Do you intentionally allow customers to guess about your brand story?

At this point, you're probably shaking your head and thinking, "Of course not! No way!"

Playing guessing games while developing your video brand story with your producer is no different.

For example...

When talking budgets, there's a difference between saying:

• "I don't know what our budget is" because you truly don't know.

• "I don't know what our budget is" when you truly do know.

It's tempting to say "I don't know what our budget is" when you do know.

Saying this is one of the five temptations every corporate video client should avoid.

Doing this puts your relationship with your producer right back into the "guessing game" business.

Certainly, your brand story isn't a guessing game. Or is it?

---Tom

Guessing Games Stink. Right?

Imagine this.

You're thinking about building a new home. You decide to send an email to a general contractor. You write a note that goes something like this...

"I'd like to have a new home built. How much would it cost to build a home with six rooms, two bathrooms, a small garage, and a nice yard? Please tell me how long will it take to build it. Thank you."

It's pretty likely you won't get a response that is helpful or accurate. And chances are it won't move your vision forward.

Believe it not, I've seen emails like this requesting how much a video project will cost. So have many other producers.

The simple solution, of course, is to pickup the phone and call a producer. Share your idea to see if your vision can be turned into an opportunity.

When it comes time to begin a new video project, a model worth considering comes from marketing expert and Fast Company writer, Nick Rice. Nick has a fabulous riff on determining the reality of an opportunity. Nick calls it "The Opportunity Framework."

Nick's framework has three components.

1. Determine if there is a real problem that needs to be solved.
2. Determine if there is an opportunity to move the project forward.
3. Determine if enough resources are available.

I think this is a great framework to quickly evaluate weather or not to move the conversation forward.

Send an email?

I've found most filmmakers love a good conversation :-)

---Tom

P.S. This post was inspired by another headline challenge from Brian Clark over at Copyblogger.

P.S.S. Brian's first headline challenge inspired "My 22 Best On-Camera Interviewing Tips Ever" also featured on LIfehacker.

One Email No Video Client Should Ever Write