How U.S. Travel Association unlocked creativity and efficiency with Storyblocks

U.S. Travel Association is a national non-profit organization representing and advocating for all components of the travel industry. They have been investing in video over the last few years to help promote the organization’s events and original content on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Since 99% of their video is created in-house, they needed a robust solution to help them produce a high volume of video content quickly.  

With Storyblocks, U.S. Travel Association is not only able to find all the content they need to produce over 100 videos each year, but now more marketers on the team are able to help create videos for social media through Maker for Teams. Instead of having to create and source all footage on their own, they rely on the Storyblocks library and video editing tools to quickly create professional videos.

The challenge

When Nolan Nichols joined the U.S. Travel Association to start up their in-house video efforts, he knew that he needed a solution that would support him as the sole producer of video content on the marketing team. But that solution also had to check quite a few different boxes. They needed a large library of diverse content that was backed by comprehensive legal protection, while also helping them streamline their production process.

What’s been super helpful to the broader team is knowing that when we give folks footage that’s coming from Storyblocks, they’re legally protected and we’re good.”

Nolan Nichols

Manager, Video Production

How Storyblocks solved the challenge

Unlimited stock content for any project

Nichols was already familiar with Storyblocks from a previous job, so 
he knew it would be a great fit for his 
new role coming into the U.S. Travel Association. Instead of having to worry about filming their own content, he 
could turn to Storyblocks’ library to 
find the footage he needed.

As Nichols put it, “I’ve used Storyblocks since day one. It really gives us a lot of resources and weapons without having to get footage and approval processes through cities on their own. Now we 
have a place that’s a really great starting 
point to launch into whatever project 
you want.”

Enabling team members to create video

Being the only member of the team 
with a background in video production, 
Nichols was almost always at capacity 
for projects he could take on, typically juggling between two to five videos 
a week. But with access to Maker, an easy-to-use online video editor, even teammates with no prior video editing experience were able to quickly learn and create professional-looking videos 
to use on social media. Instead of having to wait for Nichols, his team are now empowered to create video on their own, leveraging Storyblocks’ tutorials and resources to scale their video output.

Maker has been a great asset for the team and a great entry point for folks to really get into video editing. Two to three people on our team started dabbling in it and they’ve been able to make social media videos that I don’t have the bandwidth for, and they’ve enjoyed doing it. To be able to give them a resource that they can jump in on and still have access to all the footage they need has been a huge assist. They’re getting different things out of Storyblocks 
than I am.”

Streamlining video production

As an Adobe Premiere Pro user, Nichols was thrilled when Storyblocks launched 
a plugin for the Adobe Creative Cloud. Being able to access Storyblocks’ full library right inside the editor has been extremely helpful for cutting down the number of steps it takes for him to
create a video.

It works incredibly well. It’s been a great asset, just having that easy, seamless plugin on your OS.”

Conclusion

Using Storyblocks unlocked video as a key part of the marketing strategy for U.S. Travel Association and is vital to what they do. Their team doesn’t focus solely on metrics when it comes to measuring the success of their videos. Instead, they focus on quality over quantity. With Storyblocks, they can emphasize the visual storytelling 
of their videos, making sure they’re sending the right message to the right audience. Storyblocks has enabled Nolan and his team to create more professional videos 
for their social media and events than ever before.

“What Storyblocks has is so great. I’m a team of one, and it allows you to really scale up faster and really put out more content faster. People are shocked when they realize I’m the only dedicated person creating video, but Storyblocks can give you the resources to extend your capabilities,” concludes Nichols.

It’s just been a game changer for working on a lot of different projects, when you need to be able to find quality, professional content fast and efficiently.”

Nolan Nichols

Manager, Video Production