Facetime shouldn't just be to see your brothers baby or moms new sofa. Our clients want and are paying to see the progress and strategy of their marketing efforts too! At Impulse Creative we are a video-first agency. This means that ALL, yes ALL of our meetings, internal, or with clients are on video. Why? BECAUSE video conferencing breaks the communion barriers of the universe, and I will tell you how.
Video conferencing brings a human element into our communication. Not only is Audrey your project manager, Audrey with the huge smile and super blonde hair (who also rocks an awesome braid) is your project manager. You may relate to her, or have a cousin that is her doppleganger, but either way, you know she is a human and you can hold her accountable to be your point of contact. The days of imagining the face on the other side of the phone are over.
Let’s be real, agency life has gotten a little sketchy, like agencies without physical offices, that outsource all of their work to other countries. Sometimes all a client needs is a nice video chat to be at ease and confident with the agency they have chosen. Professionalism doesn't mean just office space. Clients still want to know their agency partners shower and show up video ready (still rocking PJ Pants is okay). Video ready agencies exude confidence by looking their clients in the eyes, something you would have to work a lot harder for over a phone call.
Many conversations can get lost in body language barriers over a telephone conference. Video once again shows confidence that is being backed up by the participants body language. And it works both ways. It’s much easier to gage happiness, excitement, understanding and more, by simply being in the same virtual room together.
Here are three different ways you can say yes, but body language says something else. The power of video.
I hate driving. My boss hates losing my time while I drive or sit in traffic. My client is busy and hates to admit it, however, they don't want to take the time out of their day come to our office either! Why should they have to if they have an office too? Video conferencing just fixed all of our problems. With the click of a button we have all traveled to each other, without taking anyone out of their natural habitat, where they’re most comfortable and productive.
However, our clients should come in our office, because we have bean bags, standing desks, dart boards and beer.
No one likes a metaphorical fire (or admitting that those happen, but they do). Agency life is fast-paced and when something happens, fast communication is the water that puts fires out. What calms a client down more than a phone call when a crisis arises? Jumping on a video conference and fixing the issue while on screen. Problem solved, crisis averted and it was nice seeing you today.
Our agency is growing and we have a headquarters where most of our team works. However, we are also lucky enough to have remote team members with us everyday as well. Our team doesn't have to settle for employees who conveniently reside in our area. We can be picky and only choose the best talent we can find! We have daily video conferences to stay constantly connected. Our clients have direct access to see there lovely faces as well.
This is one of my favorite aspects of video conferencing. When a client can't find something, or is having an issue with a platform, we can have a specialist in that subject show them how to fix the issue right there on the conference call. We use this feature to perform tutorials, go over contracts, project plans, content creation, design work, development work– any and all of the things! This takes our communication to the next level and the client never leaves a meeting confused, lost or waiting on a file.
After every meeting, we get the entire recording automatically saved to our desktop. We do this through Zoom, but most video conferencing tools have this capability. I attach every recording to my meeting notes. This is an amazing asset for reviewing the project. I also send our clients all of the meeting recordings so they can use them as tutorials or to answer any questions that may come up. This feature also helps if one participant was not able to make the meeting, so no one gets left behind and we don't have to waste time later in the process.
Are you getting all the video feels? Read our awesome video-tastic