I read an update on LinkedIn the other day from a small business owner who has evidently embraced video marketing as part of her marketing strategy.
This is a first, crucially important step which I am repeatedly banging on about and encouraging on this blog, on my YouTube channel, on my Instagram, and anywhere else I might find an audience.
But the entrepreneur was committing, in my strong opinion, a common mistake: the search for perfection in her videos.
She posted about the large amount of time that goes into making one video, and related that she could do 9 takes before she is satisfied to publish the video and be satisfied with it.
Seeking perfection in the type of video that a small business owner needs to make on a regular basis is a futile waste of time. I almost never make two attempts at a video; I will always do it once and that’s it.
Done is better than perfect and the benefits of doing it once and publishing or uploading at that point are two fold:
- You will learn more quickly because once you are obliged to put your work out into the world for scrutiny you will be highly attuned to what you are doing and the feedback you receive, especially if it is critical or negative;
- Authenticity-imperfections and humanity and “keeping it real” are powerful assets to bake into your videos; you are far less likely to have this naturalness and likeability if you are obsessively redoing videos to ensure they are aesthetically perfect.
If you are blogging or making videos to promote yourself or your business, you are looking to become recognised as a trusted authority who the reader or viewer can know like and trust. You are far more likely to hit this sweet spot if you cast off an obsessive focus on the perfect blog post or video.
Publish and be damned, I say. Because you get to do it again tomorrow. Better.