Better Branding with Video Featuring Wistia’s Kristen Craft


November 30, 2015

kristen craft

“If a picture paints a thousand words, then a video packs an even bigger punch. Being able to show versus telling is powerful.” As people consume more and more content online, video is one of the most useful tools for brands. When does video make sense and how can you use it to build a better brand online? As Director of Business Development at Wistia, Kristen Craft spends a lot of her time talking about branding with video. This week, she did so as my guest on the On Brand podcast.

Enjoy This Episode Now

About Kristen Craft

Kristen is a big fan of technology, education, and business. As the Director of Business Development at Wistia, she enjoys helping people use video more effectively. She loves working with Wistia’s partner community, building connections with other companies that care about video marketing. Kristen holds advanced degrees in business and education from MIT and Harvard. In her spare time, she brews and drinks different varieties of beer.

Episode Highlights

Why is video such a powerful tool? After chatting about our favorite winter beers, Kristen and I got down to brass tacks on video. “Video gives smart brands more tools.” What can you do with those tools? You can use video to teach as Sam Adams does (speaking of beer). “They can explain the difference between barley and hops. Moz also does a great job of educating people. The brands that get that ‘it’s on us to help’ can own that conversation.” They an also build strong relationships with their customers.

What are most brand builders missing with video. “Too many companies are just thinking about ‘slapping’ the video on their website. They need to spend more time thinking strategically — about clickthroughs, ROI, and what happens next. We need to think intentionally with video.” Kristen shared that Zappos did a study of products with video and without and found that “those with video sold between 6–30% more.”

When does video make the most sense as a tool? “Physical products in the B2C space that don’t have video will be left in the dust.” Companies without a physical product may have less of a need or more of a need (what better way to paint the picture of your product, service, or people than through video?).

With video, context matters. “I always want an option to read and an option to watch. Consumers want choice.” They also have different experiences on YouTube and on your website. While Wistia used to think of YouTube as the competition, now they consider it another discovery platform for video. While you should still upload video to YouTube, “you need to own the (video) experience on your website.” That’s where Wistia comes in.

What brand has made Kristen smile? Toyota and their response to controversy around their new Mirai, as Kristen learned about in this blog post from our mutual friend Ann Handley.

And what’s Kristen’s favorite beer brand?Aeronaut! I love everything that they make.”

To learn more about Kristen and Wistia, check out Wista.com. You can also follow her on Twitter.

As We Wrap …

Before we go, I want to flip the microphone around to our community … The Marketing Huddle gave us a shout on Twitter about our recent episode on what great brands do featuring Denise Lee Yohn. Thanks for listening!

Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you’d like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show.

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Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet!

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is a strategist, speaker, educator, and author of Brand Now: How to Stand Out in a Crowded, Distracted World and Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. He is the Chief Brand Strategist at Brand Driven Digital, an educator at the University of Iowa, and host of the On Brand podcast. More about Nick.