Video Marketing Mistakes And How To Fix Them (ft. Aaron Horner)

Aaron Horner
Hey, everyone.

Logan Shinholser
Welcome back to the Contractor Growth Network podcast. I’m Logan Shinholser, and today I’m joined by all things video, Aaron Horner. So, Aaron and I, we’ve been seeing a ton of people jumping into video and video marketing, which is awesome, but we see a lot of mistakes happening that actually make a big impact and don’t really make the videos land how they’re supposed to. So Aaron and I break down the top five mistakes we’re seeing across the board when it comes to video marketing. Let’s jump in. Today I’m joined by somebody very special.

Aaron Horner
Is it very special to you or very special in general?

Logan Shinholser
I was gonna say to CGN, but both of those also work. So I’m here with Aaron Horner, who, if you’ve seen a video of CGN’s, the likelihood that Aaron either produced it or somehow had his hands on it is very high. So Aaron is joining us today to talk about all things video.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, I’m excited to be here. This is a full circle.

Logan Shinholser
Full circle, baby. So, the whole backstory here is were originally gonna do a podcast just talking about, like, the benefit and why video marketing is a thing and all that stuff. But you actually just went on the contractor Fights podcast and talked about a lot of this stuff. So instead of just repeating that, we are gonna take it a step further and talk all about mistakes that we see when it comes to video marketing. Because, truth be told, it’s like, I think Charlie Munger, who was, you know, Berkshire Hathaway, talked all about, like, instead of just saying these are the things that you should do, it’s just identify all the things that you don’t want to do and then do the opposite. Cause it’s much easier to highlight mistakes, errors, things like that.

Aaron Horner
And there are plenty of them to be had.

Logan Shinholser
So just to kind of give a quick background, what, like, with, when it comes to video marketing, what would you say is, like, the state of video marketing when it pertains to contracting and home improvement companies today?

Aaron Horner
Well, people understand that. It’s a nice buzzword. People really like to say video right now. Like, you can see what’s happening on social media and on TikTok and say, obviously, we should be doing something. The word that something is video, but we don’t have any idea what or how. So, honestly, what happens then is you have a lot of people wasting a lot of time and resources on stuff that isn’t going to do anything just because they have the idea that we need to be doing something with video. I would say that’s pretty standard across the industry right now. Obviously, there’s outliers on both ends, but that seems to be the state of all the clients that we talk to. That seems to be the resonating opinion.

Logan Shinholser
And one other thing that I want to, like, just give a quick context on is when we are talking about these videos, like, all we do is contractor videos. So, like, we’re coming at this from not only just a professional videography company, but one that does just this one thing. So some of the stuff that we’re going to talk about today is going to be specific to what we see, where we may be talking about. Hey, there’s other professional videographers, but even them, these are some of the mistakes that they’re making as well.

Aaron Horner
Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
So we’ll go through the different mistakes all the way from. This is a very simple one that everybody can probably see all the way up to, hey, you know, you may not realize this video is not hitting the mark, but you don’t know why, but you know that when you watch it just. You’re just kind of confused on what it really is.

Aaron Horner
Yeah. Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
So, yeah, let’s go through. I see a lot of this, and this is probably the easiest one to find out when it comes to mistake number one. And the first mistake is really just having bad audio and video quality in the video. So talk a bit about what is going on and what they need to be doing to actually start to fix some of those issues.

Aaron Horner
Yeah. So the first thing is you got to realize your video is a representation of the company. And so if you aren’t willing to invest in it, and if you’re trying to cut corners and things like that, then that will keep people’s first impression of you. So I think there’s kind of a raising standard for what that looks like. If you sell high end work, like multiple $100,000 remodels, you need to have very high end video. And typically what that looks like is you’re getting somebody that has steady shots, smooth camera operations. 4K is the standard now, at least. And the other thing is audio. A lot of times people just take a camera and shoot something. People will be willing tolerate poor video, but not poor audio.

Aaron Horner
If they can’t hear you, if they can’t understand what you’re saying, they’ll, they leave immediately because they then they have no idea what’s going on. There’s no reason for them to stay. So you also want to have a set of mics. Anytime you’re doing a video like that, some people, it could be as simple as making sure you have your phone recording close by. There’s a lot of good AI software now that can upscale that.

Logan Shinholser
What do you mean?

Aaron Horner
Well, Adobe podcast is the one we used. That one you can go in and just take your kind of crappy audio, and it takes it and can turn it into what sounds similar to how we sound right now through a podcast. That’s why they called it that. They basically have all these filters and processes that they put it through to clean it up and make it sound much more professional. So that’s a quick, easy one to fix your audio.

Logan Shinholser
So let’s say with that software that sounds, go learn a whole software, but it sounds like if you’re having issues, I mean, best case scenarios, go hire somebody that actually has the equipment and the experience and knowledge to actually then produce something that is going to look clean. It’s going to sound great. But if you wanted to do this on your own, is this just an iPhone? Works as long as you have a tripod. Do you need a gimbal, which helps to stabilize it? Do you need a drone that makes it look like, oh, wow, they got a drone. This looks awesome. What’s the actual things that you need?

Aaron Horner
The drone is absolutely a game changer. That adds so much production quality to it. I. Depending on the level you’re at in business, I think the iPhone’s a great place to start. I wouldn’t say that you shouldn’t create content. It’s good to practice with the phone. But honestly, I think from a business owner’s perspective, I don’t think there’s a reason to not justify getting a higher quality camera and audio and have that, like, internal, like.

Logan Shinholser
So you would just like, go out as a business owner and go, you know what, video is going to be the thing. I might as well go out and spend a few grand on a new camera equipment, like tripods, a gimbal, microphones, things like that.

Aaron Horner
I guess depending on like, what are you creating it for? Social media, you can get by with a lot less. If you’re creating social videos, then you can do a lot more with your phone, and it can be a lot more personality driven. But just understand that’s the kind of content you’ll be limited to. You won’t be able to create stuff that is extremely enticing to your level of product, because on those, the visuals matter a ton. You won’t see HGTV shooting with an iPhone.

Logan Shinholser
And just. So what you mean by that is, like, on the social side, you can go out there with a phone and walk through stuff, but because it’s a meant to be on social media, it’s a different, I guess, medium that you’re showing it. Yeah.

Aaron Horner
There’s a different level of expectation there. Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
So, like, with, the other thing you said was with a nice quality camera, you said there’s a whole level of, like, what you just said, showing off the product or, like, persuasion or.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, I mean, the ideal, you got to think about what you’re doing with the video, because if you’re doing something more personality driven, you want people to get to know you. You want to become an influencer, fine. That you could do with an iPhone. Honestly, it might be even better with an iPhone because it feels more authentic. But if you’re trying to show off your product, demonstrate it in a way that’s a lot in alignment with really high end design companies like the architecture digest, West Elm, things like that. If you’re trying to fit in those spaces and show off your quality of work, then you really need the high quality media.

Logan Shinholser
Okay. Because this is, like, I remember we had a client a while ago, that remodeler, and they did, like, you know, pretty. It wasn’t, like, crazy high end stuff, but it was, like, decent stuff. They’d come into a bathroom for 40, 50 grand. But all their projects, I mean, they were out for a month and a half, and they would have, like, this little corrugated yard sign out front that looked like somebody bit off a corner of it and it’s dirty. And I remember just telling them, like, look, you’re doing an expensive thing, and, like, your actual yard sign that’s supposed to be a reflection of the brand, looks beat up. So somebody from the street can only imagine what the inside of their neighbor’s house who’s undergoing a project, how that looks as well.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, I mean, that’s. That’s kind of the thing is, you’re representing your brand with it, I would say, truthfully, to show off your work. If you’re not at the point where you want to hire an in house videographer, then you should outsource a photographer. Like, it’s not as much about video as is. As it is about media in general. Getting media around your projects, showing off the work that you do. So if you’re kind of, like, on that borderline, I don’t. I don’t want to bring somebody in, then. Then you need to be hiring a professional photographer for your projects.

Logan Shinholser
Okay, perfect. So that kind of leads us to, like, mistake number two, which is right now, a lot of, like, the videos that we do are predominantly going to be client testimonial videos that are story driven, all that stuff. And I see other people do the same thing. We’ve also kind of gone through a bunch of iterations of, like, how do, how have we gotten the videos from where they started? More interviewing clients? And it was like me doing it to now what you’re doing, that is a whole different level. But the big issue that I see is a lot of these videos that people are posting, they just fall flat. Like, from a. The video just as a whole falls flat, it seems like. So what is going on there that makes a client testimonial video just fall flat?

Aaron Horner
We’ve gone through different phases of it. And you, again, you have to think about the intent of the video that you’re making. When you’re shooting a testimonial, you need to be thinking about, why would somebody watch this? What are they going to be getting from it? I would say the first stage, if somebody’s shooting a testimonial, the first stage is you go out there with a camera, you have a happy client, you quickly set up a little shot, and you think, can you tell me about your experience? They kind of list off a few things. Maybe you get a bunch of different audio bytes, you put them together in order, and then you send it off. The result a lot of times is just a lot of disjointed audio clips, one after the other. And it’s.

Aaron Horner
It’s tough to listen to for anybody other than yourself.

Logan Shinholser
Yourself being like the actual contracting company?

Aaron Horner
Yeah, because you care. You care about them, but nobody else does. So that’s kind of the first phase. The second phase is when you go in and you’re actually telling their story. So when we go through, we have a list of questions that we follow that help kind of guide the homeowners through telling the story of working with you. The idea behind this is that when people watch the testimonial, they should be able to relate to them, put themselves in their shoes, and then I be able to kind of look and see, like, okay, I can imagine what it would be like if I was working for them, or, sorry, if I was working with them, that contracting company. So basically, things we, the general questions are kind of like, can you describe what the problem was beforehand?

Aaron Horner
That always goes upfront, telling people why they hired somebody in the first place. You want that problem to be relatable and to reach out to a lot of homeowners, specifically, if there’s something in your area that you know a lot of people are dealing with, you need them to state that up front.

Logan Shinholser
So real fast on that. Like, you just came back from a client. Shoot. What was the problem that they were dealing with in their home?

Aaron Horner
They were. So, for them, they were empty nesters about in their mid sixties and looking to. They’re at the point where they’re like, do we downsize? Do we move? We have a big family at this point. All our kids have kids and people and friends and family coming over for big events. And our house is just, honestly, it’s not conducive to hosting people. So we need to either downsize and kind of forget about that, or we need to fix this place up so that way we can invite people over. That was their. Their main problem is they didn’t have a good space for those family gatherings.

Logan Shinholser
Cause I think what you just talked about was the actual problem, and what I see a lot of people talk about is their problem is they wanted a new kitchen.

Aaron Horner
That’s a good point. Yeah. You have to go deeper than that.

Logan Shinholser
Because, essentially, what’s your problem? I want a new kitchen that. Well, what are you trying to run away from? Like, what is the issue that’s causing you to have that? And I think that’s, like, a very simple thing that a lot of times get lost. That it’s like, hey, what do you want? Oh, I want to get a new job. Okay, cool. That’s your problem. But in reality, it’s like, well, why do you want a new job? Well, the current one is terrible because of all these reasons. That’s what we want to bring up.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, because. And one of the questions that I like to ask sometimes is, like, if people are struggling to give me answer past that of, like, well, we just wanted a kitchen. Like, it’s like, okay, well, that obviously isn’t true. It’s like, okay, I know that getting your house remodeled is a very disruptive process. I know that this contractor you hired is not the cheapest option. Despite those reasons, you still thought it was worth it. Can you tell me what those are? And then that kind of helps them open up. Like, okay, well, we needed to do it for this reason and for this. So there’s always a deeper level, even with people who originally are just like. It was just kind of outdated, that’s never it. There’s always something more.

Logan Shinholser
So we start off with asking them essentially, what’s the problem that you were dealing with? Then it goes into the middle part of the video. What does that typically look like?

Aaron Horner
So then typically you go through what the process was like finding the contractor and hiring them. You want, again, for the person watching the video to be able to look at it and kind of picture themselves in that homeowner’s shoes. So then they’re going to go through questions like, how did you find this contracting company? Oh, we found them through friends recommendation. We looked them up online, had great reviews, something like that. Then talk about what was the process like working with them. Honestly, the more of these that we do, I’m making this part of the video shorter and shorter.

Logan Shinholser
Why? Because, like, for everybody listening, that’s a contractor. Cause we used to do a whole series of videos that was like, meet the team videos, our process video, all this stuff. And I remember showing clients like, hey, out of all these videos, there’s like six or seven of them that we would do. Which one to you is the most important? Most people would say the our process video. And what was funny about that was like, okay, well, what you’re describing, like, the reason you like, in my mind, you like that video the most is because that’s the one that, like, kind of protects your time the most, that educates people.

Logan Shinholser
But in reality, the testimonial video is the one that not only paints you in a great light, but it also is a fun, engaging story that’s really meant to draw people in as well.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, yeah. The process video is very self serving for the contractor. What we found as we did process videos is that the better way to consume that information is through your website. Like it written list form where somebody can kind of like glance through, be like, okay, I get it. And then, okay, I want more. Want to know more about this section? Click on the website, read more. That is the better way to engage with that kind of information. Every information has the best medium for it. And we found that the process video, while convenient for the contractor, doesn’t result in the best user experience.

Logan Shinholser
So then back to the testimonial video where you’re talking about, hey, we’re actually like, we’re talking about the process, but we’re also limiting the process. Talk a bit about that.

Aaron Horner
So kind of the crux of this stuff is you want people to think that you’re cool. You want them to think you have a good business and that kind of stuff. The more self serving you are in the video, the more you’re kind of shooting yourself in the foot. The more that you can just show a well produced video, people get the feeling that you’re a well run company. The more that you can just show your high end work that’s well designed, they can understand that you have a lot of thought put into that. If you can show people using the space and talk about, like, we love using this piece, then people understand that you talk to clients about what they want and are able to make that happen in their space.

Aaron Horner
The more that you talk about yourself in the video, people are going to lose interest. What their main concern is, can they solve my problem? And so in filmmaking, it’s show, don’t tell. I think the same thing applies here. Show people what you can do. Stop talking about it so much. Like the high end people aren’t going to say in the testimonials, they were great communicators. You know, the every. The quality of work is so good. You can see the quality of work is so good, you can see they have a good relationship by the fact that they’re doing the testimonial. You don’t need them to say they had a good experience in the. Again and again, it should be in there. But the more that you try to, like, cram those things in there, the harder it gets to tell a cohesive story.

Logan Shinholser
And then last bit, Aaron is talking about, like, the end. So went through, what’s the problem? Then went a little bit through the process of just, you know, what it was like to work together. How do, how do you end a good testimonial video?

Aaron Horner
Any good story has a curiosity loop that you open in the beginning. You ask a question, you raise a problem, start a conflict. Then by the end, one of the best things I’ve ever heard about videos is somebody was saying that people, by the end of it, should feel like they. That watching the video, it was a good use of their time. And for it to be a good use of their time, they need to feel like they went on a journey, that you raised a question and then you were able to answer it, you were able to help them in their actual life. And so what that is in this context is whatever problems you talked about in the beginning, you need to have a clear answer for at the end.

Aaron Horner
If you had a bunch of before photos, you need really amazing after looking footage to make that satisfying kind of like transformation obvious. So the way we wrap it up is we show them utilizing the space. We show what their space looks like now. Show like what the day to day life is like. You’re trying to show more so the lifestyle that they are able to have after the space, because just like there was a deeper problem at the beginning, there’s now a deeper solution rather than. We have a beautiful kitchen. It’s okay. How are you using the kitchen? How has it changed your life? Thanks.

Logan Shinholser
I know, like, on the one that we’re talking about, like, this specific video, and it’s just because it’s top of mind because we just came back from it, like, kind of going back to like that. How do you then. Because the testimony, I think most people that when I watch them, it’s mostly focused on. We hired Aaron’s remodeling. They were great. They were on time. They always kept us in the loop. They were, you know, were so nice working with them, and it’s really more focused on the company themselves.

Aaron Horner
Self serving.

Logan Shinholser
Right. And I know, like, in this video, instead of going through a whole, you know, dissertation around how great the company is, they just said, we actually are about to start a bathroom with them. That’s how much we love them. Like, to me, that one line speaks volumes. Speaks volumes about how was the experience? How was the process? Well, not only are they already back on camera talking about it, they hired them again. And what better testimonial is there for somebody than just to say, I’m actually spending more money with them again. So that kind of brings into, like, the third mistake that I see. A lot of it is just kind of piggybacking off this. The video is just boring.

Aaron Horner
Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
Why, why are some of these videos just boring? And what do you do to fix that?

Aaron Horner
There’s a lot of reasons why your video is boring. I. The, the most common is you don’t know what the video is for. And if you don’t know what you’re making it or what value people are going to get from it, then it’s going to feel boring and unguided. That’s the main thing is, like we talked about in the beginning, people know they need to shoot video, okay? They get a camera, they’re kind of putting some stuff together. But if you don’t know what you’re doing, like, if you don’t know why you’re doing it or who you’re helping with it’s going to be boring.

Logan Shinholser
Because I remember I went to a conference and I was, like, showing somebody one of the videos that we produced. It was a testimonial video, actually, I think it was, like, a combination of, like, the client testimonial with the actual contracting company walking through. It was, like, six minutes long or something like that, and about a minute and a half in. The guy, like, took the headphones off after watching it and was like, what’d you think? And he was, like, kind of boring. And I was like, man, that hurts. Yeah. Like, that’s, like, I’m not taking this thing personally, but, like, man, that’s, like, that is not what you want to hear.

Logan Shinholser
Because we talk about this a lot is, like, the whole goal of what we do at CGN and the whole goal of all their stuff is, like, it shouldn’t be that you are using the video to, like, say, we are a better remodeling company than our competitors. The video should get people excited to, like, watch the video and be like, oh, I want that. I want a kitchen in my house as well. Maybe even that kitchen right there. But it should be an exciting piece. And to hear that it was boring, I was like, man, we gotta fix that. Because if he would have said, that’s bad, that’s one thing. But if they said it’s boring, like, that is, like, that sucks. That’d be like, you know, hey, how is it, like, with your spouse? Like, oh, they’re just kind of boring.

Logan Shinholser
It’s like, okay. Like, that’s terrible. Just, like, descriptor of them. So what. What do you do to make these videos not boring?

Aaron Horner
So, yeah, honestly, that one did suck a little bit hearing that, because that was after we’ve been doing this for a while. But the. The main change from there is shortening down the times and keeping it a smaller focus. So the. The video that we keep referencing that we just finished up is just over two minutes long. Like, two minutes and a few seconds or something like that. It is very concise and just focused on the kitchen. There’s a lot of character from the homeowners themselves, but what people are looking to get out of it is, okay, let me see if I can trust these, this contractor to do what I think they can do. Let me see the home.

Aaron Horner
And so a lot of it is just footage of the kitchen just showing beautiful shot after beautiful shot, and the narrative kind of, like, guides all of it. So there’s multiple things going on at the same time, but I think focusing it down into that shorter time period, understanding what they’re getting from it, makes a big difference. I think at first, we wanted to go down HGTV. And, like, you need. It needs to be like, a big story, and you need to have. You need them to, like, the homeowners and care about them and that kind of stuff and see the whole transformation. And that’s. I think some people like that, but I don’t think that was the right place for it. Like, the. The way we’re using the videos is on their website, on the feature project pages.

Aaron Horner
Like, hey, come check out our work. And that’s not really when you’re looking to sit down and be entertained, like. Like an HGTV show for, like, 48.

Logan Shinholser
Minutes, or even what were doing, which was like five, six, seven minutes, even at that, it’s. You kind of know what you’re getting when you go to HGTV. Cause, you know, all right, this is a full hour long show with commercials. You know what you’re walking into versus.

Aaron Horner
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. You’re going to a website just being like, well, let me check out what they do. As soon as you get to a part in the video where you’re not serving that goal of whoever’s watching anymore, if you’re talking about the homeowner and, like, all of these before photos, like, this isn’t telling me the question that I came to the video with. Can they fix my kitchen? So they’ll either skip to the part where they see that, or they’ll. They’ll scroll down the page or be done with it all together.

Logan Shinholser
Because I know one of the things that I think in this last one that you did a really good job of is, you know, kind of going back to, like, that other point with, like, you know, asking the right questions to the homeowners. Like, you’ll ask a bunch of questions to get all this information. And then, essentially, your role is to take all these responses and whittle it down to a tight two minutes. And it’s kind of like, I did a whole stand up comedy class. And essentially what they did was they said, look, you need to write, essentially 15 minutes worth of, like, comedy. So you write 15 minutes, and then what you would do in the class was you would then remove. And it got down to five minutes. You remove ten minutes of fluff of stuff that.

Aaron Horner
So it’s not even, like, jokes you’re removing, but you’re trimming the jokes you have.

Logan Shinholser
You’re trimming the jokes you’re dancing, and you’re also in the comedy stuff. You’re figuring out how to rework. So, like, the whole thing with, like, why situations, you know, not in comedy, but just like, in real life. For funny is usually the build up in the backstory where you don’t have all this time on stage. You go there like, well, let me give you the whole backstory of, like, my wife and I’s relationship, which will then tell you why this joke is funny. Yeah, you got to get right into, like, how do we then recreate that backstory so quickly that people understand it so the joke still lands? So that’s something that you, on this last video that I was watching you do is that you don’t include all the responses and just, like, chop out words.

Logan Shinholser
You actually, like, rework it, where maybe it was two different questions and they gave a similar answer. You remove part of it so it. Cause it doesn’t necessarily need to be said. Cause it’s redundant, which keeps it fast.

Aaron Horner
Yeah. People don’t want. Want to waste their time again. Like, you have to put yourself in the mind of the homeowner watching the video. They’re coming to your page. They have a specific question in mind. That is why they are there as soon as they’re. The video that you put in front of them is not answering that question anymore. They’re. They’re moving on. They don’t care about your video. They want their question answered. If that video help serves it and paints you in a good light fantastic. If not, they’ll move on. And that’s a harder thing to me, that you aren’t going to get to that level unless you’re hiring somebody to do it for you because that’s the.

Logan Shinholser
Whole, like, mark Twain. Like, I would have written a shorter note, but I didn’t have the time and the ability to, like, add brevity into something that is potentially more complex.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, I mean, we just went out.

Logan Shinholser
And filmed a bunch of videos for the contractor fight and their clients and stuff like that. And, like, trying to whittle down some of the responses of, like, this is an awesome story, but, man, this whole 15 minutes story they told, all of it is gripping, but nobody’s gonna sit there for 15 minutes and just watch the story. How do we get the same thing in two?

Aaron Horner
Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
So it. Watching it, I don’t know how you do it.

Aaron Horner
It. It’s kind of like just condensing something down. How can I keep this feeling and. And I. How do I make that happen in the least amount of words possible? With the video we did for integrity, they had a whole backstory about how they were going to think about selling the house, and then they went and they looked at some spec homes and they checked out things and then they talked about, well, maybe we should see what the pricing looks like. And then they hired an engineer to come to their house and see, well, this is what it would look like to take out the wall. And then they had the whole thing about, well, here’s what we would need to make that happen. Then they had their friends recommend integrity. You can condense all of that down.

Aaron Horner
I think I made it into like 3 seconds or something.

Logan Shinholser
Yeah, it was quick where it was just like a back and forth of like the husband and wife of shoes.

Aaron Horner
He’s like, I wanted him, yeah, I wanted to move. And then he’s like, and I’m the numbers guy. I was like, what can I do to keep you here? That’s all you needed to convince the idea. And you can show the cramped space you show later on, the family aspect of it, them having people over in the space. You don’t need to waste more time on that beat. So that it’s just that over and over again. I think that’s kind of the process I do for it.

Logan Shinholser
So the fourth mistake that I see a lot of is, and we’ve kind of talked about this a little bit, is focusing too much on the process and not enough on the actual product. Like, there’s a quote, like Michael Bloomberg talks about it where it’s about like, people mistake the value that they provide in the delivery of the product instead of the actual product. And it’s like, you know, people don’t buy the newspaper because they like ink and paper. They buy it for the news.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, yeah. And man, I think the testimonials especially like we’ve been talking about, is the worst example of that for people. It, it’s just an audio clip after audio clip of them saying good things. And like, I understand they like you. I understand you showed up with a camera at their house. They’re filming a testimonial for you. I get that. They like you. Show me what you did, because honestly, words are cheap. I just want to see if you can do it. If I, if I can see physical proof of like, this is a space that looks beautiful, I want exactly that. That’s just about all I need to know. Like, can you actually solve the problem for me?

Logan Shinholser
So when somebody’s talking about like, I guess the process of like, oh, they were always on time, they were always this. In reality, like what we’re talking about where is like they start off with the problem at the beginning. The problem that most people are finding is not, oh, my big problem was I couldn’t find a reliable company to come out into my kitchen. The problem was we didn’t know if were going to move or not. I wanted to move. He wanted to stay because our kitchen was cramped.

Aaron Horner
You’re selling to two different audiences there. I think that’s kind of actually the more important thing, like, knowing where you’re at in your contracting career. If you’re doing, like, high end design remodels, your homeowners aren’t worried about that. They understand that if they invest in somebody with money, they will get a good experience and that kind of stuff. They want to see a good end product. Those other ones, like, because we’ve done videos where we’ve focused more on, like, oh, I’m not just like a Joe schmo. I, you know, I actually do that. But the more I think about it, you’re. You’re selling the wrong thing. Like, your standards are too low, I guess, is the point. If. If that’s what you’re selling people on, just the fact that, like, you’re good enough, like, you. You have good communication.

Aaron Horner
I think that all of that should be implied as you get higher up in business. Like, Apple doesn’t sell their communication or their process with you like it. You want the product, so you. The. Everything else is implied at that point, as you get to that point in business.

Logan Shinholser
So what happens if you have a video that’s predominantly focused on, let’s just say, like, I’ve seen this before, it’s a couple. They’re sitting on a couch and they’re being interviewed about working with a company, and they spend three minutes just describing how nice it was working with them as footage of their new space or photos of their new space pop up on the screen. Does that work?

Aaron Horner
I mean, at least you have some media there of people actually being able to see it. But again, people are not as interested in you as you are. Like, there’s. They could be looking, listening about a bunch of different contractors. And the thing is, if you’re going to have somebody give a testimony about you, that’s what they’re going to say. Like, you don’t. It’s almost like wasted air time for them to say, like, we loved working with them. I know I could go to literally any testimonial that’s ever been said and hear that. Like, that’s why you’re giving a testimonial. So it’s just a waste in this one, I put in specifically about. And instead of them saying we love them so much, generically, an example of. Here’s a way that our project manager, Ben, was able to help us.

Aaron Horner
We asked him question after question, and he put in extra time to be there with us. Just a quick example of what that was like. I think that speaks volumes more. Giving an example in a real story also gave some good personality to the homeowners, and it was entertaining, so that helps as well. But I think that speaks a lot more than just generic things of. The communication was good. We really liked the process. They were a fun group.

Logan Shinholser
Yeah. Cause I think, like, the whole idea of, like, let’s just focus on why we are a good fit. I mean. I mean, like, I even sat down with somebody and they’re all. I was like, what? What makes you special? Like, you’re a model or, like, why? What makes you great? And they were like, honestly, like, we hit our timelines. I was like, okay, so does that mean that, like, you’re faster than everybody else? And he was like, no. I was like, what do you mean? He’s like, well, we just say that if we have this timeline, we’re gonna hit it. And I was like, let’s you just be assumed.

Logan Shinholser
Like, is that, like, I get that’s not always the case, and I understand that, but at the same time, like, most people like that is not an exciting piece, because it’s like, it’d be almost like if the president came out. And part of it’s like, well, why should we pick you? It’s like, well, first off, I’m just a good person.

Aaron Horner
Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
Second off. And it’s like, well, hold on. Like, that should be implied. Like, why are you even saying that?

Aaron Horner
Like, don’t say that. That’s, like, almost suspicious.

Logan Shinholser
Yeah, like, that’s an odd thing to lead off with. You know, go into, like, the platform or stuff like that. Versus, you know, when it’s mainly focused on process, it’s like, okay, well, like, are they hiding something? Is this, you know, like, is. It’s not. It’s not like it’s exciting. Like, I don’t watch that and be like, man, this person was so good at communication that I cannot wait to drop 150 grand on this kitchen.

Aaron Horner
I remember there’s when I was looking at truck wraps and redesigning them multiple, which is what made it weird. Said something along the lines of, like, your expectations are our goal. I was like, oh, that’s, like, a terrible bar. We hope that maybe we’re gonna get your expectations.

Logan Shinholser
There’s a whole, like, detroiter skit that’s like, you know, it’s a lawyer that’s like, hey, I’m gonna try my best.

Aaron Horner
Oh.

Logan Shinholser
And then all the testimonials are like, hey, I hired him. And honestly, like, I could see he tried his best. Like, I still went to jail for two years. But, like, I could tell he really wanted this.

Aaron Horner
He meant it.

Logan Shinholser
Yeah. So that’s. Yes. So focusing on the process. People are not buying the delivery vehicle of it. They’re buying the actual end product.

Aaron Horner
All right.

Logan Shinholser
And last mistake, Aaron, that I hear a lot of is how do I actually get ROI from the videos? Like, and we’ve also faced this ourselves of great. We have all these videos. They’re sitting in Google Drive, or we put them on our website. Like, what do we actually do with them?

Aaron Horner
The first thing is to set a goal for the video. I kind of been saying this throughout the whole thing, but know what it’s for before you make it. What do you want it to do? Whether your expected outcomes. Because some of this stuff is a long term play, and that’s fine. Like, there’s a place for that, but you need to know that going into it, and that doesn’t mean a long term play. So we’re just going to forget about it and not think about it for a long time. It should be something that still has an active utilization plan, either on your website or in your sales process, on social media to nurture people, things like that. The biggest thing on this is understand what your utilization is going to be and make sure you’re putting that in place.

Aaron Horner
I think for the longest time, when we first started doing videos for clients, I was. I personally was only focused on making a good video, then hand it off to you. Good luck. Well, people will buy that once. They won’t buy that twice because they’re like, yeah, I mean, it was nice. I had a good experience. I like the videos, but, like, honestly, I didn’t get much out of them. And it’s like, okay, yeah, fair enough. And so that’s kind of what we’ve been working on now, honestly, the. What we’re seeing the best results in is through paid social media ads, ad campaigns there, because you get clear analytics about how many people, you’re reaching about how many people are coming into the website. You can send them directly to a landing page on your website.

Aaron Horner
It is a lot more tactful than just kind of like, hoping that people like the video. You can you can legitimately see what the results are, and it kind of mans all those stats for you.

Logan Shinholser
So then do you take this two minute video that we just talked about and put it up as a Facebook post and then boost it? Like, what are you talking about there?

Aaron Horner
So what we do is we create multiple variations of it. We would have different 15 2nd cuts, different ad angles. Basically, quick thing. One of the things that we’re noticing is that, again, one of the reasons we’re changing the way we’re creating the videos is the ads that people are responding the best to are the ones of the product, not of the homeowners, not of the process, plainly, just of the product. The one that performed the best on our last set was just of a shot of a vanity. And it went into more stuff after that. But people were interested in. I like that vanity.

Logan Shinholser
Like, at the beginning.

Aaron Horner
At the beginning, yeah.

Logan Shinholser
Cause I know, like, Facebook, like, essentially will play with what is, like, the first thing that we show people from the video, and it’ll test it out, because their whole goal is to get people engaged in the video. And if we’re starting off with, like, a shot of the toilet versus the shot of the vanity, divinity is going to win out.

Aaron Horner
Yeah. And even the surprising thing to us is we thought, like, okay, you get the people and you show they’re in the right area, and that ads gonna do the best. It still lost to just showing off the product, which was surprising.

Logan Shinholser
So then what’s the point of having a testimonial versus just like, showing a vanity?

Aaron Horner
I think it’s still solid. The thing is, in that video, it wasn’t just showing a vanity. You then had the homeowners talking about how they use it. Just the beginning. Because we are coming in it from the wrong perspective, thinking like, okay, we have to make people care about the homeowners so that they stick around. Well, you don’t have to make them care about the vanity. They’re already going to care if it’s beautiful. So you start there, and then the homeowner just kind of, like, gives context to the vanity and helps them put them in the. The shoes of that homeowner. And seeing like, oh, okay, I could picture this in my bathroom. That’s the right frame to bring it about in. That’s what we’re seeing, at least.

Logan Shinholser
So essentially, you’re talking about show it. Showing off the. The actual end product that people really want to see. Cause, like, in the other case, it’s a kitchen where the island is like, it’s a. What is it? 15 foot island.

Aaron Horner
Yeah. Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
It’s a massive island.

Aaron Horner
Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
But, like, it stands out. And the way that it’s decorated and, like, the chairs, like, it’s. And that’s, like the opening shot on the video where it’s like, we walk up and it’s like these very, like, unique looking chairs in a very long line of chairs, because it’s at this large island that would cause me personally to pause and want to be like, okay, wow, like, this is unique.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, it’s different because as a homeowner, then you’re immediately getting value. You are immediately seeing, oh, okay, that’s an interesting idea. I could put that into my space. I could see this style working out for me. It’s immediately giving you ideas, and you’re immediately picturing it. When you see two people sitting in a chair talking to a camera, that feels immediately more like an ad, and that’s no longer value towards me. Somebody’s paying to have their content there. I’ll keep moving.

Logan Shinholser
So, essentially, the idea is that you take all these different angles, if you will, or I guess, let’s talk about that idea of add angles, because I know we do a lot of that here where we’re having whole scripting sessions of what are the angles that we want to go after. What the hell is an ad angle? Because we’re talking now about how do you actually get ROI from your videos.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, so the. The ad angles are basically the way this. And this is deeper on, in the video process. So this isn’t going to be in.

Logan Shinholser
Every very different than like, hey, just go get a tripod.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, yeah. So this is a deeper thing. So the way that we do it now is go through market research, talk to your past clients, talk to people who really like you. Talk to some people who didn’t as much. Do a general survey of your population in the area, kind of your ideal demographics. Then from that information, create different client avatars, and then the ad angles, ideally, then speak to those avatars needs. So you say, hey, this one of our ideal clients is like married couple mid. You know, maybe it is like the empty nesters deciding whether or not they are going to move, downsize, whatever. Maybe another one is like, this person wants to age in place. Maybe another one is young couple just moved here, wants to update their.

Aaron Horner
You would kind of outline those and then have different ag, ad angles to target each of that type of people.

Logan Shinholser
So you’re still showing, like, the vanity or the island up front. But then when the clients come in, if you’re talking about like, oh, we’re getting old, we want to make sure that we’re safe when we’re stepping into the bathroom. So we actually added in grab bars and we made it wider or stuff like that. You would then not show that necessarily to like, you know, a 25 year old that’s starting a family in their first time home. You’re showing it to somebody that’s maybe of 55 and up that they got, you know, a two and a half percent interest rate. Yeah, they’re good to go. They’re not leaving their home until they die. So you might as well make the most of it.

Aaron Horner
Exactly.

Logan Shinholser
That’s the angle.

Aaron Horner
Exactly. And then from there, you’ll have even two different faces where you have the initial cold audience ads and the retargeting ads wherever the cold audience will be much more about. You care about the vanity, you care about the space itself, because the first kind of sale is getting them sold on kitchen remodel in general or bathroom remodel. Then the second one is more about, you’re still focusing on product, but this one leans, goes further into who you are and who your company is, because sequentially, that’s how you have to make it work. You have to sell the product first and then yourself. So if people watch the full first ad, they responded well to it. Then you retarget them with the second ad. So now they’re seeing your logo again and getting a little bit more in depth.

Aaron Horner
So you’re kind of like, honestly, you’re like breaking up the video and kind of spoon feeding it to them one bit at a time.

Logan Shinholser
So it’s almost like the first video is like, we want to get you bought into the idea of getting a kitchen remodeled because this specific ad angle aligns with what you’re facing as a consumer. And then the second one is, hey, now that we kind of know that, hey, we’ve seen that you are watching enough of this video, we’re actually going to the page. It looks like you’re interested. We want to show you a different ad the next time that says, hey, essentially looks like you may be ready. Here’s a little bit more about us. Let’s go ahead and hop on a call and see if you want to take the next steps.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, and then that’s kind of where then you could continue that. But that’s when things like having a promotional deal or things like that. Well, now you’re giving them a reason to move forward with you. Now that’s kind of the idea.

Logan Shinholser
And I think this is, like, the big thing that a lot of people forget is most people do the. The second part only, where it’s just, hey, if you want to get your space redone, call me.

Aaron Horner
Right.

Logan Shinholser
And I guess if you have, like, a big enough following and brand already, that people just already know who you are and they see that may work, but the first part, super important, because otherwise, that second video is just going to fall flat because nobody even knows what you can do. You’re just like some random person that popped up.

Aaron Horner
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think it’s kind of twofold. Like, one, it helps prime them to see you again, and two, it’s kind of narrowing in your focus. People who didn’t respond to a kitchen remodel at all don’t care about how good you are with your process. So let’s not waste money showing them an ad about our process. So it. It kind of takes your. Your broader audience and narrows it down to, well, at least we know we’re showing it to people who are interested in kitchen models in general. So it kind of does those two things at once.

Logan Shinholser
So to kind of wrap up this last point, if somebody is struggling with the roi of it really comes down to knowing what the usage of the video is. And I know even, like, that first part where we talked about, hey, were going out, were filming, and people were like, these are great, but what do I do with it? I know to us, the whole thing was like, look, this is going to go on your website. It’s better because it helps out on the SEO side, but they’re also meant to, like, if they have clients that are, you know, if I’m talking to Aaron and his wife, Tori, who, you know, is supposed to be on the call, but she couldn’t make it. But I’m trying to sell Aaron a new kitchen.

Logan Shinholser
Aaron and I just had this amazing conversation about what he’s looking for a kitchen. Before I come out and actually give you guys a quote.

Aaron Horner
Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
Tory has no idea who I am, I’m gonna make sure that Aaron shows Tori this other video of a kitchen. So now Tori’s like, oh, wow. Okay, now I understand who’s coming out. So it’s like, now you’re on same. A whole different play. So it’s. Even if you’re not running the ads, like, there’s still usage. It’s just now it’s who’s going to deliver the message to the people? Is it going to be social media.

Aaron Horner
Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
Is going to be the website. Is it going to be you realistically should be all three.

Aaron Horner
Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
And there’s a whole premise, pros and.

Aaron Horner
Cons, because if you’re doing it yourself, well, you don’t have to pay to get that in front of people. The kind of the cons of that is you won’t be able to share it to as many and then it’s manual input. So if you stop showing the video, it stops being worth it to have done it. So no, neither approach is wrong, but you need to weigh those options and see where you’re at with it, I guess.

Logan Shinholser
Cool. So to kind of wrap all this up, the big things are, first off, first mistake is bad audio, bad video. Get equipment for that or just. Easiest thing is hire somebody to do it.

Aaron Horner
Yep.

Logan Shinholser
Second thing is when it comes to testimonials, it is talking more about the process. Actually. I think it’s the fourth thing. Either way, it’s the middle three are kind of like all together in my mind, where it’s like we’re focusing on the wrong thing. It’s boring. It focuses on the process. And long story short, like there’s. It’s confusing. Of a video. So the second one was actually bad storyline.

Aaron Horner
Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
People, it falls flat. They don’t know why. And it’s really just because there’s no like cohesive narrative.

Aaron Horner
Yep.

Logan Shinholser
And I think that’s the whole idea of like the book building a story brain, which is like, hey, the movies that everybody knows, it follows a very similar storyline versus, like, those indie films that do really well at Sundance, but then when you put it out to the masses are not film buffs. The masses are like, that was a terrible movie.

Aaron Horner
Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
I don’t get it. But then the film buffs are like, that was the best movie I’ve ever seen.

Aaron Horner
Yeah, exactly.

Logan Shinholser
So, yeah. And then the last one just comes back down to, how do I actually make sure I’m getting ROI from it? It’s understanding what you’re making video for before you shoot the video, because otherwise, then you’re stuck with just a really nice video just sitting in your inbox.

Aaron Horner
Yeah. And it’s pretty to look at.

Logan Shinholser
Yeah.

Aaron Horner
But, you know, then you have to justify, was it worth the cost?

Logan Shinholser
Cool.

Aaron Horner
Yeah.

Logan Shinholser
So all in all, I think that kind of covers the top five things. If there’s one that in your mind, Aaron, that people should tackle first, what would it be?

Aaron Horner
I guess from what we’re seeing is show off more of the product, focus less on yourself. Show don’t tell, stop talking about yourself. Show what you can do.

Logan Shinholser
Awesome. Thank you.

Aaron Horner
See ya.

Logan Shinholser
That was awesome. I think my biggest takeaway from this was really just making sure that you know how you want to use video before you actually go out and spend the resources to make the video. So my suggestion from all this is take this podcast and send it to somebody on your team that is going to be helping out with video so they understand before going into it what the expectation is. And we’ll see you on the next one. Thank you so much for joining us this week on the Contractor Growth Network podcast. This episode of the Contractor Growth network was hosted by Logan Shinholser and produced by Dane Appleyard and Logan Shinholser. Today’s guest was Aaron Horner. We look forward to seeing you next time when we talk about maximizing your remodeling profits with Kyle Hunt.