Hi, everyone. And welcome to another episode of the podcast. It is brilliant to have you tuning in for another week.

There is so much going on right now, but it's all very exciting stuff. In a couple of weeks, I'm heading back over to Singapore and Malaysia to run some workshops. So that's cool. And then I'm off to Perth for a few days to accompany my niece to a national athletics competition. She got in for polvo, which is Also very cool. Long way to go for a pole vault competition, but hey, I'm there for it.

Uh, then of course, there's getting the book ready for publication. So if you've been following me on the socials, you'll know that I have been, uh, writing a book on change communication and the first draft of that is done and I've got some lovely people who are doing an early read of it for me. Just a, you know, doesn't make sense or is it trash? So that's awesome. Once I've got their feedback, next step will be to tidy up the drafting and go again. And of course,

I have kicked off the first webinar of our Fresh to Freelancing program. So we had the first session this week with seven amazing people who are looking to get into freelancing or consulting of some description. And that was super fun.

So yes. It's all very exciting, but amongst all of that, I'm running a business and we are working with some incredible clients on some very fulfilling strategic projects, which I absolutely love. And part of working with those clients is of course, providing advice on the most effective ways to communicate with their audiences.

Now, if you've been listening for a while, you know, I am a huge fan of visual communication techniques because they resonate with the majority of our audience members. And one of the most popular of those techniques is of course video. And whether you are a solopreneur, a business owner, you work in house or for an agency, as someone who needs to communicate, you really need to consider where video will fit in with your mix. It is a very powerful tool for showcasing your brand and what you offer, but also for building a real sense of trust with your audience.

Now I know video is. still a bit of a mystery to many people. And for some, we may not even know where to start, especially if we think we're lacking the resources or the time or the money we think we need. So that's why on today's show, I have interviewed the very excellent Joseph Bobadilla.

Joseph is a civil engineer turned creative entrepreneur, and he was born in Papua New Guinea to Filipino parents before moving to the land down under. And he has had a lifelong passion for the creative arts. He enjoys playing music, playing with graphics, playing with cameras. And so he ditched the civil engineering and ended up running Brown Fox Media House, which he founded in Brisbane when he moved here from the central Queensland area in 2019. And he has just... loved the ups and downs of starting a creative business from the ground up.

So Joseph and the team at Brown Fox Media House help brands to get more out of their ideal clients with artfully crafted content. And they understand how to blend creativity, business, and human connection in just the right way. Your perfect first impression, they can create that for you using video.

And I've seen Joseph's work, it is really fantastic. He has a real knack for using video to tell great stories.

So in today's episode, I have picked his brains on everything from the big mistakes people make to video to the top tips you can use to get started. Even when you're on a budget, we also even dabble in some of the ways AI is transforming video and how we create it. And he shares some really, really wonderful insights and tips that you can use. And to get started straight away. So get ready to take some notes and be inspired to give video a go. Here's Joseph. Hi, Joe, welcome to Less Chatter, More Matter.

Joseph: 4:58

Hey Mel, thanks so much for having me on this, this afternoon.

Mel: 5:02

It's a pleasure to have you here and I'm excited to have you here as well. So for those of you who... our listeners who aren't aware of who you are and what you do, could you give us a little bit of background here? What do you do? How did you come to develop your expertise in that space as well?

Joseph: 5:18

Yeah. Well, like most, it's probably a long story, but I'll start by saying that my name is Joseph. As you've introduced, my business is Brown Fox Media House, and we essentially help brands to get more of their ideal clients with artfully crafted content. So we do professional video production and photography for brands and businesses. And the super short version is that I am a civil engineer turned creative entrepreneur. Um, happy to unpack that in however way you decide.

Mel: 5:46

Well, yes. How do you become a creative entrepreneur from civil engineering? They seem like two slightly different fields of expertise.

Joseph: 5:56

Slightly different. Yes. Just, just by a little, but no, I always, I've always been a creative person.. So, growing up, I basically fulfilled the Asian prophecy, for those who don't know, can't see the video. I am Filipino by heritage, but I was born in Papua New Guinea and raised most of my life in Rockhampton, Australia. So, we talked a little bit after I was finishing high school and I decided to just pursue engineering. So I went down that road for a couple of years. And in uni I loved making the spreadsheets look more exciting than actually caring about what the content was in it. And so I ended up working in the industry for a couple of years, had a lot of things that I enjoyed, made some great connections and learned a lot about myself. Which essentially led to me deciding it wasn't for me. And then over a couple of years of rediscovering my love for the creative arts, I figured out that I could actually make it a career. And that started the journey towards what is now the current business that I'm running. And when I moved to Brisbane in 2019 from Rocky, I just started this business with no prior business experience or successful business experience, and no contacts in a new city. And thankfully, very grateful that five years later, it's... still going and we've worked with some incredible people and brands on some amazing projects

Mel: 7:17

And we know that. Visual communication tools are so, so powerful when it comes to getting a message across and resonating with your audiences. But can you tell us as the professional, why is video such a powerful communication tool?

Joseph: 7:33

So as humans, we're really limited to communicating in the time and space that we are in any given moment, right? So in person, that is - so essentially like exactly what we're doing right now, with video, it unbinds us and our businesses from any limitations of time and space. So what that means is that anyone, anywhere in the world at any time can see, hear and experience anything that we want them to through this incredible medium. And that in essence is why I believe it's, it is the most powerful communication tool that we have today available and more people should consider using it.

Mel: 8:13

What do you think is stopping people from using it?

Joseph: 8:18

I really believe that if you don't grow up, grow up with something being the norm, it's, it takes time to adopt it. And so, you know, the generations that are Gen Z plus. Well, earlier now, they're the younger ones. They are growing up with smartphones in their hands and really pointed at them at all times. They're probably not going to have this problem, but for, for those of us, myself being a millennial and those of us who are a little bit older as well, it just wasn't the norm. And so I believe that it's just something that, that people struggle with because it just takes time to get used to the technology and the, the medium of, and feeling comfortable talking to a camera.

Mel: 9:00

I absolutely agree. And as you say, it is just something we need to coach people on a lot of the time. Certainly the media training I've run for people over the years, a big part of it is how to talk to a camera, not the journalist behind the camera necessarily. Uh, and actually I do want to circle back a little bit on. There's a technology piece a bit later in our chat, just thinking about the fact that we have these video AI tools coming online as well. So, and how you think that might impact, but before we get there, um, can you give us some examples of where you've seen video make a really big difference to people's understanding and engagement?

Joseph: 9:34

A hundred percent. I mean, that kind of ties in almost beautifully with what marketing is essentially, like two stages of marketing are understanding and engagement really. We've had clients that have seen results that... of people hearing about their businesses and actually even converting, getting, because the videos were crafted in a certain way to actually get to the, through the entire customer journey and, and just book them without having made any prior human contact. We've had, I've had a client in a networking event and then someone walked up to them and immediately started talking to them as if they knew who they were and that they'd met before. And my client was a business coach and she was, you know, just playing along with it. And he, the person who had walked up to her actually just wanted to start talking immediately about how she could work with him. You know, we've had clients who have had to pitch ideas overseas and successfully do that because they can communicate it via video. And even outside of direct business, having clients that have increased and improved their recruitment efforts because now they can showcase their workplace culture, they can showcase the people behind the business and the why.

Mel: 10:40

That's, it's pretty impressive, isn't it? And I've, I've certainly found since, uh, I've started using video more and I'm the classic example of somebody who tells everybody else to use it, but wasn't using it myself when it comes to the podcast particularly, but being able to have these video snippets has, uh, I think helped me to, uh, become more real to people on the other side of the screen. So it's not just the written words that there's. They're seeing on the screen, or it's not just my voice in their headphones as they're listening to podcasts. It's almost like, uh, building a rapport or relationship - is that kind of what you think as well?

Joseph: 11:17

100%. Just like I was saying, the extreme example of my client getting walked up to as if they knew her, that's it. That's it. The people feel like they know you because you're presenting yourself on camera regardless of whether they've actually connected. And if you do that enough times, it essentially is, is, is short cutting... building that relationship, so that when you do meet them for the first time, you feel like you know them.

Mel: 11:39

Yeah. And just on that, I think, what are some of the biggest mistakes you see people make with video? For me, I think we've started to touch on it. It's lack of authenticity. Uh, but what, what do you think are some of the bigger mistakes people make?

Joseph: 11:53

Number one is just not starting like a lot of things. I think people overthink the fact that they have to come off, come off perfect in a video. And yet... again, just being real is, is really powerful, so things don't have to be polished. And especially for small businesses in particularly, but I suppose it still scales to a degree to larger businesses and organizations. Like you still have people, like it doesn't matter if it's a business to business or a business to consumer. It's still people to people at the end of the day. People want to see and hear from and deal with people. So to not put yourself in front of the camera, you're losing a little bit of that, or actually not a little bit, quite a lot of potential trust and connection that can be made.

Mel: 12:37

Yeah, yeah. And look, uh, you know, I, I agree. I've worked in some big organizations leading up comms teams and working with directly with CEOs who, you know, we say we want to do a video. It's particularly to staff, right? It's in those big organizations where there's tens of thousands of people, the CEO cannot possibly have a conversation with every single person face to face. So video is really, really important, but then I've worked with CEOs who... needed the teleprompter and had to do the piece to camera. It was all very boring and straight and... Um, did not resonate. And then I've had others who literally just filmed it on their phone from home going, Hey, everyone, here I am, you know, lockdown, ha ha, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it was that authentic homemade version that always performed better than the teleprompter, the tie, you know, the corporate setting. Um, but just getting people over that hump of the, I guess, the safety blanket of having the teleprompter has been a challenge.

Joseph: 13:38

Absolutely. But that also leads me to kind of talk a little bit about, about why TikTok is so powerful as a platform today. And I'm no, I don't profess to be an expert on TikTok. As TikTok, but I do understand that it's really showing the power of authentic video in terms of having polished content on TikTok actually isn't what's important.

Mel: 14:00

Yeah. And, uh, again, it's an example of one of these new channels, right. That has... taken the world by storm. And as you say, like anyone can use it. Anyone who's got a phone can create content for in a video format. Like it's a perfect example that I mean, I must admit, I just lurk on there and... most of my feed is cat videos and comedians, but, uh, it knows it's learning. So on that, what are some of your, you know, three to five top tips for creating a really great video?

Joseph: 14:33

Yes. Great. Look, we can explore this a number of ways. I want, I want to break it down into maybe three, at least three categories. So if I was to say, number one, a practical tip would be just like we've alluded so many times, like it's not public speaking. So talking to a camera is not natural. It's not natural. I've seen incredible public speakers struggle in front of a camera. So I think number one is practice until the camera actually feels like it's a friend.. There's actually three ways that I Number one would be video journaling. So, for yourself, picking up your phone and just talking to it. About your day, just hitting record and video and saying, Hey, this was what I did today. Or this is something that happened in my business and not, not for anyone else's eyes, except yours to practice. The second one would be the second stage would be sending video messages. So you can email, we can text, we can phone call. But try send a video to someone when you're trying to communicate rather than leaning on text. And then third would be the next stage would be playing with the story feature on social media. So people are seeing you speaking to your audience, but it's temporary. So it's only going to be up there for a day, 24 hours. But you'll have the reps that are required to start learning to speak to camera and a quick throwaway tip. One thing I've started to do is rather than actually using my phone on the selfie mode video, I'll actually turn it around and record the other way because that trains you or me, that trains us to look at the camera lens, which is a major pet peeve that I have when I look at people's videos. Where you start glancing at yourself and so your eyes starts to look off screen, off camera. The second major tip that I would, or category would be technical. So, on a technical level, having good audio and an understanding of good lighting is actually more important than your gear. So, again, we can make an incredible video podcast or even just record a message with a phone. You don't have to stress about getting a high quality expensive camera, as long as you know how to get the audio to sound good, because most people will, will bear through a not good looking video, but it sounds good, but they won't sit through a video that sounds horrible, no matter how good it looks. And then an understanding of lighting is probably the next technical level of how to make a camera image look good. And then, third, the third major category would just be purpose. So, if you're starting to make videos specifically about your business or your brand, asking the question of why. So, why, why are we making this video? But even more, even further than that, why are we, like, what's the business goal here? And so rather than thinking, what video should I make, you can even start with what's the, what are the problems in the business or where are we headed? And then from there, that would be a really good practical way to start unpacking the content you should be creating.

Mel: 17:28

So more of a strategic approach, less tactical is, would that be one way of summarizing it?

Joseph: 17:35

Yeah, that'd be one way of summarizing, at least if you're thinking about doing it more purposefully for your business. And that, that is, you know, a little different to the idea of just recording things and practicing for your practicing sake. I think if you're starting to put things out for the business, um, there should at least be a little bit of thought behind it, a bit of a plan.

Mel: 17:53

Yeah. Some purpose and intent, I suppose, like what's the outcome I actually want to achieve. Do, and which is what we spruik with comms in general, right? Like who are you talking to and what's the outcome you want? What do you want them to know, feel and do? And once you start with that, it's like, okay, well, let's work backwards. How do we get that result from what we're doing? So not every business of course, has the cash or the resources for hiring people like yourself, how could they get started with using video with, without the professional help?

Joseph: 18:27

Yeah, so again, touching on the whole idea of you can and should be making videos with your phone. If you have a mobile phone, you've got the tool that you need to be able to start making the videos for your business. I would say as a, as a general guideline, again, not, not science but I would, I would, I would say that at least 20 percent of your first impressions content should be done by a professional. The rest of your content, you can definitely make on your phone. And so, again, going circling back to the idea of start with, start with what you can get a quick win out of. Starting by making those video stories and if you're starting to feel a bit bolder, recording your reels, recording, recording videos for TikTok specifically. And then. One of the things that maybe I'm skipping a little bit around, but If you go down to the customer journey to I suppose when you're doing your sales funnels... and you're doing things that require you talking to your clients or your potential customers guiding them through your process; You can actually make really really really really useful phone videos they don't have to be professional just to create touch points along the process that's a really practical use case to just start using video yourself. And again, you don't need a professional to do this. If you've got a phone and you know that you're going to get the same five to 10 questions in every sales conversation you have. Just try record it and then send that and just see, see, see how you go. There's, there's so many use cases. Uh, you could even go into say, if you want to say recruitment and, and um, onboarding staff, like you can write the SOPs and write, write instructions for them. And you can also record videos, you know, to show them the processes behind, you know, the, the actual things you're doing and, and just starting to get the, in the rhythm of, of using video as a tool. And not just even thinking about it as just for marketing.

Mel: 20:21

I really love that idea of, yeah, how to use it in a way that supports your everyday operations. And as you say, those, those repetitive tasks or those repetitive, uh, questions and answers that you're always going through, that's a great idea. Just... record the video. You only have to say it once and then out it goes to everybody. And I also, I think what else I picked up here too, is there, there is a bit of a spectrum, you know, doing it all yourself. But then as you said, there's this first impressions content that could be done professionally right through to professionalizing the whole thing. Can you talk to me a little bit, what do you mean by first impressions content?

Joseph: 21:00

Sure. I mean, that's a phrase that maybe I've just... made up in the last couple of weeks for myself.

Mel: 21:05

If it works, it works.

Joseph: 21:06

It works, yeah. Essentially if, if someone was to do their due diligence and, and say they did find you what would they see when they, when they inevitably go through the customer journey, when they inevitably, inevitably go to your website and start to do the research. And so that would be the videos that represent your brand, your business, and have the key messages. To provide a very solid first impression. That sometimes only a professional can deliver that. And so, there is a time and place for that. And I would say, you know, if you do have... A lot of the fundamentals in place, you know, if you're an established business or you really know your brand, you know, your message, so having already having good branding and by branding, which I'm sure Mel, you know a lot about, not just the logo, not just the colors and fonts, but actually even your brand values and the language of your business. Cause again, the messaging is what's going to come out in the videos. If you have that in place, if you have a high converting website that. Is actually good so that the videos can, can live on there and enhance that experience.

Mel: 22:13

I think that's, as I said, a really great way to think about it. You don't have to do everything, but there may be some really critical things that you go, you know what, that's where I do want to spend a bit of money. Because I want that particular piece strategically to really shine. Uh, and then the rest is, is up to you. I want to come back to what I mentioned earlier, the use of AI. And it's something that's absolutely crept into, well not just crept, a tidal wave that's flown over the edge of, of the communication sea. Um, with the, you know, things like Chat GPT, Google BARD, uh, all the tools in Canva. And we even use a video editing AI tool at the moment, you know, I've put the recordings from this into it, it chops it up into lots of snippets, does the, the transcripts, the lot, you know, so that I don't have to do that anymore, which has been great. But I know from a comms perspective, I've heard from a lot of people who are worried, you know, they're like, Oh, does this mean... with ChatGPT and those things, I don't have a job anymore? Are you hearing similar things from a video perspective? Because there are some tools now that are creating videos, essentially. They're not good. I've had a play, they're not good. But they will get better. Are you hearing anything similar? What are you hearing around that?

Joseph: 23:25

Yeah, I mean, for those who know me, I always say ChatGBT is my best friend.

Mel: 23:32

Oh, I have all respect for it, don't worry.

Joseph: 23:34

And so I definitely am learning to adopt the new technologies, otherwise I'll get left behind as well. And like you said, there's still a lot of rust around video because it is a bit more difficult to do, you know. generate a video but having said that it is coming a long way very quickly; and I do use probably a similar tool to what you do to do those things efficiently that would that that would take a video editor a while to do. Those those cutting down the long form videos into short form, that's already making really great track. It lets us just focus on the creative. So I'm actually very excited at what the AI space will, will bring to the video world because there will be a use case for certain things. I'm excited at the possibility of not having, not having to say, go to certain locations if we didn't have to. If we can make something visually that represents where that has to be, or if that makes any sense at all. I'm excited about, about being able to record a green screen and then make it look really good. And in a very efficient way. So, advancements in AI to do things like that, that are quite frustrating to us, I'm, I'm, I'm inviting, I'm welcoming, over time. And I think as long as, you know, we are, we are, we are thinking very, you know, positively and abundant mentality about what's out there, I think there's a lot of potential for us to do great work with, with the AI tools in this space.

Mel: 25:03

Yeah, and look, I agree. I think... Um, there are risks and there are well documented risks. So like in the video space, I'm just even thinking about some of this deep fake stuff. Um, yeah, for example, Tom Hanks appearing in a commercial for a product he actually had nothing to do with those sorts of things. Yeah, absolutely. There are risks. Um, but for me, the biggest risk, as you say, is being left behind because. Anytime new technology has come on board, I mean, if we didn't keep up with social media, where would we be now? Like, I just think, yeah, if we didn't use smartphones from a video perspective, where would we be now? Uh, and I, I think one of the big things with AI is it doesn't have common sense. It, you know, what it produces isn't based on common sense. And so you often look at it just going, look, I see how it got there, but at the same time, no. Um, and it doesn't have empathy either. It can't respond to emotion. Well, Joseph, I'm now going to ask you, uh, three questions that I ask every guest on the podcast. Are you

Joseph: 26:09

ready for those? Ooh, putting me on the spot here. No. Oh yeah, all right. We can do this.

Mel: 26:15

First one is what's one of the best communication lessons you've ever learned and how did it change the way you approach communication?

Joseph: 26:23

That's a great question. So when, when I was first starting out in engineering, I actually worked on a construction site and every day I'd walk past this fridge that had this saying on it and never really clicked to me 12 years ago, what that meant. Nowadays, definitely does. And that quote was the single, single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it's taken place.

Mel: 26:46

Ah, George Bernard Shaw.

Joseph: 26:47

George Bernard Shaw. Classic. I didn't actually understand what that meant when I was fresh in, you know, fresh out of uni. But nowadays, I get that. And I think that, that is something that I've held on to. And I really enforce or really expect is that we, in fact, it's one of our business values at the moment, which is communicate, don't assume. So I'd rather err on giving more information than less when we can. And, and even to the degree that one of my, my previous bosses actually, when we had our first meeting together, he sat me down and said, one of the things I just expect from you or would ask is that you just acknowledge that you've, you've gotten an email, even if there's no action there, just to email back and say, yep, got it.

Mel: 27:29

I think that's an excellent communication lesson. Thank you for sharing that experience. Uh, the second question is, what's one thing you wish people would do more of or less of when communicating?

Joseph: 27:41

Ooh. All right. This one's, this one's a fun one for me because it's one that I'm actively trying to improve on every day and I've already caught myself doing it a few times in this podcast and it's frustrating me. I'm trying to use less or no filler words, so just, just something for me as a personal point of improvement. But I do appreciate when people can speak without umming and ahhing every second word or actually thinking about what they're saying. Especially in a public setting, especially when it comes to presenting or public speaking or being, you know, in a public stage. I get it when it's just casual conversation.

Mel: 28:16

And final question, who do you turn to for communication advice?

Joseph: 28:21

Yeah, there's a, there's a small business owner, Mel Loy from, Hey Mel Communications and Training.

Mel: 28:29

I hear she's really cool.

Joseph: 28:31

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She's got a cool podcast. Yeah, there's a few people. Look, I think for me on a practical level. My business coach helps me pretty regularly with general communication and even just checking that I'm doing things like replying to people within good time frames. But for me, I, personally, I have a perspective that I always look to best practice in every area of my life and just see if someone's doing something really well.

Mel: 28:56

Well, Joseph, you brought a lot to the table this afternoon for this podcast episode. So thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and your knowledge so generously. If people want to find out more about you and your business, how can they do that?

Joseph: 29:10

Thanks Mel. And so with our business, Brown Fox Media House, you can find us on just about every social platform and then personally you can find me on socials at I M Joseph Bobadilla, so Thanks so much for having me Mel.

Mel: 29:24

Oh, thank you again for sharing. And I look forward to seeing more of your work popping up on all the socials over the next few months.

All content © 2023 Less Chatter, More Matter.