Local High School Video Competition

As a family run company, we are always trying to figure out ways to compete with the Amazons, Wayfairs, and Walmarts of the world. I am always searching for talent. One day when picking Alex up from Addams Family rehearsal I mentioned I was looking for help with videos, and my friend suggested I speak to Joe Miller at Northview High School. I knew Joe from a distance. He played the Bishop in SEACT's production of Les Miserable last spring in which Alex played a Barricade Boy. I spoke to Joe and made plans to visit the school the following Monday.

Back to School:

On Monday, a lockdown drill was scheduled for school so we rescheduled for Thursday. I invited Michelle (from our Digital Marketing Dept.) to go with me to help answer any questions. I was definitely a little nervous going to speak to a high school class. Especially after Alex, who is a freshman in a different high school lectured me about not being boring, and not getting too geeky about the data. He suggested I involve the students, so they didn't fall asleep.

One kid did fall asleep. I started off by going around the room and asking each student for their grade, and what they hoped to study in college or do after graduation. I was really excited when one kid, Eli, said he wanted to be a writer. A couple of kids said they wanted to be attorneys, several were unsure, another a programmer, and another a personal fitness trainer. Definitely a diverse group of kids.

What I Learned:

I started sharing about what we do and was shocked when almost no one knew that someone actually paid when they clicked on an ad in Google. As we covered what we were looking for help with, and sharing about what we do, I realized that the most important thing here was not the videos for the products, but the most important thing was giving these 15 bright, spunky students an opportunity to have a little bit of an advantage in life.

Everyone in the room was completely clueless about Google, content, impacts of social media, etc. After leaving the classroom, I felt compelled to involve these 15 kids as much as I can in the products they chose. When they look for a job one day or start their own business, they will have a little bit of an edge on where to look, and how to be found online. I also realized how much some of these kids loved writing, and how wonderful it would be to have their work shared on a website like Jeffers.

Coming Soon:

Each student will pick a product to do a video for, and the product with the highest increase in revenue will be the winner. Each student will be able to see the traffic to their product, the number of "add to carts", and the number of units sold. I really hope for some of the kids in our small South Alabama town that this impacts their lives in a very positive way. Stay tuned for the videos and the results...