Artistic execs are sometimes multi-dimensional. An architect may additionally design furnishings. A author may compose music. And a performer, comparable to Matthew Gattozzi, founding father of Goodo Studios, may shift to pictures.
Till early 2020, Gattozzi was an expert ballet dancer. A again damage pressured a profession change and the launch of his enterprise, which produces pictures and movies for ecommerce firms. “We work with established and up-and-coming manufacturers by understanding the way to use and leverage content material for income,” he informed me.
He and I lately mentioned his journey. The audio of our complete dialog is embedded under. The transcript is edited for size and readability.
Eric Bandholz: Inform us about Goodo Studios.
Matthew Gattozzi: We create pictures and movies for client manufacturers. We do TikToks, user-generated content material, and high-end or paid media, utilizing the whole lot from cinema cameras to iPhones.
Earlier than Goodo I used to be an expert ballet dancer. I danced all through the U.S. and Europe. I used to be dancing at Ballet Austin and injured my again. So I needed to cease that a part of my profession and shift to pictures and movies. I lately moved from Austin to Seattle. I used to bop there, and I met my spouse there.
I based my firm in early 2020. It was simply me, and I didn’t begin in ecommerce. I labored regionally in Austin with many wonderful eating places, however issues got here to a halt with Covid. I needed to shift and rebuild. Now I work with a staff of photographers, creatives, and editors. It’s not simply me anymore.
Many consultants within the area went to highschool and discovered brand-building expertise. I didn’t go to school. I used to be supposed to bop till I used to be 30 and ended up jobless at 21. I knew rather a lot about social media, however folks weren’t curious about hiring me as a result of I didn’t have a resume. I needed to say sure to the whole lot to start with, which was onerous, but it surely was additionally good as a result of I may determine what I wished to do.
It helped me to understand that the folks I serve are advertising and marketing managers and paid media professionals. I tailored my communication to talk to them. I began taking what I do as a inventive and translating it into how they discuss. Many creatives don’t do this.
I work with established and up-and-coming manufacturers by understanding the way to use and leverage content material for income. Manufacturers put money into content material, however additionally they have the mindset that the content material will generate earnings. So we converse to that and assist construct model methods — on natural channels, product pages, web sites. We study to adapt to the most recent media consumption. For instance, after I began two years in the past, TikTok wasn’t as outstanding. Many of the movies I shot had been horizontal. Now the whole lot is vertical.
Bandholz: How do you deal with copyrights?
Gattozzi: My method is to be as beneficiant as potential. I inform my shoppers, “You should use this content material. You’re investing in these pictures and movies, and also you get unique rights, copyright makes use of, and business use right through, with no licensing.”
I would lose out as a result of I’m not nickeling-and-diming the model, however I’m making an attempt to ascertain a long-term relationship. I’m somewhat non-traditional in that method. Some creatives say, “It’s best to know your value; put your foot down.” However I wish to change how we produce content material. I wish to work with main manufacturers. I’m not going to get there except I do one thing completely different.
A buzzword you’ll hear rather a lot is inventive technique. It boils right down to content material creation. Creatives for large advertisers are lacking out by not adapting to how briskly media strikes and the way shortly manufacturers must create. We’re making an attempt to construct a content material engine for manufacturers. We provide you with concepts, check these concepts, and execute them.
We contain staff members in the whole course of. Disjointed manufacturing is frequent within the business. An ideal photographer who isn’t a part of the planning received’t perceive how the pictures can drive gross sales.
Bandholz: Describe a Goodo Studio engagement.
Gattozzi: Most manufacturers ought to deal with why shoppers are shopping for. Typically we’ll ask shoppers that, and so they’ll checklist their product options. Okay, cool, however what do your clients say? That you must perceive your target market — discuss to them and do surveys. The concepts are infinite in case you study your buyer psychology. Most manufacturers miss that. So I advocate for the intent behind the pictures and the movies.
We do picture and video shoots. However we additionally do TikToks, user-generated content material, and advert modifying. We take current property, and we extract worth from them. When a model involves us, we begin with modifying earlier than we shoot something. The exception is an upcoming model or product launch.
We take a look at why clients purchase and undergo a course of to determine that out. Most manufacturers have a backlog of nice content material. They only haven’t remixed it sufficient as a result of they don’t have the sources or the crew.
As soon as we’ve confirmed some ideas and generated concepts, we double down and scale these ideas and check extra. Then we are able to herald creators which are superb clients for that model. We provide you with the briefs and ship the product out to them. They shoot the whole lot and ship it again to us. We edit all of it.
We’ll rent a crew, whether or not it’s in Seattle or in Austin, to work on the manufacturing. That’s how we flip round. We don’t do picture and video manufacturing with a model each month, however we do lots of modifying. That offers us time to plan these shoots. Many manufacturers are hesitant to spend the cash for intensive manufacturing for concern it’s going to flop. So we attempt to check the ideas early with some low-lift inventive, then go to larger productions.
Bandholz: What makes somebody inventive?
Gattozzi: A wonderful inventive asks nice questions, interprets the solutions, and uncovers what the consumer needs. A awful inventive will say, “Okay, bought it,” and depart. Asking lots of questions helps the model pinpoint an issue. Some come to us and clarify what they want. It may be difficult for people to explain an thought of their minds. I’ll ask them questions. How is their enterprise? The place has their advertising and marketing been? The place are they making an attempt to go? Why do they want a inventive associate?
Typically, after the primary name, we notice they don’t want pictures or movies. They want modifying. It can save you manufacturers hundreds of {dollars} by asking the precise questions.
Bandholz: How can listeners join with you?
Gattozzi: They’ll go to our web site, GoodoStudios.com, and subscribe to my publication. I’m on Twitter and LinkedIn.
