Video Maestro: Meet Garrett Evans

At Think Media our goal is to help businesses succeed. One of the best ways to ensure success is to share digital marketing strategies and tactics that increase your revenues and generate happy customers. 

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With that aim in mind, we are beyond excited to announce our new ebook series! These ebooks are unlike anything that you have seen before. Crafted in collaboration with seasoned industry experts, they provide the deep-dive answers to today’s compelling digital marketing questions. Our first ebook of the series, How to Create Compelling Video will be finalized soon, but before it launches, we wanted to introduce you to our collaborator and Video Production Specialist, Garrett Evans. Garrett offers 23 years of video production experience. He lives in Fort Collins with his wife and three children. We recently caught up with Garrett to learn more about his extensive background and his love for all things video.

How did you first get involved in the video industry, your degree is in photojournalism, correct?

Yes, after graduating from college in 1993 from Northern Arizona University with a degree in Photojournalism, I decided to switch to video (in those days we shot on film) because I liked the instant gratification that video offered. That led me down the road of news journalism, and I started out in small markets but eventually landed a job in San Diego, CA.

How did you move from news journalism into longer-from narrative storytelling video production?

For the two years that I was in San Diego, the National Press Photographers Association held the Photographer of the Year honors there, and through the association, I was fortunate to have been mentored in the fine art of video journalism. After 10 years of local video journalism, I decided I wanted to embrace narrative style video. So, I set a goal to work for the Discovery Channel and move back to Denver where I’m from. A year later, I was working for the Discovery Channel on a documentary of Astronaut John Glenn. He returned to space when he was 88 years old, and I worked with a video production crew that was about his first trip to space and what it meant to him to go back into space a second time at such a late age. The documentary also featured Walter Cronkite, so it was a really special production, and it happened within a year of moving back to Denver. I was in the right place at the right time, and it was amazing.

Did you have to set a new goal then?

Yes, I set a goal to do more programming as a producing editor. I had done enough camera work and wanted to move into content creation in the producer role. That goal led me to learn and understand the strategy behind creating great video. 

Speaking of video strategy, how important is creating authority with video marketing?

It is crucially important. Authority is about having a deep knowledge of your customer needs/wants and answering those needs in the content you produce. It has to be relevant and personal to them, but it also has to reflect your respect for the relationship, your knowledge and your authority. This approach allows your customer relationships to grow into partnerships or collaborations.

What is the biggest myth about effective video marketing?

That is has to be product-centric. That it has to have some element of a sales pitch. The truth is that the farther removed that it is from the pitch, the more authentic and emotive, the better.

What excites you the most about being in Think Media’s professional network and collaborating with us on this ebook?

It is the opportunity to provide valuable content to businesses that need it. I like the idea of helping people produce better, more effective, results-driven video marketing that touches and benefits their customers. Plus, I like working with you…
HA! Good answer. 

Ok final question, what excites you the most about video marketing and its future.

That is an easy one, Augmented Reality. There is just so much possibility on the horizon with AR. 

Alright I lied about the final question, what is your favorite quote?

“For just as chemistry is the science behind good cooking, psychology is the science behind good design,” David C. Evans.

Keep an eye out for our How to Create Compelling Video ebook, and learn more about Garrett Evans by visiting his LinkedIn page.
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#Think Success
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