135 – How to Use Video Storytelling to Connect with Aaron Walton and Emmanuel LeGrair

November 7, 2024

Episode #135: How to Use Video Storytelling to Connect with Aaron Walton and Emmanuel LeGrair 

In this episode of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, Tobi Johnson delves into the potent potential of video storytelling in nonprofit and volunteer sectors. Joined by video storytelling experts Aaron Walton and Emmanuel LeGrair, this discussion focuses on how video can emotionally engage viewers, share compelling stories, and ultimately drive volunteer recruitment and donor engagement.  

 They share practical tips for getting started with minimal resources, the importance of authentic storytelling, and key factors to consider when hiring professional production services. They also emphasize the importance of community and innovation in nonprofit work. Tune in for actionable insights on leveraging video to its fullest in your volunteer programs! 

Video Storytelling – Episode Highlights

Helpful Links

• VolunteerPro Membership Community 
• Volunteer Management Progress Report  
• VisionWeek 2025  
• Walton Creative Group  
• Book a Discovery Call 
• Find Aaron on LinkedIn  
• Find Emmanuel on LinkedIn  

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Episode #135 Transcript: How to Use Video Storytelling to Connect with Aaron Walton and Emmanuel LeGrair 

Tobi: Welcome everybody to another episode of the volunteer nation podcast. I’m your host, Tobi Johnson and I have got a treat for you today. I have two guests who are also residents of the volunteer state. We all come from Tennessee. They’re over in Nashville. I’m in East Tennessee in Knoxville and we’re just down the road from one another, basically gentlemen, but we’re here to talk about video. 

I want to talk about how to use video storytelling to connect with your audience. Video is so powerful, and it doesn’t have to be super complicated. I mean, gone are the days when we have to have super complicated video production, although we’re going to talk about why professional video production might be important or might be a good choice for your nonprofit. 

We’ll get into that. But, you know, video has a way to touch hearts and minds in ways that the written word cannot, even photographs can’t. And there are so many ways to share video nowadays. We’ve got video shorts, we’ve got a Tik Tok, we’ve got YouTube, we’ve got your website, any type of social media sharing. 

There’s just a million and one ways to use storytelling using video. And so, I wanted to get into this with Aaron and Emmanuel. They’re with me today. I’m going to introduce them, but they are experts in video storytelling, and they know how to work with nonprofits. So I thought we would just get into some of the basics and help you really get a fresh take and maybe walk away thinking, you know what, we need to do more video because To stand out into today’s world, when you’re trying to attract volunteers, you’re trying to make the case to donors, to funders, et cetera, for support, we’ve got to be more and more sophisticated in the type of appeal we make. 

Not so much in the complexity of the argument, but more in the subtleties. And the ways that we connect with people’s hearts, because if people are not feeling an emotional reaction when they are reading, watching, listening to your appeals, they are simply not going to take any action. It’s just, that’s how human beings operate. 

So first, let me introduce Aaron Walton. He’s the owner of Walton creative group, and they lead a dynamic team. And dedicated team that specializes in providing nonprofits and mid-sized organizations with high quality video production, digital strategy, and creative content tailored to showcase the true impact of their programs. 

So, now you know why I invited Aaron on. Under his leadership, Walton Creative Group has helped nonprofits secure significant grant renewals by crafting compelling narratives that demonstrate how their funding is creating tangible positive change in the communities they serve. Aaron’s comprehensive approach to storytelling is designed to drive organizational growth, elevate donor engagement, and illuminate the successes of his clients’ initiatives. 

And we’ll share some links in the show notes so you can connect with Aaron on LinkedIn. But also, if you want to book a discovery call, I’m just going to say this right now, if you want to book and chat with him more about this and their work, please do so. Because I think that we have got to, not only for donor engagement and grant proposals, but also for volunteers. 

We’ve got to figure out how to use a video better. Now Aaron is also joined by Emmanuel LeGrair, and he’s creative director at RH Boyd, and he also collaborates with Aaron. He’s a native of Akron, Ohio, but he’s been a Nashville resident for over a decade. And I’ve been in the volunteer state for now, I don’t know, 14, 15 years. 

So, I’m with you. I’ve been here for a while since receiving his, uh, master’s in education from Vanderbilt. You know what? My husband has his master’s from Vanderbilt. Yes, in geology. And then he went on to Virginia Tech for his PhD. So yeah, there you go. There’s a taco place, Satco Tacos.  

Emmanuel: Satco Tacos is right on campus.It’s amazing. Yes.  

Tobi: Every time we go to Nashville, he’s got to make his journey there. So anyway, Emmanuel is a former educator, nonprofit leader, and consultant. He is now the creative director at RHB. Boyd and is the founder of the Commonwealth, where he curates events and experiences for the men’s style community of Nashville. 

How cool is that? You guys are both really like entrepreneurial. Emmanuel currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the pencil foundation, the arts and business council of greater Nashville, and the. Kindling Arts Festival. He’s also a member of the 2025 class of leadership in Nashville serves on the marketing council at the Frist Art Museum in Nashville on other committees and councils. 

You know, the other thing that’s interesting, I have a master’s in art history theory and criticism, and I have definitely been to the Frist. So yeah, great museum. It’s in an old post office, y’all. If you ever go to Nashville, it is so cool because it’s got this sort of art deco style and it’s just awesome. Anyway, let’s get started. Let’s start talking about video. So, welcome gentlemen to the Volunteer Nation podcast.  

Emmanuel: Absolutely. Glad to be here. Thank you for having us. Yes.  

Tobi: Of course. Well, hey, let’s get started. Let’s have you both tell us a little bit about yourself. Let’s start with Aaron. Tell us a little bit about yourself, the work you do. I’ve introduced your company a little bit, but maybe in a little more detail, how did you get into video production?  

Aaron: Absolutely. So again, Aaron Walton, owner of Walton Creative Group. We’re a production company first, um, but we, we saw the need for strategy. Because so many times I saw when working with nonprofits, small and midsize businesses, um, you know, one of my affiliates or colleagues will come in, they’ll hand out a beautiful piece of video and then kind of leave it there. 

How’s it implemented? What’s the best way to use it where we’re not wasting a significant investment? So, I wanted to really support people there to just make decisions that. Makes sense, statistically, we’re very results based and that’s probably part of my accounting background, so I have a master’s in accounting, so I started in accounting for 10 years and then kind of transitioned into the creative space, but that’s very important to me, to like, create content that is measurable. 

That’s, you make intentional content because all we want is really results in our various capacities, whether we’re not for profit or for profit. So that’s, that really resonated with me and when I figured out, when I figured out I could use some of my corporate background along with the creative side to bring value, that’s where we kind of stuck. 

Tobi: So how did you even Go from accounting to video production, that’s like a big leap. from numbers to creative, that’s like a big leap. What, what, what sparked that?  

Aaron: I think it’s, it kind of relates now that I look back at it, uh, just the patience that’s needed to the editing side of it. So from accounting is very nuanced, you need patience, you have to be very careful what you do, it’s very meticulous, it’s the same thing with editing, but um, it goes back to, it just goes back to my childhood, I remember my dad used to always embarrass me, he was the guy with the video camera in the corner recording all my sports games, but one of the ways that we got to spend time with each other is, afterwards we would review them. 

The film and I just, I felt like, you know, I felt the value of just looking at the video there. Um, it kind of always stuck with me and then I was always the guy on the trips that would record with my phone, and I would edit. And some of my friends just told me, it’s like, hey, you really put together something nice and you only use your phone. 

Like you should really investigate this. And I’m like, ah, whatever. It’s just a hobby. But then when I. continued to work at it. My wife bought me a DSLR, and I was filming more as a hobby. And then my cousin he was an arena football player. I filmed one of his practices. Once we finished that project, I remember all the guys being so excited, saying, oh, this is like a Nike film, and they paid me for it. 

Like, they all gave me about 40 each, whatever. It’s like a group of five of them. And I was like, wow, I can get paid for something I like. So when I tied in the professional side into the creative, I just, I like the, the vision of whatever you imagine, you can curate a story, um, that resonates with people and being in control of that, um, through a lens is just always something that pushed me. So, that’s how I kind of got into it.  

Tobi: Interesting. I love how people’s passions suddenly, it just organically becomes their career. Yeah. You know, I mean, of course you must take the leap of faith, right? I mean, it probably was not easy to leave a career in accounting and suddenly go, you know what, I’m going to strike out, you know, like that, that takes some, some cojones it does. 

Cause I’ve been there, but Emmanuel, tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into video production? and communications.  

Emmanuel: Sure. I’d probably be on the same wavelength as your passion becomes kind of where you work. And so I went to school, I got my master’s in education. I was an educator. Um, I got my master’s in education and leadership and organizational performance, which is six years, similar to an MBA to some extent. And so, um, I worked in a couple of different fields, uh, after graduate school in Nashville and ultimately landed in, um, R. H. Boyd, which is a printing and publishing company. And so, we partnered with Aaron and as my creative projects outside of work, uh, the things I do inside of work, obviously as creative director, you know, it just kind of has blossomed into the work that I do. Content creation, photo, video, directing, all those sorts of things. So that’s kind of happened into it to some extent, if you will. My, my hobbies became what, what my professional.  

Tobi: I love it. It’s so creative. I remember back in the day when I was in graduate school, I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a graduate degree in art history, theory, and criticism. 

And while I was there, I took video production. It’s sort of a side, side thing from art history. But I ended up writing my master’s thesis on women’s AIDS activist video, and that sounds like super niche. I know. And it was the early nineties. And at that time, there was a lot of misinformation in out there for women around whether they could contract AIDS, how they would contract AIDS. 

It was a public health nightmare for women because most women didn’t even know that they were at risk. You know, this was. Back in the day of the little handy cams, you know, before we had cameras on our phones, they had these little handy cams. So, they had tiny little cassettes. These weren’t the big cassettes from the big cameras. 

And so, it was really a time where people were really excited about democratizing media and, and for people to be able to use media to communicate in, anybody could pick up a camera and you could edit in the camera if you were thoughtful. I mean, it’s hard. You couldn’t do, you know, you had to, you know, you had to, plan out your sequences and stuff, but yeah, and so women were using video and handheld video to interview other people, do documentary style videos, but also to do activist videos. 

So, it was an interesting thing to write my thesis on because it was a medium that was so new at that time in terms of, I mean, there had been video artists in the world. But really, it wasn’t until the 90s and the handicam that it really became like an art form that more people were picking up. 

And so, you know, I’m at this art school and I’m writing on this wild, like, niche topic. I’m not writing about, like, Monet or whoever. So, it was really fun. So, I remember back in the day, what video was like, and video has changed a ton now. And there are so many ways to distribute. So, it’s a fascinating time. 

I think for folks, an exciting time, you know, I just got an iPhone 15. I haven’t even gone to the 16 yet. And the quality of the camera on that thing is ridiculous. I mean, you know, the little handy cams are completely obsolete. I remember my husband bought me a camera like five years ago and it became immediately obsolete. 

Like it just could not keep up. But before we get into talking about video though, I’d love to hear from both of you too. And maybe Emmanuel, you can start. What does community or volunteering mean to you? You’re, you’re deep in the community. You’re on board, you’re working in nonprofits and other arts and culture organizations. What, what does it mean to you? Why do you think it’s important nowadays?  

Emmanuel: One, I think that we as humans were designed to be in community with each other. So, I think that we are all better with each other. You know, you hear statistically about organizations who do better have diversity in thought. You know, they create community around their ideas and around their goals and objectives and their people. 

So that way they form as optimally as possible. But even on the nonprofit side of things, you know, that community piece, when you talk about emotional connections to the cause, you know, I want to be in community with other people that have gone through similar things, you know, I want to connect with them. 

I want to sit with them. I want to realize and know that I’m not alone in whatever I’m going through, whatever I’ve been through or whatever I want to do in the future. You know, I think just community is just much more important than what I I think people make it out to be in many aspects of life that’s personal, that’s professional, that is paraprofessional, hobbyist, you know, there’s a community for everything and everyone. So that kind of speaks to why and how it’s so important.  

Tobi: Yeah. I love that you call out that, you know, we don’t want to be alone, and we are hardwired. I mean, that’s how we survived as a species. If we would not have been clanning. And been, you know, working together and finding ways to work collectively, we wouldn’t have survived. We just wouldn’t be on the planet at this point. You know, because the collective is much smarter than the individual.  

Emmanuel: Absolutely. Yep.  

Tobi: Yeah. What about you, Aaron? What does community or volunteerism, or philanthropy mean to you? You’re kind of working in this space. What does it mean to you?  

Aaron: Yeah, I think, Emmanuel, his sentiments, he hit it right on the head. I kind of, I’m piggybacking off him a bit. Community is extremely important, and it’s kind of like how we drifted into focusing on nonprofits and religious based organizations as a sub sector of the clients that we contribute to. Even thinking about this opportunity here, I worked with Emmanuel. a nonprofit sector and now we’re collaborating. So just that, that piece of collaboration and community is extremely important. So yeah, I think that’s, that’s where I drive most of my efforts and fulfillment internally for the work that I do.  

Tobi: Yeah, there is a lot of satisfaction with collaboration when it works well, right? So, let’s talk about video. Like, let’s get to the heart of the matter. Why, why video over other media? Why does video, you know, I talked a little bit about the emotional pull of video, but there’s more to it than that. Why should a nonprofit, uh, you know, specifically play? Yeah. A nonprofit that’s trying to grow its volunteer base, for example, why should they, and they’re busy, they’re like, oh, I don’t know, another thing. I don’t know if we could do another thing. What about the budget? What about this? Why is video so important nowadays? And either one of you can answer that.  

Aaron: No, certainly. Um, I just believe video, the most important thing is It gives people an easy medium to consume the purpose or mission of what a particular nonprofit or any organization has to offer. You mentioned how things are so much different from how we consume content nowadays. It’s so fast. And a lot of that pool is the emotional piece of it. Um, you want to tell stories that are, resonates with people that generally influence action. But also, it’s just easier to digest. Like we could put photos here and there, but sometimes the context is missing. 

With just a photo video, you can get a lot more value from presenting in that way. And I think Emanuel can, um, kind of elaborate on some of our experiences as well of the benefits of, of video.  

Emmanuel: Yeah, I, I think he hit it great. But I would also add accessibility is a thing for video because, you know, photos are great and words are great, but you know, if I’m able to see someone moving, if I’m able to read the words, I’m able to hear things, there’s just a couple different additional ways that I can receive and intake information that I think is just valuable in videos. And like we said, the intake of information and content these days is going in the direction of videos. 

You know, all the new platforms are video based, you know, and while it was a photo beginning, it is now a majority video app, you know, and TikTok is the newest. That’s a video app. Snapchat typically is a series of videos. Facebook right now is running reels and all the other things. So, we are moving. more and more video and moving production rather than still production. 

I still love pictures. I love all creativity, and I love the beauty of photos. And, but I think just in general, if you want to evolve with the times, you’re going to have to create video production and it’s accessible, it’s easier to take in, it’s quicker, like Aaron said, all those things.  

Tobi: Yeah, I can see too, I was just on a coaching call with some of my VolunteerPro community members and we were reviewing a website and talking about how to restructure it so it’s, it’s more optimized for volunteer recruitment and you know, a lot of it’s like trying to make the connections between. 

You know, you’ve got a photo, how are you going to explain that photo? You’re going to have a caption, you’re going to have a sub or you’re not, you’re going to have a subtype. So, you’re asking people when you’re combining images and text and whatnot, even if you’re embedding images in a photo, you’re asking people to make a lot of cognitive, Connections. 

And I like that you said accessibility and, you know, you, you also talked about the speed, the speed of communication is so fast now, and people are like scrolling through their phones and their thumb is only going to stop on something that’s flashy. I mean, people are, you know, maybe, maybe they’ll, if they’re a reader, they might read, but I like that you also said accessibility, because if you have subtitles on your video, you can pretty much hit a lot of people with different neurodiverse people, people with different abilities and disabilities and ways that people can consume content. 

Video gives you like a more, broader breadth of, of reaching people and give them through different ways of accessing, you know, I just think that’s important for us to all remember that it’s more accessible for people with disabilities, you know.  

Emmanuel: And Tobi, if I’m honest all the way, you know, I say this all the time and I don’t mean it in a mean way, but people don’t read, you know. So, more often than not, people are much more apt to take in a video rather than sit and read something across their screen. So hit them with the video. Make it easy for them. Keep, like you said, if I have to make all these cognitive connections, you know, if I’m, Six o’clock at night and my three kids are doing homework and I’ve had a full day at work and my spouse is talking like, I need to take in a bit of information, but how, what’s the easiest way for me to do that? 

Tobi: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you know, we can complain about things like people don’t read enough anymore and all that. We can, we can talk about that. We can complain about it, but gang. We’re living in a context. You don’t have a magic wand to change how people behave. You must go with the flow. 

You must evolve. And I think you’re, you’re smart to also call out that the platforms are moving towards video, and their algorithms will favor video over other types of content. So, if you’re trying to get organic reach, you’re not even buying advertising. Your stuff’s not going to hit anybody. 

It’s, or it’s going to be more likely to hit people if it, and it gets favored by the algorithms if it is video. So, let’s get into video storytelling before we talk about like, you know, all the different ways to make video different, you know, let’s talk about videos cause that’s the title of our podcast and I want to make sure everybody understands what does video storytelling mean exactly? How would you define it?  

Aaron: Yeah, certainly. I would define video storytelling, not beyond, it’s beyond of asking what is your, your calls do, what is your nonprofit do, who, who do you benefit? Video storytelling can get much deeper. And, um, I had a conversation with, um, one of my clients who has a, a nonprofit that benefits, um, those who are going into drug rehab, they have substance abuse issues. 

And beyond just telling the story of, hey, we’re a nonprofit that helps these individuals through a program here. The actual owner or face of the organization told me, he’s like, hey, When I was younger, I had two brothers, we were in a car, and we were in a bad accident, and I’m the only survivor of it, and it was due to my brother who was, who had substance abuse issues, and that’s what drove me here, like, 20 years later, to find this organization, to build this, so that resonates with people, that tells you, hey, this is the mission of why it was founded, beyond who we benefit, so you have someone that was actually in it, Or who experienced that in, in, in the inside. 

So, there’s all these stories that are, are deeper and we can tell it in various ways. Also, it goes beyond like, oh, how about the people that you impact? So, if I go into another example, there’s a nonprofit that helps small businesses roll their business to over six figures beyond just going through the program. 

Hey, we will help you go through this program. We’re interviewing. Individuals who successfully, successfully made it through the program. And they’re talking about, hey, this organization held my hand through these nuances. I knew nothing about banking relationships. I know, I knew nothing about having a business plan. And now we’ve decided of where we’ve scaled our business tenfold. That’s the kind of storytelling that you want to put out there. So, beyond the on the face value, you want to find ways to get deeper into those stories.  

Tobi: And I think nonprofits completely underestimate the interest people have in the stories of people that are being impacted by their work. And the people that work there and the volunteers. And, you know, I think about all the nonprofit, I mean, I worked in nonprofit and public sector for 25 years before I started my consulting practice every single day in some of the nonprofit. I mean, in one nonprofit, I worked with homeless youth every single day, there was a story going on. 

I worked with at risk youth, I would see young people. Turn on a dime. They would, I would see the decision they made differently. And I would say that’s changed the trajectory of your life. And I happen to be here watching you make that decision. I mean, those kinds of transformations are happening all the time in nonprofits. 

You know, and people who work in the field in the sector, they’re just like, this is day to day work. This is just like, okay, it’s happening. That’s what we do. But people who are outside, which is the majority of our nonprofit volunteers don’t work in the nonprofit sector, that for them, it’s a fascinating https: otter.ai world that we work in, and there’s, there’s stories every single day happening.  

Aaron: Yeah, I want people to, yeah, when you’re in the field, you, you do become numb to the, to the day to day, and it’s like, it’s nothing special to you. Like, my cousin, I use him as an example, he’s a firefighter in Memphis, in Pyramid. 

And the things he would talk to us about are just so mundane of the things he sees on a day to day, I’m like, are you okay? And he’s just going through his, his day to day. You saw this, you saw that, and you’re just, you’re just going about your day. So, yeah, like you said, I totally agree. Like, there are individuals that may not be aware of the specific impact of a particular nonprofit that wants to hear those stories. 

And you don’t want to miss it because you never know if you, if you tell that one story that’s so mundane or so routine to you, it may have made all the difference. between like, just bringing awareness, putting spotlight on an organization and influencing support.  

Tobi: Yes. Big difference, right? Yeah. The difference between just putting the spotlight, like you said, putting the spotlight on an organization versus bringing about action. And it’s true. I mean, I think, you know, not to, not to, you know, dis people who work in nonprofit, cause I, uh, you know, we’ve worked in nonprofits, but we do need to, sometimes it’s necessary for us to compartmentalize emotions so that we can, you know, cause we’re vision, you know, we’re, if we don’t, we experienced secondary PTSD. 

It’s difficult, right? When you work in trauma with people in trauma or just people in trauma, Difficult situations. So sometimes we must compartmentalize, but I think when we’re looking for stories, the easiest thing to look for is just transformation. The story, the difference between a regular video and a story to a video storytelling is that there is a transformation that happens. 

Yeah, absolutely. So how can nonprofits leverage video storytelling to better connect with their audiences? What are examples that you could give of the ways that nonprofits have used video storytelling?  

Emmanuel: I think one example that I can think of is, you know, if you’re working with a certain population within safety, you know, having someone from that population tell their story. Yeah, absolutely. This is who I am. This is what I was dealing with. And this is how this organization has helped me. And this is what my look, my life looks like now. So, I think that’s a loww hanging fruit. You, like you said, I’m a nonprofit. I kind of grow numb to it because I see these people all the time, but. 

These are amazing stories like that others need to hear about and want to connect with and connect over in order to be volunteers, to donate or just get connected or send you the right people that you need to have in your circle. So, I think that’s one great example. Another example is talking to the staff, you know, have the staff share things that they have seen that they have gone through the executive director, the CEO, the, or even down to another volunteer. You know, have a volunteer come and the outlook has changed because of their involvement with this nonprofit.  

Tobi: Yeah. Have you seen even organizations, you know, for, for our, you know, sometimes our direct service organizations, the ones that are on the, you know, doing social services, community services, they, they sometimes they feel like, well, yeah, that’s pretty easy for me to find clients as long as they’re willing to talk. 

Right. And even they don’t necessarily have to be on camera. Uh, but I know some of my arts and culture organizations are listening and my, uh, the folks I was helping are a state park service and a bunch of parks. And they’re like, well, what’s the problem we’re solving? We’re talking about messaging. And I go, you got to, you got to talk about the problem, talk about the solution. 

And then talk about what happens when volunteers get involved. And they’re like, well, what, we don’t have a problem. We’re a, we’re a park service. So, when you think about storytelling outside of. side of the direct service and social service space in the nonprofit sector, what kinds of stories come to mind there that would be compelling for folks? Do you think? 

Emmanuel: Sure. I think of things showcasing what is happening in your facility. So, it doesn’t also have to be a person or. But for instance, if we’re as an arts and culture museum, show a lively museum and the problem that you’re solving may be, I want to expose the community to more art. I want to have the community built up around a certain idea or nature or exposure to, you know, just being out in nature and enjoying the parks and the views. 

So maybe that’s it, you know, maybe it’s, it is scenery shots. You know, maybe it’s folks interacting with artwork on the walls and exhibits. Maybe it’s kids playing in an exhibit or in a science center or something like that. And while someone’s talking over back of them and saying, hey, we see. 2,000 schools every year, you know, we affect where we’re touching 8, 000 kids in 2000 schools, every school year, you know, we see six buses of kids come in here every day. 

So, it doesn’t have to be direct client services or a sob story, if you will, but find whatever you’re solving the problem that you’re solving and make it real to anyone that you’re watching that is watching  

Tobi: Yeah, we were talking about on when we were looking at their website and we were talking about messaging I said, you know if you have a persona of a person you’re trying, you know Now if you’re going to want to volunteer in a park whether you’re a person camp host, or you’re doing, you’re a docent, you’re talking about the ecology of the park, whatever, the history, the legacy, whatever, you’re going to be an outdoorsy person. 

Anybody who wants to do that as a volunteer is going to be an outdoorsy person. So, I said, you know what, how can you hook people who are already an outdoorsy person? And I said, what about like, just stating the obvious that, you know what, we need to get out from, in front of our phones and our devices and get out in nature because we know it’s good for us. 

And the problem we’re solving is getting more people outdoors. Once you have that premise, you can go and interview people that, what’s, how are you feeling today? What, what’s the sunshine feeling? What’s your favorite plant here? You know, what’d you think about the history of this place? And you could do Vox Pop and just walk around your site and ask people on the fly. 

And suddenly, you’ve created a story, and the story is that there is a problem. It needs to be solved, and it is being solved. Look at the results that everybody is experiencing here. So, it doesn’t have to be like a beginning, middle and an end, you know, three act play. Always. Would you agree? 

Aaron: Definitely. Definitely. I like your analogy of, um, like even if you go into like the production side and you kind of visualize. There’s a guy sitting on the couch just minding watching TV and he looks out and then you go to the ask of Hey, wouldn’t you rather be outside and just creating that kind of story to kind of enhance the fact the wow factor of it You want to balance the ask? 

It’s not always asking, like we’re identifying, it’s not always a monetary ask. You want people to have a, you always want a call to action, but it, you can, you’ve got to balance it because if your message is give, give, give, that’s, that’s putting individuals off most of the time. So, you want to kind of, you want people to get more involved, you want to build awareness, and you want to balance that with the ultimate. 

And we kind of, we help our client’s kind of balance that. So, it seems more organic, um, cause you, you want to have that perception when you’re putting things out there. So, I want to make sure I mentioned that it’s a fine line.  

Tobi: So, what would be an additional ask in addition to contribute financially? The other ask, a lot of, you know, in our podcast, a lot of folks are volunteer managers. So, volunteer, support our organization through your contributing your time. What are other calls to action if you’re not going to ask one of those two things?  

Emmanuel: I think in today’s society, follow us. on social media, share it with your contacts, with your networks, connect us with somebody who we want to talk to these types of people, these sorts of organizations. Can you within your network connect us with those people? So, I think those are three asks that don’t take a lot of time, don’t take a lot of energy, and can just be as quick as a text message, you know, or a click of a button on your phone. So I think those are three great calls to action that any nonprofit can take. 

Tobi: Excellent. That’s good. That’s giving people some real practical. So, gang, it is a mix. It’s balancing, you know, that commercial, like people become nose blind to like smell and something like, you know, that commercial, well, people become like ear, ear blind to hearing your calls to action. If all you ever do is ask for money after a while, people are like, ah, all they ever do is ask for money. 

But you know, if they start following you and you have a series of stories. And they’re like tuning in. Oh, they have the best stories. There’s a, there’s a website. I think it’s called the Dodo; I think. And it’s animal stories. And it’s all these transformational stories about an animal being rescued and all of a sudden, or, or unlikely connections. 

Like, why is this animal hanging out with this animal? Aren’t they enemies? You know, like what, you know? So, there’s all these, and there is in every single one of these, a transformation. Like even an unlikely connection story. The transformation is that there, there was a bond that happened in this case between animals, but it could be between humans. 

I love the unlikely connection story. Like you look at two people on video, it might be a mentor, a mentee, and they look completely different. They live on different sides of town. They have never been to each other’s house. Or maybe they have, but they never would have if they hadn’t been matched. And suddenly, and then they realize they have something deep in common. 

And suddenly, you’re like, oh, and it, it kind of restores trust in humans that we’re more alike than different, right? That’s I love the unlikely connection in a day in that there’s a transformation there, right? Because there’s a human bonding element that is transformation. So, I think I’m always looking for that. 

What are other things that you all think that people miss when they’re thinking about making videos or they make videos that they should think about to make it. a compelling story, whatever it is. And like I said, it doesn’t have to be a three-act play, right? But that makes this story compelling and emotionally engaging, because sometimes I think people just want someone to sit in front of a camera and talk. What are some tips and tricks for making it really compelling emotionally?  

Aaron: Yeah, I would say part of what I think is missing is individuals should just start like we were talking about before That we have these devices in our hand You don’t need to sit down and script out and plan every single piece of content You want to give people a variety anyway, and sometimes is what’s more compelling is being in the throw of it Like just go live It’s like, Hey, we’re, we’re here doing this. 

Just see, see our day to day. to be thought out. It doesn’t have to be long. It’s like, hey, I’ve, I’ve ran into this individual and blah, blah, blah. And you know, we’re, we’re going to get into, um, I guess contracts as far as. Who you can, yeah, talent you can put on film. Yeah, I think some of the tricks, I think, is just to put something out immediately. 

Do some testing. See what kind of feedback you’re getting. Your audience is going to tell you what they want more of. But you will never get that feedback if you don’t put it out there. And then you can, you can blend different types of creative together. Whether it’s a Zoom call with one of your colleagues or someone that’s Supporting your organization. 

They like to see that. That’s a good trick. That you’re going to talk anyway. It’s a Zoom, Zoom type of meeting. You should be more comfortable there. And then you can start thinking about getting to higher production value later. It all depends on the need and the purpose.  

Tobi: I think you’re absolutely right. 

The data, the cool thing about digital marketing. In whatever format it is, the data doesn’t lie. You’re going to get engaged with a social media post. You’re going to get likes, you’re going to get comments. You’re going to get more for certain things and less for other things. People are going to share more things. 

And you, if you just get started, you’ll start to train yourself. Uh, what’s going to work, right? But if you never get started, you’re just going to keep guessing and keep fretting and keep worrying and nothing’s ever going to happen. Exactly. Right? I remember I used to work for, uh, I co this just came to mind. 

I used to work for this show called Chicago slices out of grad school and it was sort of a really super independent TV show, and we would just go around town and whatever was happening like slices is like slices of pizza. We would go around town and just whatever was happening, I remember I went to Gospel Fest in downtown Chicago, and I interviewed this young girl. 

She was like probably like eight years old, and she had a voice that you could not, but like, she’s standing in the middle of the, the Petrillo bandshell, belting it out with a choir behind her, and you’re like, where did this girl get this? So, we just interviewed her, like, how’d you get into this? And, and, you know, why, why gospel and all that? 

And it was like, unlikely that a young person that young. We’d be that into it. Right. And that talented that early. So, it was just interesting. And we just go around and talk to people, you know, and we didn’t have a big script. We just had like sort of an outline and then people, we had a, we had a line. Uh, it was like, uh, this was back in the day when you had like a phone, like an answer machine and people could call in stories to the machine and we would listen to it every morning and they would give us tips. 

Like, hey, there’s, there’s a Star Trek festival coming up. Why don’t you come out and film it? And we would decide what we would go out and film. And then we would, when we would look at the rushes or the, just the shots for the day, we would go, yeah, that’s good TV. We, I remember I learned from my boss, he’d go, that’s good TV. He would just point at something in the video, a snippet where it was like, there was an emotional charge and he’d go, That’s good TV right there, right? 

Tobi: What do you think, Emmanuel? What, what’s, what’s a tip you would say for creating emotionally charged content or something people can connect to and relate to? 

Emmanuel: I love what you said about how people used to call. into your office and leave a message on the machine. That is awesome because it kind of takes you back to childhood number one where the answer machine was almighty, and you left the house for a day. And I didn’t I didn’t know you called until I got back home. 

And so, it was just. Uh, but that’s great. But I think that speaks to what Aaron said. It was just like people; they’ll tell you what they want to see. And so I think when you spoke earlier about the democratization of content creation and how easy it is for us to do that and piggybacking as well on Aaron’s statement about, you know, put it out there, people will tell you, I think if you put it out there, they’ll tell you what the emotional connection is for them. 

People are very vocal. And. They’ll tell you what is important to them, and they’ll let you know what you can do more of, should do more of, what you should do less of. So, I think it’s listening to your constituency, your volunteers, your donors, your partners, your community, your friends, but also at the same time understanding what your story is and putting that out there as well. So, I think it’s just a, a, a fun process and, and, and time.  

Tobi: Yeah. And I think people like the more authentic without, you know, obviously oversharing, you know, sometimes some people do overshare, but I feel like if we can be authentic and truthful, especially nowadays, it’s okay to be a little bit vulnerable. 

Like, we’re not sob stories because nobody’s inspired by sob stories. We have to show the transformation to the better place. Even if you’re working for like, you know, you’re working with domestic violence, for example, you’re going to talk about how people got out of a dangerous situation. You’re not going to spend the time talking about how horrible the situation was. 

You might talk about it for a short time just to contrast, but that’s not where you end up with your story. So, it’s not like you said, Emmanuel, it’s not sob stories, but I think people can really talk about transformation in a way that. That, that really connects with people. I don’t think it has to be super complicated. 

Emmanuel: And Tobi, and I think another thing that people can do that I think is often overlooked is behind the scenes looks. If I’m working in a nonprofit and there are constant moving pieces of what I’m doing, if there are things that you would never think about that were happening inside the walls of this organization. 

Show the people how we get this work done? How do we switch out the artwork? How do we service so many people? How do we clean our facilities? How do I mean, there’s so many things and, and that speaks to that authenticity, vulnerability part that people love these days that they just want to know, you know, what really is happening behind closed doors. And I think that’s part of the story too. I mean, yeah, it’s just a big part of the story.  

Tobi: And I think the behind the scenes, like the underlying emotions or. message you’re, you’re sharing is, uh, or theme is either a theme of commitment to the cause, like, wow, look at these volunteers and how they’re rocking it or joy and happiness. 

Like, this is fun. Look how much fun people are having. Like working in nonprofits is not dreadful. It’s a fun place. Like you think about joy, people love joy nowadays. People are attracted to joy and happiness because we’ve had, you know, years of existential crisis. So, people want that. 

People crave happiness. We are swinging the pendulum from the negative to the positive right now, and it’s on the upswing. So, we want to have a mood for our videos as well. Right. In video, there’s a, you can imbue emotion so much easier than you can with any other medium. That’s, that’s what makes it so powerful. 

Emmanuel: With that imbue emotion piece, and I thought about this earlier and I forgot about it, but you know, it’s almost like when you send an email versus you have a phone call. You know, I can send something in an email and I’m, I can meet it in the nicest, cleanest, simplest way possible. But if someone, you know, interprets that in a different way, there might be a problem at that point, you know? 

So again, how can I, as a video or as a nonprofit leader, Recruit volunteers and engage more people in an easy way. It’s a video. You don’t have to guess. I can see someone talking. You know, I don’t have to guess what the emotion is. I don’t have to see if this is a sad story? Is this a happy story? Like you’re telling me everything I need to know in 10 seconds of this clip. 

Tobi: Yeah. Not to mention we have mirror neurons. And in our brains, and we are picking up the emotions of whatever we see on other people’s faces, we can see human beings can see so much subtlety in other people’s faces and body language. It’s insane. Anyway, let’s take a quick pause from my conversation with Aaron Walton and Emmanuel Le Graire about how. 

We can use storytelling to connect with current and future volunteers. After the break, we’re really going to get into the logistical part of it. I hope by this point, you’re like, yep, we need to do video storytelling. We absolutely should be doing this at our nonprofit, but I want to get into what logistics are. So don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.  

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Okay, I am back with my conversation with Aaron and Emmanuel about how to use video storytelling to move people to action. And I want to get into logistics because folks are now, now they’re excited about it. They want to do a video and they’re thinking, Yeah, but it’s going to be complicated. Yeah, but we don’t have any budget. 

Yeah, but it’s going to take too much time. Yeah, but I can hear the objections already. So, what would you tell or say to, or what do you say to nonprofits and other organizations that have limited resources? How can they do this? How can they pull it off?  

Emmanuel: If people don’t have the budget or a lot of time to do things, start simple, like we talked about earlier, use a phone, you know, it doesn’t have to be absolutely cinematic quality to get your point across, so how, who has a great phone in the office that we can just use with a little tripod, prop it up, make videos, Edit it, you know, download an app to edit on our phone and post it to social media or even use it in email marketing, you know, so there’s ways that you can just keep it very, very simple and almost nothing in cost. 

If you just watch a couple of tutorials online, edit it yourself and put it up, so bare minimum, keep it simple. That’s what I would say.  

Tobi: How about you, Aaron? What would you say? Anything else you’d add? I mean,  

Aaron: I would, um, just keep it in mind of like, what is the, what is the ultimate goal? Why, why do you feel that you do not have the budget? Is it that you don’t have the budget for what you envision that you want accomplished? Are you seeking resources to find that funding? If you want to up, up level it a little bit with like hiring a company, um, such as Walton Craver or any other. Production resource. But I think all the points that Manuel listed out is you can start where you are. 

Some of the creative that we’ve helped some of our partners create, some of the most impactful creative was from a phone, surprisingly. So, we spent a lot of time producing things that are housed visually on their website of like people’s first impression. But as far as continuously engaging that organic relatable footage was way more impactful. 

I wouldn’t have that barrier in place saying that we don’t have enough money, or it takes too much time. I feel like those are excuses to progress forward. And sometimes when you, when you just get out there and just start putting yourself out there, you never know the resources and the support that will come. That’s the main.  

Tobi: I like the idea too, of bringing on, you know, you could do a summer internship with young people. I mean, they, using a phone to shoot video is second nature to not every young person. I’m not saying that, but people, young people are really into using their phone for that. You could get a whole group of interns. You can have volunteer stringers like reporters that are going out to your events and just talking to people. I also like what you said about investment that sometimes. You can use video because you guys do this. You use, you help organizations develop videos that bring in more money, whether it’s individual donors or communicating with funders. 

And sometimes you can use video as your platform to be more effective. This is an interesting way to use video that I think a lot of nonprofits don’t even consider. They’re thinking, well, I’m, you know, I’m going to use video to share our mission with individuals. How have you seen it used to work with bringing in money from funders? 

Aaron: Absolutely. So normally when we come in, um, there’s always a, usually establish a relationship with a previous donor, whether they didn’t renew again with, with the organization due to whatever reason, or they’re in the process of renewing. And what we found is so effective is these major donors that are giving seven, eight figures to support a mission, they’re numb to it as well. 

They have money that they need to allocate, whatever. But there’s not a lot of recipients that are coming back saying, hey, thank you so much for your donation. Here’s the impact. And we present something visually that they can consume when they’re coming back to the board of like asking, like, hey, you guys were pivotal for our success. 

We’re asking for more money or more support. This is why visually just the power of the visual, like Emmanuel was saying, like our entire time together, it’s not just, we are typing up an email and saying, thank you for donating 500, 000 for this cause. We’re sending you like, hey, this, this is where your money is going. 

This is how you impact Sarah and her journey. This is how you impacted Tony and his journey. And we really helped package that together and pull emotionally and just strategically of how that impact. And they’re just so much more willing to engage in further funding conversations if it’s available.  

Tobi: You know, I could see also using that with volunteers in a volunteer application in a volunteer space. I could see your annual volunteer recognition campaign, you know, usually April, right, is global volunteer month and doing a thank you reel. But not a thank you reel of just; we love our volunteers. You know, all the volunteers are like, okay, but doing a video that shows impact of volunteers. And that’s going to increase retention rates as well, because people are seeing like their work has meaning. 

So, I could see it applied to the volunteer space as well. When it comes to having folks, because you know, I know people, one of the other objections people are having right now are worries they’re having is, well, wait a minute. How do I deal with talent releases? Is it okay to film people and use their images and their likeness publicly? How do they, how do you, what’s the easiest way to manage that so it doesn’t become a bureaucratic nightmare?  

Emmanuel: I think, uh, Most, I would say probably a lot of nonprofits have boards of directors. And if you don’t have someone legal on staff full time, um, grab who someone who was in your community and ask them to help you draw up a contract so you can release, uh, give them a release so they can, you can use their likeness in your productions. So you baseline, you always want to cover yourself. You always want to get that legal writing in hand, signature boundary, so you can proceed as you need to, you know, especially with children, you know, especially with vulnerable populations. You want to make sure that you are sharing every bit of information, where it’s going, how it’s being recorded. 

How long it’ll be used, is this perpetuity, is this for two months, is this on social media and email and book covers, is this on the back of magazines, is this in mailers, is this like, who is going to see my face, who’s going to hear my story, who’s going to, you know, see me for the next ten years or so, you know, so just be very intentional about Um, what you want it to be used for, how long it’s going to be used, get that legal writing so that they fully know and understand what they’re getting themselves into. But once, once you have people who are willing to do that and sign, and, but then you have to stay true to your word.  

Tobi: And I think following up to and letting them know when it’s live.  

Emmanuel: Yes.  

Tobi: You get a lot of sharing that way too, right?  

Emmanuel: I think that’s, that’s key. I mean, when we talked about other ways that people can engage with us or what other calls to action, you know, here’s another call to action. 

You know, you’re in the picture. Could you share it with your friends, please? And family, you know, is just a way to reach an audience that you wouldn’t normally reach. You know, I don’t know the people in Tobi’s network, but because of this podcast, um, Walton Creative Media Group is going to be catapulted to other people that we wouldn’t know typically. 

So that, that’s the power of cross pollination that you can really tap into in your media of all sorts.  

Tobi: And you can carry around a You know, if you’re, you’re interviewing a lot of people on the fly at an event, for example, you just carry around a clipboard, you have one person shooting or a couple of people shooting and you have one person with clipboard, that’s their job clipboard that’s called production assistant, you know, it’s that easy. 

You talked about earlier, Aaron, you talked about results and knowing whether we’ve talked a little bit about people react reactions to the videos we’re posting. What are other ways people would know that a video storytelling campaign was successful?  

Aaron: Yeah, absolutely. So, like with all the tools that you’re that we’re using. Social media nowadays has analytic tools built in. I know it’s so it’s kind of more nuanced with Facebook or Instagram. You must sign up for professional accounts and things of that sort. But of course, you can, we go on the backend so we can see more granular detail, like we’re using Google analytics and things of that sort to go back in. So, if you don’t have a web developer or resource there, um, some of the things you can do is just kind of keep, keep tabs of outreach, manually, if you, if you want to start there, you don’t want to get into the details there. If you’re putting out call to action or putting out email campaigns, how many responses did you have in January versus February? 

You want to do your quarterlies, like do you have events that are more prominent during a particular point of the year? You should see spikes there. I know we have clients that have spikes quarterly, um, due to various reasons. Or there’s a, there’s an annual event that we were filming for them that push, you can do some of these things manually, but you do want to get to a point where you feel empowered enough to utilize some of these free resources and tools that are used in our day to day platforms nowadays. 

So that’s how we measure success analytically. We have. Some back end measures that we can kind of get more granular so that so people can see the numbers, but for the day-to-day individual, just utilize the free resources that are available.  

Emmanuel: Can I add one thing to that? I would say on the manual piece, I would say put things that if you don’t have access to analytics and social media. 

You know, back in things like that, put things in place that you can track, you know, if it’s a respond to this email, if it’s a click this link in MailChimp or constant contact, you know, so all those things are readily available, you know, follow us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, you know, comment below, you know, so all those sorts of reactions you can get from people, make it baseline, you know, put things in place that you can easily and manually track and you can see your impact of the video. 

Tobi: I think too, you can do simple AB testing. Like you could say, okay, this week we’re going to do this video next week. We’re going to do this other video. They’re different in these ways. Now let’s see which one got the most likes or the most shares or the most. You know, engagement or if you’re, if you’ve, if you have a baseline for, we’ve been able to get X number of people to this event. 

Now we’re going to use video in addition to all the other things we usually do. And we’re going to see if we can get more people to see that it’s not a direct cause and effect. I mean, the direct cause and effect is if you do Google analytics. All y’all’s websites should have that hooked up so that people know how many people go to your website. 

If your videos are hosted on the website, if your videos are on YouTube, I feel like YouTube has pretty good. You know, you’re going to know how many people watched your video and how many people liked it. You know, YouTube is the video platform. So. And the thing people don’t realize about YouTube is it’s a search engine. 

It’s like Google, it is Google, right? So, when people are searching a keyword for whatever, like volunteer opportunities, Nashville, if you have a video that’s like, here are our volunteer opportunities in Nashville. And you’re using those keywords. It might, if enough people watch that video, it’s going to come up at the top of the search in Google. 

You know, or if people are on YouTube. So, it’s a bonus to have a YouTube channel for a search. So, you’re, you appear in more places. So, I want to just mention that, but let’s talk about hiring. When should folks start thinking about hiring a production company to come in? What advice would you give people about how to go through the process of thinking this through and what can they expect from a production company? 

Aaron: Yeah, I think first they needed the time and. That they have the funding available. So, we’re not just, just doing it because we want something shiny and new. And then second, you want to determine the purpose. So, if you’re getting there, you talked about it, um, before Tobi’s like, you’re going through a website revamp. 

Usually, what people don’t know is you can have the best structure of all time. On a website, but it’s really about the content there. So, what do you want people’s first impression to be? And usually, video is most effective. I think that’s when you start to determine like, hey, we, we want to make an investment, an investment here. 

And it, it really, it really depends. So, like if you’re getting to a stage where we have some of our clients that have budgets allocated for paid campaigns, you really want, if you’re putting out Organic content to people that know nothing about your organization. You want it to be effective. You want to be able to have the resources to A, B, C, D tests. 

You want to have varying versions of videos. You want to try flyers and things like that and have that bandwidth to reach your intended goal. But it must be a need, the only person or the only individual that can determine that is the organization. So, I think that’s some things to consider. 

Emmanuel: I would also say determining what the ultimate purpose is. I think. If it’s like Aaron said perfectly earlier, you know, if this is the first thing that people see our website, it’s kind of an evergreen production that you want to do that can last maybe two years or a year and a half or a year or so. 

Yeah, I think, I think a video production company is great, but if I can’t afford a video production company with me once a week for the next two years, then maybe I’m just doing the capstone projects are video production. And. And everything else is in house or in turn or, you know, something on a lower level. 

So I think it just depends on what your goal is, who you’re trying to reach, where it’s going to live, who’s going to see it, all those sorts of things as well.  

Tobi: Yeah, I mean, I think you’re right. I think your website is definitely the place you want to. I have some videos on my website that I did some and I, you know, the other thing gang is you can go into a studio, bring five different outfits. 

If you’re going to be the person that’s speaking, you bring five different outfits, you have five different things you’re going to say, you got your script ready and you get out there and you just do it in like three hours. And you just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and you’re done for the day. And then you let the video production folks, uh, work their magic and you’re all done. 

So, you know, if you don’t like to put on makeup or you don’t want to get dressed up or all that, you just do it for a day and, and be done, you know, at least for those top line videos. What should people be looking for when they’re looking for a reputable production company?  

Aaron: Yeah, I would say want to have a production company that has at least a couple of, uh, of your peers or, or, or nonprofits. 

You want someone that’s has experience in the sector. So, if you’re looking at production companies that specialize in, in gyms or things like that, it may not be the persona of the nonprofit you have. So, like if you, if they’re, they’re hyper and they haven’t worked with clients, they’re kind of more reserved and more serious than it may be counterintuitive to your brand. But you want someone that has a couple of Google reviews, has a good reputation. 

A lot of, I know a lot of my colleagues, they, they, they do offer a strategy. So, you want someone that beyond shooting the video that they can ideate with you, kind of sit down to understand, they’re taking the time to understand your calls because it’s so many varying factors. So they, you know, that when they have, or you’re collaborating on a project with them, that they’re getting the accurate message out there. 

It’s a lot of capable individuals. Um, but a lot of us, like some of my colleagues, we’re kind of nuanced into the strategy side. We’re not just production. We’re sitting down, we’re building relationships with you. It has to feel good when you have a conversation with them as well. You interview, you interview the production company. 

You don’t just go out and say, Hey. You’re a production company, I’m going to give you 10, 000. Like, be very intentional before you commit to a company because they, they’re going to represent you and what you, your brand and what you’re putting out there.  

Emmanuel: I think in addition to that, I think just on, the other side of things, you know, go to their website, look at what they do. Does their aesthetic of how they put out content? Does that fit visually with what you do? I mean, we have this, we, I’m not hiring someone that’s going to promote gyms and promote, you know, weird things that we don’t promote. But, you know, um, how does it look visually? Does it fit? fit kind of your aesthetic, you know, ask your colleagues as they worked with them. 

You know, word of mouth is a great thing. You know, how easy it was to work with these people? Were they professional? Were they timely? You know, were they, you know, did it get back to you in a good manner? Did you have to go back and back and forth and back and forth with edits, you know, so. Um, all those sorts of things, how you would shop for anything else, for a doctor, for a car dealership, for anything else that’s important to you, treat this the same way. You look at it from every aspect and you should be able to come out with someone that’s good for your organization.  

Tobi: Do you, do you think it helps to have a creative brief or an RFP or something in writing that, that helps a company know kind of a little bit about your general goals or should folks just. Book a discovery call and get started and have a conversation. What prep do people have to do or do they need to do any prep?  

Emmanuel: I think both and, you know, I think if we’re just having a discovery call, I’m just trying to figure out if, you know, if this is going to work, if our personalities matches our, if we fit, then we may not have to have an RFP up front. But I think an RFP always helps bring context to what you’re doing, context to what you want, and it brings a. Concrete goal to the conversation. So, if I have an RFP, if I have a creative brief, I say, hey, Aaron, you know, I want to create this for my website. I want it to be about a minute, 30 seconds. I want it to tell these three things. 

Then Aaron can say, you know what, that’s not my wheelhouse, but. I do know someone that can help you or he could say, Oh, perfect. I’ve done that for this organization, this organization, this organization. So, I think an RFP and anything in writing just kind of helps shorten that gap of you know, from thinking to doing, if that makes sense. 

Tobi: Cool. This has been a great conversation guys. Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope that this has inspired you folks to get out there and just start using video. I know it’s inspiring me and you know, I don’t use enough of video. I know I don’t. Because, you know, it’s just really hard to express who you are. 

Obviously, podcasts are great at doing that, but video is even better. Um, or as good, I’m going to say as good since I’m a podcaster. Uh, but let, this has been a really good, I think, you’ve given people, folks, our listeners something to think about around, you know, how to create emotional connections, the logistics behind thinking about making video and using it and leveraging it. 

Um, just one last question as we wrap up for each of you, what are you most excited about in the year ahead? And either of you can take that question and I’m going to have both of you answer it though.  

Aaron: But yeah, what I’m looking most forward to is, uh, just collaborating with more nonprofits and faith based organizations. 

I think since we’ve, um, put ourselves out there with our, we’re doing revamps on our, our end as well as, um, showcasing more about what the benefits that Watson Creative Group brings. to the market. And, um, that’s what I’m most excited about this opportunity. Tobi may not have shared it, but I did a cold outreach to Tobi, and it’s turned into an interview. So, I think, I think that goes again, that goes to the same tune of what we talked about earlier. It’s just, Put, put yourself out there, put content out there. Um, don’t be afraid to ask and you never know what opportunity may come. 

Emmanuel: That’s amazing. Um, I think on my end, I’m excited to just see the creation and the creativity that comes with videos, with content creation, with photos, with all of that amazingness that we are gifted with as humans. 

Um, I’m just excited. It motivates me to keep going to my job when I see other people doing amazingly creative things. Um, whether it’s with a phone, whether it’s with a And, uh, single use cameras are back, you know, or film photography or full-blown cinematic production. I’m, I’m just excited to see it all and see what stories we can share, um, and tell and how we get our point across and get our, uh, personal ideas across as well. So it’s all exciting to me. I’m, I’m very pumped to be, um, to be in this space.  

Tobi: That’s fantastic. Well, thanks for joining me today, Aaron. Just one last thing. How can people I’ll post both y’all’s links to your LinkedIn profiles, but if folks want to learn more about Walton creative and getting in touch with you. 

What’s the best way to get in touch with you and how can they follow up?  

Aaron: Yeah, absolutely. So the best way to get in touch with us is by visiting our website at waltoncreativegroup.com. Also you can message me, ping me on LinkedIn at Aaron P. Walton on LinkedIn, and that’s the best way to get in touch with me. 

Tobi: And folks can book a discovery call. Yeah.  

Aaron: Yes. Yes. I also, um, made a special link for your listeners that you can book a brief discovery call with our team to discuss anything you might have in mind.  

Tobi: Yeah. So if you guys are thinking about this. Get in touch. I’m sure they can help you think through and get creative. 

There’s probably some way you haven’t thought about using, using video to attract, speak to, attract volunteers, speak to their impact, build community. There’s like a lot of different ways videos can be used. So, you have really helped us think this through and I really appreciate y’all being here. Gang, if you liked what we presented today, I hope you’ll share it with a friend who might also benefit from Emmanuel and Aaron’s messages today. 

And if you like us, make sure you rate and review us. I would love to get those five-star ratings. I have an average five-star rating right now. I just looked, I was like, go girl. So, thank you to those who have rated us.  

Emmanuel: And Tobi, there’s that call to action we talked about, right?  

Tobi: There we go. Thanks so much for joining us. Hey, join us next week. Another call to action. Join us next week. Same time, same place on The Volunteer Nation. Take care, everybody.