Ep 12 Visual Storytelling in Destination Marketing with Aqua’s Nicole Clements
The topic in this podcast episode centers on the intricate art and science of video editing, particularly in the context of destination marketing. We, your hosts Larry Aldrich and Mady Dudley, engage in a discussion with our guest, Nicole Clements, who speaks to the nuances of crafting compelling narratives through video. As we delve into the transformative power of user-generated content and emerging trends in the tourism industry, we uncover the pivotal role that platforms such as TikTok play in shaping travel experiences. Nicole shares her insights on the essential techniques for effective video storytelling, emphasizing the significance of audio alongside visual elements. Our exploration extends to the implications of artificial intelligence in video production, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges it presents to professionals in the field.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- 00:07 - Introduction to Aqua Talks
- 01:29 - The Impact of TikTok on Travel Planning
- 06:29 - The Art of Video Editing
- 11:14 - The Impact of Emerging Technologies on Video Editing
- 12:06 - The Impact of AI on Video Editing
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- The podcast emphasizes the significance of user-generated content in contemporary marketing strategies, particularly within the tourism sector.
- We discussed how platforms like TikTok serve as modern search engines for travel planning, revolutionizing how individuals explore new destinations.
- The importance of audio in video editing was highlighted, demonstrating that compelling visuals alone do not suffice without effective sound design.
- Our guest Nicole Clements shared insights on the transformative power of video editing, showcasing its ability to create engaging narratives from raw footage.
- The conversation underlined the necessity of adapting to emerging technologies, such as AI, which can enhance the efficiency of video editing processes.
- The episode concluded by stressing the value of collaboration within creative teams, as diverse inputs can significantly elevate the quality of marketing content.
Aqua Talks podcast, marketing strategies, video editing tips, TikTok travel planning, user generated content, destination marketing, travel video trends, audience engagement, storytelling in video, influencer marketing, Aqua Marketing Communications, social media video, content creation strategies, travel marketing insights, video editing software, effective marketing ideas, tourism industry trends, visual storytelling techniques, actionable marketing insights, brand exposure strategies
Transcript
Welcome to Aqua Talks, where marketing meets bold game changing ideas.
Speaker A:Join your hosts, Larry Aldrich and Maddie Dudley as they explore the art and science of cutting through the noise, capturing attention and fostering meaningful connections with your audience.
Speaker A:Whether you're a destination marketer, government contractor, or simply passionate about the transformative power of marketing, Aqua Talks offers engaging discussions, fresh insights and actionable strategies designed to inspire and inform.
Speaker B:Hi and welcome back to Aqua Talks, the podcast where we dive deep into the world of marketing.
Speaker B:Whether you're just getting started out or you are a marketing professional, we have the insights to help you grow your audience and get more brand exposure.
Speaker B:My name is Maddie.
Speaker B:I'm joined by Larry today, my co host.
Speaker C:Hello, my name is Larry Aldridge, president and CEO of Aquamarketing Communications and Brensys Technology llc, which our show today is powered by Brensys.
Speaker C:Today we are with our guest, talented video editor with Aquamarketing, Nicole Clements.
Speaker C:We're going to go behind the scenes and talk a little bit of secrets of editing.
Speaker C:Video editing.
Speaker D:Video editing?
Speaker C:Yeah, video editing.
Speaker C:That's it.
Speaker B:Before we get into our Q and A with Nicole, we did want to talk about some trends happening in the tourism industry and they so happen to have to do with video editing or at least tiktoking, which is, in my opinion, some of the hardest video editing.
Speaker B:What do you think, Nicole?
Speaker D:Yeah, TikToking, I think, is a great thing for planning travel.
Speaker D:That's what I mean.
Speaker D:I love to travel abroad and it's hard to plan a trip when you don't know anything about a destination.
Speaker D:So I like to see where I'm gonna go.
Speaker D:And I use TikTok to plan absolutely everything.
Speaker D:When I want to look at restaurants or just things to do, I just Google things to do in Rome.
Speaker D:And then I planned a whole road trip around Ireland just using TikTok, really?
Speaker D:And my whole itinerary of where we were going from place to place.
Speaker C:How does TikTok plan an itinerary?
Speaker C:I thought, you know, great for videos.
Speaker D:So you just have to like, you can type in and search anything in TikTok.
Speaker D:So I would literally type in road trip Ireland.
Speaker D:And then like people make videos of like the map they did and places they went and I see what looks cool, which doesn't always work out because sometimes you go to like a tourist trap that looks cool.
Speaker B:But isn't that happened to me in London?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:I went to sketch this restaurant that's supposed to be really good for high tea and get like the authentic London experience.
Speaker B:And it ended up Being like paper plates, even though they have a Michelin star.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:But it was very expensive for a very touristy experience.
Speaker B:But I have had some really good opportunities or things to do by looking them up on TikTok too.
Speaker B:It's essentially just another search engine that you use like YouTube or Google for.
Speaker C:Planning a trip outside of the federal government and state government and local government.
Speaker C:TikTok's not allowed.
Speaker C:So what are some other apps you may use?
Speaker D:Instagram reels allowed.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:Instagram reels.
Speaker D:I don't know if it's quite there.
Speaker D:I like TikTok better.
Speaker D:But you could probably search the same things if you want to see the destination and see what you're going to be doing from a user generated content perspective.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think since TikTok shut down, there has been an increase in Instagram reels users.
Speaker B:And then I recently heard about YouTube shorts which apparently we're on.
Speaker B:So that's another video avenue to go down.
Speaker B:But yeah.
Speaker C:So when you're.
Speaker C:When you're touring, vacationing and you're using TikTok, do you take videos?
Speaker D:I did one on our trip to Ireland.
Speaker D:It's actually on our company's Instagram page.
Speaker D:Much to my boyfriend's dismay.
Speaker D:I made him do a video like as if we were jumping from location to location.
Speaker D:Came out pretty cute.
Speaker C:As a video editor, it's probably easy for you to take videos on TikTok and do those illusions that you see on there were like, the Eiffel Tower is as big as your pinky or something like that.
Speaker D:Yeah, that part's like easy and transitioning.
Speaker D:The harder part is getting in front of the camera and being presentable and like an actor.
Speaker C:Oh, it's pretty, pretty interesting destination tourism with TikTok.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And hopefully with the new ownership we can actually use it more now or actually use it for some of our government clients.
Speaker D:That would be great.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It really is such a good platform.
Speaker B:So speaking of being on camera, thank you so much for being here today.
Speaker B:And I'm just going to jump right into the question.
Speaker B:So can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into video editing?
Speaker D:Yeah, so I've been editing professionally for five years now.
Speaker D:I went to film school at UF and editing is really not what I wanted to do at all.
Speaker D:I really thought I wanted to be like behind the camera directing.
Speaker D:And then the first job I got out of college using my degree was at HSN video editing and I just fell in love with it.
Speaker D:I don't know what inspires me about editing is that you can really take visuals that on their own might mean nothing, and then put them together to tell a really compelling story.
Speaker D:And there's so many different variations of the same story that you can tell.
Speaker D:Even just combining the same visuals in different order can create a whole new storyline.
Speaker D:So the endless possibilities that editing presents, I think is just fantastic.
Speaker B:I'm such a visual learner, too.
Speaker B:Or like, I need something visual to see, to really grasp the idea of it.
Speaker B:So I'm grateful for people like you who can organize it and put it together.
Speaker C:For someone just getting into video editing, what kind of advice would you have?
Speaker D:I would say to learn audio as much as you're learning video.
Speaker D:That's something I wish I would have done more of because I really thought there'd be an audio department.
Speaker D:And I have hit some bumps along the road.
Speaker D:But a lot of times when you're editing, especially like at an agency like you are the audio department.
Speaker D:So you need to know, you don't have to be the best sound designer in the world, but you need to know how to do basic mixing.
Speaker D:You need to know how to do some sound design.
Speaker D:Because, I mean, you could have the most compelling visuals in the world, but unless it's a silent film without any audio or just like what you need to hear to move your story along, nobody's going to care about your message.
Speaker B:So video editing is such a powerful tool for storytelling.
Speaker B:How do you approach crafting a narrative within a video?
Speaker B:And what elements do you focus on to make sure it's engaging and also impactful, including a call to action?
Speaker D:I always start with going through the raw footage, Whether that means we just got back from a shoot and I have a few days of raw footage to go through, or we're onboarding a new client and I'm just going through their old content of footage that they have.
Speaker D:I always go through absolutely everything and pull out anything that I think is usable and kind of just hope that inspiration strikes along the way.
Speaker D:It always does.
Speaker D:But, I mean, I don't work alone.
Speaker D:We do have an incredible team here and a great copywriter.
Speaker D:So usually I have a script that I'm working with to pull inspiration from.
Speaker D:Sometimes it is more just a loose concept that I get more creative freedom to do something on my own, which is great.
Speaker D:But as far as elements, I always start with the story, looking for the shots that are going to move the story along.
Speaker D:And then equally as important, I would say, is shots that are visually appealing in video Production, at least at Aqua, most of our clients that we're making videos for are destination clients.
Speaker D:So to market a destination it has to be visually stunning.
Speaker D:So I look for shots that are pretty, that tell the story and then add those finishing touches that do seal the deal for the call to action, like sound design, music, graphics and whatever's gonna really engage the viewer and tell deliver the message that our client wants to tell.
Speaker C:What do you enjoy most about working with destination clients?
Speaker D:The beautiful destinations.
Speaker D:That's crazy.
Speaker D:I've lived in Florida my whole life and some of these destinations like Punta Gorda I've never been to.
Speaker D:So I learned so much about our own state that I live in.
Speaker D:And I actually got to go on a shoot in Punta Gorda and got to go like to so many different parts of the destination.
Speaker D:I'm like, I want to come vacation here.
Speaker D:So it's cool to just learn about my home.
Speaker D:I don't know.
Speaker C:So these where you just said you want to go vacation there, do you feel that resonates with the potential travelers?
Speaker C:That they see that stunning view of Punta Gorda or Panama City or a Daytona beach and they're like, wow, just watching that, which a lot of that you created, it makes them want to go to that location for sure.
Speaker D:I think it even goes back to what we were saying about TikTok.
Speaker D:When you see something that is just like, that's really cool, I want to do it.
Speaker D:It does make people want to be there and experience that same thing in.
Speaker B:The same vein as TikTok.
Speaker B:So what video trends do you think are emerging that are relevant to destination or travel tourism space?
Speaker D:I would say the biggest trend right now is user generated content because a lot of people think you need like a high end production to tell your story or really sell it.
Speaker D:And that's not always true because I think user generated content can bridge the gap between a business and the consumer and it brings authenticity, it's cost effective and it can go viral if it's done the right way.
Speaker B:And that's UGC with Influencer paid Influencers Earned media.
Speaker B:We bring somebody in.
Speaker B:I just love getting all different types of content and then most of the time we're able to reshare it on our clients pages.
Speaker B:So that's an added plus too.
Speaker B:Our social media team gets a little bit more content.
Speaker B:It's great.
Speaker C:Do you get a sense of excitement?
Speaker C:Do you enjoy when a client wins an award?
Speaker C:As you know, at Aqua, we've won quite a few awards for clients and you look at that and say you were part of that, how does that make you feel?
Speaker D:Of course.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:I mean, the goal is always to be on an award winning campaign.
Speaker D:We want to do the best that we can for our clients and for ourselves.
Speaker D:Like as an agency, if you can.
Speaker C:Name one, maybe two success stories or campaigns that you enjoyed the most, what would you think of?
Speaker D:Since I've been here, the campaigns that I enjoy the most are the ones that I get to be a part of.
Speaker D:I've gotten to go on set in Punta Gorda and now last month I was in Pensacola for a shoot.
Speaker D:And it really is awesome to be able to see from concept to final product and have my hands on every part of the evolution process rather than just be the person and putting it back together in post.
Speaker D:So the most exciting things for me are when I get to kind of step outside of just being an editor and see it all happen.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:So being from Florida, born and raised, right?
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Were you in Pensacola when it snowed?
Speaker D:No, unfortunately in the office.
Speaker D:I live in sunny St.
Speaker D:Pete, so I was out in our office looking at downtown St.
Speaker D:Pete on a beautiful sunny day.
Speaker B:I was in New York actually that weekend, and the team from Visit Pensacola was there and it was snowing in New York and we were just talking about how crazy it was that it was probably colder in Pensacola than it was in New York at that time, but monumental.
Speaker B:So, Nicole, looking ahead with all these emerging technologies coming through like VR AI, how do you think it'll impact video editing?
Speaker D:So I have so many things to say about AI first of all, I'd be lying if I wasn't a little afraid that it might take my job someday.
Speaker D:But I think AI is an incredibly powerful tool that has totally been a game changer for video editing.
Speaker D:It's also something that I think we need to proceed with caution with.
Speaker D:So on one hand, it has saved so much time on the technical side of editing.
Speaker D:What used to take me hours to mask something out of a frame and go frame by frame by frame throughout the entire scene, AI can now do, sometimes just in minutes.
Speaker D:So saving that time on the technical side gives you more time to be creative.
Speaker D:It also can just save you if you didn't get something in camera and now you need to fix it in post, though you should never fix it in post, fix it in camera.
Speaker D:So it can be a powerful tool that makes editing so much easier.
Speaker D:But on the other hand, I think it's something that we need to be careful with because it is just advancing so much and we're seeing things now, which are great.
Speaker D:That premiere came out with a new feature that you can extend a clip and it will artificially make the clip add on a couple of seconds to the clip of like whatever you are shooting.
Speaker D:And I think just last night I saw a TikTok video of someone that was like an AI generated human talking to the camera, like a content creator.
Speaker D:That looked.
Speaker D:It wasn't perfect.
Speaker D:I knew it was AI, but it looked very real.
Speaker D:And it's kind of scary to think where that might go down the line as it's getting more real.
Speaker D:I know with VO now we can take a couple of sentences of someone speaking and create a really realistic void that you make it say anything that you want it to.
Speaker D:We did that with you recently.
Speaker B:We have an AI, Nicole.
Speaker D:It can be unethical, so I'm hoping that that never happens.
Speaker D:But it'll be interesting to see where AI does go in the future.
Speaker C:What are some of the most common challenges you come across as a video editor?
Speaker D:I would say something that can be challenging is when a new client comes on and they don't have an extensive library of footage to pull from and we need to get a video out for a campaign and also just either don't have time to put a shoot together right away or they're not ready for one.
Speaker D:So it can definitely be hard to make something brand new from existing assets, especially when it's a limited pool of assets.
Speaker D:But I do really like that challenge.
Speaker D:It kind of goes back to the magic of editing and how there are so many different storylines you can create from the same footage.
Speaker D:So it's like putting together pieces of a puzzle.
Speaker D:And I know if you keep rearranging them and adding new elements, you will get a new story and a product that's deliverable.
Speaker C:Is there anything you're particularly excited about for future working with Aqua and being in video editing?
Speaker D:I'm excited about the opportunity to potentially be on set more.
Speaker D:I really, yeah, being on set has been so fun.
Speaker D:It's great to get to know clients in ways that I don't normally from behind my computer and really take on new roles and responsibilities and evolve my skillset.
Speaker C:I know a guy that might be.
Speaker D:Able to help you do that.
Speaker D:Yeah, I'm hoping I have to have.
Speaker C:A talk with him.
Speaker B:Well, thank you, Nicole, for joining us today.
Speaker D:Thank you for having me.
Speaker D:This has been great.
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker B:If you are interested in learning more about our podcast, Please go to aquatacs.com we are also across social media platforms as Aqua Marketing Please follow us there.
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Speaker B:And to learn more, go to aquatacs.com.
Speaker A:You'Ve been listening to Aqua Talks, where marketing innovation takes center stage with bold ideas and actionable insights ready to take your strategies to the next level?
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Speaker A:Until next time, stay bold, stay inspired, stay imaginative.
