Yesterday I attended the very successful Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce Small Business Social Media Summit at the Westford Regency Hotel. The speakers were all informative and entertaining and the event was every well attended. Hopefully it will become an annual event. Over the next few days, I’ll do some blog posts sharing some of what I learned at the conference. Today, it’s about the importance of video in sharing your message.

Eric Guerin, the founder of Adelie Studios said that video can be used to humanize your brand. Showing photos of the famous cave drawings from Lascaux, France, Guerin reminded us that communicating with pictures is embedded in our DNA. He also said that people remember stories more than isolated facts so combining a good story with great visuals is the best way to hook your audience.

Guerin provided three examples of marketing videos that combined humor and imagination to create a lasting impression on viewers. The first is a public service ad from the Australian National Railroad that urges people to be safe around trains. This video was done in response to a dramatic increase in people being killed in train track accidents. After the video was released, train deaths dropped substantially. The second is from the Dollar Shave Club. This company was created when a guy bought a warehouse filled with a quarter million razors and asked one of his son’s friends for ideas about how to sell them. The friend suggested selling them online. He also had some stand-up comedy experience and created the video to help launch the company. The third video is by a company called BlendTec which makes blenders but lacks the marketing budget to compete with some of the larger small kitchen appliance companies. Each video uses humor to send home its message.

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