Although yet to be confirmed, I expect that we'll be able to hire the smallest (420 ft²) for less than £400 per day, and the largest (2,100 ft²) for under £900 per day. And all of this just 5 minutes walk from Waterloo Station. We'll be publishing full specifications, studio images and prices on this site in January. 

New Waterloo Studios

And what of our studio in Deptford? It remains open for business in the short term, although we plan to re-assign the lease and sell on the basic contents as a going concern once the Waterloo Studios are fully operational. We'll be happy to consider any reasonable offers from interested parties.

In the meantime, may I take this opportunity to wish all of our clients and friends a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year!
 

It’s often suggested that a managing director of a company should concentrate on working on the business rather than working in it. And as time’s gone on and our business has grown, I’ve increasingly come to recognise the value of this. Sales forecasting, profitability, systems, staffing, strategising for the long term – they all require focus. But it’s also important to retain a creative overview to ensure that the company retains its identity and quality of programming. Besides, much of what we do happens out on location away from the office, working for and with clients. For that reason, I still like to go out on shoots and work in a variety of different crew roles where I have the skills and experience; directing, producing, camera work, art direction. It helps me to stay in touch with the realities of work on the front line as it were, but just as importantly, it allows me to indulge my passion and my reason for setting up this business in the first place: filmmaking!

The last few weeks have seen me involved in a number of very different but personally rewarding projects. At the end of August I was directing the last day of filming for a video celebrating the 45th anniversary of Lancaster University. The video was hosted by the university's charismatic chancellor Sir Chris Bonington and the university team, led by Nick Fragel, have been a dream to work with - model clients who know what they want, and who have worked diligently and thoughtfully with us to help shape their film into something quite special. Were it always thus!
Two days later I revisited one of my original filmmaking roles to work as first assistant director on a studio shoot for a music video. Spectrecom was asked by New York-based Humble TV to produce the UK shoot for the official video of The Uprising, the latest hit single by Muse. The video was completed in the US and the result is a highly imaginative video that you can catch here on YouTube.
 
A week later we were shooting at Abbey Road studios to make the video for the song, All You Need Is Love for BandAged / TOG’s, Terry Wogan’s fan base. And two days after that, I managed to fit in another role, this time as camera operator on a one-man job. I was in Venice to film Cunard’s Queen Victoria sail in, and then off to the Fincantineri shipyard at Monfalcone to record the building of the new Cunarder, Queen Elizabeth.
 
 So, a number of different roles and projects, and the chance to get out and about. And to produce this shamelessly name-dropping blog. But it's now back in the office, overseeing installation of a new CRM, preparing for sales exhibitions and a seminar to be hosted here in the studio next week, and planning for next year. I'm very definitely back to working 'on' the business.