I was standing at the pedestrian crossing at the Johnstown Road/Main Road junction in Enfield on Friday just gone.
I was waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green as I needed to get down to the post office before my next consultation.
It was around 2.15 pm or thereabouts and there was a white van stopped at the head of the traffic, waiting for the green light, too.
I heard someone shouting something at me and I looked around to see who was trying to get my attention. Children and parents were coming from the local primary school which is a hundred yards or thereabouts down the Johnstown Road and there was a lot of people and noise and cars around.
But I noticed the passenger window of the white van had been lowered and the driver was leaning toward the open passenger side window; he was the person who was shouting at me.
I took a few steps towards him because I thought he was looking for directions or had some other enquiry. But as I got closer I discovered he was saying “chop wood, carry water” and was smiling broadly.
He said “You’re internet famous” and we exchanged a few words and went on our separate directions when the lights changed.
What he was referring to was a YouTube video that I uploaded to my channel about two weeks ago called, “Chop Wood, Carry Water”.
The video is about a Zen Buddhist philosophy of simplicity and focusing on doing the work that’s important in your life, and not being distracted by the many distractions open to you in your everyday life. But that’s not important now or the point of this article.
The power of video: I have written many times about the power and effectiveness of video to promote a brand or small business. I find it hard to understand why more small business owners like me don’t exploit the power of video and the camera in the mobile phone in their pocket, purse, or handbag.
Here in Enfield on a busy, noisy Friday afternoon was another stark example of the effectiveness of video.
Think about it: a fortnight earlier I had uploaded a four minute video made with my mobile phone to YouTube.
And now there is a man in a white van, in traffic at a busy intersection in Enfield, on a Friday afternoon, quoting back to me the title of my video and the Buddhist philosophy I was explaining in my video.
How cool is that?
If you are a small business owner or entrepreneur and you want to build your brand or your business, failing to use video is a costly mistake. And the likelihood is that the necessity to use video in the next few years to communicate with those you wish to serve will continue to increase sharply.
The effectiveness of video can be observed under a number of headings. For example
- Developing awareness of you or your business
- Building connection with viewers
- Demonstrating expertise
- Building authority
- Generating leads and queries
- Acquiring clients
I uploaded my first video to YouTube in 2011 and I have repeatedly been amazed at the number of people who contact me, or come into my office for a consultation, as a direct consequence of having seen me on YouTube and have watched some of my videos.
You might also be interested in The remarkable power of video in bestowing authority