The most effective tools don’t work magic on their own. You could go out and buy the latest and greatest smartphone but, if you can’t find your way around the OS, you’ll never use it to its fullest abilities.
Video sales and marketing is the same way. While enormously powerful in connecting with prospects and families, your senior living community won’t reap its greatest benefits until you start producing engaging content.
However, as I’m about to explain, just a handful of simple best practices can help you make the very most of OneDay’s industry-best video solution, distinguishing your community from the competition and truly moving the occupancy rate needle.
1. Find Your Space
When it comes to creating the most impactful videos for prospective residents, just any old space won’t do. Ideally, you want to film in a place with a comfortable vibe, quiet from noises and distractions, and provides good lighting.
Whenever possible, choose a space that provides plenty of natural lighting rather than artificial. Although it’s true that natural light sources don’t always cooperate with your preferred shooting angles, try to choose a spot that focuses the light on your face and avoids a distracting, backlit silhouette. Facing a window is usually a good place to start.
Also, it goes without saying that your background should be clean and collected so there’s nothing to distract the audience from your message. In a OneDay video, you want all eyes on you, not a cluttered desk or dusty bookshelf.
2. Plan Your Video
A senior living audience usually won’t engage with impromptu, disjointed video content. Instead, you want to be genuine but concise, clearly delivering your message to leave nothing to doubt.
Therefore, it’s important to think about your intention with a video before you hit “record.” Take a moment to flesh-out the messaging you want to include, and make sure to take a deep, relaxing breath before beginning.
Further, you also want to make sure that you’re able to carve out sufficient time during your day to create your OneDay videos. If you’re trying to quickly record them in between back-to-back appointments or tasks, there’s a good chance the end product will feel rushed and, thus, less engaging to your audience.
3. Set-Up Your Device
Trying to form a connection with a prospective resident isn’t the time for shaky video content. In other words, stability is your friend, whether you use a tripod, selfie stick, or a handmade contraption to stabilize the camera.
Whatever you use, just ensure it is sturdy and makes your video content easy to watch. Once again, you want your messaging to be the star of the show, not a shaky-cam that is more avant-garde video than senior living sales and marketing.
4. Have Fun!
Last but not least, your excitement and enthusiasm will always come through in a video, so don’t forget to have fun with the process and try to avoid being too hard on yourself. If your focus is on critiquing your performance rather than connecting with the audience, your content won’t be as engaging and helpful to prospects and family members as it could have been.
Remember, the viewer won’t be nearly as critical as you are of yourself. In fact, small flubs and stutters are endearing, making you seem more human than robotic. And, yes, everyone sounds different on video, so don’t fret over your voice.
Take these four best practices to heart and integrate them into your video storytelling. As you become more confident and comfortable in front of the camera, you will naturally build on these insights and make them your own. In the meantime, One Day will be here to guide you every step of the way.