Do you ever see a company post on social media, “we started this for the money”?

Me neither.

Because most of us need a better, truer reason to connect with a person or a company.

Remember TOMS’ early days? I promise you, people weren’t buying those shoes just because of how they looked. They weren’t that cute, and I have several pairs.

Companies that have real passion for the problem they solve do better once we actually know about that passion.

We’ve all seen this work, whether we’re on the buying side or the selling side.

As Simon Sinek famously put it:
“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

Take Guru Pet Company. They sell dog toys. But what makes them stand out isn’t the toys, it’s that they’re exactly the kind of people you’d want making your dog’s toys.

That’s the stuff that turns a buyer into a fan.

You know a great way to show and tell that story?
Video.

In this week’s Behind the Stream we’re bringing a case study on a client who brought a several year story to life in just a few minutes.

Got a why worth telling?
You know where to find us.

Got a webinar or talk packed with great content that you know has nuggets of content gold?

Turning one presentation into months’ worth of content is one of my favorite things we do.

It’s basically alchemy, but with a timeline and a content calendar.

This week’s throwback: a case study of a client who did exactly that. And it still holds up, both the videos they made and the ones they made.

Check it out here.

Got long-form content collecting dust on your hard drive? You know where to find us.

Over the years, I’ve argued (and sold) people on why they need to be doing video for their business and what they’re leaving on the table by avoiding it.

And while I’d like to think all of my points are good, this week’s video makes the strongest case yet for why businesses that want to grow can’t afford to ignore video.

Give it a watch and let me know what you think.

Here’s …

Behind The Stream: Retain Clients While You’re Watching Fireworks Watch The Video »

Video doesn’t always have to sell.

Sometimes it’s just recording something you find yourself saying over and over again.

A good video can answer questions, train new people, explain a process, or share information without you having to repeat yourself 100 times.

It’s like being in a million places at once.

In this week’s video, I’m sharing how some of Mainstream’s clients use video to save their trainers time, create consistency, and make sure people get the information they need.

Even when the trainer isn’t in the room.

Check it out and see if there’s something you’re saying over and over that could be a video instead.

Anyone else feeling like you can’t go anywhere right now without ending up in a conversation about AI and what it all means?

Us too.

AI in video isn’t exactly new. We’ve been using tools powered by AI for years. But the recent explosion of “AI video experts” has definitely created a little fool’s gold in the industry.

Our take?

The tools are getting smarter, faster, and scarily impressive. But strategy, storytelling, taste, communication, and knowing what actually works for your audience? That still takes humans who know what they’re doing. The tools just make more possible.

In this week’s #BehindTheStream, our team talks honestly about:

How we’re using AI in our process

What excites us about it

What makes us nervous

Check it out here.

If any of this resonates, here’s what we’ve seen work: getting crystal clear on your audience and your top 5 videos before you touch any tool or hire any vendor.

That’s exactly what our Video Clarity Sessions are designed for.

Its two focused 45-minute conversations where we map your audience, identify what content will actually land, and give you a prioritized video plan.

No chasing shiny tools that will waste your time and money. Just clarity on what to make and why it will work.

If that sounds useful, just reach out and we’ll find a time.

You know what doesn’t inspire me to buy your product or service?

Feeling dumb.

Confused people don’t buy.

You know what helps with that?
Video.

Watch this week’s #BehindTheStream here to learn more!

If you’ve been following along, you know we’re breaking down video data in a cool way so we actually know if our videos (and our clients’ videos) are doing well.

Because “doing well”… is subjective.

And if you’re responsible for marketing, that’s a problem.
You need to know what’s actually working.

The only way to know if a video worked is simple:
Did it do the job you wanted it to do?

That’s it.

You give the video a job.
Then you measure if it did that job.

Out of all the metrics we look at, you know which one I think is the sexiest?

Completion rate.

Did someone actually watch the video all the way through?

Because honestly, if they stayed till the end… it did its job.

They stayed. The whole time.

In a world where we move on pretty quickly… that matters.

And most videos don’t earn that.

Our highest completion rate is both surprising and not surprising.

But I know what was different.

This is about as passionate as I get when talking about video marketing… and I think it showed.

The last couple of weeks, we’ve been taking you behind the scenes of the 40 video ads we created last year.

Here’s the thing about ads. They are one of the hardest parts of video strategy.

You’re balancing creative and math at the same time. You can have a solid plan, but you still don’t know what will actually work until you test it.

So that’s what we did.

We created a set of awareness ads and let the results tell us what stuck.

This week, we’re breaking down the #3 top performer.

And honestly, this one surprised me.

The message is something I say all the time. But the editing leaned more trendy and “influencer” than what we usually create.

Turns out, when you pair the right message with a touch of trend, you can grab attention and hold it.

Watch this week’s #BehindTheStream here to see what worked and why.

And if someone comes to mind who is putting out video but not seeing results, feel free to send this their way. This is exactly the kind of shift most teams are missing.