I always write about the power of video to generate business and growth. The power of video to drive sales and brand awareness. How customer satisfaction and care can be improved by videos. Now I want to talk about none marketing video use. I’m going to start with using videos for training. I’m going to briefly discuss how to use video for training. We’ll look at how video can cut your training costs. Finally we’ll look at how video training can improve knowledge retention.
[bctt tweet=”If video is used for marketing as the most powerful method of communication, shouldn’t it be also used for employees?” username=”yellbusiness”]
How To Use Videos For Training
Medium size businesses often spend a great deal of time and money training their staff, and rightly so. Well trained employees are always the key to success once a business is too large to be completely under the control of its founder. Sessions can involve outside experts, or purchased schemes of learning. Some companies have to incorporate small teams just to train fellow employees. More common is to take experienced personnel and train them to train their colleagues. All of these methods can be effective, but there are problems. Experienced staff could be better deployed elsewhere. Outside experts can be very expensive and won’t be available after for follow up. If you have a team of trainers are they all consistent in delivering their message?
There are three main ways of using videos for your training.
- A video can be used as a supplement in a training session, reinforcing what has been taught. The video ensures consistent examples and message delivery while a trainer is still present to allow interaction.
- A stand alone video that is distributed across the firm can be a very powerful teaching tool. Videos that explain and demonstrate a system or process are always consistent because they are the same for every individual that views them. In addition there is no cost associated with organising and running training sessions. As a bonus an individual, sitting at their own desk wearing headphones is free to focus solely on the video they are watching. And let’s not forget the possibilities for learning anywhere using tablets and phones.
- Live streaming video of a training session allows you the best of both worlds. Sending trainers across the country to different offices is expensive. Much more so if your business has global outposts. Live streaming allows the interaction of a group discussion with the ability to share images, presentations and video clips across a live stream.
Cutting Costs
I’ve already mentioned the ability to avoid sending trainers to all of your businesses different sites. There are massive savings available when you don’t need to book hotels and travel in order to deliver your session. But there are other savings available too. Your business may have several trainers available to deliver courses across your business. You may have the need to deliver certain information across several sites simultaneously. By utilising video to achieve these goals you simply don’t need as many people in your training department. If you buy in your training it is especially important to maintain tight control over the use of people in the delivery of training as they will always be the lion share of the expense.
Businesses as they grow larger often find themselves with managers and staff who are employed to ensure that communications, whether it be training or any other kind of internal comms, are distributed effectively. I’ve worked in several businesses that have teams of three, four or five people just working on internal communications. That can be a dangerous waste of resources when video for communication is such an easy tool to use.
Improving The Impact
I mentioned at the beginning that video can actually improve how much of any delivered teaching is retained by your staff. There is a growing body of research that shows just that. Visual information is retained to a higher order of clarity and in greater quantity than either written or auditory information. In short, your staff learn better if they see something than if they are told or if they read it. A written email will get information to your staff. A training session will get more information and it will be better remembered. A video will transmit more information than either and it will be remembered in greater detail.
If we are going to use video for marketing because it is the most powerful method of communication, shouldn’t also consider using it for our employees? If we also consider that it will be less expensive than face to face training doesn’t it then become the obvious first choice? let me know what you think.
