Last updated on June 15th, 2024
Renee Teeley of VideoExplained offers video and marketing production and consulting services to help companies generate leads and convert leads in to customers with video. Renee is also a video spokesperson for various companies.
GUEST: Renee Teeley of VideoExplained and ReneeTeeley.com | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
HOST: The VidAction Podcast is hosted by:
– Dane Golden of VidAction.tv | LinkedIn | YouTube
SPONSORS: This episode is brought to you by our affiliate partners, including: TubeBuddy, VidIQ, MorningFame, Rev.com, and other products and services we recommend.
PRODUCER: Jason Perrier of Phizzy Studios
TRANSCRIPT
Renee Teeley:
A video spokesperson is someone who represents your brand through video. I view this as one step further than a typical sponsorship deal or traditional influencer marketing. And so the real difference is a spokesperson is representing your brand versus just endorsing it.
Dane Golden:
It’s time for the Video Marketing Value podcast. This is the podcast where we help marketers and business owners just like you get more value out of your video marketing efforts. My name is Dane Golden from vidaction.tv where we help you up your game on YouTube for business and transform your viewers into loyal customers. I started a new business with two partners in Singapore. It’s called vidtarget.io where we help you drive higher quality leads and sales by reaching your ideal clients one-to-One on YouTube and I’m here today with my co-host. She’s the powerhouse video marketer from San Francisco. It’s R-E-N-E-E T-E-E-L-E-Y, Renee Teeley. That’s how you spell her name for Video Explained. Hello, Renee.
Renee Teeley:
Hello Dane. Today, I am a happy camper to be co-hosting this podcast with you.
Dane Golden:
But are you thrilled?
Renee Teeley:
I’m thrilled. I’m delighted. I’m a happy camper. I am all of the things.
Dane Golden:
She’s all the things. And Renee, what do you do at Video Explained?
Renee Teeley:
At Video Explained, I offer video marketing production and consulting services to help companies generate leads and convert leads into customers with video.
Dane Golden:
Okay, and for you, the listener, you should know that as always, you can follow along in your podcast app with the transcript and links and review or share. I shared a podcast just this morning from my Apple Podcast app, because it really does help to get the word out. Podcasts are one of the greatest things, but they don’t make it easy for you to share them. Today our guest is our co-host it’s Renee Teeley. Hello, Renee.
Renee Teeley:
Hello. It’s me. I’m still here.
Dane Golden:
So I’m not sure if I’m the co-host or you’re the co-host, but here’s the thing. You are helping businesses and you have done this for years by being a video spokesperson for mostly tech companies. And it’s a very particular niche that you’ve defined. I thought that businesses really should know how do they decide which spokesperson to choose? Should they have a spokesperson? I don’t know what a pokesperson is, but it’s like a spokesperson without the s I guess. And how the partnership works, does that topic work for you?
Renee Teeley:
Yeah, this topic is great. One that I don’t actually talk about very often, but it’s very important, and I think even more companies should have a video spokespeople for their business. So I think this is a great topic.
Dane Golden:
I mean, whether you’re inside or outside, anyone who’s on camera is acting as a spokesperson for the company at that time. But let’s get into what you, because you’re very uniquely positioned because not only are you a video spokesperson, but you’re a video marketer and you’re uniquely qualified to talk about what this is, and particularly in the tech industry where we see this a lot. So your definition of a video spokesperson. What the heck is that?
Renee Teeley:
Such a good question. Really, you can define it in a lot of ways, but I define it in its most basic form. A video spokesperson is someone who represents your brand through video. So you can work with multiple people, you can hire one main person who essentially becomes the face of your company, which I have done this. And really I view this as one step further than a typical sponsorship deal or traditional influencer marketing. The real difference is a spokesperson is representing your brand versus just endorsing it. So it’s a little bit different than just paying a YouTuber to say good things about your company. So it’s even more of an association and connection that happens between the brand and the spokesperson.
Dane Golden:
Right. And there’s an interesting question, and a lot of businesses go through this, should we put our CEO on? Do they have enough time? Should it be that person who’s got that camera skill? Should it be the pertinent? Should it be the salesperson? Should it be a product person? Should we hire someone externally? How do we do that? So let’s go back to, should it be external or internal?
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. So you can go with all of the different types of people you just mentioned, so it can be internal, it can also be someone external. And I think the most important thing, regardless of it’s internal or external, is to find someone that already fits with your brand. So again, I mentioned, there’s this natural association that happens between your brand and the spokesperson. So you want to find someone who embodies your brand personality. That can be someone who’s already at your company. They can be an employee. It is a good idea to put your CEO on camera, but that person, he or she doesn’t necessarily have to be the face of the company or a spokesperson. It could just another person who you put on camera at times. But again, most important thing is find someone who really does embody your brand personality and you can use them as your spokesperson.
Renee Teeley:
I do want to just mention what I said in terms of brand personality. If you haven’t done this already, it is a good idea to go through the exercise of defining your brand personality. So I just went through this recently with one of my companies. It’s a really fun exercise and your brand personality is really how you want to present your company to the world. And so is your brand more casual or formal? Are they rugged? Is it elegant, playful, or serious, lots of different directions and attributes that you can put on your brand personality. So just take a little bit of time, define what that brand personality is, those attributes and pick someone who already aligns with them.
Dane Golden:
And here’s another question, is it okay to have more than one spokesperson?
Renee Teeley:
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. You can have multiple spokespeople. And I know a lot of tech companies that do this. I think that it’s fine to have multiple video hosts for the same show. You can also have multiple shows and each with a different host that represents that show. Spokespeople can do more than just video representation. They can also present it at conferences on your behalf and lots of other things, but specifically in terms of videos, spokespeople, you don’t have to limit yourself to one. It can be multiple people.
Dane Golden:
Okay. And when you put someone on camera to represent your company, how much should they know about what you do or your industry?
Renee Teeley:
Yeah, this is a really good question. I’ve seen this go a lot of different directions. You can hire an actor who’s basically reading a script that’s handed to them. So you can hire an actor who’s representing you on camera, who maybe doesn’t know anything about your industry. But I think you would be much better served if you actually find someone who is knowledgeable about the topics that you want to speak about in video and has some industry expertise. I think this really helps to add credibility to what they’re doing for your company.
Renee Teeley:
So they already have some credibility even in the industry before you guys start working together. So they bring over that credibility to your company. And so it is kind of nice if that spokesperson is actively involved in the industry, even outside of the work that you’re doing together. Yeah, you don’t necessarily have to work with someone who’s an industry expert, but I at least recommend trying to work with someone who is knowledgeable about the space and who’s willing to learn along the way.
Dane Golden:
Okay. And now I’m going to ask the question that no one else will ask. Is it better to be smart or good looking if you’re a presenter, should you hire somebody who’s smart or good looking or do you need both or neither?
Renee Teeley:
I don’t think you necessarily need someone who is attractive, I guess, physically to put them on camera. And I don’t know that you need someone who’s necessarily super smart to put them on camera. I think that it’s about going back to your brand personality, finding someone who fits with that and someone who is able to represent your brand in the way that you want. So they can be charismatic. If you have a fun, playful brand, you want a spokesperson who’s fun and playful, and that’s probably a lot more important than if they’re smart or good looking. It certainly doesn’t hurt if someone is smart, good looking, and fits with your brand.
Dane Golden:
Okay. All right. So when you’re hiring the spokesperson, how long should you plan to work with them?
Renee Teeley:
Yeah, there’s really no industry standard in terms of duration of when you should be working together, but I find that it’s usually good to at least allow three months to work with them because it does take some time to build up an audience for a new show. It also takes time to build up time for an existing audience to warm-up to a new show host if you’re replacing someone.
Renee Teeley:
So I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced this with TV shows, but there’s been a number of shows that I’ve watched, that they replaced the actor that played a character and they just slipped it in, and it took me a moment to realize that they replaced the actor. And initially I usually don’t like the new person, because I’m already invested in the old person and something changes and it’s like things are shaken up a little bit. And so it takes time to warm-up to that new person. And then sometimes I ultimately end up liking the new actor better than the old one, but it does take time to build up that relationship.
Dane Golden:
But don’t call your new person the same name as your old person, just for consistency sake.
Renee Teeley:
Hey, unless that fits with your brand and you’re doing it in a funny way, but yes, it’s usually good to actually use their real name as a spokesperson.
Dane Golden:
Well, what I’ve told some of my clients when they are having a channel that has multiple presenters on it, I tell them to tell everyone that they’re going to be on for two or three months. And that’s it, and then they’re going to go to new people. But what really is going to happen is that they’re going to keep one of those people or they’re going to keep whoever fits it. They’re going to say, “Well, yes.” So the person is mentally prepared and not insulted that they were quote canceled, but they just, “Yes, you did what we asked you to do great job.” And now we thought, “Wow, what a great idea. This other person really fits longterm, so we’re going to go with them.” As opposed to saying you’re on a trial basis, and then we’re going to cancel you. So if you’re going to try out three people for the future, do that and just tell each of them it’s a three month gig. What do you think of that concept?
Renee Teeley:
I think that can work for some companies and some shows. I think that three months actually is a really good duration to figure out the performance of both the show and the spokesperson and to get some feedback again, because it does take time for people to warm up to someone. I think that if you’re hiring someone who is an industry expert and you’re building a show around them, then it’s a bad idea to have other people as part of that show. So it depends on the direction that you’re going and the strategy for the show. But having multiple people is not a bad idea.
I think that does get you a little bit further away from having someone as the face of your company. So it does go back to like, what are your goals for that suppose spokesperson, if it’s an industry expert and you really want to be associated with that person, and they’re the face of your company, then you focus on them. If that’s not the case, you do want people on video representing your brand, you can have multiple people.
Dane Golden:
Yeah, mine wasn’t so much as spokesperson, it was more for sensitivity of some folks when I ran a podcast network and I had to cancel a podcast and people were so distraught, but it’s not really the same as having an individual thing. Also, when we had a channel for a brand that had multiple series on it. They weren’t quite the spokesperson, they were just performers in a specific or presenters in the specific series, not as the spokespeople for the brand. So it’s, I think a little different.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. And I think if you are looking for someone as a host, I almost wanted to say co-host, but I hope I’m not on trial. So if you have someone as a host for a show, it might not be a bad thing to try out a few different people and see what your audience actually resonates with, you know, who might be the best person for you if you don’t know in advance. So that’s not a bad direction to go.
Dane Golden:
I’m not going to talk about whether you’re on trial and not as my co-hort. So does your presenter have to be in the same place?
Renee Teeley:
It depends on your production process. So if you typically do your production at a studio and you have a full crew that’s there to record those videos, then yeah, of course it’s helpful to be in the same place. But if your spokesperson is producing the videos themselves, which I typically do in my engagements. If I’m producing the videos on my own, then it really doesn’t matter if I’m in the same place as the company that I’m working for. A lot of my videos, I actually would produce do interview style videos at conferences. So it’s a lot more important to me to be in the same location as the person I’m interviewing versus the company that I’m working with. And now of course with the pandemic, you might want to look at ways to do things remotely. So you might not be in the same location as the company, but you may not even be in the same location if you’re interviewing people.
Dane Golden:
`Yeah. And you’ve worked for companies in different countries and so have I.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. Actually with the last company that I worked with as a spokesperson, they had offices in Tel Aviv and London. But I was based in the US, and I did travel to other places, but the nice thing about me actually being in the US is I was able to represent them here versus in other places where they already had some coverage. So there can be some benefits of not being in the same location.
Dane Golden:
Yeah. Particularly if you’re in the heart of the tech world, in San Francisco which sort of gets and you sort of touched on this, but could you explain the difference between a spokesperson and a producer and what is really, you know, I know you’ve generally been hired to do both. Where does most of the effort go? Is it mostly on the producing side? Is it mostly… Not to say that just because you bring someone in from TV or whatever says, “Great, I’m going to produce this.” Because producing for online video is a totally different world and a lot of people who produce for traditional business video really need to get on board with that I think, still and it’s a constant thing I keep exposing, but where does most of the effort go into? Is it the producing side or is it the spokesperson side or maybe it’s the shooting and production?
Renee Teeley:
Yeah, I kind of think it’s all a lot of work. So I don’t know that I would say there’s more work involved on the production side versus being in front of the camera. In my situation, I primarily am the person recording the videos and I’m also in front of the video. So I have a very elaborate selfie setup. So I’m both behind the camera and in front of the camera at the same time. But the nice thing about that is I get to control everything in that situation of exactly how I want the setup and how I want the background to look and all of those things. But yeah, there’s a lot of work in terms of being in front of the camera and making sure that you’re camera ready and that you’re feeling comfortable and that you know what you’re going to say on camera. If you have someone that you’re going to interview, you have to make sure that you know the questions that you’re going to interview and again, fit the personality of the company that you’re representing.
So there is work that’s involved in that. Also, there’s different types of arrangements that you can have with spokespeople and figuring out who’s responsible for what. So some spokespeople may be responsible for finding the people that they’re going to interview. In my case, I did find the people that I was going to interview. I also came up with all of the topics. That’s not the case for every spokesperson…
Dane Golden:
I want to follow up on that topics part. So how do you decide what the topic is going to be? For instance, as a business I might say, “At last I have Renee Teeley as my spokesperson. That’s great. Because I want her in every single video to say how awesome I am.”
Renee Teeley:
I would say how awesome you are in all of my videos, Dane.
Dane Golden:
Yes of course, but what I’m getting at, as we’ve talked about another podcast is that particularly on YouTube, every video is really about the viewer. It’s about the customer and their needs and how whatever you’re talking about translate into helping them. At least that’s my opinion. How do you work with a company to show them that? Or am I wrong? Is it something else?
Renee Teeley:
No, you’re right. And before you choose a spokesperson, before you go down that that path, it’s important to make sure that you actually have a strategy for your show. So figuring out what are the goals for your show and you put together that strategy and that helps determine the topics and you should have a clearly defined audience. And you should have a goals set for the show. Like, is it for brand awareness? Is it for lead generation? Is it primarily educational content? So just like you do with the rest of your marketing, you need to have a strategy that outlines all of that, and that impacts the topics. For me personally, with a lot of the content that I do, it’s less product focused, even though I’m working with companies and it’s more about helping their target audience with something that is related to their company.
So for example, when I was working with Powtoon, which is a video animation company, the show that I did was called the Make It Awesome show, and it was focused on helping marketers more effectively use video. So their company, Powtoon is a video animation platform. So you can create your own marketing videos, but you still need to be able to figure out what to do with them and how to be effective so you can continue making them. And so it was up to me to actually define the topics, but we had a clear strategy and that strategy was to help marketers. And so that helped drive the topics.
Dane Golden:
In your case, I’m imagining you actually help them craft the strategy or may have presented a strategy, which they revised or agreed to.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. I mean, my situation might be a little different than some other spokespeople because I have been working in video marketing for so long that really, it was my idea to do the video series. And so I came up with the idea for the show, the name, the whole concept, the production piece of it, the style, the editing, animation. So the full process and also in terms of publishing and things like that. I did work with the marketing team to promote the series, but I kind of handled the series from end-to-end. Not all spokespeople do that.
Dane Golden:
Okay. Here’s one, should a spokesperson work for more than one company at the same time or no?
Renee Teeley:
That’s a really good question. It depends on the arrangement and how really involved are you with the company?
Dane Golden:
I know the amount of work you put into something, in some cases it’s impossible to do more than one, but it really depends on the arrangement.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. I mean, even while doing the Make It Awesome show, I didn’t work with other companies, but I primarily didn’t act as a spokesperson on their behalf. So for me, I was a spokesperson, but not just doing video, I was also presenting at conferences on their behalf and representing them on social media and other things. So it wasn’t just about the video. And if you’re going to do something like that, it actually is incredibly hard to do that for multiple companies. But it’s also a little confusing for your audience potentially if you’re working with multiple brands. So there are some elegant ways to do it, but I think if you’re going to really represent brands like that, and it’s going to be multiple brands, you just need to be very mindful about how you’re doing it so that you’re not confusing people.
Renee Teeley:
So you can work with multiple companies, but I think that, yeah, it depends on your relationship with those companies. I have seen a lot of other people that just focus on hosting videos for multiple companies and they can do that quite well. When it comes down to working with multiple companies, you want to also make sure you’re not working with competitors, so you’re not losing credibility. I have been asked by competing companies to represent them and that puts me in a weird predicament, especially if both are companies that I potentially use in different ways. So I would just steer clear of any competition.
Dane Golden:
And this is different than if you’re an influencer, which the rules are different.
Renee Teeley:
Yes.
Dane Golden:
So how do you write a script? How do you craft that?
Renee Teeley:
How do I do it, or how does a typical spokesperson work with a company in terms of scripting?
Dane Golden:
Answer any way you like.
Renee Teeley:
Okay. Yeah. So for me, in terms of writing scripts, it depends on the type of videos that I’m doing. So for the Make It Awesome show, was an interview series, and so I would script out the intro. So I would script out the hook so it’s in the very beginning part of the video, so that it’s very clear why someone should watch the video and the value that they’re going to get out of it. I would also script out the introduction to the show, to me and to my guest. And then sometimes I would have a loose idea of the questions that I was going to ask the guest. So that wasn’t fully scripted necessarily, but I would have a general idea of the questions.
Renee Teeley:
And then my responses weren’t scripted either, but then I also scripted the outro. So there was a set outro that I did for every video for consistency. So it was a hybrid between off the cuff and being scripted. Now for other videos that I do, there’s more scripting involved. And for those types of videos, if I need to say something specific or I’m inviting, it’s like an event video, so the video is really to invite people to sign up for an online summit or things like that. Then I might script it out and actually use a teleprompter to do that. And I have a set structure that I typically use for all of my videos, which is similar to what I just outlined with the YouTube videos, which is hook, intro, and then the real main piece of the content. So the main information, and then some type of outro with a call to action. So, that’s usually the process that I go through.
Dane Golden:
Yeah. So for our listeners who don’t know this, repeat that thing, that very high value structure that you just outlined, that’s a million dollar structure that you just skipped over because it’s very valuable. So let’s jump into that for just a few seconds there.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. So again, the format that I use for videos may change depending on the type of video, but the typical structure that I use is hook in the beginning. So make sure that when people click, they decide that they’re going to click and watch that video, that they know the value that they’re going to get right away. So you talk about the value of the video. Then I have a scripted intro. So same thing I say for every video that basically reinforces what the series is about, who I am, why they should be watching the show in the first place, and then I introduce the guest, if it’s a video interview, I’ll introduce the guest as well. And then the main content, and then a scripted outro.
Renee Teeley:
So I do the scripted outro and with the scripted outro, you also want some type of call to action. And I do that for all of my videos, and even though I have a set structure for most of my videos, each episode is different. So there’s enough flexibility that it doesn’t always sound the same, but there’s enough consistency that people know that it’s part of the same series and they know what to expect from the series.
Dane Golden:
Yeah. We should do a whole separate episode on structure of a video for business.
Renee Teeley:
We should. I think that it’s actually really nice to have a set structure because it saves time. So with each video, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel and figure out your new structure. You come up with a structure that works really well, and you use that for every video and have enough flexibility there that there’s still some room for creativity.
Dane Golden:
Okay. So there’s approvals in this process all along the way. There’s approvals of a topic and then maybe a completed deliverable. How does that work with a external spokesperson and a company?
Renee Teeley:
Yeah, there’s lots of different types of approvals. You may need to get approval on the script. You’ll get approval on the production and the editing of the video, also approvals on where it’s going to be published. Maybe there’s even approvals on the blog post, that’s going to accompany the video. When you’re working with a video spokesperson or you’re just doing a video series in general, it is important to understand where there’s approval points and who’s responsible for those. In terms of working the spokesperson, there’s a lot of flexibility. So if the spokesperson is the primary person, who’s coming up with the topics and actually doing the production, you may need to have someone internal at the company, who’s approving those in advance.
Renee Teeley:
And that may happen when you first start working together, and then you may kind of loosen things up a bit once there’s some trust that’s been built between the company and the spokesperson, and you just let the spokesperson run with it. If you’re working with an actor though, someone at the company probably should be coming up with the topics and scripts and someone else should be working on production. And so those are just internal approvals that you would work with.
Dane Golden:
Okay. Here’s something I just thought of, and I really have no idea how anyone else feels about this. Do you ever get… I’ve forgotten the name of the paper, where people sign their rights away. What’s it called? Waivers?
Renee Teeley:
Waivers. Yeah.
Dane Golden:
Is that the term?
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. There’s waivers and NDAs. I mean, you can sign your rights away in lots of different forms.
Dane Golden:
Okay. All right. I’m going to ask this question again. What I don’t see a lot now on any production, because people interviewed at a conference, whatever, is there anyone signing a waiver to share their person on whatever brand or whatever video? You used to see it all the time, and I think people just have given up. They figure everything’s on video, but for some companies who still want to do that, how do you decide on that? Do you have any strong thoughts one way or the other on that? Because I don’t do them at all.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. So I used to do waivers especially with certain types of companies and for certain projects. I would do waivers because you do want to make sure that you have rights to go ahead and publish those videos. With a lot of my videos now, I don’t do waivers. If someone wants me to take it down, I’ll take it down. If they don’t want to be involved in it in some way, that’s okay. I haven’t actually run into that situation. I did run into a situation maybe five or six years ago when I was working with a company. And we did a series of 50 videos in a very short amount of time at a conference. We were interviewing people and I did have everyone sign waivers. And there was someone that I interviewed and he was representing a company, but he didn’t have approval from that company to basically be their spokesperson camera and I didn’t know that.
And so they did reach out to me and asked me to take the video down. I did have a waiver. However, it’s still just a good thing just to take it down.
Dane Golden:
It’s courtesy.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah, just as a courtesy. But that’s a good situation of like, when you might want a waiver, especially if you really did want to keep that video up, having some type of waiver and making sure that that person is…
Dane Golden:
You were totally within your legal rights, but as a courtesy, you took it down.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah, absolutely. So that’s really what you need waivers for is just to make sure that you’re covered so that if you didn’t want to take it down, you wouldn’t have to. Legally, you could still keep it up. I personally wouldn’t do that, which is also why I don’t really use waivers anymore because it doesn’t play into what I’m doing.
Dane Golden:
But if the company wants you to, you can do it.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah, absolutely.
Dane Golden:
Here’s another funny thing is that, particularly at conferences where we meet up with so many talented industry leaders, you and I, there’s always some copy-written music playing in the background somehow and that if you upload it to YouTube, that will get your video claimed by the copyright holder, which means you may have an ad running at the front of your video from a business you don’t know, or maybe even a competitor. It’s such a ridiculous thing, but how do you avoid that?
Renee Teeley:
Yeah, that is kind of a funny thing that happens. I know some video conferences now have actually worked with companies to get their music approved. So to make sure that… Yeah, this has happened at a couple of video conferences. I think maybe they were working with a sponsor that did music for videos, but they basically only played music that they had rights to and it would be fine for people to record and upload those to YouTube without issue. Most conferences do not do that.
What I typically do when I’m recording at conferences and not just because of the music, but I typically try to find a quiet spot and where there’s not a lot of people. I know that some people like to actually record their interviews where they’re in the middle of the action and that adds to their videos. I actually like it to be a little bit more quiet so that I don’t have as much conflicting noise, and then I can add in my own music because I typically have a set style of music that fits with my brand or the company’s brand, and use that instead. So a couple of different ways to go about that. But yeah, that can definitely be a challenge when you have background music.
Dane Golden:
So you have to have on your checklist, listen carefully to the noise around you, is there music playing? Because most of the time you don’t even hear it, it’s just sort of background noise, right?
Renee Teeley:
Yeah.
Dane Golden:
So what are some other common challenges with finding the right spokesperson and working with them?
Renee Teeley:
Yeah, I mean, I think finding the right spokesperson is a challenge in and of itself. So I think it is tough for companies to find that right spokesperson, especially if they are looking for someone who fits with their brand, if they don’t already know that person. I think one great way to find a spokesperson is to look for people who are already in your industry and maybe you’ve already done a video about your company. So they already know and love your company. That could be a good candidate for a spokesperson. You could of course just sponsor videos, especially if it’s like a smaller YouTuber as well. Like you may just be able to recruit them over to your company as a spokesperson. So that’s one way to look for people. You can also go to industry conferences look for people that way. And also look for people internally.
Renee Teeley:
So it doesn’t have to be someone who’s external. You can look for those internal people that would be comfortable representing you on video and work with them. So, that’s another way to find spokespeople. Now there’s also a challenge for spokespeople. It can be tough to find the right companies to represent. I know that not everyone is as picky about the companies that they work for as I am, but I’m very particular about choosing the companies that I represent because I don’t want to lose my credibility. So it has taken me a very long time to build up my credibility, and it would probably take a very short amount of time to lose that credibility if I’m not working with the right companies.
Renee Teeley:
So for me, if I’m going to represent a company, it has to be a company that I truly believe in and then I would recommend them even if they weren’t paying me. So if someone just came up to me and they were asking me for an animation company or for a music company or whatever it might be, I have to feel comfortable enough that I would recommend them, even if I wasn’t working with them and being paid to do so.
Dane Golden:
Is it fair for a company to say to the spokesperson, “Well, we’re going to work with you for a year contract, but you can never work with a competitor.” Like that Verizon guy who works with Sprint.
Renee Teeley:
Oh my gosh. Yeah, you know, I actually use him as an example when I’m talking about the spokespeople sometimes and that I don’t want to become that person. So he basically has one opportunity to switch companies. So it’s not to say that if you’re a spokesperson that you can never work with a similar or competing company, but I do feel like you can do that one time. Like the Verizon guy who went to Sprint, if he goes to T-Mobile, he’s out of there, no one is going to trust this guy. So that is a prime example of how you can lose credibility pretty quickly if you do it in the wrong way. Switching gears like that. But in terms of a company saying that you can’t work with a competitor, I naturally do that anyway. So when I am working with a company, I wouldn’t work with a competitor.
Renee Teeley:
That’s just like common… it’s good business sense and a good way to represent that company. Unless you’re recommending another company in a different context. So there’s value in being able to say, “This company works well for this use case. I use this other company when I’m doing something else.” I think that can even add credibility to what you’re doing. So I think that’s okay, but yeah, you need to work with the company to figure out what are they comfortable with too? So you don’t run into the situation with, I think it was Britney Spears that was working with Coke or Pepsi, and then she was caught drinking the competing brand. Yeah, so that can happen.
Dane Golden:
Oh, my God what a travesty. But the only reason is because she went to the restaurant and she said she wanted a Coke and all they had was a Pepsi and they said, “Is it okay?”
Renee Teeley:
You know what? That actually could be true. Like if you go on a flight, which who’s doing that these days, but if you’re going on a flight, they typically only serve beverages from one company, and it’s either from the Coke brand or from Pepsi, but not both.
Dane Golden:
Well, I only fly Charter. Renee, this is really great because I think a lot of businesses really do need to understand what should they do about having a company spokesperson. We believe that almost every company should really be doing video in some way and how they represent each other is super important. So importantly, how can people find out more about you Renee Teeley? Also, on this podcast usually, but your company’s called Video Explained.
Renee Teeley:
Yeah. So if you want to find out more about me and what I’m up to, you can go to reneeteeley.com. So a great place to watch some of my content. You can also go to videoexplained.com, that’s my business site. And then a great way to connect with me is just to find me on LinkedIn. I am literally the only Renee Teeley. So I’m very easy to find on social media, but LinkedIn is my favorite social media platform. So a really great place to connect with me.
Dane Golden:
Or if you want to listen to her weekly podcasts, go to vidaction.tv/podcast, right?
Renee Teeley:
Yes, absolutely. I should have mentioned that, but I figured that people already know where to find that because they’re listening to the podcast right now.
Dane Golden:
If they’re smart. Now to spell Renee’s name, I have a monic device, R-E-N-E-E T-E-E-L-E-Y. I’ll say it again. R-E-N-E-E T-E-E-L-E-Y. So, that’s how you look her up. And we also want to thank you the listener for joining us today. Don’t we Renee?
Renee Teeley:
Yes, absolutely. And of course today, I want to leave you with a quote, as I once told my good friend, Zig Zigglar, people often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommended daily. So making sure that you’re looking for ways to stay motivated each and every day.
Dane Golden:
Zig Zigglar, the great sales coach of all time. I want to invite you to review us on Apple Podcast or you know what? You don’t have to review us, just share us instead. I shared a podcast I was listening to today. You just hit that … on the episode on Apple Podcast, and then you go to your Twitter and you hit share. That’s what I did when replied the hosts. It was really great and they appreciated to know people are listening and so do we. Renee and I do this podcast and all our various YouTube videos and other projects because we love helping marketers and business owners, just like you do YouTube and video marketing better. Until next week, here’s to helping you help your customers through video.