Avoid a Rain Out on Your Field of Dreams

IF YOU BUILD IT THEY MAY COME, BUT GETTING THEM TO STAY IS THE REAL TRICK: TIPS TO AVOID A RAIN OUT ON YOUR FIELD OF DREAMS

You may have seen Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner and Ray Liotta. If you did, I’m sure you remember the film’s most famous line: “If you build it, they will come.”

The popularity of sites like YouTube, where quantity seems to rule over quality, may lead business owners to think that posting a video, any video, is enough. But even in the film, the field had to follow certain specifications in order to attract the top players. So the more fruitful question may not be “If I build it, will they come?” but rather “If I build it, how do I get them to stay?”

And the answer is: You need to win over your audience. And winning over your audience may be easier than you think because film is a language. “What do you mean?” you ask.

You have probably written an important memo and given extra thought to word choice. That same thought process occurs in video production, when the director or producer decides where and how to use the camera and sound. What that means to you is you can use video as a persuasion tool. More important, you can employ web video as a tool that is welcomed by audiences without resistance or resentment.

Here’s something to consider: Do you enjoy watching movies with a good story? If you do, then you’re part of the majority of audiences, because most people like to be entertained with a story and follow the experiences of sympathetic characters.

I would suggest that it starts when you are young child and your parents bribe—I mean persuade—you to go to bed with the promise of a bedtime STORY. People’s love of stories continues into adulthood as evidenced by the practice of news programs luring people to tune into their broadcast by announcing “Our top STORY tonight is . . ” So it makes sense that if you want someone to pay attention to what you have to say, you should do it with a good —– (starts with an S and ends in a Y. That’s right: STORY!).

Did you know?

The Search for Local Business Starts Online

97% of Internet users perform local searches – BIA/Kelsey, June 2011