As times change, many old barns and structures have been left to rot away. Henry Stoltzfus at Stable Hollow Construction loves history, as do his workers. What began as a construction company, soon developed into a passion for preserving old barns with as much historical detail as possible. Each barn has its own fascinating legacy waiting to be told through restoration.
To inspire others to restore a decaying structure on their own property, Stable Hollow and Rosewood decided to join forces to research and share these stories with the world, posting a new story every several months. Their vision for the project is to build their brand, while shifting their marketing focus from generating leads to converting more leads into sales.
Since videos connect to viewers in a powerful, emotional way that written words cannot, including a video testimonial would breathe life into the project. This would be the perfect way to see the person behind the barn restoration, allowing viewers to hear the history in their own words.
Filming the Video
Rosewood formed a team to create the project stories: a photographer, writer, and videographer. Recently, Stable Hollow renovated a dilapidated bank barn into a wedding venue near the town of York, PA. The team of three from Rosewood went to Historic Ashland to film drone footage and capture the heart and soul of the renovated barn through photography and videography. When they arrived, they strolled across the freshly mown grass, exploring the historic property.
After a welcome from Leah, Lyndon and Derlyn proceeded to photograph the beautiful gray barn, and Shelli headed into the restored house for an interview. The story unfolded as they looked at old deeds and photos, and talked about the initial discovery of the ruined barn. Leah had plenty of good things to say about Stable Hollow’s restoration job. Afterwards, next to a quaint stone fireplace beneath the high wooden-beamed ceiling of the barn and sparkling string lights, Lyndon & Derlyn filmed Leah telling about her experience with Stable Hollow Construction.
Her warmth and genuine appreciation for the job Stable Hollow did was easy to see. After capturing a few more photos and a few additional drone flyovers, the Rosewood team left the elegant wedding venue behind, and headed back to the office.
Video Production
Next came the fun of the writing and video production. Derlyn and Lyndon drew up a rough storyboard, then pieced together flyover drone footage, the interior barn shots and the interview to produce a video. The newly made video, freshly written story, and stunning photography were all posted to Stable Hollow’s website and announced through an email blast and Facebook post.
What Are the Results?
While it’s still too soon to tell what long-term results will be, traffic to Stable Hollow’s website picked up after uploading a couple video testimonials and project stories, and they have received more newsletter requests than usual. Henry has no doubt in his mind that it will be worth it in the long term.
“One thing I appreciate about the Rosewood team is that they schedule and call the customer. I get permission and they take it from there and collect the data. It makes my job so much easier. I don’t want to be involved other than getting permission and away we go. It feels like we’re on a team. I think the stories and video testimonials are going to be a great thing. If you can get your customers to say good things about your company and put a face to it, it’s a no-brainer.” – Henry Stoltzfus, Stable Hollow Construction
Do you feel that video testimonials would be helpful in your own business? Contact the Rosewood team today to make it happen.