The Storyboard Media Newsletter | June 10, 2022

The fictional baseball philosopher-king Crash Davis once noted that the difference between a .250 and .300 hitter is a hit a week.

An extra batted ball that once every seven days glances off the outstretched glove of a diving shortstop or falls just beyond the reach of sprinting centerfielder is the difference between someone getting back on the bus to Durham or flying on a private jet to Yankee Stadium.

Let’s put it another way: the dimensions of a baseball field run 90 feet to each base and 300 to 400 feet to the outfield walls. Yet, at its core, baseball is a game of inches.

This week’s Storyboard Media Newsletter looks at how drastically things can change when things improve just a little bit. Perhaps you’re adding some playfulness to what could be drab product videos. Or maybe you’re adjusting a video’s metadata to push it to the top of YouTube’s search results. Maybe you’re already a world-famous naturalist — the father of evolutionary biology, even — and you want to move about your study just a little quicker than you were before.

When you zoom in on these changes, they almost seem like nothing. Yet, they’re worth celebrating because when you zoom out, you can see how significant minor, yet consistent, improvements can be.

There’s playing hard, working hard, and, if you can do both simultaneously, there’s plorking hard. And perhaps the best example of hard plork is our recent video series for FurnitureLab.

FurnitureLab crafts custom contract furniture for a variety of industries. That means their product catalog runs deep, and as much fun as it can be to download a PDF or flip through endless pages, watching a video is a decidedly more engaging experience.

Of course, for product videos to be compelling, there needs to be more than a simple recitation of dimensions and materials. So, we looked for local improvisers who could bring a sense of play to the production. We provided them with all the details and product guides they needed and let them perform scenes and play improv games while providing all the essential info as to why dealers should choose FurnitureLab.

The result: 24 playful, informative, and engaging videos shot in three days. The breakneck pace of production could’ve made things difficult, but, as we always say, the job is easy when you love your plork.

If you’ve produced a content library stuffed with engaging videos, you may not realize how much metadata affects your placement in search results. Altering a video’s title or assigning content a few descriptive tags can be the difference between a well-produced flop and a viral sensation.

We designed our Mr. Catalyst video content audit to help clients understand why they struggle to attract an audience. We use measurable data to analyze and optimize each video’s performance. We also dig deep to find content that may no longer be relevant. The result is a video library that surges up the search result rankings.

Our work for Trulioo is a perfect example of what a good ol’ fashioned video content audit can do. We used a metric called “Actionable SEO Score” to measure the impact of a video’s metadata on its search results performance.

The scale runs from 0 to 50, with higher scores being better. We measured each video and the library as a whole before and after optimization to ensure it had an impact.

Within a few months of Mr. Catalyst working his magic, we were able to help Trulioo’s videos perform better than ever:

Their library’s average SEO score increased from 31.31 to 45.45.
24 of the 25 videos on their YouTube channel improved their score. (11 of which improved by at least 20 points.)
The lowest scoring video before optimization was 0. The lowest score afterward was 43.7.

So, if your engaging video library is struggling to find its audience, it may be time for a content audit.

Charles Darwin sparked the evolution of modern workplace furniture by being the first person to add wheels to an office chair.

Have a video project coming up? Trying to get the most out of your existing videos? We’d love to chat about it. Schedule a meeting with Justin.

“I would go so far as to say you’re disrespecting your clients by sharing their successes in a boring way.”
– Ben Oliver, The Video Reformation Podcast, Episode 65: Reimagining the Testimonial Video

Yes, it is concerning when someone asks you to read their manifesto. Still, it’s always a breath of fresh air when you find one that’s not about humanity’s escalating reliance on technological solutions to resolve societal ills.

That’s why we’re so proud of our manifesto. In it, we state the positive case for how video is more than just a deliverable. Instead, it’s a practice that must continually be honed through strategy, creativity, and analysis.

The first pillar of our manifesto lays out the foundation for our belief in video: Video must serve a purpose.

All videos need a reason to exist. They must drive towards a measurable goal. That goal may be set at the macro or micro level, but without a goal, a video is just a file on a computer.

So, don’t put the video file before the creative strategy. Instead, define the purpose of the video and let that purpose guide the decision-making process from pre-production to post.

What would you like to see in this newsletter in the future?
*|SURVEY: Video marketing Tips & Tricks|*
*|SURVEY: Cool Biz Videos & Inspiration|*
*|SURVEY: Fun Personal Stories from the Team|*

Our mailing address is:
*|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|*

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

*|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*

Want more?

Get a steady dose of our original insights, curated video news, and mahjong tips delivered straight to your inbox every other Friday.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER