Creating a professional video for your business can seem a little daunting, but it needn’t be. That’s what Mary Fitzgerald, President of Acme Wire Products Company, Inc., learned when she had a company video produced last summer.

The resulting video gives prospects a close up view of the company and its capabilities. But what’s especially appealing is that it creates a compelling story about the company, its mission and its people.

According to Mary, she and brothers Ed and Michael Planeta, wanted to create a video that helped them stand apart from the crowd versus producing a “talking heads” piece.

To help them achieve this goal, they hired Tom Peterson, of thynk tank in Southbury, CT, a consultant and videographer who specializes in video for industrial job shops.

“Our company is based in Mystic, Connecticut,” says Mary, “so Tom suggested we use our location as a geographic differentiator. Manufacturing wire products has nothing to do with the local Mystic area and its industries – tourism, ship building and sport fishing – so we loved it when he suggested we tie in fishing – ‘fishing for wire products.’”

To produce the video, Tom came to the Acme Wire Products manufacturing facility for the day and filmed the different operations and work centers within the plant.

As you can see in the video, showing the robotic and welding equipment in action is quite dramatic. It also backs up the company’s assertion that they’re innovative, precise and exacting.

Tom also interviewed Mary and her brothers separately. “What was very interesting,” says Mary, “is that he had separate questions for each of us. In the video, you see how he was able to use our answers to tell our story.”

While filming took a day, creating the video and editing took about two months. The result? “Customers watch it,” said Mary, “and when they call us, they say they want to go out for a lobster dinner. We love it!”

Advice for creating your own business video

When asked if she had tips for business owners who want to create a similar type of video, Mary had the following advice:

Set expectations before calling a videographer – Research other company videos and define what you want. For example, Mary and her brothers didn’t want a “talking head” video, something she explained to Tom up front. In response, he came in and spent considerable time on the manufacturing floor shooting things from various angles – and interwove factory shots with shots of Mary and her brothers talking.

Know your target audience – “Our audience is design engineers,” says Mary. “They want to know that we can manufacture their products – but they also want to know we have the expertise to help them meet industrial design challenges. It’s easy to say we provide highest-quality, but in our video, we show how we meet our quality goals.”

Draft out the messages you want to communicate – Mary and her brothers wanted to show their prospective customers that the wire parts they fabricate are all done in-house in the U.S. using smart, innovative technology. “Our manufacturing sets us apart – and legitimizes us,” says Mary. “We don’t ship in parts and then have them sitting on the shelf. They’re made to order right here in Mystic.”

The creative video also reinforces the creativity that Acme Wire Products brings to the wire fabrication process – a process that’s also communicated throughout the piece.

Ensure the videographer can help with YouTube – In addition to creating the video, Tom created Acme Wire Products’ YouTube channel, uploaded the video to it and optimized it for search. He also took the video and broke it down into shorter two- minute videos, also optimized for search, in order to take advantage of the YouTube search engine.

“Creating the video was a fun experience,” says Mary. “While adding some drama and creativity to our website, it also gave us the opportunity to connect with current and former customers. We emailed the link and said, ‘You’ve not been to our facility – now you can see it. Come visit us soon!’ People responded quite favorably.”

Creating the video was part of Acme Wire Products’ Web Overhaul. Work included redesigning the website as well as editing existing content and creating new content.