A colleague of mine said she’s recommending that all her clients create videos to help market their companies. When I asked her why video I expected to hear about how it’s important to diversify your marketing mix and communication channels. You should reinforce written web copy and drive home your point with a punchy video. You can humanize your marketing by associating a face or two with your company. 

What she said: “People are too lazy to read. No one wants to read anymore-they want the quick fix.”

Can any declaration be more disheartening to a writer?

In general, I don’t think people are unwilling to read. But I do think people are unwilling to read awful writing: crippled sentences, falsely inflated claims, irrelevant detail, words that should have stayed in the thesaurus.

If you want someone to read your writing, you must first know who that someone is. Understand the audience you are writing for, analyze their information needs, and use a professional writer to craft appropriate copy your audience will not only read, but be compelled to act upon.

My colleague says the videos don’t have to be costly projects-YouTube has lowered the bar for acceptable production quality, giving the home-made look legitimacy even in the business-to-business environment. With writing, there is no lowering of standards. If anything, you must write better than ever if you want to be heard over those video clips.