St. Louis, MO - April 19, 2022 – One of the biggest buzzwords in content marketing and social media is “authentic.” It means honest. True. Not hyped advertising salesy or slick. Real.

Typically the “authentic” label is given to another buzz word UGC “user generated content” or DIY video. Typically these videos are poorly shot shaky videos, but they honest stories.

We don’t think your video needs to look like the Blair Witch project to be authentic. DIY can be DIR (do it right) , but you have to invest in some basic production tools to do it right. Unfortunately, most DIY videos are not DIR . They are poor quality difficult to watch videos.

If you decide to go the paid route with a traditional video production company, those companies often overcompensate on the production side to the point where it comes across like the Truman Show. It reeks in a different way. It smells fake.

So DIY can stink because of poor production, while on the other end of the coin those slick fancy corporate videos smell a little off because that are anything but authentic. But darn they look amazing.

Why can’t you have both?

Or at least something in between.

Why can’t you have good production quality and authentic? That idea is what gave birth to the whole premise of the sweet smelling StorySMART.

We love the democratization of media more than most. We think it is absolutely amazing that you could produce an awesome video with the cell phone in your pocket.

When I was a kid, I shot Super 8 movies and dreamed of being the next George Lucas or Stephen Spielberg. I love how technology empowers us to get involved in good storytelling. I love how anyone today can publish a book or post a video that could reach a global audience.

But, let us be honest, the democratization of has given birth to a whole new phenomenon or problem.

Stinky writing and stinky video production.

I can’t tell you how frustrating I find it to read a book that includes typos, incomplete thoughts, run on sentences and the like. With video it is even worse. Youtube and social media are clogged with many bad videos.

I guess it is what it is.

The lesson here is just because you could do something doesn’t mean you should. (I could hear my mom's voice with that line).

While you could prepare a great meal at home, there is something special about going out to eat. That notion is what is behind our premium service. Our master video chefs cook for you.

Just like a good ghost writer can help you write your book, StorySMART exists to help you tell your story on screen in a way that is both authentic and high-quality.

You deserve nothing less. You deserve to have your story told in an amazing and honest way. You also deserve to own that story -- copyright and all-- just like you would if you hired a ghost writer to write your story.

We created our premium storytelling service because we believe that a professional helping you tell your story will do a much better job than you would by yourself.

I have no doubt that Steven Spielberg or George Lucas would do a better job bringing my story to the screen than I would. Sure my version might be “authentic” but would you pay to see it? Isn’t there a better chance you would want to see the George Lucas version?

That is the idea behind our premium service. We connect you with a professional storyteller – typically an award-winning television journalist or an independent filmmaker.

Our process is designed from the ground up to be authentic, high-quality, and efficient. We ensure authenticity by following a brand journalism model and adhering to an ethical credo. One of the reasons many scripted videos come across as inauthentic is because it follows a script. They tend to end up being over-produced to the point where they feel fake. They stink in a different overproduced (think Spielberg’s 1941 or Costner’s Waterworld) inauthentic way.

It is awkward for normal people to read a script or say a line. Trained actors or seasoned journalists can read without looking like they are reading. They can deliver a line scripted by someone else in a convincing way.

While I see a day in the not-to-distant-future that we will do scripted storytelling, I don’t see us formally offering that for sale any time soon.

Right now our focus is on helping small businesses connect with customers by telling authentic, honest stories that are relevant to their target audiences. We ensure authenticity by following a high-integrity brand journalism interview model. We interview your folks. They don't need to prepare anything. They simply show up and our reporter talks to them on camera. It feels more like a conversation than an interrogation. Our experienced journalists make it simple and pleasant.

Then our journalist prepares the story. It might have reporter voice over or it may not, depending on what you decide. We use the same approach with our storytelling for families, individuals and celebrities.

We also have built efficiencies into our approach so we don’t break the bank with a single video. Sure we could have five or six people in our crew to cover your story. The quality would likely increase with the additional people and equipment. But, more often than not, you don’t need it.

We believe you are better served by doing more videos than spending your entire marketing budget on one slick video.

We think most brands would be better served by producing six or seven videos from us for $18,000 rather than spending that same amount on a single 3 minutes story from a traditional agency. Sure you will expect the more expensive story might look prettier, but I sincerely doubt it is worth it. Please note, I’m using real numbers. An agency friend recently ran a $18K proposal pass me. It was from a good agency that was going to produce a three minute video for a non-profit to show at their annual event. It included scripting, three interviews and a single location shoot.

While it is significantly more than we would charge, I informed my colleague that the bid wasn’t really out of line as I believe that is consistent with the market. They use more cooks in their kitchen to make the meal. We only use one. We just believe in offering more meals for the money. Our approach will get you dinner for a week.

What is “better” is in the eyes of the beholder. Don’t get me wrong, if you want to pay us $18,000 for a video story, we will accommodate you. But for that level of spend, expect some cinematic pizzaz with drone footage and the like. Or we can do the shoot some place tropical.

Regardless of the approach, I am a firm believer that perfect is the enemy of authentic. It your video looks “too produced” you run the risk of your audience thinking it isn’t real.

We have developed our proprietary “StorySMART” production model to ensure you not only get the story you deserve, but it is high-quality and authentic. In short, we promise it won’t stink. It will be honest, authentic, audience focused and yours. In short, it will be StorySMART.