The Video Revolution – Part 4

Using Video for Marketing

In a world where reading has become increasingly passé, video is emerging as the go-to tool for businesses to deliver information quickly and easily. Videos give customers information about a product or service without overwhelming them with text. In thirty or sixty seconds, a prospect can learn a lot about a business through a short, impactful video. If a picture paints a thousand words, then a video paints a million. Continue reading →

Using Video to Recruit and Hire

The video revolution has been six decades in the making.  The first video cameras to capture color images were used only in television studios in the late 1950s.  They were huge, clunky and connected by wires. In 1982, Sony successfully released the first Betamax camera for news outlets, but this also ushered in the age of portable video camcorders anyone could use.  These recorders used uncompressed tape, which limited how much video could be recorded on one tape.  In 1986, Sony created the first all-digital video camera but the format was still uncompressed.  In 1993, Ampex developed the first compressed digital video camera, allowing hours of video recording on one tape for the first time.  That was less than 25 years ago.  Compressed digital video opened a floodgate of video products and innovations.  Thanks to those innovations, video has become an increasingly useful tool. Continue reading →

The first rule of sales is “Know Thy Audience.”  Anyone who deals with sales and marketing probably knows at least a little about the various generations living today.   For business purposes, there are currently six generations or audiences today.   The frugal Silent Generation, born from 1929 to 1945 and now in their 70s and 80s, grew up during the Great Depression and World War II.   The free-spirited Baby Boomers (born from 1946 to 1964), who grew up during the Civil Rights movement and the Cold War, are now beginning to retire and are redefining what that means.  The GenXers or Boomlets (born 1965 to 1981) were the latch key kids who grew up during the race to Space and the Vietnam War.  Theirs was the first generation to transition from an analog to a digital world.  Generation Y — the now much discussed Millennials (born between 1982 and 1999) — were the first generation to grow up as technology natives and watched terrorism become a global threat.   As the currently biggest generation living (80 million in the U.S. alone), they only want to do meaningful work, aren’t interested in office politics, the status quo or paying their dues.  But there are two more generations emerging.  Meet the iGens and the Alphas. Continue reading →

Mistaking Confidence for Competence

Hiring managers often claim to prefer employees with the right character traits and organizational fit over those with the right education, training, skills and experience.  They want people with a positive attitude, drive and passion.  But what they are really looking for are people who exude confidence.  Finding a highly confident employee is viewed like striking gold!  Why?  Confident people are seen as being self-assured, reliable, assertive, positive, dependable and steady.  Confident people also tend to be charismatic, extroverted, and have strong social skills.  In most cultures, these are highly desirable qualities.  Also, in practically every culture — but especially in the technologically-advanced, developed world – confidence is equated with competence.  We automatically assume that confident people are able, skilled and talented. Continue reading →