Sometimes, promoting a small business or launching an epic idea can be tough. Doing so often creates its own set of problems + challenges to face. However, with the right team and support, those small businesses can thrive and those ideas can be brought to fruition. Enter, Nicole Schram. As a Hoboken resident and Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon producer, Nicole can make all those promotional dreams come true {including our Hoboken Wellness Crawl vid!} with her own video company that she created, called Royal Piranha Productions. Keep reading to find out all about Hoboken Girl of the Week, Nicole Schram of Royal Piranha Productions.
Tell us about yourself.
Six years ago, my husband Kyle and I, started Royal Piranha Productions, a video production company. The company has expanded to a full-service creative agency.
We help people tell their story in an ever-changing, need-for-speed, digital culture. We strengthen brands by producing strategic video content that is geared towards specific platforms. We’ve worked with businesses to create promos, with influencers to create video content, with musicians to produce music videos, and even some narrative web series.
What advice can you give local Hoboken businesses who are thinking about marketing with videos?
I believe it’s important to keep yourself up-to-date with the current digital atmosphere and social media platforms that are available. That should shape what kind of videos you make, how you make them, and where you display them. For instance, your Instagram videos should be no longer than about 30 seconds, but your YouTube videos can be two minutes or longer, depending on your content.
It’s always good to have a mix of professional and personal videos. YouTube now offers a feature video to be displayed on your profile page. The video you choose to display on the homepage should be a professionally produced sizzle reel or short that gives the viewers a polished first impression of you and/or your business. The personal, or self-shot videos, provide users with organic content that comes straight from the brands themselves. It adds original credibility. It’s smart to strategize a good balance of creating your own videos and investing in professional content produced for you and your business.
One of our clients, a fitness influencer, managed to gain over two million followers in the span of two years by devoting a huge part of her brand to videos. She produces a portion of videos with us, and then her day-to-day content she does on her own. Her success has been remarkable to watch.
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What is a sizzle reel?
A sizzle reel is what we like to call a “digital elevator pitch” at Royal Piranha. It’s essentially a video that tells a user about you and/or your company in about a minute. Back in the day, our parents were told to have an elevator pitch, basically, a story that sells yourself in the time it takes to ride an elevator with someone. In today’s culture, you need a digital one.
Do you have any tips for creating videos on your own?
Absolutely. You don’t have to be an expert in video to produce some amazing content. Some tips are:
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- If you are shooting with GoPro, they have an editing program called Quik that reads your footage and edits it all together to music for you. It’s a real no brainer.
- The Spark Camera app for your phone is also great for editing and lets you have more control in your post-production process, but it’s very user-friendly.
- There are a wide variety of lens adapters available for your phones. This lets you film quality videos in the palm of your hand, with a device you already own.
What’s it like working with your husband?
We actually met at work when I was an intern on Saturday Night Live and he was working in the cue card department. Years later, we both started working for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and that’s when we started dating. So, working together is all we have ever known! We now have two little boys, all under the age of two at the moment, and we joke that parenting is essentially the same as working in video production. You have to prepare for everything, you have to have the right equipment, and you have to know how to cater to the stars of the show {aka, your kids}.
What are your goals for the year?
I would say I have two goals:
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- This is a constant goal of mine: To stay up-to-date on our current digital atmosphere. This really affects video production, and I feel you have to know it to be successful.
- To connect with more local businesses and collaborate on video projects. We love Hoboken because it’s small and intimate, but filled with some of the most creative experts in their industry. It’s a tiny square mile radius that we live in, but our neighbors are creating these grand innovative projects that are making waves far beyond the borders of our town. That excites me.
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What is your biggest source of inspiration?
I have never had just one source of inspiration. I have so many creative entrepreneurial family members, friends, and co-workers who continuously inspire me in multiple ways. The inspiration comes from side projects or events created by friends and co-workers to sitting around the dinner table brainstorming with my family on upcoming or developing Royal Piranha projects.
What’s a typical day look like for you?
I love routine, but “typical” isn’t ever a word I use to describe my day-to-day lifestyle. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is always striving to shake things up which means the schedule is constantly changing. Royal Piranha allows me to work with a variety of clients who are looking for different video styles, so I am always exploring new avenues to leave our clients with a project they are always happy with. And, I can’t forget to talk about the curveballs being thrown my way both literally and figuratively with my two sons. They keep me on my toes even when they have a pretty solid routine each day.
What has been the highlight in your life so far?
The highlight of my life, along with my career, was meeting my husband, Kyle, at work. Without him, I wouldn’t have Royal Piranha, but more importantly, I wouldn’t have my boys. It’s been amazing to work on passion projects with him. It’s not always easy. I would be lying if I said we didn’t have disagreements about the direction of projects, but we always manage to come to an agreement on what the finished product will look like.
Another highlight has been getting to be a part of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon turned The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and see it grow and evolve over the last 10 years. Being able to work with some of the best in the biz every day is priceless. I’m constantly surrounded by people who make me laugh as well as challenge me professionally. We all have been there for one another in some of life’s biggest moments, creating a pretty unique family-style bond.
Keep up with Nicole and her business on Instagram at @royalpiranha and online at www.royalpiranha.com.
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