80. How To Use Video To Tell Stories With Andy Johnston

Thing that we need to focus on is actually storytelling because, you know, saying that, oh, we deliver excellent customer service and we're highly detailed. Well, even though that might be true, the reality is the builder down the road can say, we want to focus on the things that others can't say that are exclusive to you. Age builders. When they have all these ideas in their mind, they're not quite sure how to bring it to life. The ultimate thing we're trying to capture is the feeling. Right. So what's the feeling like when partnering with you as a builder on this journey?

This is Professional Builder Secrets, the number one podcast to help you grow your building company safely and securely. Brought to you by the association of Professional Builders. Join us every week as we talk to industry experts and your fellow professional builders on everything you need to know to generate more leads, more sales and higher margins while improving the building experience for your clients. Hello and welcome to the Professional Builder Secrets podcast, a podcast by the association of Professional Builders for building company owners, general managers, VPs and emerging leaders. Here we discuss all things running a professional building company from sales, processes, financials, operations and marketing. We have another exciting episode from the Professional Builder Secrets podcast. Joining us today is Andy Johnson, director at Expansion Media, based out of Queensland. Andy, welcome and thank you for being here today.

Thanks so much, Bhoskar. Yeah, I'm pretty excited to be here and talk brand story videos.

Yeah, so we're going to talk a little bit about how to use videos to tell your story. We'll talk about storytelling, but before we get into it, tell us a little bit about you and what you do and what you specialize in.

Yeah, sure thing. So I'm the director at Expansion Media. At Expansion Media, we specialize in creating brand story videos for builders. So it's not just shooting videos. Our focus is on telling the stories, the builder stories that reflect their true value as a building brand.

Yeah, it sounds like you bring stories to life. But before we get into that storytelling phase, why is it so important to be paying attention to videos in this digital era? And what is video storytelling?

Yeah, absolutely. So video storytelling in this digital area is essentially combining photos, videos, music, and combining all those elements together in such a way where it tells an engaging story. And in this digital era, just making it available in all the digital platforms for your audience to actually consume. Why should builders be paying attention to this? And why should builders consider this? With the rise of, you know, I believe with the rise of digital media, smartphones and cameras that are so easily accessible with a few Clicks. Anybody can be creating video content. So therefore, the volume of content that's going out into the market is going to increase. So if you're wanting to stand out and if you're actually wanting to reflect your, you know, your true value for your brand and attract ideal clients who share similar values to you as a brand and as a building company, I believe telling visual stories of your builder's brand and your building company is an extremely powerful way of doing that.

Now, why should builders be paying attention? What should builders be paying attention to in this era when it comes to videos?

Look, I think videos is such an interesting word because when we think of video, we just think of pretty pictures. But the thing removing pictures, I should say, but the thing that we need to focus on is actually storytelling is captivating an audience and creating a story that resonates with them. So, you know, just showing a few progress shots or just having a drone shot of a build isn't enough today. Anybody can do that. And that's not a separation point for you as a builder. You know, what really sets you apart from others is your story. Right. It's actually the thing that I get my builders to focus on is let's focus on the things that nobody else can say but you can say. And let's put that into the videos because, you know, saying that, oh, we deliver excellent customer service and we're highly detailed. Well, even though that might be true, the. The reality is the builder down the road can say that. So let's focus on the things that. That only you can say that are exclusive to you. And then let. Let's amplify that through video.

Now, why should builders consider using videos for their audience today? You know, what are some of the types of videos that you shoot for builders, and how do you bring those stories to life?

Yeah, I love that question. I think, why should builders consider using video for their audiences today? Look, video has the biggest impact on your market psychologically. So when we think of marketing, you know, marketing and psychology go hand in hand. So in order for us to really evoke emotion and get people to not just turn their heads to actually, like, prick their hearts, you know, that's what we really want to be doing. Video is the strongest marketing asset that you have to do that if you're wanting to captivate your audience, engage an audience, ultimately win people over. Yeah, video is absolutely your strongest marketing asset. And it's not just video, as I said earlier, it's telling those stories. And you ask me, you know, what type of stories do we want to tell, you know, somebody might ask or you know, what stories they want to tell. Well, let's explore, you know, the brand story of how you became to where you are now as a builder. If you've got a particular challenging builder, you might have a this grand project that you're working on now that's built on a slope. And there was so much troubleshooting that went into it, you actually overcame those challenges. Let's bring those stories to life and actually showcase to the world how you as a builder and your team overcame those challenges. Because, hey, if you're talking to another prospect and they've got another slope of land, block of land, if a big slope on it, they're thinking the same things. You know, they're talking to three or four other builders and there's a story that comes up which is from you, that talks about specifically this other project where you dealt with all of these challenges. And we give insight into how we overcame it. Man, that's just going to separate you miles from your competitors. Right. And as we know, in this game, it's about attracting the right people as well. Because the building process is such a long process. Even the lead time is such a long process. So in order for us to live a good life, we want to surround ourselves with the right team, but also the right clients. So we want to be putting out these type of videos that attract those right clients so that we can run a good business.

Now, what are some of the key challenges for builders when it comes to, you know, doing videos? I guess, do you see builders, you know, struggle with their confidence? You know, what are some of those challenges that you encounter?

Yeah, absolutely. Straight off the bat, one of the most common kind of objections that I get is Andy. Yeah, I don't really like to talk on camera. You know, that's one of the first things that come up. But I think next to that, like finding story angles on a building company, like, the challenge is, okay, gosh, we've got so many different aspects to this building company. You know, the process, the case studies, the brand story, you know, the progress of how do we combine all of this and present it in a way and actually practically bring this thing to life? Like, I engage builders, when they have all these ideas in their mind, they're not quite sure how to bring it to life. And that's the next challenge is actually finding a team who actually understand the power of stories, but then know how to actually achieve it as well. Right. So that's a challenge going okay. Well, let's not just hire a videographer. You might go on Instagram, hashtag videographer Brisbane. You find the top three people there, inquire, you know, okay, cool, 400 bucks. And then you go out on site, you get the footage and you go, okay, well that like it's good footage, but it doesn't necessarily activate us as a brand. And they sort of sit there scratching their head going, what are we missing here? You know, and that's the challenge is actually amplifying those unique traits of your building brand and telling the unique stories for you as a brand. You know, that's kind of where it's at. And that definitely is the challenge. And that's what we specialize in.

Yeah, well, how do you bring builder stories to life on set? You know, like what do you do to try to extract those stories? You talked about being such an important vehicle for marketing because you can create that engagement, that sentiment. What kind of pressures do you deal with when you're filming a builder to bring those stories to life?

A lot of the work is actually done in the pre production. That's the trick here. It's like preparation loves victory. So as I mentioned earlier, we want to focus on the things that others can't say that are exclusive to you. Well, how do I know that? What we actually do is we conduct an extensive interview right at the beginning of the journey. We film and document a 90 minute interview with our builder. We extract all of their ideas about their target market, their origin story, their unique value, their perspective on things. You know, we really dive in deep in that and it's, it's purely an exercise for us as a creative team to understand who we're dealing with, you know, and in that pre production phase we can understand. Okay, so these guys are leaning more towards a high end luxury feeling. And the reason is because of xyz. And once we understand all those things, when we put that into a shooting schedule, create our storyboards, when it comes to the actual day of filming, we actually already know what needs to happen and how much we need a film. And we ensure we don't over capture certain aspects because we only, we know we only need a few shots of that to capture that story. So a lot of the pressure is actually early in the process in the pre production phase and it's ensuring that we can conducted an interview yesterday that went for almost two hours actually. And now the pressure that I'll face in that is condensing two hours worth of story in origin story and values and philosophy. Down into like a one, two, three and a half minute video. Yeah, that's where it's at and that's the pressure. And you know, the beautiful thing about having structures and frameworks is we can see the story on paper before we plot any cameras. We don't have to do the guessing game of shooting a whole bunch of content and going, oh, days. I hope we've got enough content to tell a story. We'll know that way beforehand.

Take me through your process. When it comes to video storytelling. You know, you talked about the interview process being an important part, but from brief to post production, you know, I'm sure there's some critical steps. What should a builder know when they're working with you through this process?

Yeah. So I think one thing that they should know is that we kind of hold their hand throughout the entire process from that 90 minute interview right through to post production. We, we inform them of every step of the way as they probably would with their clients. But you know, some of the key, we'll call it Milestones of pre production is definitely conducting that 90 minute interview. We take all that information and we put it into, we extract all that information and put it into a story circle framework so we can actually see the structure of this story. We know the highs and lows of the stories. We have a structure to the narrative and from there we create the storyboard so we know exactly what we need to capture. We prepare the script, the shooting schedule, the shot list, and we then work with the builder to schedule in the shooting dates for all the production. And then obviously when it comes to the day of filming, you know, we'll ensure that we capture the drone shots, the interview shots, any of the cinematic B roll. And we may be filming over multiple days, or it could be a half day here or two hours. You know, we handle all of that because I understand builders already have enough on their plates, they don't need the hassle of a production crew to manage as well. So that's the beauty of working with us as a producer. We alleviate that burden of going, oh, where are these guys going to be? We handle all that. So we just keep them, we work with them and keep that process as seamless as possible.

And do you service just the Queensland area? Are you out of state in Australia? Like with the work that you get, where's your primary focus?

So we currently serve all of Australia, so we've got Cruise Queensland, New South Wales, Melbourne and sa. We're yet to establish a pod in Perth yet. And we're in the process of working on that, but the process is essentially the same for any of the states that we go through, so.

And what should builders prepare for through the video storytelling process? You know, you talked a little bit about this interview. Do you recommend that they know the questions ahead of time? I always, when I interview people on, either on camera, on, on podcasts, sometimes they're so nervous that they'll ramble or they'll just, you know, keep going. And I keep saying to them, it's okay, take a deep breath, you know, there's no rush to get your answer out there. But what type of preparation is required for an effective video storytelling process?

In terms for that 90 minute interview, right from the beginning, we do send them through the question. There's about 16 questions that we cover and we send that question as soon as we can through to them. And yeah, they basically feel that in got form point they don't have to go through that meticulously, but that prepares them for that shoot. But the biggest thing that I focus on when it comes to preparing my builders for these brand story videos is actually their mindset. In my experience, I felt that and I found that builders might feel a bit awkward going through this process. The thought of bringing cameras and talking on camera and when they think of videos, they might think it's cheesy or they might think they're like acting or, you know, maybe TikTok has tainted this process for us. But the way that I like to think about it is, is first of all, they deserve a brand story. You know, they didn't come all this way for nothing. So you deserve to have your story heard. But next to that, when it comes to the actual filming of everything, the thing I like to say to them is treat it like a conversation. We're just being conversational. We're not doing any hardcore selling or hardcore hitching where it's like, buy my product now. We're really simply documenting what you're already doing and making it available for the right people to consume in an engaging way. So just think of us documenting that process. And I found that when I share that with my builder clients, I see this shift. They go, ah, okay. And it just alleviates that pressure where, you know, when we say you use the words like production or filmmaking, you know, people think, oh, like, I don't know, they go into like stage mode or, you know, for us it's all about being human and we're just amplifying the beautiful aspects of you as a human and as a brand, you know, so when I can make that shift mentally, everything else corresponds. Everybody's a lot more willing. The process becomes a lot more seamless.

What makes the video creation process smoother for a builder? Any considerations that they should be paying attention to?

Yeah, I think the thing that will make the process smoother, as I mentioned earlier, it's the pre work that's done beforehand. So using an actual story framework when you're creating your videos. Like a common thing that I've spoken to when I engage with builders before they become a client of mine is Andy. We have a ton of footage. We don't know what to do with it. Oh, we've got a library of footage that we shot. We got a young guy to come in and shoot all this content for us. Right. So they've got all this content. They don't know what to do with it. So in order to sort of see this video creation process through to the end and actually make it seamless and smoother and easier, it's understanding what are we actually capturing first. So it's using a proven framework to help us achieve that. And the next thing is with this is actually working with somebody who understands the story. So it's not just the videographer. And there are some videographers who are phenomenal at capturing visuals and flying a drone. But in this digital era, you know, it's not enough. It's just not enough. We need to be doing more. We need to go deeper. We need to go deeper as a brand. You know, if somebody's got $1 million plus to spend on a build, they've got options. Yeah, you're not exclusive. They've got options. So we really need to establish our footprint, and we need to establish it deep. So working with a videographer who understands storytelling will definitely make that process a whole lot smoother. You know, it's not you having to go, oh, hey, capture this and capture that. Them as a creative should bring that to the table. So, yeah, I think it's having the right team, creative team around you and using frameworks when building your stories. Yeah.

What type of sentiment are we trying to capture for builders and their audiences? When you're working with them, what are some of those core engagement factors that you're trying to capture on video?

Look, I mean, the ultimate thing we're trying to capture is the feeling. So what's the feeling like when partnering with you as a builder on this journey? What is that feeling? We're trying to create a feeling of excitement, a feeling of desire. You Know, a feeling of curiosity, like, oh, wow, actually, yeah. What would it be like to actually team up with them? You know, what's it like to go on a journey with you as a builder? You know, we want to get the audience or the prospects excited and also next to that, we want to generate a feeling of exclusivity as well. That's what we really want to focus. So, you know, it's not just focusing on the yes, you've done great builds, but it's also capturing that journey and that feeling around it. It's weaving that, combining all those elements of that beautiful footage, the things that you say in the interview, the music, the drone shots, combining all those elements together and creating that cinema magic and that then creates a feeling and we want to capture that feeling and we want them to actually feel it because people buy their hearts and then justified in their minds.

Right now, once filming is done, what goes into that post production process? I'm assuming you're working with the client to get that finished product out there?

Yes, correct. So once we've captured all the footage, we go into video editing stage or the post production. So ensuring that the footage that we capture doesn't just tell the story, but it actually amplifies all the elements that we've done. Right. So it's one thing capturing it all that works, we tick that box. But when you bring all of those elements together, we want to make sure that it amplifies every aspect that we've tried to bring to life. So once we have that and we go through client revisions and we make sure that that video is a one, that that video is, is inspiring and once we have that, we then put it to you, so be it. The builder is looking to start running ads, then we help them get eyeballs on those videos and we will create short form versions of that video as top of funnel video content to then drive traffic to the long form brand story video. If you're just going to be posting it organically, you can deploy it onto your website. The different pages on your website. If you're running nurturing email campaigns. Yeah, you can just essentially start what we call the distribution process.

Cool. And how do you know the association of Professional Builders? Have you done work for them? Have you, are you a Rewards APB Rewards member? Have you worked for some of their members or builders? How did the relationship come to play?

Yeah, so I am a APB Rewards member and I actually reached out to Russ late 2022 or mid to late 2022 and offered this service Because I said, hey, we specialize in this nation. I think we can offer a lot of value to all of your members. Yeah. Since then we've started chatting with a few builder clients, builders within the APB Association. And if people want to have a discussion, they can simply go through there and onto our website. They can book in a call for a free first discussion where we just have a chat to see what you're trying to achieve. And if it's anything that we can help with, we kind of show a little bit more what the next steps looks like.

Any tips on how to repurpose videos or use videos online as well? You talked about, you know, potentially using it for different digital mediums. But what's the, the best practice when it comes to repurposing videos?

Consistency is key when it comes to repurposing your videos. And I think if you've shot anything in a long form, like if you've got a three minute video and you have the capacity for somebody on your team to take out 15 seconds of that, which is gold, and put that onto YouTube shorts, onto TikTok Instagram Reels, Facebook reels, I do highly recommend that that's a great way of repurposing your content. And even you can look back at old content that you may have shot a year ago, two years ago. You know, there's so much value that we have within our existing content library that we don't really pay attention to.

Yeah.

So it's cutting up that longer form video and you know, within a three minute video you could get five short video pieces out of that, you go, wow, that's fantastic. Right. So I think ensuring that like first of all your foundations are set. So have your website looked after. And if you've got your main video on the website, on the other pages on the website, any landing pages that you have, if you've got email campaigns going out, embed video into that, your lead magnets, if you're running ads using I would look after. They're the sort of heavy big boulders that I would focus on. And once you have those things dialed in, then we can go and focus on those finer details of cutting up longer form videos and turning them into reels.

For example, how often should, and I'm sure this is a popular question that you get asked, but how often should builders consider video production? Is it a quarterly thing? Is that every six months a year, you know, with the builders you're working with, what capacity are you working with them on?

Yeah, I think you can go Quarterly. I mean, I have some clients who we're shooting monthly with. But the thing that I say is, you know, once you have your brand story, video done, your capabilities videos done, your out process, your client case study videos on, they act as your solid foundation. Right. Once you have those and videos done, then I go, okay, let's work out what type of building brand you want to become. Right? So be it. We want to focus on the high end luxury market, one to two builds a year kind of vibe. Or do we want to be seen as an authority giving education and insights a brand maybe who is more questionable, maybe more candid or comical, you know, identify whatever that is and then find a team who can help you create the content consistently over time. So depending on what type of brand you choose or what kind of brand Persona you want to have in that market will kind of dictate how much content we want to be creating. But you've also got to work out within your schedule what's practical also financially, what you can invest into a team as well. But if you can consistently look at doing something at least once every two months, at least a one day shoot, a half day shoot every two months, and from that create enough content to distribute two to three videos, that's a good start.

So consistency is key here. What are some of the storytelling trends that you're seeing in the building industry specifically today?

Yeah, so the thing that I'm saying, you know, obviously with the rise of reels and TikTok, short form content videos are a hit. You can easily get a few thousand, ten thousand views on a piece of video that you shot for your mobile phone, combined with a trending soundtrack. All of a sudden you got 10,000 views on this and you go, wow, I'm a, I'm a superstar, right? And there's nothing wrong with that. Builders can whip out their phones and do before and after pretty easily. And that's something I see a lot of. I've got some of my older clients in this building space, we're doing a lot more of that before and after stuff. There's no harm in that. I think that's great. And one thing to keep in mind that those type of videos are short shelf life. They have a really short shelf life. So they'll be around this week and gone next week. People will forget about them and their attention spans are getting smaller and smaller as more and more content goes out there. So that's one thing of the rise of short form content. You know, one thing I see a lot of Again, drones are cheaper. Cameras are cheaper. So progress shots, you know that we're seeing a lot more drone shots. We're seeing a lot more progress shots of builds, which is cool. Like, there's no harm in having progress shots. I tend to like to focus on selling the destination, the outcomes that you have. So, you know, showing the process kind of reminds people of the pain that they've got to go through. Oh, crikey. I've got to go through that whole phase again, you know, of having that structure just standing there, and, you know, that's not the end of the world. But if we can focus on the destination and the feeling that comes with that, that's really where the goals are. So the trend that I see is actually a lack of storytelling. You know, that's kind of the common denominator here. And. And I think people, if we kind of think of the. The psychology behind why that is, is I believe it's just because a, people don't understand the massive impact storytelling can have on a market. But B, they just don't have the right team or right individuals to help them execute that. So maybe they do understand it, but they don't know who to talk to to help that bring. To come to life. And then they may start a conversation with somebody, but then 50 other spinning plates are spinning, and they've got to run over there. And before you know it, six months passes by. So it might be really hard for them. So the last trend that I see is is hiring videographers, expecting them to tell your brand story and, like, truly represent your brand. And I'm not knocking down videographers, but, you know, I work with videographers. I have a lot of videographers under my belt, and I know they are talented at creating cool transitions, and they know how to set the lighting right when it comes to shooting a shot in the harsh sun or capturing the perfect dusk shot. But when it comes to telling a story, they're more technical than they are emotional. So we really want to be partnering up with storytellers. That's kind of where it's at. So definitely the trend with that is seeing a lot of these companies hiring videographers, expecting them to do the heavy lifting for them.

Yeah. And sometimes taking the shortcuts doesn't necessarily give you the best quality of work as well, so I can appreciate that. Yeah. Unfortunately, my final question for you. It's been an interesting chat. My final question for you for today is any advice do you have to give to those builders who are listening to this sitting on the fence going, I know I need to get on with the times, I know I need to capitalize this. But you know, might have some sort of hesitance. What's the advice for those first time builders out there considering videos?

I think the advice would be to have a conversation with somebody like myself. And I don't want to sound like that's a sales pitch, but it's true. Because when you actually have a conversation with somebody like myself who can actually walk you through the process, it becomes a lot less daunting and you realize it's actually achievable. Yeah, it's actually really achievable. Like it's with the right team, you can get the ball rolling pretty fast. Action precedes clarity. So if we just take that action and we might be unsure, the clarity will come.

Well Andy, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you today. Thank you for the insights. I'm sure we'll have you back again for some other topic around videos as well. And thanks for sharing your energy and time with us today.

My absolute pleasure. Thank you so much.

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