The Power of Video

For as long as I can remember, I have loved film. I grew up in the 80’s and the “golden era of film” was filled with some of the most memorable, creative storytelling and cinematic films in my lifetime (source: me). In High School, I took 3 years of Spanish and to this day, I maintain that I learned more Spanish by watching Taco Bell commercials than I at least remember from those 3 years. I do, however, remember a project that we had my senior year. We were to create a 30-second commercial (in Spanish of course), for the car that we drove.

At the time, I drove a light blue 1980’s Toyota Camry. I grabbed my parent’s RCA camcorder, 2 or 3 of my classmates and we went to work. We had zero budget and one week to work with, but it was a fun project. And given that the digital video era wouldn’t arrive for another 10+ years, it turned out pretty good (all things considered).

Why did I love that project? For starters, it was a creative outlet for me. I’ve always loved being creative and this was an opportunity. It also found it to be a fascinating platform to tell a story. Since then, I’ve had a lot of time to consider other reasons why video work can be so powerful. Here is a (short) list:

Communication
Videos can convey complex information more effectively than text. They can also capture tone and emotion far better.

Engagement
Videos can be visually appealing and engaging, breaking up long blocks of text. They can also help readers grasp complex concepts more easily.

Emotional Connection
Videos can help build an emotional connection with the audience, which contributes to trust and loyalty.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Videos can boost SEO and website rankings. When people share your video or link back to your web page, it creates an inbound link, which is an important factor in your SEO ranking.

Brand Recall
Videos can help improve brand recall. According to Hubspot, 80% of customers remember a video they viewed in the past month.

Processing Speed
The human brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text.

Content Marketing
Video is one of the most powerful forms of content marketing for commercial and personal brands. It can be used to tell stories, entertain, or inform.

Learning
Video-based learning can help students attain mastery learning. Teachers can break long video courses into microlearning events.

For me, video transforms the written and spoken word into a powerful message that transcends all barriers. It’s a tool that helps us to sell a widget, tell a story, entertain all generations and convey just the right message in this noisy world.

What are your thoughts? Comment below.