So, What Do You Do for a Living?

When we started in business just out of Marquette Journalism School, our medium of choice was slides. Not that we wanted to "make slides"– it was just the most affordable way for us to tell stories. But if, when asked what we did for a living, we answered, "I’m in the slide business", we knew the misconceptions would begin. "You make charts and graphs. You give slide talks. You process slides. You copy slides. You shoot slides. Must be easy– I’ve got a camera!"

No, actually. We did more than that. We examined communications problems, designed solutions, wrote scripts, , shot slides, conducted voice interviews, recorded narration, edited the slides in two or more slide trays, selected music, directed announcers, created a soundtrack, and used  a microprocessor-controlled dissolve unit tied to an audio tape deck to create the illusion of a complete communications  solution– which viewers then mistook for movies.

Movies were expensive, slides were inexpensive, and we went through all of that rigmarole so we could afford the overhead to be in the business, so that our clients could afford what we did, and so that we could be creative– and not just be "in the slide business."

But try explaining that in an elevator– or cocktail party– pitch. We found the best offense was to show our stuff and wait for people to experience the difference.

With an office in New Jersey now, I find myself answering the question once more. And in a market where we’re not all that well known, save for a few pre-existing clients, I feel like I’m just out of school again (although I don’t look it.)

What do we do for a living? We do video. "Oh, you shoot video? Do commercials? Use Final Cut? Yeah, that’s easy…I’ve got a camera and Final Cut…."

These days, everyone does video, just as years ago, everyone typed. But that didn’t mean they could write. Everyone had word processing and PageMaker– that didn’t make them designers. And now, everyone has a camera, iMovie, or Premiere Elements, and that’s all you need….. right?

Well… we don’t sell video. We sell ideas. Concepts. Content. Crafted in the art of video, and distributed via DVD, web, YouTube, videoconference, sales meeting, whatever.

We know words, pictures, sounds, music, and the way to mix them to elicit a response. We have success stories, track records, awards, and a modicum of financial success.  We have no secrets, and we will gladly train you or your staff in what we do and how we do it.

But the process is not simple– not as simple as "doing video."

It’s just that it’s so easy to say…..