How can a video expert help writers run better interviews?

A video expert sets up the lighting, camera, and sound, coaches the guest, and edits the footage, so the writer can focus on the words.

Quick Answer

• A video expert handles the lighting, camera, and sound setup that trips writers up.
• They give tips before the interview and clean up mistakes in editing.
• They take the footage afterward and edit it for the article or the client.

This fits inside a bigger picture. If you want the full view first, here's the bigger picture.

Why writers run better video interviews with an expert in their corner

Most writers are uncomfortable with video, so an expert in their corner makes the whole interview feel safer. Dava Stewart, owner of Smiling Tree Writing, says the technical setup is the part that stops people. Getting the other person ready with lighting, camera, and sound can be a stumbling block.

That is where a video expert fits. Dane Frederiksen describes a service where the expert gets the writer's video set up, or the guest set up and ready to go. Then the expert sits in the background, either on the call or after it, takes the footage, and edits it. The writer can drop the finished video into the article or hand it off to the client.

For Dava, the comfort is the point. She says most people are uneasy on camera, and knowing an expert is there to make it the best it can be takes the pressure off.

"Knowing that you have an expert sort of in your corner who's gonna help you make it the best that it can be and who even gives you tips before your interview or tells you don't worry, we'll clean that up in editing or whatever is really, really comforting." Dava Stewart

That support shows up in small ways that matter. The expert gives tips before the interview. The expert says don't worry, we'll clean that up in editing. Dava imagines that same comfort would help most of the experts she interviews, since they tend to be nervous about video too.

So the writer keeps doing what writers do well, the conversation and the article, while the video expert carries the technical load from setup through final edit.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does a video expert do for a writer's interview?

A video expert handles the lighting, camera, and sound setup, gives tips before the interview, and edits the footage afterward. Dava Stewart says the writer can then put that video into the article or hand it off to the client.

Why are writers and their guests uncomfortable on video?

Dava Stewart says she personally is uncomfortable with video and thinks most people are. She imagines most of the experts she interviews feel the same way, which is why having an expert in their corner is comforting.

How does a video expert make interviews less stressful?

They give tips before the interview and reassure people that mistakes can be fixed in editing. Dava Stewart says hearing "don't worry, we'll clean that up in editing" is really comforting.

Most teams don't get this right on the first try. Here's how we approached it for a real team. Curious what it'd look like for you? Let's talk it through.

Full Clip Transcript

get the other person with the lighting and the camera and the sound, get all that set up. That could be a stumbling part. So maybe there's a service like someone like me helps writers to get their video set up or their guest set up ready to go. And then just kind of sits in the background either on the call or after the call, taking the footage and getting that edited for the writer to then put that into the article as well or hand off to the client. Does that seem like a better fit?

That sounds like a dream come true. I personally am uncomfortable with video and I think most people are uncomfortable with video. So knowing that you have an expert sort of in your corner who's gonna help you make it the best that it can be and who even gives you tips before your interview or tells you don't worry, we'll clean that up in editing or whatever is really, really comforting. And I imagine it would be for most of the experts that I interview.

Full Interview Transcript

Dane: Hello everybody, my name is Dane Frederickson and I'm a B2B video expert and I'm on a mission to help B2B marketers grow visibility, trust, and pipeline with video content. And today I'm joined by Dava Stewart, who is owner of Smiling Tree Writing and a content specialist. Welcome to the show.

Dava: Thanks for having me.

Dane: So today I want to pick your brain about how writers and content people who do not do video can work with video people like me to, you know, squeeze all the juice out of the opportunity. I I mean, I've been on this this tear for a little while that like if you're doing an interview for writing, it should be in video format also, wherever possible. Not always possible, but like you're gonna get a lot more content for the same amount of effort or you know, just marginally more with the video recording. Do does that hold water for you, or am I just overly biased?

Dava: think that it does hold water and it's a good idea and especially right now where at this moment in time marketing needs to be everywhere all the time and when you use video and writing and social media all in combination you can do that whereas if you just depend on one of those formats you're really limiting yourself and your reach.

Dane: Yeah. Exactly. And I've been thinking about what are the ways that that could go, like the way to actually put that into practice. And so let me just run a couple ideas past you. Number one would be for someone like me, a video interview expert, to go do subject matter experts sort of on your behalf, you know, for you, so that I'm getting the video content and then giving you a transcript, which you then can go use for writing the more premium content. I think the downside with that would be you're not in the room for the video interview or you're not on the call, so you can't do follow up questions, you're not as intimately involved in the process. So that's probably a downside. But is there enough of a plus that it saves you time from having to show up at that interview that maybe with enough volume of these that becomes a a stronger play? Maybe if we had to do 10 interviews, then then you get 10 hours back. I don't know. What do you think?

Dava: Think for me personally, I prefer to do interviews myself because I always share a list of questions with my interview subjects ahead of time to kind of ease the tension and the nerves. And I suggest that they consider it a conversation guide more than a script. Because to get a really good interview and to add this sort of human color that we all need right now, you've got to ask follow up questions and you've got to kind of follow conversational threads. And it's really hard to do that if you're not, like you said, in the room. And I always like to ask a couple of sort of weird questions to just learn more about the person that I'm talking to and not just their job, like who they are as as a person, you know, and it's really, really hard to make that come through if you're not talking to them. It's possible. And there have been situations where I worked with larger corporations who maybe did some interviews at a conference and then said, Could you take these videos and turn them into blog posts? And that is possible, but it's just better in general.

Dane: Yeah. So then another option for ways we could go about doing that would be for you, the person right doing the writing and doing the interview, you could be actually recording like we're doing here, like on Riverside or something like that. And then maybe handing that off to a video editor. maybe that's a better way to go. I I guess the maybe the challenge would be if you're not a video expert enough to help. Get the other person, you know, with the lighting and the camera and the sound, get all that set up. That could be a stumbling part. So maybe there's a service like someone like me helps writers to get their video set up or their guests set up ready to go. And then just kind of sits in the background either on the call or after the call, taking the footage and getting that edited for the writer to then put that into the the article as well or hand off to the client? Does that seem like a better fit?

Dava: That sounds like a dream come through true, you know, like not I mean I personally am uncomfortable with video and I think most people are uncomfortable with video. So knowing that you have an expert sort of in your corner who's gonna help you make it the best that it can be and who even like gives you tips before your interview or or you know, tells you, Don't worry, we'll clean that up in editing or whatever is really, really comforting. And I imagine it would be for most of the experts that I interview. I mean, I've never had anybody say, I'm not comfortable with how I look today, you know, or a lot of times I'll go to the interview and the person will have their camera off, which makes it pretty clear they don't want to be videoed. But I think yeah, I think if they knew ahead of time that there would be someone who knew what they were doing editing it would put them at ease. It would put me at ease. I think that's definitely a valuable service.

Dane: So then who is going to be the champion to hire someone like me to work with this writer in that capacity? Would it come from the person giving you the job to of writing the article? Are they paying for that? Or am I an add-on for the writer to like give them superpowers that so that they stand out against all the other writers out there? It's like, hey, I'm the writer that also does video. or is it maybe the subject matter expert because they want the visibility to somehow this comes from them of like, hey, if I'm gonna be doing this opportunity for writing, might as well, you know, get the most juice out of it. I'm thinking that's the least likely one, but kind of curious what you think.

Dava: It's been pretty challenging finding subject matter experts. Like even and I'm not sure exactly why that is. I know that some companies have sort of locked things down so that subject matter experts aren't free to book their own interviews. They have to go through their media relations office, which is fine, but it has been more challenging in the last two years to find people to interview than ever before. So I that would be the hesitation with the subject matter expert. And also most subject matter experts are more concerned with their subject than with getting visibility. Like some are interested in more visibility, but most are interested in whatever it is they specialize in. the company I don't know, if a company doesn't have video capability internally, they're probably not too focused on getting it as part of their marketing mix. Because if they're relying on contractors, it's not as baked in, I guess. I'm not sure how to describe it. I think the best way would be for the videographer and the writer to work together to offer a package. with that service, you know, whether you have like a menu of services, you know, I could do a case study for this or a white paper for that or a package of videos for this, you know, and make sure that their clients and potential clients know that it's an option. I I think that's probably the the most likely way to make those sales.

Dane: Yeah, interesting. And so from your perspective, what is a would a client need to hear to see the value of the video? I mean like I I think I I get it just in my bones, but like if someone's gonna hire someone to do an article, like why what would be the thing they need to hear about how a video is gonna help?

Dava: think if you presented it as we do this one interview and then from it you get a feature article or a blog post or a written piece of expansive content. It could you know it could be the big piece that lasts for the whole quarter and everything else is derived from it. You could get a series of blog posts, you could get social media posts, you could get you know, you could strip it down and have it be just the interview and and you show them how many marketing assets can be derived from one interview. And then that makes the value of it very clear. You could do, you know, you could post the entire video on your YouTube channel. You could pull snippets for reels or for TikTok or, you know, whatever platforms you're featured on. You that's I think that's the this the way to cinch the deal is to show how much value there is.

Dane: And what do you think about what would be like the best ways to use video in an article? Like, for example, you got case study. You could have a video at the top that has the entire case study and video format, and then have the same content in text below. Or you could have something like the case study is the article, but then there's just a couple key moments, maybe a quote that's just like a short that's inserted in the middle of the article. I don't know if you have any ideas like sort of off the top of your head here about like what would be the the preferred way to do that, you know?

Dava: I mean, I think that you you could have an article that is perhaps derived from one part of the conversation and then at the bottom link to the full video. If you would like to to know more about this, watch our full conversation. You could you could have where you normally would have like a drop quote, you could have a video inserted of that quote. You could use clips on LinkedIn. To promote whatever it is you're promoting at that time. Maybe, maybe in the video you discuss a report and then you have the report, the video, and an article. You know, there there's a million different ways video could be used. And I think that including a clip or the full video with the article is just one. And that, you know, it's not limited. There there are so many different ways it could be done.

Dane: So as we start wrapping up here, I'm kind of throwing a little bit of a curveball at you. but I wanna kinda get your sense like what's top of mind for you right now in the content world? Like if you could leave people with some advice about what's going on right now, what they need to be focused on, the challenges we're all facing. Is there any parting wisdom that you can leave our viewers with?

Dava: Think I would tell people two things. One is right now everything is sort of in flux and it feels like it has been forever, but it will smooth out eventually. And there's still gonna be a need to tell people what you do. So don't don't panic too much or panic, but know that it's this this time will come to an end and things will be smoother later. And the other is be sure you feature the human humans that are involved in your product or your service. Be sure that you're showing that people make this thing or people do this service. Because people are the the bottom line. You don't want robots to talk to other robots while the people like sit on the beach and drink tea. I don't know what what the people are doing in that scenario. So don't give up and feature your humans.

Dane: Yeah, it's funny how AI, the robots kind of like are giving humans a moment. Like because they showed up, it's like now all of a sudden we care more about being human.

Dava: Yeah. Yeah. Like we didn't before.

Dane: Well anyway, great conversation. Thanks again for joining me and good luck out there.

Dava: It's been a pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Dane: And we're done.