In this episode, Aron from 2H Media shared some fascinating insights into how nonprofit organizations can use video to boost their donations. With his trademark enthusiasm, Aron explained how video can help to create a powerful emotional connection between nonprofits and their audiences, resulting in increased support.
Aron also stressed the importance of producing high-quality videos that showcase the organization’s mission and impact. His tips and tricks for creating compelling video content are sure to be useful for nonprofits looking to take their fundraising to the next level.
If you’re interested in learning more about how Aron and 2H Media can help your nonprofit leverage the power of video, don’t hesitate to drop him an email at aron@2h.media.
“Human storytelling will set you apart” – Aron
Episode Transcript
RHEA WONG 00:05
Welcome to Nonprofit Lowdown. I’m your host, Rhea Wong. Hey, podcast listeners! Rhea Wong is with you once again with Nonprofit Lowdown. Today, my guest is Aron Murch. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Information Officer at 2H Media. And today, we are talking about how to use video to amplify your work. So Aron, welcome to the show.
ARON MURCH 00:27
Hi, thank you so much for having me on.
RHEA WONG 00:29
It is a delight. We started off this conversation. You said that you wanted to be a filmmaker as a kid. I am someone who does not love putting video content out there. So talk to you about your love of video, and why video.
ARON MURCH 00:41
It’s something that’s always spoken to me. I grew up watching a ton of movies. Like a lot of kids from my generation, I grew up in front of the television. And I was always captivated by the idea of telling stories through a camera. And in my youth, I wanted to grow up and get into the world of movie production.
ARON MURCH 01:00
And I’ve done a little bit of that on the independent scene, where I got really good at it was helping people tell stories from a marketing perspective. And I didn’t grow up to be a movie star or a famous director. But I do get to work in video now. So it’s still very exciting and scratches that itch that I’ve had from a young age.
RHEA WONG 01:15
I’m listening to a video for a second because I know there are lots of people out there and other executive directors feel very intimidated by video. It feels easier to do written content, or even Twitter content, or even like Instagram stuff, but then you’re talking about video. So why is video so intimidating?
ARON MURCH 01:38
It’s intimidating for a few reasons. For one, a lot of people just don’t have practice with it. And that’s the biggest thing, practices. You mentioned Instagram, in that comment that you know, Instagram can be a little easier. That’s a really good place to start. If you are intimidated getting in front of a camera or getting on video, you need to get as much practice in as possible.
ARON MURCH 02:01
And just starting to put out Instagram content on a regular basis can be a really great way to get more comfortable with it over time. The other key reason that people get in intimidating by video is it seems like it can be very complicated. Professional production involves a lot of equipment, a lot of people a lot of moving parts that can be very intimidating on their own.
ARON MURCH 02:22
And if you don’t have someone helping you through the process, or you haven’t already spent a ton of time getting comfortable just being in front of any camera, that being in front of all that large-scale equipment. And having all those people involved can make the process even more intimidating than just the prospect of people seeing you talk on screen in the first place.
RHEA WONG 02:42
All right, I changed my mind on this. Why should every nonprofit be thinking about video as a strategy to amplify its message?
ARON MURCH 02:50
In today’s digital landscape, you have to cut through the noise. And there’s so much noise. Video is by far the most powerful communication tool for actually creating visibility in an online space. And actually sharing your messaging with an audience in a way people can connect with it. I expressed to a lot of business owners and nonprofits that at a local scale, people are your brand.
ARON MURCH 03:20
And in order for your audience to resonate with your organization and its messaging, they need to feel a personal connection to the people involved in your organization. And the fastest way to create that is by sharing personal video content. So you don’t need crazy special effects that are like a massive production budget. But you need to get real people in front of the camera, having real conversations so that the people in your community can get to know who you actually are.
RHEA WONG 03:48
I really love that because I think sometimes nonprofits get this idea that they need to communicate the way big corporations communicate. But you’re absolutely right, especially for the smaller local nonprofits. It really is about that personal connection. Do I feel like I know, and trust the other person on the screen or on the website?
ARON MURCH 04:08
That local piece is huge. I have a lot of conversations with nonprofits that are geographically locked. They might be getting municipal or federal funding. And so they’re serving clients in a specific region. They are often working with specific needs groups that aren’t International. They’re located in their own communities. And one of the most common challenges that I see from executive directors and people working in the management of nonprofits is that people in their community have no idea what their organizations do, even within their own peer groups.
ARON MURCH 04:40
Oh, yeah! A lot of your friends know that you’re an executive director at a nonprofit. Do they have any idea what you do at that nonprofit? Or what that nonprofit is even about? And a lot of the time the answer is no, which is a pretty scary thought when you think about the value of these organizations the impact they are having in the communities and the impact they could be had Making the communities if more people knew about them.
RHEA WONG 05:02
Yeah, if I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard someone describe their nonprofit as the best-kept secret in this city, I’d have a lot of nickels. Throwing attention is just like tactical stuff. When we think about video, I know there are folks out there that are thinking like, Oh, my God, I can’t do a TikTok dance. What kind of video content are we talking about? And what sort of format? What sort of length? Are we putting it on YouTube? What if I’m a complete newbie, Aaron, where do I start?
ARON MURCH 05:31
That’s a series of great questions, figuring out where to break that down. First of all, I want to reassure everyone who’s listening. You don’t have to go and do TikTok dances unless you’re really passionate about going and doing TikTok dances. If that’s the culture in your organization, and you already love that, go for it. Go share that side of your organization with the world. It’s important for people to know who you are, that’s probably not you.
ARON MURCH 05:55
You’re probably focused on creating a lot of impacts, not doing any glamorous self-promotion. And your videos should reflect that. There are a lot of different types of videos that you can produce to share your messaging. My favorite thing to do is focus on success stories. I think with nonprofit leadership, there’s a real fear of coming across as bragging when you talk about the impact that you’re having in the work you’re doing. I have a twofold response to that. Number one, it’s okay to brag a little bit. When you’re doing amazing work, it’s okay to tell people.
ARON MURCH 06:29
But number two, you can make that a lot less uncomfortable by changing how you share that messaging. So one of my favorite types of videos to create is interviews with past participants in your organization. When you actually go out into the communities that you’re creating change in and create content, focus around that change. When you provide a hand-up for someone, that is a catalyst for change in their life.
ARON MURCH 06:57
Regardless of what you’re doing, specifically, as a nonprofit, the goal is to give other groups and other individuals a chance to take whatever you’ve given them and run with it. If you make the focus of your video content, on how the people that you’ve positively impacted, have run with it after the fact, it’s going to number one, show the long-term impact that you’re having in your community. And number two, make those individuals the focus in the spotlight of what you’re doing. So you can celebrate someone else who’s doing amazing things without just getting on camera and patting yourself on the back.
RHEA WONG 07:34
And I’m gonna play devil’s advocate here because I like to even think about making this video content. I’m like, Okay, who’s gonna watch it? My donors might watch it. But aren’t they going to get sick of the same kind of thing over and over again, all these success stories? Like, what if I don’t even have an idea of who my audience actually is? And what do they want?
ARON MURCH 07:54
That’s a great question. And there are really two questions in there. One is, who is your audience? And how are you defining them? How can you define that? And the other question is, are people going to get sick of this content? I want to address the question about engagement first because I think that’s the simpler one to answer. The short answer is no. People aren’t going to get sick of it. People get really attached to individuals. It’s really easy to fall in love with the person.
ARON MURCH 08:18
And by making these success stories focused on the very people that you’re supporting, you can keep the stories very different from each other, and keep them fresh. So you’re not talking about the same programs and services all the time. You’re telling very personal stories about what people have created. A perfect example would be we did some work with a local business accelerator.
ARON MURCH 08:40
And so we captured a series of testimonial videos, talking about the success of various small businesses that had been through their programs. Every single one of those videos was completely different. In one video, we were talking to a restaurant that’d been through the accelerator, and in another, we were talking to an electrical installation company. And in terms of creating very content that’s going to feel fresh every time it goes out on your channels. It isn’t the same thing over and over again.
ARON MURCH 09:04
But it is all showing the impact of the organization within the community. And we’ve seen the results. We’ve seen massive increases in social media engagement. When organizations start putting this content out there, when you use it on your website, we start to see higher conversion rates on the effective pages. Like it is measurable that these things work. And in terms of keeping it fresh with people, yeah! You just keep it fresh by making sure that you aren’t shooting the same thing over and over again, even if it all has that underlying messaging that ties back into what you’re trying to convey.
ARON MURCH 09:35
In terms of understanding who your audience is, this isn’t even a video challenge. This is something that I think nonprofits really need to have conversations with their internal teams in their marketing departments regularly. There are a few different audiences that are massively important. And the content that you’re producing needs to speak to those audiences specifically. So if you’re creating something for your dog donors, that’s potentially going to be very different than creating a piece of content for participants in one of your programs.
ARON MURCH 10:08
Who are you trying to attract and why? There are different ways to go about it. One of the things I love to do is have nonmonetary asks for donors. Increasing donor engagement is an awesome way of stopping them from just being a bank accounts and turning them into actual partners within your ecosystem. Video content can be a great way to do that.
ARON MURCH 10:30
We’ve seen a lot of success with organizations sitting down with donors, and actually doing short interviews on why that partnership was created. And that does two things. Again, it reinforces the impact and the value of the organization because it gives those sponsors a chance to talk about why they chose that organization specifically to support and it gives your sponsors a chance to actually get in front of your audience, which is creating marketing value for them.
ARON MURCH 10:56
That you don’t see in a lot of sponsorships. Often people will get a logo on the website. They don’t get that extra piece. And creating shared marketing opportunities like that can be a great way of creating extra value for that audience, which is then going to speak to your other sponsors as well, because it’s showing them that you’re actually building relationships with your sponsors, instead of just cashing the checks and moving on.
RHEA WONG 11:21
Yeah, that’s such a great point. And the other thing that I really want to highlight here is, especially in major gift fundraising with individuals that I work with, people have personal reasons for giving. And the more you can tap into both having them talk about those personal reasons, but also highlighting those personal reasons can be inspiring to other people. Talk to me about some tactical things. When we think about video content, is there a particular platform that we should be thinking about? It should be two minutes long or 20 minutes long. What are we talking about here?
ARON MURCH 11:57
Sure! It depends on what you’re doing. There are some really general rules. You almost never need to create really long videos. So 30 seconds is awesome. Two to four minutes is a max in most cases. And then where those videos get used depends on what you’re trying to achieve. So a two to four-minute video is way too long for your social media channels. But that’s great YouTube content. It can also be great website content.
ARON MURCH 12:22
It’s a fact that web pages with video on them have a higher conversion rate than web pages without video. So if you’re creating long-form videos that talk about what you do, and the impact you’re having, those make sense to host on your website. For everything else, go where your audience is. Who are you trying to reach? Is it donors? Is it participants? Is it partner organizations? All of those audiences are going to be on different platforms. So Facebook is still the biggest social media platform in the world by a huge margin. A lot of your donors are probably going to be there.
ARON MURCH 12:58
So that’s probably going to be one of the best places to put your content out. If you’re trying to provide support for a younger demographic, and you’re trying to make more people aware of your programs so that they can take advantage of your services, then you might want to promote on Instagram or TikTok and try to get into the channels that those audiences are using.
ARON MURCH 13:19
So there’s no one channel that’s going to be the best for every organization. You’ve just got to think about who your audiences, what channels they’re using, and then make sure your content is hitting those channels. And the best way to do that is to just open conversations with the people you already know in those audiences and find out what they’re doing.
RHEA WONG 13:39
Yeah! So let’s talk about this. Are we using video as a way to build awareness among community members who don’t even know about us? Are we using it as a way to deepen engagement with people who are already in our circle? Or is it both?
ARON MURCH 13:54
It’s both. It’s absolutely both. The video is really easy to share. And this goes back to you know what I’m talking about the value of sharing success stories. People love to share feel-good moments. So if you can produce a short video about the impact you’re having, and like, it feels awesome and inspiring. And people walk away with that warm and fuzzy feeling in their stomach, they’re more likely to share that video with other people in the network.
ARON MURCH 14:16
And that’s going to give you reach with new audiences. In terms of existing audiences, I want to circle back to the point about a lot of people in your community are probably confused about what you do. And creating this content is a great way to deepen engagement with those people that are already in your network by actually just explicitly telling them over and over again. Here’s the impact we’re having. Here’s what our organization does.
RHEA WONG 14:40
Yeah! And that’s such an important point because we think that just because we say it once people understand it, but it’s a message that bears repeating again and again. What’s that statistic that takes us seven times for someone actually understand what you’re saying?
ARON MURCH 14:55
Yeah! Repetition is key. There are very few people who understand anything the first time, and I think understanding what nonprofits do is a more challenging than average concept, particularly because there’s so much nuance to it. We see a lot of local organizations that are not in competition but in an ecosystem with very similar organizations that haven’t done a great job creating differentiation.
RHEA WONG 15:23
Alright! Let’s ask the million-dollar question. When I was in ED, I had board members sitting around the table and like, why can’t we just create one of those viral videos? And I was like, really? Do you think if I could just create viral videos, I’d be here with you? So let’s dispel some myths about creating viral videos.
ARON MURCH 15:44
Sure! Good luck. I would love for every organization out there to create a viral video. It’s not something you can just manufacture. A viral video is a buzzwordy way of saying you’ve created really good video content that’s resonated with a lot of people and been shared over and over again. You can look into that. The best way to get there is to produce a lot of consistently good video content.
ARON MURCH 16:11
And then somewhere along the line, people are going to start sharing that content, and one of them may take off. But you can’t count on it. We would never promise that when going into a video project. Look at what you can control. You probably have some social media following. Maybe it’s not the biggest. But if you can get more engagement out of those followers that you’ve already got. That’s a win.
ARON MURCH 16:32
If they share it with some of the people in your network and their networks, and your follower base starts to grow, that’s a win. So like video is a great way of creating long-term growth if you’re consistent about it. It’s not something that you can just put out into the world and get a viral hit, and then see this massive spike in the unless you get exceedingly lucky.
RHEA WONG 165:51
Yeah! That is so true. So let’s talk about consistency. How often should we be producing videos? And is it more about how many videos that we’re producing? Or is it really just about the consistency of the content?
ARON MURCH 17:05
It’s way more about consistency. We get this question all the time. And it applies to all of your online marketing, whether it’s blog posting, social media posting, updating your Google My Business, you name it, produce content, at the fastest rate that you can do consistently.
RHEA WONG 17:23
Now, I’m like channeling all my ED people out there, and they’re like, oh, God. This is just like another thing for me to do. How simple can creating content be if we’re doing like a two-minute video every week, let’s say, and we’re showing up on lives every week, or whatever it may be like, what’s the smallest viable product that I can produce, that is not going to be overwhelming for me.
ARON MURCH 17:47
Get started as simple as possible. Any video content at all is going to be better than the none that you’re probably putting out right now. Start with a 30-second video captured on your phone, even once a week.
RHEA WONG 17:59
What about putting some young person in charge on my team to do all the video stuff? Is that a terrible idea?
ARON MURCH 18:07
That’s a great idea. If you’ve got the support network, lean on it. And one of the biggest things about video is that can be an unspoken benefit. So it’s not a benefit of the videos being released. But the benefit of the videos being created is it’s a great way to build better relationships with donors, volunteers, and other stakeholders. If there’s anyone in your ecosystem that’s passionate about seeing your organization grow, get the help wherever you can.
ARON MURCH 18:33
If you’ve got volunteers in your organization that are super passionate about what you do, put them in charge of putting some video content out. You probably got some young go-getters in the organization that is just really amped up and excited. If they can share that excitement with the rest of your network, that’s going to do wonders for the feel, and the energy of your community as a whole.
RHEA WONG 18:54
So let’s get into some nuts and bolts of storytelling. So I know that we have we talk a lot about the value of a story to communicate the message and to communicate the emotion behind it. What are some guidelines that we can think about, as far as what makes a good story for video,
ARON MURCH 19:13
A story has added a beginning, middle, and end. So that’s one of the biggest things from a technical perspective in terms of actual storytelling. It is to create a real narrative around what you’re trying to say. So an introduction that hooks people into what you’re trying to say, gives them a little bit of information and then ends with something that tells them the video is over. Usually, a call to action is a great way of doing that.
ARON MURCH 19:35
Or it could be a key takeaway, just something to let them know why they’ve sat through your 30-second speech. The other thing to think about from a storytelling perspective is to understand who the hero of your story is, and what messages you’re trying to convey. So, in some videos, when you’re talking about all the great work you’re doing, your organization might be the hero. In a testimonial video where you’re talking about impact, while the people who’ve been through your programs really run with it and succeeded might be the hero of the story, and you’re just a supporting character.
ARON MURCH 20:10
That’s maybe getting a little too technical in terms of general storytelling advice. The other thing that I would focus on in terms of storytelling is to think really hard about the tone of the stories that you’re trying to tell. It’s really tempting for a lot of nonprofits to slip into sharing tragedies. The need can be pretty heartbreaking in some cases. And we have this instinct as humans to latch on to that need and really wallow in it. Videos that talk about solutions to these big-picture problems are a lot more impactful than just sharing that the problems exist.
RHEA WONG 20:55
Yeah! I’m glad you mentioned that because I think a lot of the visceral reaction that people might have against video is the poverty porn that we all grew up with, on TV, the poor kids with the flyers on their faces, or like the ASPCA dogs, like in the corner. Those are terrible videos. And yet it’s seared in our brains. We remember those videos, but also, it leaves haste in the mouth that I think is really not the lasting impression that a lot of people want to leave with their donors.
ARON MURCH 21:28
And those videos can be really exploitative, too, which is something that we don’t want to do. That’s not good for anyone. It’s not good for the health of your brand. It’s not a good thing to do to people. We don’t want to exploit people with any of our content, and especially not video, there’s been a real trend over the last several years of doing better video content, where people are recording themselves handing out money to homeless populations. And that’s completely exploited.
ARON MURCH 21:54
If that’s not what we’re talking about when we say go into the community and share success stories. There’s a big difference between recording the act of you going and helping someone who’s impoverished and following up with someone who’s taken your support and built something awesome with their life, and saying, hey, where are you now? Talk to people when they’re at their high points, focus on doing the work, and then share the results. Don’t just wallow in misery and share people at their status points. That’s not helping anyone.
RHEA WONG 22:22
I love that. Share people at the highest point. And the other thing that I just want to highlight here is that I think that there is this feeling that featuring any story of the people that we serve is exploitative. And I think there’s a very fine line here to your point, but you can tell the story in a way that’s empowering, and that’s connecting. And that makes the people whose story you’re sharing feel really good. And there are other ways to do the opposite. And so like I think we just have to be really careful and mindful about how we’re doing it in a sensitive and trauma-informed way.
ARON MURCH 23:00
Absolutely! I feel like people are people, and surviving anything is hard. And if you treat the people that you’re promoting, as real human beings, and you’re respectful, I think staying on the right side of that line, is really easy. Most of the people that are going to be good fits for these videos should be thrilled to participate. If someone’s going to be uncomfortable doing this, they’re probably not the right fit.
ARON MURCH 23:26
We’re talking about highlighting community champions that have had great experiences with their organization, loved everything that you’ve done for them, and want to share that experience with the world. Those are the people you want to tap into. If you’re just trying to like, really pressure people in your network into sharing stories that are making them uncomfortable, it’s gonna be an uphill battle. It’s not a nice thing to do, and you’re not going to get the results you want.
RHEA WONG 23:51
We think a lot about diversity, equity, and inclusion. And I’m just wondering, how might we think about that, with respect to the video and the content that we’re putting out?
ARON MURCH 24:02
I’ll preface this by saying, as someone who’s grown up and lived in a position of privilege my whole life, I’m completely unqualified to speak on this topic in any meaningful impact or impactful way. So I can give you some high-level marketing thoughts on it, that are like, broadly generic, but in terms of any like meaningful impact, I’m just not the right person, I wouldn’t pretend to be. It’s important. If not everyone knows that equity is important. But everyone knows that we’re talking about equity being important.
ARON MURCH 24:34
And I think it’s in terms of positioning in your organization. It’s massively important to value equity, and it’s massively important to share that. So if you can create more diversity of content, do it. I would hope this just comes naturally. Your organization should be diverse, to begin with. And you shouldn’t have to look for diversity in the people you’re featuring in your videos that should just already be part of your ecosystem or you’ve got bigger problems.
RHEA WONG 25:00
Yeah! One thing that is occurring to me, too is, as you’re thinking about sort of editorial direction, I would hope that you are including lots of different voices in the decision-making, right? Because if it’s coming from one source, that’s certainly problematic. And you’re probably going to be leaning on telling one kind of story.
ARON MURCH 25:22
Absolutely! Again, I think this is a bigger organizational issue. Who’s on your board? Is your board diverse? Do you have people weighing in on all of your decisions from different perspectives? Like a video project, it is a really nice encapsulation of all of this because it’s so visible. People can immediately see if you’re not taking into account different perspectives because they can see your messaging so much more clearly. But all that’s doing is shining a spotlight on your organization as a whole. Whether you’re putting out a video or a blog post, I think you should be asking these same questions.
RHEA WONG 25:56
But let’s talk about that tactically, because I think there’s one thing to have representation on the board and on your staff. But oftentimes, especially in smaller nonprofits, it’s usually the one person who’s creating content. So I get by just editorial direction, right? So for putting some young person on our team in charge of video, how are we actually making sure that it’s representative of not just the brand, but a diversity of voices when oftentimes, it’s maybe your 20-something, in turn, creating a video on the side?
ARON MURCH 26:30
Yeah! That’s a really good question. The short answer is, it’s hard. And it’s something that you really have to put a lot of active work into. So from the start, I would make that part of the conversation with whoever’s running the initiatives to make sure you build a plan around it. And unfortunately, that can be time-consuming. I’d look at the survey. My answer is to do anything and just ask people.
ARON MURCH 26:51
Ask people in your network, and ask people from the groups you’re trying to identify with. Whenever you don’t know the answer to a question, just figure out who the right person is to ask to go there. If you already have a large social media following, invite people to share different perspectives, actually just put the word out there and say, hey, we’ve got these great projects in the pipeline. We’re looking for voices. Can you share your perspective?
RHEA WONG 27:14
Yeah! And I think the technology has really enabled a more community-based approach, right? Anybody with an iPhone in their pocket can be a video content producer. So let’s switch gears a little bit. What do you see as the future of a video thing, Aron? I don’t think this video thing is going anywhere, anytime soon. Let’s say younger donors really looking to video. First, what are some forecasting trends that you can highlight for us,
ARON MURCH 27:43
it’s only going to become more and more popular, and more and more accessible. There are more people creating videos today than ever. And like even from a marketing perspective, we see this changing how companies like mine have to sell video/ There was a time when I could just put out a demo reel that showed two minutes have all of my best footage cut to music, and then customers would see that they’d be really impressed and they buy video services.
ARON MURCH 28:07
And that doesn’t work anymore. That doesn’t work anymore. Because being able to create video isn’t unique. Anyone can do it. Anyone can go out and get a camera and set it up and capture amazing footage. And your cell phone probably has a camera in it that dwarfs many of the best cameras of the last 30 years in technical capabilities. And so with video becoming so much more available, and so much more commonplace.
ARON MURCH 28:32
It’s harder and harder to stand out with video content. And in order to do that, effectively, you need to get really good at telling effective stories. Forecasting the future of video, there’s going to be more of it. The technical side is going to become easier. And as both of those things become true. Getting really good at sharing impactful content through your videos is going to become more and more important. So the best time to practice that is now so that you’re already a veteran on it as these things become more of a mainstay.
RHEA WONG 29:03
Let’s talk about AI for a second. What are the ways in which changing the video landscape either through the use of ChatGPT for scripts or I’m sure that there’s some interesting AI happening in the videos basic, how should we be thinking about the technology and innovation in order to help leverage video for our organizations?
ARON MURCH 29:24
It’s pretty early to make any real judgment calls on AI. It’s something I see a lot of excitement around from people in the marketing space. A lot of people are using it to push out long-form blog content and build all the copy for their websites and all these crazy things. We use AI a little bit for scriptwriting. It’s a phenomenal tool for saving time if you already know what you want to say. But you’re not necessarily the fastest writer in terms of putting together scripts.
ARON MURCH 29:53
It takes a ton of massaging. So AI will make things up. It won’t take into account different perspectives. There is a bias that comes with the training data that was fed into the AI in the first place. So these are things that you really have to think carefully about if you’re going to rely on an AI program to write your scripts for you. And it really does take a lot of manual effort and a lot of massaging. To be totally honest, I think it’s in most nonprofit organizations won’t be able to benefit from it in the near future.
ARON MURCH 30:24
If you’re at the point of creating videos, requiring detailed enough scripts, that you’re having an AI assist in the writing, you’re probably going to get better results out of working with a copywriter and a project of that scale. For everything else, for anyone trying to work simply and start off by bootstrapping it, you’re going to be better off capturing organic content. That’s very personal.
ARON MURCH 30:46
So think about your key talking points, maybe have some bullets. And then don’t worry about a detailed script at all, try to have a more natural conversation on camera, it’s going to be easier to produce, and it’s going to read better to your audience anyways, even if it takes a few tries to get that shot.
RHEA WONG 31:00
What are your thoughts about using video as personalization and reaching out to individual donors, so not video that you’re putting on social or putting on your website, but rather, hey, Aron, thanks for your donation. Here’s what we did with it.
ARON MURCH 31:15
I love the idea. And we’ve seen a lot of companies have success with it. I think that’s going to be really daunting for a lot of people that are new to video because there’s so much more work that goes into creating that much of a quantity of content. And on that personal level. There’s awesome software out there for it for creating short, personalized videos to walk through content. It’s a great way of explaining things that would be extremely difficult to explain through text.
ARON MURCH 31:42
So like it’s a super powerful tool. And if you’re a really tech-forward organization, and you’ve listened to this idea, and that sounds exciting, yeah, go for it. It works really well. If you listen to this idea, and you froze up and went, oh, I don’t think I’m ready for that, then trust your gut. Focus on what’s going to be more achievable. And don’t worry about it works really well. You don’t have to start there.
RHEA WONG 32:02
Sounds good. Okay, last question for me. What are some of the common mistakes that you’ve seen nonprofits make with video?
ARON MURCH 32:09
So it’s a funny question. I see a lot of nonprofits not creating video content at all. So that’s the number one mistake. It is not doing anything. The number two mistake for people who are creating some video content is not sharing it in the right channels, or not sharing it at all. It’s very common for organizations to create a video, drop it onto their website, and then never use it on any of their social media.
ARON MURCH 32:32
It’s very common for organizations to create a video specifically to show at a fundraiser and then not share it on any of their platforms, even their website. So if you’re going to create video resources and use them as much as possible. On the technical level, there are little things. Make sure your audio quality is good.
ARON MURCH 32:50
So if you’re going to record a video, do it somewhere quiet, make sure the lights are all turned on and people can see you clearly. Try not to move the camera around too much and things like that. There are some great influencer tools out there, you can get a stand for your cell phone with a ring light, that’s going to make it really easy for you to create decent-looking video content on a budget.
RHEA WONG 32:08
Great! Alright, this has been a lot of fun. Where can folks find you if they want to learn more about you and the work that you’re doing with 2H??
ARON MURCH 33:15
Absolutely! The best way to get in touch with me, just reach out to me by email: aron@2h.media.
RHEA WONG
Okay! We’ll make sure to put that info in the show notes. But Aron, thanks so much. It’s been a lot of fun. You’ve convinced me. I want to start doing videos. Alright, take care.
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