Whiteboard: SGAcreative.com

I’ve created hundreds of videos for my clients, explaining, demonstrating, and promoting a wide range of products and services.  Somehow, one of my biggest challenges has always been finding a way to explain and promote the work I do, myself.  Finally, I decided I had to take the time to be my own client for a change, and I wrote, narrated, and produced this video to promote my own video work.  Enjoy!

Promo: Studio Helper

Studio Helper is a feature-rich online tool for people who run music studios, dance studios, or really any kind of small school.  Users can keep track of their students and teachers, everybody’s availability, when and where they’re holding their classes, who’s paying how much on what schedule, and so forth.

I originally came in to produce one video for them, and wound up staying to write, narrate, and produce a series of 25 tutorials. Then, they asked me to create a promotional video to capture the attention of potential clients.  Which is to say, we needed to instantly establish the fact that this system works for all kinds of different studios, and even in places that don’t call themselves studios at all… while being visual and eye-catching… without getting bogged down… and without taking longer than a few seconds, since the bulk of the video needed to focus on the benefits of the software itself.

So although I’m happy with this whole video, I’m especially proud of the first 30 seconds or so.

Promo: ipsPODs, Productivity Software for Insurance Agencies

I wrote, narrated, and produced this promotional video for ipsPODs, a task-management platform for insurance agencies.  As they put it, “We’re not another funnel; we’re the shovel that fills your funnel.”  Using a combination of screen capture footage, stock photos, and a little bit of text, I found a way to tell their story, while keeping their actual software front and center.

Mobile Demo: Restaurant App

MITP Apps creates custom mobile apps for a wide variety of businesses.  They asked me to create a video that would demonstrate one of these apps (in this case, an app for a restaurant chain), show off its most powerful features, but also remind viewers that their own apps could be very different, depending on the needs of their particular business.

Interactive Demo: Online Billing

Usually, I produce my tutorials one video at a time, one topic at a time.  That way, you can embed each one into the appropriate spot on your website, and direct users to exactly the help they need.

In this case, though, I was asked to create a set of related videos for an online billing platform, complete with an interactive menu to navigate between them.  It took a little trial and error to get it to work properly, but I’m pretty happy with the result.

Mobile Demo: eyeWitnez Emergency App

Although most of my software demos focus on web-based or desktop applications, I’ve also created promotional screencasts for a variety of mobile apps.  In this case, I was asked to explain and promote “eyeWitnez,” an app designed to help people in emergency situations stay calm, organize their thoughts, take photos of their accident, and get help.  I used a combination of screenshots from the app itself and on-screen text to tell the story.

For a very different mobile demo, see my demo for the Todoist iPhone app.

Orientation Video: Historic Site

 “This is amazing, just plain amazing work.  I can’t thank you enough.  The narration is great, the animations work wonders, and it’s just an all-around first-rate product.” – Sean Blinn, President, Board of Trustees, Friends of the Vanderveer House

I narrated and produced this orientation video for the historic Vanderveer House  in New Jersey.  They’d originally come to me with a carefully-researched script and a Powerpoint presentation to welcome new visitors.

I gave them several design options, and transformed their Powerpoint into an engaging orientation video that’s been met with some rave reviews.  One of the first guests to see it said it was “just like something you would see on PBS.”  I call that a definite success!

By the way, I’ve been a tour guide in Gettysburg and a Civil War storyteller for more than ten years… but this is the first time my video work and my history work have crossed paths.  I hope it’s not the last!

Promo: Real Estate CRM

REthink… is big.  Very, very big.

It’s a real estate CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool for real estate.  In essence, an incredibly powerful database system, where absolutely everything is interlinked and cross-referenced with everything else.  That makes it an extraordinary tool for real estate pros… but also a bit overwhelming for an outsider like me.

Still, REthink needed a promotional video to get the word out to potential users.  (Actually, they needed two videos: one for Residential real estate, and one for Commercial real estate.)

So I studied their site.  I worked with their software–carefully, not wanting to break anything.  I developed a script, got feedback, rewrote it, and so on.  And in the end, we came up with a pair of nicely-tailored videos which seem to be doing the trick.

The moral of the story: that I’m willing to do my homework,  and even if your software overwhelms me, I won’t be scared away.  (And,  I suppose, that I’m glad I’m not a real estate agent.)