Right Person, Right Seat

Every great video marketer started off doing it all themselves.

They came up with an idea, shot it, served as the talent, edited it, and published it.

Then, they read the data and used it to improve the next time.

The modern age of media has birthed a generation of DIYers with the capacity to fill any role on a production team.

However, a single Jack or Jill of all trades doesn’t scale. Creator burnout, writer’s block, and the limited number of hours in the day demand that teams get built for the highest levels of the game.

Not only do MrBeast, Gary Vee, and MKBHD have teams supporting them in their video production. So do brands like Duolingo, Red Bull, and GymShark.

If you’re reading this, you’d probably be pleased with 1/10th the success of those six entities. To get there, you still need to hire well and fill roles in your video marketing pragmatically.

Here’s a primer on how to think about it.

Traction

Traction is one of the most popular books in the world of small and medium sized businesses. Written by Gino Wickman, it provides a comprehensive operating system to help businesses grow consistently and build enterprise value.

It’s worth a read due to the enormous list of entrepreneurs & leaders who swear by its insights into goal setting, aligning your team, and reporting key data.

I’ve spoken with a number of leaders running their company on EOS, they often cite one part of the EOS framework that is transformative, but often overlooked.

It’s called “Right People, Right Seats”.

The idea is to take an inventory of all the people on your team and assess them against your cultural values.

Then, you cross reference them with the core problems that your business needs to solve.

To get your people into the ‘Right Seats’ you need to evaluate three elements

1. Do they Get It

2. Do they Want It

3. Do they have Capacity for it

To be in the ‘Right Seat’ your team member needs to understand the job, want the role, and have the bandwidth to take it on. As you think about building out your video team, keep that framework in mind.

Roles and Goals

Editor: Usually, the first hire will be an editor. Editing video well is a tedious process that requires a high attention to detail, context on the subject matter of the video, and fluency in the tools and techniques that work in the modern era of video.

This person needs baseline skills that you should be able to assess in the interview process by looking at their portfolio and giving them a sample project. Once a candidate checks that box, you need to assess their ability to hit deadlines and improve iteratively.

Writer / Researcher: You may be able to write all your content yourself. But to scale content, having someone assist in developing your scripts is a huge help. We have hired professional YouTube scriptwriters and learned a ton in the process about how to structure a video to perform on YouTube.

But if you’re not ready to shell out thousands of dollars for a scriptwriter, then a part-time researcher can go a long way. Someone with curiosity and some domain knowledge can save you a ton of time collecting background information on the subjects of your videos.

Content Manager: When we produce one Short Form Vertical Video, it gets published at least 5 different places. Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Linkedin are no-brainers. We are currently working on our process for Twitter (X). This is not an expensive task to hire for and can often be incorporated into another role within your company.

As a baseline, this person needs to be highly organized and responsible. Bonus points if they have any copywriting abilities.

Strategist: There are three places to get insights for your videos.

1. Which of your content is performing well

2. What other content in your niche is performing well

3. What strategies/tactics are effective in other niches and could be copied in your field.

This role requires strong analytical skills, comfort processing data, and the humility to let go of ideas when they’re proven to be wrong.

Sequencing

At Piper, we hired editors first. Then a content manager, then a blended role between writing and strategy. We’ve also hired YouTube scriptwriters on a contractual basis.

If I could do it all over again, I would have gotten a researcher/strategist earlier in the process. However, we were more constrained financially in the early days and that probably would have been difficult to fill.

Good luck with your hiring!

This was the first week of the Piper Video Guild. We covered effective strategies for developing engaging shortform vertical videos and how to make it a repeatable process.

Our members include founders of seven figure agencies, heads of media for $100m energy companies, and creatives looking to inspire their generation.

If you’ve been meaning to dial up your video marketing, grab one of the last two founding member slots in the Piper Video Guild.

• 1 coaching call every week

• Our In-house Videographer course (sells for $300)

• Access to a Private community of Ambitious Builders

• Access to a "thumbnail" chat where you see us iterate on thumbnails and can drop your own

Reply “Guild” to this email to grab one of the last spots.