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Choosing background music for a company video is a personal choice. However, my own examination of the background music for a series of short plumbing videos, revealed the fact that there are at least three approaches to selecting background music, and the owner of a company, in conjunction with a video production team can initially simplify their decision by deciding which of the three roads they wish to travel along.
The videos I listened to revealed that musical selections for background music can be divided into music which sounds like, or symbolizes the sounds of the service activity being offered, music which resembles or imitates the sounds of the problem that needs fixing and music which promotes a general positive mood related to successful resolution of the problem, and the successful ongoing flow of life, both before the problem and after its resolution.
I believe that in general optimists in life outnumber pessimists. Most people put life’s daily struggles in perspective, and see them as problems to be dealt with and overcome, so that they can get on to the “rollicking good times.” In this light, consider what happens when something goes wrong, e.g., a plumbing leak, and a service company is called? At first, something is not working right, the order of daily life is a bit disturbed and the service company, such as a plumbing company, steps and restores order, and the good times march on.
Applying this analysis of a service intervention we can divide the service intervention into three distinct phases: the breakdown, the intervention to fix the breakdown and the restoration of order. As we will see, these three phases of a service intervention correspond to three different types of background music that are used in service videos. Consider examples taken from videos which I examined when writing this report.
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/4770485/12735726 This video presents music imitating the sound of a dripping pipe, along with a video of the drip and a narrator encouraging the viewer to get help. This is background music imitating the sound of the breakdown.
http://espanol.video.yahoo.com/watch/4466979/11977280 This video presents driving music with a rapid almost industrial beat which imitates the on screen display of a plumber making repairs to a sink. This is background music imitating the sound of the repair process.
http://www.graspr.com/videos/Richmond-BC-Plumbing-Company-1 , http://www.in.com/videos/watchvideo-plumbing-company-in-valencia-7960332.html These videos present feel good background music. The type of music which suggest the ongoing flow of the good times of life, which existed before the plumbing problem, and which will be restored as soon as this small disorder is repaired. The background music in these videos present music associated with the restoration of order and the ongoing good times.
The question which a company owner and his videography company must address is which of these three types of background music will make his video most effective in winning customers. All three types of music have advantages and disadvantages, a search on the web, however, will show that most people choose positive mood music for their background.
Background music that imitates the sound of the problem, might have some appeal because the problem is uppermost in the minds of people searching for a service company on the web. This type of sound seeks to win trust by giving the viewer the feeling that the company understands his predicament. One problem with this approach is that it can only portray one type of problem. A video portraying the sound of a leaky faucet may not appeal to a surfer looking for a company to fix his blocked sewer.
Music which imitates the sound of repair, seeks to win the trust of surfers by presenting a vision of the repair process, which is after all what they seek. It does carry a message of hope. On the other hand, how many people like to stand over the shoulder of a plumber as he solders pipes together or drains filthy water from a toilet. Most people prefer to wait in another room until the plumber finished everything, including the cleanup. Consequently, most people may not be that interested in a video that musically portrays the repair process.
Music which conveys an upbeat mood reminiscent of the good times brings a message of hope and assurance that the company will succeed in fixing the problem and restoring order and the ongoing good times. This type of music wins viewer trust, because that, in essence is what surfers seek when they go online, a means for restoration of their former order.
While all three types of background music have positive qualities, it is clearly the third type which has the most human appeal. Because while humans stoop, in their daily labor to various mechanical tasks to solve various ongoing challenges and problems, it is the restoration of humanity and the good life, at the end of the day, which keeps most people going, and which is most important. Therefore use of background music that appeals to this fundamental human goal is most likely to net results.
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More and more businessman with company websites are realizing that a web video, which greets visitors to the web site, makes the web site more personal reaches out to visitors in a stronger way and increases the conversion rate. What are the essential elements of a web video that will turn clicks into customers. That is the central question.
Making a web video for a given profession will have unique requirements. However, many of the qualities which make a video work for one profession will also apply to website videos in other professions. In this article, I will be comparing three web videos that were made for the landscaping profession and are posted on You Tube.
The ATC website video posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYIpt0JebTc tells the story of a day in the life of the ATC company. The background music of this video is the song Takin’ Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. The song describes the 9-5 daily schedule of workers who push the time clock. The video describes the story of a typical day of ATC landscape workers. In the morning, the workers conference, they stand around the foreman who gives then a pep talk. Then they clap hands and head to the trucks. Then one by one the trucks pull away. Next we see workers busy with various landscaping chores, mowing the lawn, trimming a bush, and setting up a wooden fence behind a garden. The scenes feature good quality landscaping work and attractive lawns and gardens. When the video is over, we have come to feel that the workers of ATC are decent hard working fun-loving guys. And we would trust them with our landscaping.
The second web video, is constructed of amateur video footage and still photos, arranged and set to music by a professional video production company. This video is compounded of stills and video segments of landscapes the company has made,along with some shots of company workers actively engaged in landscaping. The video features still and video shots of landscapes the company made, and some shots of company workers at work. The music is upbeat universal style background music. The video is not as personal as the first video. It seeks to build trust with the viewer by presenting the quality of the company’s landscape work.
The third web video is also professionally made. The video contains slightly oriental sounding background music. Presumably the music was selected becasue of the asociation between gardens and the orient. The introduction features an off screen narrator who talks about the qualities of the company, followed by a series of before and after photos of various landscaping jobs the company has done.
Studies have shown that trust a shopper has for a company is a very important factor in determining whether or not he will do business with that company. Trust, it has been shown can override considerations of the quality of the work the company will produce. And for obvious reasons, a company may do quality work but if not trustworthy could cheat an individual customer. Whereas a trusty company will always be expected to do well for a customer. So which video wins more trust? Clearly number one. At the end of that video, we feel like we know the company and the workers. Whereas in video two the workers appear in a few still life shots, and in video three not at all.
What other factors are essential parts of these three videos, clearly the shots of quality landscaping. While the first video may inspire trust by introducing the crew as decent hard working and fun loving guys, the shots of quality landscaping, manicured, well cut lawns, well trimmed beds and a sturdy garden fence are also necessary, as they allow the viewer to connect his faith in the workers with the quality work they do. Both the second and third videos also present the quality landscaping work the companies do.
What general conclusions can we draw from these three videos? First, a video which inspires trust in the viewer, by showing the workers as well as the work, is more likely to be successful in winning customers. Secondly, website videos must also present examples of quality work in the profession, so that viewers can connect the faith they have in the company with the belief that the company will do quality work in their given profession.
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For the last three years, eLocal has been creating generic mini-website videos that can placed on the website of anyone in the profession for which the video was made. The videos are produced in quantity and are sold at whoelsale prices and have made website videos affordable for even the small businessman. This strategy has made the businessman feel good, but the question is whether these little mini website videos are drawing in the traffic.
If these videos are drawing traffic, which ones, or which type of content, in this new genre, are most effective at converting clicks to customers. In this article, I will be looking at the eLocal Garage door video # 2 found at: http://www.youtube.com/elocalvideoexamples#p/u/5/pd0xn7w5VD
This video might be aptly called the garage door dance video. In style, it is patterned after a number of videos, which use either repetitive sequences or motion graphics to display the product making a repetitive motion. If the motion is one that people enjoy doing or seeing, then they might become hypnotized by the video, as they gaze at the product dancing around the screen.
In this video, the repetitive motion is the electronically controlled garage door opening and closing. The direction of the moving door is controlled by a button being fingered by an off screen participant. The door moves up and down to the rhythm of a funky repetitive synthesizer tune which plays in the background. On close examination, it appears that the 20 second video was made by splicing 3 segments of the same segment together, with some added material. The video closes with a dark background on which the name and phone number of the company is displayed.
So is this video effective as a web video. It must be said in its favor, that pushing the button to control the movement of a garage door is a favorite motion for many people. People finger the button before leaving on a trip or vacation or a visit to a movie or restaurant. They finger it again to close the garage after returning satisfied from a dinner with friends or a movie. They finger it before going out to earn money. Admittedly, at times it can become a nuisance, and because of this we now have electronically controlled garage door buttons. But in general, the electric garage is one of the modern conveniences that people appreciate. And they part they like the most is when they hit the button and the door begins to move in the direction they want. This eLocal video decided to capitalize on the enjoyment of this motion, by presenting a video which only contains that motion.
One way this video might have increased its effectiveness is if they had presented a completed garage door move. People like the completion of the garage door close as well as the start. The part they hate is the long time it takes to get to the end. This video only shows a short segment of the move, albeit the exciting moment when the door curves around the guiding rails as its motion changes from horizontal to vertical or visa versa.
In addition to failure of the video to have presented a more complete move, the display on the screen is a little cramped. We see a finger pushing the button, we see a close up of the door rising up and down and its reverse and little else.
Assuming the cinematic effects were perfect, the central question is whether the idea of this video itself is a good one. Assuming the video was successful at displaying a fun aspect of operating a garage door, will it sell the garage door? Logically, it will. I conclude that the idea of this video has some merit, but the cinematic effects are incomplete and cramped.
What is the take home lesson from this video. Showing a fun aspect of owning or operating a product a company is trying to sell can be a good one. The display should be as more complete than this display both temporally and spatially.
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eLocal, always a step ahead of the competition in the Local Search market, has pioneered the use of the generic mini web videos for business promotion. I call them generic, because each of the 10-15 second online videos can be used by any business in the profession for which the video is made. eLocal markets them as “custom” web videos because each one is made for one particular profession.
The mini videos are appropriate for mounting on a web page or landing page, and have adapted well to eLocal’s local search marketing strategies for the small businessman. It is interesting to examine the videos, and see what content eLocal is using to attract customers.
At http://www.youtube.com/elocalvideoexamples#p/u/1/HCbsWFgCPE0 you can see eLocals #1 auto body repair video. This 13 second video clip shows us cars riding down a country road on a bright sunny day. We see what looks like green pastures, and a country farmhouse in the background. Along comes a convertible sports car, with a driver in a driving cap, only one little detail is out of kilter. While sports cars are always small, this one is so small the driver can’t fit into the driver’s seat. He is forced to sit on the back of the car, with his feet in the driving area, as he leans over to grasp the steering wheel.
The background music for the video is a modern jazz guitar piece. The chords obviously contain discordant 6s and 7s, jazz chords, which add notes that are not in the normal 1,3,5 progression. The chords serve to amplify the theme of things not fitting into place. On a grander scale, the old open air sportscar riding down a country lane is reminiscent of earlier days in the automobile revolution, when cars still did not quite fit into roads meant for the horse and buggy. The video caption reads, “Having car troubles?” As the clip ends, the music fades out.
The caption and part of the scene are out of focus. This may have been deliberate. It might have been the intention of the videographer to liken the out of focus caption and out of focus video with the out of kilter car. [/spin Nevertheless, the lack of focus detracts from the professionalism of the video.
[spin]This video , which takes place in the bright of day, contrasts with eLocal’s other autobody repair video that shows a car breaking down on a dark deserted freeway, at night. While that video focuses on a common emotion of fear, which motorists can identify with, this video attempts to downplay the fear and panic element often associated with a car breakdown. The soothing music invites viewers to calm down and take a stoic look at their car troubles. It seeks to minister to the victim of a malfunctioning vehicle, and in this way to attract them to make contact and use the services of the advertising company.
What do the two videos have in common? They address the emotions related to car problems. In this way the online video attracts the customer, who can feel that this company understands how he feels.