You know how I’m always harping on about how you should be using video to promote your organization or business? I do it because you’re awesome, and I want you to be successful. Video is an incredibly powerful marketing device, and it’s being totally underutilized.

It’s understandable, though. People get intimidated by the thought of shooting video. First of all, lots of folks feel really uncomfortable on camera, and shooting good video, in my mind, anyway, requires you to be personable and yourself, instead of being some robot reading off of cue cards. The whole idea of video is capturing your personality, your passion. Secondly, not everyone has the right equipment, and this can be a bit of an investment. Thirdly, there’s the editing process.

I have recently started a series of video blog posts with a friend of mine for my cooking blog, and shooting the first one was a real eye-opener. I’ve been shooting video for quite a while, and one of my main problems with my video camera is the sound. After shooting my first vlog, it became deeply apparent to me that it was time to invest in a new camera, one with an external mic plugin. I’ll be buying the Canon Rebel T3I this week, and then investing in a shotgun mic.

However, if you’re not ready to take that financial plunge yet, you could get one of these babies for your iPhone. Also, don’t forget a tripod: there’s nothing less professional-looking than a bumpy video.

Editing?? Here you go. Fill yer boots.

I also recently invested in a cool little program for the Mac called Keynote ($20 from the App store). Ostensibly, Keynote is presentation software (think PowerPoint), but it also gives you the ability to make animated titles and graphics, like I did for this video.

Finally, I wanted to share with you this video tutorial by my friend Carla, where she shows you how to set up your very own home video studio for about $400. Includes a teleprompter and everything! How pro!