What 70+ Videos Taught Level Green Landscaping

Speaker A: Most green industry companies know they should be creating video. But the problem is most approach video like it's a one time project. They shoot a recruiting video, a company overview, uh, a few social clips, and then they stop. But what happens when a company commits to video creation for more than a decade? What impact does that have on sales, recruiting culture, brand awareness, even employee engagement? Well, today we're going to talk to a $45 million company that created over and we're going to pull back the curtain on what worked, what didn't, and what we've learned about creating video content that actually makes an impact.

Speaker B: Hey there.

Speaker A: Welcome to the Landscape Leadership Podcast. My name is Chad Diller. I'm your host. And if you work in the green industry, lawn care, landscaping, tree service, pest control, and you want to grow your business, attract top talent, and create clients that are raving fans, guess what? You're in the right place. And so today I have a special guest, a longtime client. Uh, we've been working with Level Green Landscaping. They're in the D.C. uh, Maryland, Northern Virginia market for over 12 years. I have Marian joining us. Uh, how are you doing, Marian?

Speaker B: I am doing great. How are you, Chad?

Speaker A: I'm great. Thanks so much for joining us. And you know, we've worked together on a lot of different projects over the years, and one thing that's always stood out to me is Level Green's commitment to video. And not just making videos, but continuously investing in video as part of your marketing, sales and recruitment process. And I think We've created over 70 videos together, which is just really awesome. There's just some really great content out there.

Speaker B: Yeah, you guys have been awesome in creating, uh, video content for ourselves, our customers, and, um, potential, um, employees.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. So I want to dive in deep today about video and let's take the audience back. You know, like, when did Level Green first start thinking seriously about making video part of your operation?

Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think it was through the partnership with Landscape Leadership. As you said. We've, you know, have this, you know, we've been with landscape leadership for 12 years, for the majority of our company's existence, have been using landscape Leadership as our marketing partner. And I think you all really kind of guided us as video being something that we should consider. Um, and so we hopped into it, Um, I think pretty early on we've been doing, you know, for our 12 year relationship, I think we've been shooting videos for over 10 years with you all. Um, and I think it formed out of wanting to level up our marketing game. I think, you know, video we felt like was um, a way to get our brand out there in a unique and personal way. And I think you all kind of pushed us towards that. And it's something, you know, in the B2B space, um, video has been one of the most effective tools I think are levers we have on, on our marketing kind of, um, campaigns.

Speaker A: So were there like maybe some high level goals that you were trying to accomplish and why you decided to get a little more serious about video?

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I think again we're, we're completely commercial landscape maintenance, right? So we're B2B sales. And in that, you know, most of our selling is done by our business developers. So when we look at marketing, right, we're really looking at things that um, help our business developers make connections with clients and really give credence to what they're saying and back that up. And I think that's where video comes in and is so effective. It really can echo the selling proposition that our business developers are talking about. It makes us look more professional in the space. It makes us look um, like experts, um, and again, really allows us to echo the content that our business developers are kind of putting out, you know, in their person to person selling.

Speaker A: Yeah. And as we've seen success together, you know, from a marketing side, from what you guys do internally with selling and expanding and closing deals, that's created more opportunity for your team members. So we, we kind of started out with like, hey, the problem to solve here is a marketing problem. Let's lead acquisition. And then we, we started, I don't even remember how this actually happened. We were like, hey, we should do some recruiting videos, some career videos. And now that's, that's a big piece that, that we're addressing 100%.

Speaker B: And, and I think when you think about it, right, what we're trying to achieve with our marketing videos is the exact same thing that we're trying to achieve with our recruiting videos, right. We are, you know, trying to show, um, our values, right, our company history, um, that we're a great customer, that we're a great company to work with, but that we're also a great company to work for. And you know, in doing that, right, you want our customers coming to us and knowing more about us through those videos, right. Kind of giving them another way to learn about us. And it's the same thing that we're trying to do with potential, um, employees right through the videos. So when you think about the goals and what we're trying to accomplish with videos, uh, between recruiting and kind of marketing and sales, it's the exact same goal and that's why it works so well. And Chad, what we found too is like videos that we found videos can work the same video. Right? Can work as a recruiting video and as a sales video. And that's been super cool. Right. We have a number of videos that are like great marketing and recruitment videos. I think of um, our passion for horticulture videos that talk to our client about why they would want to work for a company that loves horticulture but also obviously talk to potential recruits about why a company that loves landscaping and planting is a great company to work for as well.

Speaker A: Yeah, they say people want to do business with uh, brands that they know like and trust. And I would say people want to work at those places too because it's just a different type of customer. So we're, we're dealing human to human. You're humanizing your brand through video and that's affecting your prospective clients as well as your team members. So looking back, what do you think made level green? Stick with it. When uh, it comes. You know, most companies sometimes they'll, they'll do like a video project maybe a year or two and then it goes five, 10 years before they hit more videos again. What do you think had that staying power? Like what was the secret to that?

Speaker B: Yeah, I think there's a couple of things. First, I again give a lot of credit to landscape leadership for being, you know, for guiding us down the road. And I, and I think you all recommended us keeping at it and that bear fruit. I think we ended up really just enjoying it. I think we at this point enjoy the process of creating videos. Um, I think it's a morale boost throughout the company, um, to create them, to have them shown, um, and seen and to have people participate in them. So I think that's become kind of a self fulfilling um, part of the video making process. I also would say, you know, our leadership team um, believes in video and believes in marketing. Right. I think one of the, one of the reasons a lot of people probably go away from video, um, is because it's expensive. I mean that's, that's the reality of the marketing forms. Right. It is probably one of, if not the most expensive channels you can invest in and in the B2B space. Right. The ROI is a little hard to calculate. Right. You're not going to be able to come up with a, ah, cost per referral writer or something off of the video. You just have to believe and show that it's working. And I think our leadership team has um, believed that investment in marketing and video specifically is paying off and pays off over the long term. And I think we've now certainly seen that as our media library has grown and we've been able to use video in a lot of different ways and platforms. Um, but that's not right. Always clear after year one and not always clear to say when you only have, you know, five videos that you've created, it's, it's harder to kind of maximize that return.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think one thing, you know, when we go about planning our videos, I always have ideas. You always have ideas and they typically stem from like problems we're trying to solve. And then just because we've been working together so long, we, I, I have this, you know, kind of knowledge of oh, these are all the different places we could use this video. Like it doesn't just have to go on this one page on the website. We could use this in uh, a paid LinkedIn campaign. We could use this as a organic social media social post. We could use this as, you know, um, a piece to put into a blog article or on the case study page or in an email campaign. There's so many different places and I think we're, we're thinking the longer we've worked together, the easier it is to think about how we can use that asset. Uh, one thing that stands out to me, like what you're, you're explaining, you guys are a pretty big company in the market. You're certainly not the largest, but you're pretty big. 30, 35 plus million dollars. And when you get to that, that point, you know, I think a lot of businesses are quick to think, oh, uh, you know what, everybody knows who we are, but there are so many new players and then there's so many old players that really up their game. And I think video is just in, in midst of a greater marketing strategy. It's, it's one of those things that you have to do to defend your brand position. Like you cannot wait until you become obsolete. So video is an important part and I think your leadership team and you, you've seen that throughout time. Um, I think that's where a lot of companies get stuck. They just kind of get hung up and maybe a little short sighted on that and they treat it as, you know, this is a project or a

Speaker B: campaign we're going to do.

Speaker A: Um, let's talk about actual results and I know it's hard to measure ROI on these types of things, but I feel like videos change. Uh, let's talk about the prospects, the lead acquisition. I feel like that this has really fundamentally changed your prospective clients experience with the brand. Tell me, what do you hear, what do you see, what's the feedback you're getting from your team on that?

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, I think the first thing to say is that because we have such a large video library and so many really high quality videos at this point, that it's become an integral part of our business development team in terms of how they approach customers. So almost every contact and touch point where they are talking to prospective clients includes video in kind of that presentation. So that could be an initial cold email, right? Uh, that cold email is being sent with a link or an embedded video. Right. Because we feel like a uh, video, right. Especially in today's day and age, Speaks is so much more likely to grab a customer's attention or be viewed. Right. So they're using it for cold outreach. Right. Any proposal that we're sending out to a customer includes links or embedded videos in the actual proposal. You all have helped us with, um, a proposal system that allows us to embed videos, right. In PDFs and stuff. Makes it really easy to view. So proposals go out with like two or three videos, right. And because we have a 70 video library, we can customize that to the client, right. So we're sending them a case study that shows their exact property type. You know, if it's an apartment, they're seeing an apartment video. If it's, you know, a retail center, they're seeing retail. We're sending them videos about their journey through it. Right? So we have a video that talks about a uh, client handoff, right? What does it look like if you sign with level 3? What is the next one month handoff getting this property transition over. Because we know the transition process is painful and hard for a customer. So it's, you're trying to put them at ease that if you sign on the dotted line, this will be a good and easy process for you. Um, I think we even created, right, a video that's like, just like a thank you, welcome to Level Green Video. Right. So we have, we've, we've created all these different touch points that customize that are customized to our business developers kind of as they journey clients through the sales process. Um, and that, that I think has really changed the game because as you said, we're now able to use it on so much more than just having it as you know, a video on our website that our customer, that someone has to go find. Right. We are actively using it through every part of our sales process.

Speaker A: Yeah. And everybody loves a customized experience because it's not like you're, oh, they sent us the corporate brand video or they sent us their video about maintenance like that you're sharing customer stories that are just very relatable, um, properties that. I know you and I talked about this too in the past where like you go to a property and they get the case study for the property across the street that looks way better than theirs. And, and that's powerful. You know, like it, it's relative. It's not like you're going to a mixed use retail and you're sending them something about a warehouse. It's super relevant. So that's great. Yeah. And I would agree that, you know, one of the videos you're referencing is we wanted to address a pain point where when the business developer, you know, like woos the prospect and they get them to sign a contract, then it all falls to pieces that we've seen that happen with other companies. And so we made a video that showed what that process looked like. There's multiple people involved, the account manager, operations managers, internal meetings and a new client. It can you know, maybe calm some of their fears that they have. And that, that was a really powerful asset. Uh, all kinds of videos we created. What do you feel like stands out to you? Like some of the, some of the video types that have the most value.

Speaker B: I think I, like I said we have a couple of videos that I think are really dual purpose, um, that, that really talk to um, or able to be used as recruiting videos and as uh, sales videos. And I think that multi, um, pronged approach, um, it's hugely valuable because. Right. We're creating assets that we can deploy in so many different areas. So you know a video we just did last year that I think turned out awesome is um, it's kind of a history of Level Green video, but it's also about talking about our future. Um, and you know our owner um, is very, um, feels very strongly that he wants to maintain a family owned company. Um, and in a world where we're seeing so much private equity, um, consolidation we feel like that's a selling proposition to clients and to potential employees. And I think that video. Right. Is super powerful because he talks about his history growing up, you know, in a family business, on a family farm, but also talks about Level Green's Future and what he wants for the company and for our customers. Um, and again, that just, there's just so many different ways where we can deploy that video effectively. I think videos like that are kind of our strongest assets. And also it's just, you know, right. It touches, you know, on sales, but also touches on values. It's up, you know, it really covers the gamut, I think, um, in terms of what we're trying to communicate to customers and to employees.

Speaker A: I think using those videos as dual purpose, it's about setting expectations, um, with prospective clients and team members and letting everybody know what's very, very important to you. I think from a, from a recruit standpoint, when they see your customer case study and your team working, they're like, wow, these, these guys are winners. Like, they're doing really good work and they care and they're professional and they're like really enthusiastic. So that gets them excited about it. And from a prospect standpoint, when they see a, uh, core value and it's not even a video that's, you know, directed and aimed to them, it starts really revealing the heart and the character of, and the soul of your company. And, and that's been fantastic. Let's go down this, this road a little bit with recruiting, um, because I think, you know, like, for me, like I've been in green industry for like goodness, 27 years now. And so I've known all these stories, good ones and bad ones, and I hear them from our clients about great careers and bad careers and dead end jobs and terrible employers. And I think that this has made a huge impact on your recruiting efforts. So what are some of the things that you're seeing there on that side specifically? What have you heard?

Speaker B: Recruits especially, you know, now, and certainly our younger employees, right, um, they do a lot of research up front before they even consider applying or joining a company, right, Chad? Um, they want to know about that company again, know the values of that company before they even consider sending, uh, that resume in. And so for almost every person that I interview right at uh, um, level green, um, they'll come into the interview and say, hey, I saw you in that video, right? Or you know, you guys help us with blog posts that they'll read a blog post about me and come in with that, right? So like having that type of content, I think, and showing that um, it creates a connection and it creates excitement with them right before we've even like really established, right, that we want to bring them on, like they're excited to talk to us, excited about the prospect of joining Level Green before we even, even get there. Um, and we just, we have a ton of great recruiting videos. We have Day in the Life video for basically every position. So it allows all of our recruits to know, hey, this is what my day, my career, my opportunity is going to look like. Like, this is boots on the ground, what, what I'm going to be doing on a day in, day out basis. So, you know, it kind of answers all those questions and kind of calms those nerves before they come in. That, you know, one of my favorite videos, Chad, is we have one that you guys helped us create a few years ago that is about career progression. And we have two Level Green employees who have moved up in the company. One to be a branch manager from an ops manager, the other from, you know, just a crew member to be an operations manager. And they talk about their journey through the company and how there's so much opportunity at Level Green and how their goal at Level Green and Level Green's goal in general is to promote people from within. I think it's videos like that.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: That if you see that before you interview. Right. You're going to be so much more excited about the prospect, um, of joining our company.

Speaker A: Yeah. And, you know, all employers or even brands that are facing prospects, they're all making claims. And what is more powerful than instead of you making a claim, someone else is saying, this is real. This, this is what happens when you work with this brand or when you work for this brand. And those, yeah, those stories. I'm always amazed that, you know, we'll talk about how we pull this off here in a little bit, but I'm always amazed when we get back. I'm like, oh, my word, this is so amazing. Like, they're so passionate. They're just saying the most amazing things. We didn't script this at all. And it's just, uh, wonderful to see that. Um, the other thing I enjoy, too, and you guys have the luxury of this, you're a big, bigger company. You have, you know, five branches, five plus branches now. And you have all these different team members. Nobody looks the same. I mean, people don't look the same. We've used people from all types of backgrounds. They all look different. Um, we try to be deliberate about that too, because we want, we want people to feel like if, if they don't fit the old white dude landscaper mode or the Hispanic worker in the field mode, you know, like, that's the predominant groups. Like, we want women to know. We want people from all kinds of orientations and backgrounds and career paths and all that stuff. We want them to feel welcome and we've, it's been easy to pull off because of the people. You, you just give me wonderful people. So thanks for doing that. Let's, let's talk a little bit about behind the scenes. Let's, let's talk about how we pull this off because it is not an easy feat to get video done. And we, at times we've done one or two shoots a year. Um, sometimes we've done like two three day shoots and we'll space them out like six months apart. Um, we have one coming up here in a couple weeks for five days. Um, where you guys and your team are going to be working with our team to do that. Um, what do you feel like? I want to talk about the people first, then we'll get in kind of the nuts and bolts of it. But like it's not an easy thing to get people on camera and it's not an easy thing to make them enthusiastic about it. So what do you think has made your team so willing to participate in these video shoots?

Speaker B: I think it's been a cultural thing. Um, I think, you know, we're very lucky in that we have a culture, um, where people want the company to succeed and want the company to grow and realize that kind of participating, um, is an important part of that. So that's been great. But I also think again, it comes down from our leadership. Our leadership is very involved in these video shoots. I think every person on our leadership team has a video or two or more in Doug's case that they have been, um, personally involved in and spending time on, um, and they do such a great job that I think that transfers down to our other employees. I would also say though, at this point, right, because we have so much content and because we're always, we're so regularly bad getting out there and getting people involved that it's just, it becomes self fulfilling because you know, their colleague, right, was on a video last year. And so now when I'm asking it's like, oh yeah, Tyler, Tyler was on that video last year. Yeah, sure, of course I'll do it. I saw him, he looked great on it. I'm sure they're going to make me look great. So I think it, it, it, um, you know, just getting in a regular habit and, and you know, again, making sure that, that we're putting out great content. Um, it puts a lot of people at ease and, and it makes them at this Point, Chad. Most people are actually really excited when we ask them to participate in a video. Like, they. They want to be on camera. They. They want that opportunity.

Speaker A: Yeah. I even remember you telling me, like, there's a little bit of competition sometimes, or people are like, a little bit of fomo, like, hey, do you think I can be in one of those? Can we feature one of my clients

Speaker B: in a case study?

Speaker A: And that's awesome that you just have, like, this waiting list of people that are just dying to be in videos. That makes it easy for us. Um, let's talk a little bit about some of the practical things that we do to try to make them feel comfortable on camera. Um, a lot of times you're on location. Our video team's on location. Um, it's a normal thing for some people to get rattled or just to be intimidated. Sometimes I think it's a bigger thing in your mind than it actually is. And people that sometimes are really great speakers, as soon as you put a camera up, it's like they look like they want to vomit. They're sweating. What are things that you and our team have done to get them to calm down and to actually produce something great?

Speaker B: Yeah, that's so funny, Chad. Uh, because, yeah, like you said so many times, the people that you think are going to smash it are the ones that actually struggle, right? And then the people that you're a little bit worried about are, like, are really good. Um, you know, I think the first thing is just be patient, right? Um, video takes time. Like, like, the actual shooting of a video is going to take time. The interview process, you think, you know, you're like, we're just looking for 30 seconds of clips. How long could it take? A minute, right? No, it's like, it's going to take you 30 minutes, an hour, right? To get. To get that 30 seconds of kind of brilliance, uh, recorded. So you just need to be patient, right? They'll get it. We've done, um. I've had to ask the same question 10, 20 times, right? And they'll fumble with an answer, but at the end of the day, they'll get something out that is really good. So be patient with them. Um, let them know that, you know, um, that, you know, they're doing great and that, um, they can take as many takes as they need. Right? Um, you know, I think that that is one of the things that people really worry about is they overthink it, right? They want to say the exact right thing. And. And that's not what this is About. Right. We're not going to get to 100%. We're trying to get to, you know, 80% great here. Um, and it'll. It'll come off. So I think taking the temperature down is really important. I mean, just letting people try. I mean, I think, you know, one of the things is, like I said, the people that you think are going to be great sometimes aren't, and the people that you may have concerns about are going to. Are going to kill it. So you just need to let people get in front of cameras and see how they do kind of. And that, you know, we have 70 videos. Right. I can tell you not everyone went amazing. Right. It's about. There is a volume factor here that just trying it out. Right. Is going to produce some great stuff and some. And some that isn't, you know, maybe as top notch.

Speaker A: Yeah. I think one of the things, when you do a bunch of videos, then it seems really easy because you, you have a larger perspective of like, oh, we recorded all this and, and I was there for 45 minutes and probably 44 of that. I felt really awkward and I had to take all these retakes. But when you're in the moment, you just, all of a sudden it's compounding inside your head and there's this head trash that goes on and you're like, this is going to be terrible. And like, seriously, just take a breath and start over. That is probably one of the best pieces of advice. And understanding the process of how we put these together is really helpful because people don't see the retakes. They don't see the. Let me say that again. They don't see the, you know what you said the exact right thing, but you sounded like a commercial, not like the authentic conversation we had before we hit record and those types of things. That perspective, it's hard to communicate that, but we try to do the best that we can. But you guys have done a really good job working with our team to get those people to relax a little bit. Um, we, uh, I know we've done some scripted videos like that we've used for things, but most of the videos. And this isn't right or wrong, most of the videos that we've done with you are, I would say, very lightly scripted. We have questions. We, um, know the big points. We want them to talk about. You give, I give that we go over that, you and I, and then your team gets to see that before the video happens. So they kind of know where we're going. I think the worst thing you can do is just show up and hit record and say, hey, say something brilliant. So you, you've done a good job like understanding how to commute day, communicate that vision to your team and making it happen. What are some surprising things that you would have learned along the way with all these shoots?

Speaker B: I, uh, would say the first thing is the timing piece. I think, um, you really need to understand the time investment that it takes to put these videos together. Um, you know, we're producing a two minute video, right? But that two minute video is going to take like a whole day to shoot right between B roll that we're getting between the interviews, set up, uh, tear down drone shots. Um, it's a lot of work and a lot of time. Um, and you do you really need to be patient and understand that, you know, um, that, that you can't rush it, right? That, that you're not going to be able to get right a great video in an hour. Um, and so I would say the time investment is something that surprised me. Um, yeah. I mean the other thing I just go back to is again, you never know who is going to be great on camera. Um, so I 100% recommend taking risk with who you, who you are willing to put on camera because people will surprise you in really good ways. Um, and so giving them that chance to shine, I think, uh, and a lot of times pays off.

Speaker A: Last year you, you took a risk because you had this idea. And we thought, you know what, our videos are great, but we have this young crowd and like, it's not like we want to pivot completely, um, in our, and just all of a sudden go away from this pretty safe, fun, reliable, polished commercial brand. We want to do something a little bit more youthful. And we had talked about those manager associates, the, the ones that are coming out of college or they're in a program at college and they come to work for you for the summer. And I thought that was kind of risky. You're like, we're going to feature these college students in this video and you never know what you're going to get and, but you did it and it turned out great.

Speaker B: Yeah, they were, they, they, their interviews were amazing. And we actually, we. For that video, we changed our interview style a little bit. We're usually, you know, pretty kind of set in terms of, um, you know, they're just standing still, kind of interviewing face to face. We kind of changed it. We had them doing some action shots while interviewing and stuff, um, and asked a lot of them, honestly, we, we literally asked them to, you know, pull some plants while they were being filmed and stuff that we don't typically do with, uh, with people while we're interviewing. And, and they just, they did such a great job and they did such a great job at communicating, um, their passion and why the program is great. And um, again, like I said, yeah, people will surprise you in really great ways.

Speaker A: Yeah. If you go on to levelgreenlandscaping.com and you look at their video gallery and look at the management associate video, there's a wonderful, um, improv moment that happens at the end of that video that I, I, I sat at my desk and laughed out loud. We did not plan it and it was really fun and it just showed like uh, something real within the company. I'm not going to give it away, but you got to check that out. All right, let's talk, let's go a little bit more deeper in this and let's talk about what, what's something you wish you knew before you started doing videos in the first place?

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that I wish I knew was the plan. How important the planning element of it is. That has been kind of one of the most frustrating parts for me about it, um, is that it is really hard to pull off these videos. Especially we were trying to pull off videos, you know, where we are filming with a customer. Right. Having them give a testimonial and the logistics and getting customers to sign up to agree to it. Um, that is not a one month process. Right. That is not something that you can start thinking about. Right. A few weeks before the videographer is going to show up at your location. Um, that is something that it needs to be happening year round that you're cultivating, that you're talking to your account managers, your business developers about saying, hey, we need customers. Who have you talked to lately who's super happy? Who you think would be willing to get on camera? Right. And you go to that person six months. Right. Even a year before we maybe want to get them on camera and start building that buy in from them. Right. Um, and really, you know, again, it's relation, it's, you know, part of relationship building. Right. Where um, is kind of having them be able to give that commitment. Because if you just start a few weeks before a, you're not going to get anybody to say yes or if you do get someone to say yes, uh, they're probably going to flake out at the end. Right. It happens, it happens all the time. So yeah, I think, I think the taking a very long term view, um, of the video planning is important and I would say that especially with case studies, but even with kind of the non case study videos, you want to always be thinking about what's a great topic that we can talk about in these videos. And it's talking again to the business development team, leadership team, recruiting team. Hey, what's something that you've heard our customers say sets us apart? And then how can we create a video that communicates that value that we're selling? Or hey, what is it? What's. What did a recruiter or someone who recently joined the company say is great about Level Green? And again, how can we communicate, you know, that aspect, uh, to potential recruits?

Speaker A: Yeah, we, we work together. I love the way that you and I work together on these videos. And, and you would think it gets harder the longer we go because we've done so many videos. But I actually think it gets easier because when we start out with a company, it's always that top level thing. We need a brand video, we need a general careers video, we need one on maintenance, we need one on enhancements. And you're like, you're at the top, just touching little points. But there are little points that you can make an entire video about. And then like you said to your point, like you're bringing feedback from your actual team about problems they're having or something they're trying to explain better. And we go super deep on that one topic. And it, it's just been great. Uh, we've made some really fantastic stuff together. So thanks for helping me out with that. Um, I think, you know, we talk about this plan. The other thing you're saying about the time, um, you have been fantastic to work with and that's one of the things you need to keep in mind if you're thinking about doing video, uh, as a company. Marion could not pull all this off. Marion, a couple guys could not pull, uh, a couple team members couldn't pull this off. Marion and a couple guys and uh, a video, video person can't pull this off. It takes a tribe and everyone has. If you want to do video and have it end up exactly the way you want takes planning, but then it has different people attacking different things. It is a huge chore if you try to do it or it's like it's a crapshoot what you end up with. And um, I love how we do, you know, like you and I work on strategy, you work with your sales team, you get the property selected, you know, who's going to be involved. Uh, we come back together, we work through the creative process and we approve that. And then I help plan the logistics. Like, okay, we're going to be here for two hours and then what's the drive time to this next place? And we plan it out and we just watch the clock and we have the shots listed that we need while we're there. And I know that, um, provides our team on the ground with a lot of relief, but also you, because you're not having to remember all this stuff.

Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah. You guys are great and kind of getting, getting granular in logistics and it makes our life easier. But I, I mean to, to expand on the logistics piece, you know, you guys are planning the day to day shoe part. But you have to remember there's logistics on our side too of uh, getting everybody there. Right. We need to make sure we have a crew on site to get footage of. We need to make sure we can get the account manager there. But then there's logistics beforehand. We need to make sure any property we're putting on film looks amazing. Right. You cannot, you know, we're spending so much money, right. There's no point in sending a crew or a film crew to a site that got cut a week ago. Right. That is not going to come out and look well. So we have to think about, right. You need to get a crew there the day before to cut the grass, to make sure the flowers are watered and look great. Right. Then you need a crew there the morning of, to blow off any debris on the sidewalks. Like there's a lot of logistics just right before. So I mean, that's another thing that we've learned is like we've tightened up that logistics process of how do we make sure every property we're going to, to shoot at looks amazing? Um, beforehand. Yeah.

Speaker A: A lot of people involved in different roles, whether it's just appearing in footage or actually being the star of the video or one of the stars. What do you, what are some practical ways if someone's listening or watching us right now and they're thinking, you know what, I'm, I'm sold, I'm, I will do video. But this is going to be really hard to get our team members to participate. What are some of the things you can do to prime the pump, to compel them, to bribe them? What can you do to get them on board? Absolutely.

Speaker B: I think, you know, again, I talked about it being uh, uh, led by leadership. So I definitely think you need to get, you know, the owner of the company, leadership in the company involved in the videos. You know, I think they are generally some of your best salesmen. So you know, I would say, you know, your first few videos are probably going to start out with, with featuring, you know, that, that group. But you know, as you work your way down, one of the things that we've been very thoughtful about is being appreciative of the employees that are participating in it. So um, I try and send you know, gift cards right after we have an account manager that does a video for us or help line up a customer for us. I'm obviously sending thank you. Using gift cards to the customer but, but also to the account manager because that was a lot of extra work that they put into it. Um, and so I think things like that, you know, again, create a culture where involvement, we're um, showing that we appreciate their involvement and it becomes easier to get more people involved.

Speaker A: Yeah. So set a culture. Private recognition and maybe even public recognition. If you have a group meeting and just show a video and then tell those people they did a fantastic job and their teammates are probably, you know, elbowing them and making jokes, but they do feel good. Good to know that the company um, is recognizing them. All right, well, so wrap up. The goal is not to just create one video. It's to create a long term strategy, uh, for video that tells your story, your customer and ah, prospective job recruits. Before we wrap up, um, I just want to hit you with a couple quick questions. So what is a, um, myth about video marketing that needs to die?

Speaker B: I think the one myth that needs to die is that video marketing needs to be led by your sales or a marketing team should be the ones kind of guiding strategy on it. You know, I think for us we've created a process where our whole company gets to be involved in what are we creating videos about. So like we talked about, it's you know, our recruitment team being involved, certainly our business developer being involved in it. But we have videos that just help us with Right. Enhancement sales. So it's getting our account management involved, getting our operations team involved and what problems are they seeing? I think getting the whole company involved in what should we be talking about? Um, has been a huge plus. I think if you just go with the marketing team, you're going to get uh, some kind of very canned videos that look a lot like every other company.

Speaker A: Yeah, you've definitely mixed it up. I appreciate that. All right, what's one, one rule that you would give to People watching this. If you're going to start video, what would it be?

Speaker B: Yeah, I would just say don't, don't overthink it. Right. Like just, just go for it, get started. I think that's the first place to start. But, but the other thing I think is if you're going to do to, you need to commit to it and do it well. So you know, you sometimes see companies that do video but you know, are uh, just kind of talking to a camera. Right. And, and that's not, that's not going to do it. That's not going to catch anybody's attention or interest. Right. And so, you know, you need to be able to, again, like I said, it takes a long time. You're going to need to commit to getting great B roll of your crews, doing work of your team out in the field of your jobs, um, looking beautiful. You really need to commit to the whole process and to making a really good video. Um, and all that includes instead of, you know, kind of just standing in front of a camera talking.

Speaker A: Yeah. Show the thing that you're trying to sell. Whether that's a career opportunity or a core value or a specific service you offer or at a specific service, um, a property type, show the thing. Um, that's one of the luxuries when you take a multiple year video strategy with your company. You end up with this huge bank of footage. Because I know there are some times when we go to record a video we need to really just capture the person on camera, but they're only shown like 20, 25% of the time. And we're showing the thing that they're talking about at all these different property types or people interacting that illustrate what they're saying. And no one wants to look at a talking head. So, um, that's, that's a great, great uh, tip there. Well, Marian, I appreciate this. I know you and I, we could mix it up. We've talked for hours about videos before and stories that we've had. Um, I appreciate you coming on and sharing your experiences today and encouraging the uh, rest of the industry to get out there and start taking a multi year approach to video. So thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker B: Awesome. Thanks Chad. Really appreciate it.

Speaker A: One of the biggest takeaways from this conversation is that video isn't just a marketing tact, it's a long term business asset. The companies winning with video aren't necessarily creating the fanciest content. They're the ones showing up consistently telling authentic stories involving their people and building a library of content that compounds year after year. That's exactly what Level Green has done with more than 70 videos and over a decade of commitment to content creation. So if you're a green industry company and you're listening or watching today, don't think about your next video. Think about your next few years of videos. Because the real value isn't in a single piece of content. It's in building a system, um, that continuously tells your story, strengthens your brand, helps your sales team, and attracts great people. If you've enjoyed this episode, please do me a favor and share it with an industry peer and leave us a great review on your favorite podcast platform. Thank you so much for joining us. Have a great day.