They Ask, You Answer, 2nd Edition

Part IV Creating a Culture of Video… In-House

A few years ago, just before They Ask, You Answer was released the first time, I was bothered by a trend I was seeing in the marketplace:

Video was becoming a fundamental part of the buying process, and almost no businesses seemed to know how to deal with the shift.

It’s not that these businesses didn’t see the power of video, but rather the idea of video production — at least in-house — seemed completely unattainable to them.

And, time and time again, I saw a pattern of businesses making the same mistake. They would spend thousands and thousands of dollars to hire a video production company, only to walk away with a couple of videos, a gaping hole in their marketing budget, and not much else to show for it.

Knowing the financial miracle we were able to pull off at River Pools was a direct result of having learned and done all of these digital marketing activities in-house, I went to my team at IMPACT and posed a simple question:

“Can we teach companies how to create a culture of video in-house, without them needing to outsource anything?”

The reactions to my question were mixed:

“Marcus, that’s never been done before.”

“If we’re not producing it for them, how could it be a viable business model for us as an agency?”

“Most companies will fail if they do this themselves.”

I pushed back:

“Why not? Why couldn’t we be the first firm to truly ‘teach’ organizations how to embrace a culture of video in-house? This is obviously where the ...