Video Marketing and Efficiency

Construction Wisdom

I learned a very valuable lesson while working for my dad’s swimming pool company.

While the muscles I gained picking up 94 pound bags of Portland cement gave me feelings of confidence, and the tolerance for being sweaty/dirty/hot gave me a “get ‘er done” attitude, if you’d asked me what’s the biggest lesson I learned, it would be this:

If you need to go to the truck to grab a tool, what can you bring BACK to the truck?

We need to make the trip, yes, but that is a minute or three we’re not getting any work done. Is there a way to make that time count for double? Or even triple? And the answer is ‘yes’, if you can think ahead and decide that you can bring some trash to the truck, or you are done with the grinder and can bring that to the truck, maybe the plumbing, then do it. That’s one less trip.

Maybe you can think even more ahead and realize that once you’ve gotten the drill you need and have used it, next will be making concrete, so you can grab the latex gloves from the truck with the drill, and save yourself that trip later, in addition to having brought back the extra plumbing.

While saving a minute or two here and there isn’t much in the grand scheme, that attention on the “How can I be more efficient in what I am doing?” question spills over into every aspect of the job. “Why am I wasting time, ineffectually doing this on my toes when I could grab a stool and speed up the process?” “How can I make this or that task easier?” “How can I think ahead and make sure I have everything I need to make my next to-do faster?”

“Seiryoku-Zenyo.”

One of the core maxims in judo is “Seiryoku-Zenyo.” It means the maximum efficient use of energy. You don’t need a ton of strength to off-balance and throw a person if you do just the right amount of movement in the right way.

Strength can help, for sure. It can compensate for a lack of technique, just like we can work hard to compensate for us not working smart. It can complement our good technique, like how working hard WHILE working smart can make us unstoppable.

By itself though, it is inefficient in throwing someone. It can be effective, yet can still be inefficient.

Video Marketing Efficiency

We make videos with no strategy, with no thought, of how we can make our efforts count for double, triple, quadruple duty.

We go through the work to film ONE video, why not batch film? One set up, multiplied efforts.

We hire out for a shoot for a specific purpose, but why aren’t we planting the seeds for future videos? The crew is already out here, let’s capture some stuff for what we know is coming down the line in importance.

We cleaned up our office for the shoot, had our hair and nails done… why don’t we also use this opportunity for branding photos?

We filmed 1 awesome 30 minute Q and A sesh. Why re-film more Instagram videos? That 30 minutes could be 30 one minute (or 60 30 sec!) reels or mini video lessons.

Video as a medium is a wonderful way to leverage YOU. You can’t be putting on a live training at 100 organizations at once, but you can be watched on video by 100,000 organizations at once.

You can’t make infinite sales pitches, but infinite people can watch your product demo or webinar online.

Video leverages you. But let’s leverage our video. Let’s make maximum use and squeeze every drop of value from what we do without crossing the line of spending TOO much time for the diminished returns.

What are some ways you can be more efficient in your video marketing? Your marketing in general? Your business? Your life?

I’d love to hear your ideas! I’m always looking to maximize my efficiency and give focus to what’s most important.