What will you show us in your video?

Last week you learned how easy it is to put video in your blog. Have you need wondering what you could do with it? ...or were you even wondering why I told you in the first place?

Imagine you're at an art fair or visiting an artisan's village. You wander from shop to shop, marvelling at all the wonderful things for sale. Some shops have the items displayed on shelves for you to look at, other shops have items on tables that you can pick up and examine more closely.

A few shops feature the artist at work. They talk to the growing crowd about their equipment, supplies, and technique, and look like they're genuinely having fun as they create more of the same art they are selling. It's fascinating to watch them work and explain the process, both technical and creative. As you watch them work, you notice there is always a crowd around their shop and the cashier is very busy, constantly ringing up purchases. After watching for a while, you decide you like this artist, their style, their sense of humor, and you just have to have one of their items. Not only because you love the item itself, but you are enjoying the complete experience of how your item came to be.

You buy the best piece in the shop and bring it home. The next time the art fair comes around or the next time you visit the artisan's village, you look for the same artist to see what new items they are selling this time. You also recommend friends to check them out and talk about your experience.

So now let's think about your business.
Is it a blog? Do you have an Etsy shop? Is there something you would do differently if you were selling to your customers in a shop, face to face?

You could create that same artisan environment with video on your blog. Invite your readers into your studio, office, or other workspace and introduce yourself.

For those of you with an Etsy shop, you could show off different techniques you use. Hint: this will add value to your work once your customers see how work intensive/detailed your craft is, or how much skill goes into creating your pieces. You could also do a regular video series regarding your studio or shop - why not have your customers ask you questions and you dedicate a 2 minute video to answer each question, and run this as a regular weekly series?

You could also show off the process you need to go through to create a piece of your work.

How about showing video highlights on new items in your shop?

Or... show us your muse, so to speak. How about a video of people or places that inspire your creativity?

Do you publish tutorials on your blog? Why not pair up a written tutorial with still photos with a video tutorial. Just watch a cooking show or Carole Duvall on HGTV to see how they plan their video tutorials. They're not that hard.

If your video really stands out because it's unusual (such as the couple having breakfast on their porch with their neighborhood deer,) or funny, very entertaining, cute, informative, or even maybe a little controversial it could circulate around the internet as a YouTube cult classic.

What else can you think of? Comment here with your big brainstorm - or share a link to your video so we can visit... and marvel at your cleverness!

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