Although there are several marketing tactics that can work for your video business, there is nothing that will market your business as strongly as positive word of mouth. The only way to get positive word of mouth is to do an excellent job on every project you complete. The saying around our studio is often "we are only as good as our last job," which means that if we do a great job, we too are great. If we do a crappy job, then of course, we too are crappy. Our clients and colleagues will spread the word in the marketplace about us based on how we performed in the projects with which they had experience working with us. If you have more positive experiences floating throughout the marketplace, your business will grow. Naturally, if you have more negative experiences floating around the marketplace, your business will suffer. Here are few suggestions on how you can make sure everyone that does business with you, directly or indirectly, will spread good news about your company:

1. Make sure you help them achieve their goals for the video project.
It doesn't matter how slick you make it, if it doesn't increase sales of a particular widget by 10% in the next year, then your project failed. If you were in any way responsible for the unsuccessful project, you'll get blamed and subsequently, negative vibes will enter the marketplace about your business. To avoid this, make sure you know exactly what your clients want/need to accomplish with every video project, get them to agree that your approach should yield a successful video and don't be afraid to tell them "no" when they want to make a change to the video that could put the project in danger of failing. It's a tough thing to do but always remember that they hired you to guarantee a successful production. If they are in the process of sabatoging the video, you must put an end to it.

I have a client that is a major commercial building developer in town. He's the type of guy that can be intimidating to work for if you don't understand how he thinks. He bulls his way through decisions left and right and you think that all you can do is follow his wishes. Then, when the project is WAY off track at the end of several months of bad decisions, he blames you for the failure. After the first project I put together for him, he explained to me that he hired me because he believed I would tell him when he was stepping out of line. I told him that I was concerned that if I told him when I felt he made a bad decision, that he would fire me and not pay me the money owed for the project. We shared a laugh and now I know that if he didn't trust my opinion, he wouldn't have signed my contract. Today, he is one of my most profitable clients and even serves as one of my mentors from time to time. The point in all this is to stick to your guns when it comes to making your client's project a success. Even if you have to tell them that they have bad ideas, they will respect you in the end when the video is an overwhelming success. Even more, they will reward you with new business or positive word of mouth that will result in new business down the road.

2. Don't sweat the small stuff.
If a client wants to make a change at the end of the project that will only cost you a few hours of your time or perhaps a few hundred dollars, but they don't want to pay extra for it, consider it an act of customer service. Or, better yet, consider it a marketing expense. Obviously, if the same client abuses this over and over, it will get old. However, you can always pad the next project you do for this client by 10% or so to make up for the extra time you'll spend making them happy in the end. I've seen so many vendor/client relationships go bad because the vendor refused to budge on a very small item. Let's face it, the difference between your business being successful or noT isn't going to be a couple hundred dollars here and there. If the money is that important to your business, find other ways to get it back. Negotiate rates with your vendors to get the money back instead of giving your clients a bad impression. I'm not saying that you treat anyone unfairly. Just remember that your customers are the ones that keep you in business. As you mature in business, it will become easier to negotiate for additional pay whenever clients make requests at the end of a project that are both outside your production agreement as well as just simply outside the scope of the project.

A client of mine recently asked me to shoot another interview and edit it into a video presentation without adding any cost to the final invoice. I simply asked her if she thought it was fair to ask me to do $2000 worth of extra work without being paid for it. She realized that her request was unfair and she agreed to pay me for the work. If she would't have agreed to it, I simply would not have done the extra work. Contractually, I had finished the work and it was a great project. She just wanted to add a person in for political reasons (and rightfully so since this person plays an important role in her department) and was hoping to get away without paying for it.

3. Make sure you do whatever you can to help the client have a successful launch of their video.
For instance, if they are going to show it to a room of 500 people at the trade center, take the time to figure out who is handling the audiovisual and give them a call. Explain to them the importance of a successful screening of the video and ask them if there is anything you can do to program the DVD so that it will be easier for them to manage during the show. The intent isn't to offend the AV tech, only to hold them accountable for a project that you have spent days or weeks developing for your client. Just be sure to make sure your client knows that you called the AV staff to make sure everything will be perfect for their screening. They'll love you for it. Another way to guarantee a successful screening is to actually attend the technical rehearsal or the actual event to make sure everything goes as planned. I've been able to sell clients on letting me handle all the AV for their event simply because "I would be the only one that cares enough about your video to make sure it gets played without any problems." One of my largest AV clients was won in this fashion and to date, I have produced over 10 major events for them.

Some of you might be thinking that you don't want to be blamed if something happens while the video is being played. I'll be honest with you, if you don't want that responsibility, then you won't go far in this business. You become succesful in any business by being the one that takes responsibility and makes it happen. It's not hard with the proper checks and balances to pull off a technically perfect audiovisual event. And the positive word of mouth that will carry after you helped a client look great in front of hundreds or thousands of people will pay more dividends than any full-blown marketing campaign. Guaranteed.

Read similar articles at http://www.MindYourVideoBusiness.com.

Kris's Background

Kristopher G. Simmons (Kris) is the President & CEO of Fire Eye Productions, Inc., a video/multimedia/webcasting production company located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Prior to founding Fire Eye Productions, Inc., he worked as a freelance producer, director, videographer and editor for several independent video production companies throughout the southeastern United States. In 2004, he was selected as Tennessee's SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year and over the years has won multiple Addy Awards from the Advertising Federation and 3 International Videographer Awards for excellence in video production. He currently serves on the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the Digital Video Professionals Association Board of Directors, the Chattanooga Technology Council Board of Directors and is a member of the Chattanooga Downtown Rotary Club.