For this project, I was interested in sharpening my marketing skills as well as learning various approaches to selling online services. As part of the project, I was to help with filming, editing, and implementing the videos for commercial use at the discretion of Allyssa-Rae Davis, the founder of Pack Leader Nation LLC. Allyssa-Rae is an experienced and talented business owner in Southeast Idaho that has 15+ years of experience in sales and customer service. As a business owner, Allyssa-Rae has been able to demonstrate her powerful ability to give her visions life and a firm place in the material world. The overall goal of the project was to help Allyssa-Rae create video advertisements as well as products she could sell online as a professional dog behavior specialist. This would diversify her product line and give her more resilience in this ever-changing virtual world.
During the course of this project, Allyssa-Rae Davis’ business, Pack Leader Nation was nominated as one of the best businesses in Idaho. To boost her exposure online I was tasked with creating reviews from satisfied clients that she had worked with previously.
Here is an example of one of these Reviews:
Challenges Experienced During the Project
Pack Leader Nation LLC is a small business and is able to pivot quickly to meet the needs of customers. In addition to this ability however, Pack Leader Nation LLC as a small business often needs to pivot to cater to exposure opportunities. As a result the original plan for the project was put on the back burner as I helped Allyssa-Rae prepare for the upcoming vote for the Best Business in Idaho Awards. Allyssa-Rae had been nominated for the competition and was quickly tasked with giving her business lots of exposure so that individuals could vote for her business as one of the best in the state. To help in this task, I was asked to help in creating satisfied customer review videos. The challenges that came with this, were often those of scheduling conflicts. We now needed to schedule between the two of us in addition to scheduling with a prior client. To overcome these challenges, we needed to be very patient as well as persistent in finding times that worked for everyone. Further challenges came up as we needed to be very quick and professional in individual’s homes as we set up lighting and camera gear. All of the gear can be invasive and intimidating! We overcame these issues by simply talking through everything that we were setting up with the homeowner, as well as keeping a good sense of humor about the whole ordeal.
Another set of challenges that we faced as we worked through these videos, was that Pack Leader Nation’s Brand is still developing and we needed to make choices that Allyssa-Rae was going to be comfortable with for the long term. We made the decision to put her current logo in all of the videos produced, as well as chose colors that we were comfortable using in videos for the foreseeable future. These challenges were overcome by discussing the design process together and ultimately picking designs that Allyssa-Rae was comfortable with.
Process
The process for videos creation was very straight forward. Allyssa-Rae would come to me with an idea and objective for each video project and we would then brain storm from there. In normal cases, we would put together a script, shot list, and pick out a location for the shoot. Though, for many of the Client Reviews that we put together, we often couldn’t script what would be shared in the video, because we wanted the client’s testimony to be authentic. To work around this issue however, we would come prepared with prompts that helped spur the clients into sharing their true feelings about their experiences. After the planning had been completed, we would arrive at the site, set up the gear, then work hard to make the experience of filming an enjoyable one for the client. After completing the filming process, we’d pack up quickly and be on our way.
Once back at home with the new footage, I’d set out to edit and color grade the footage that we had obtained. This would often take many hours, as I am not very experienced and wanted everything to be just right. I was able to quickly learn that color grading is heavily influenced by the kind of monitor I was using and the color settings that it was set up in. This slowed down the process as I would need to color grade, then check to make sure it would look good on other devices. I’m sure there is a faster way to approach this issue, perhaps in the next project I can figure that one out. After the editing was completed, I’d send the video to Allyssa-Rae for her approval and corrections. If everything looked good from there, we were good to move forward for use!
Results
This was an amazing project that taught me more than I can put in words. During the course of the project, we were able to create three client reviews, as well as a few advertisements for Pack Leader Nation LLC to use online. Allyssa-Rae has mentioned to me several times now that the videos we produced have brought her lots of business and have helped grow her business in large ways. This was a great thing to hear and made me feel good about the work that I had provided! Even though this initial project has come to a close, I will still be working closely with Packer Leader Nation LLC to create more content for use. This project has blossomed into an amazing opportunity to grow the skills that I have started to invest in.