Gerrit VanDyk ran Soll Media, a Des Moines-based video production and content marketing business built around a simple but specific idea: video isn’t a luxury, it’s a strategic asset inside a marketing funnel. He and Isaac knew each other from the Iowa creative scene — they’d last caught up over sandwiches — and the conversation moved across rebranding a one-person company, building a personal brand on top of running a production business, choosing the right platforms, the real difference between a videographer and a production company, and why client testimonials might be the most important asset a business can own right now.
Soll Media and the Video Asset Approach
Gerrit’s whole framework starts with the marketing funnel — awareness, consideration, decision, and advocacy, looping back around — and the recognition that video does a specific job at every stage. Social content and paid ads at the top, brand-story videos and product demos in the middle, client testimonials and FAQ videos at the bottom. That’s the lens he sells through, and the language he’s deliberately adopted.
“I’ve really come to love the term video asset… because these are assets. These are valuable pieces of how you run your business.”
A few years ago, he noted, you could make something cool for a business and everyone would say wow — but what did it actually do for them? The shift toward strategy is what he’s leaning into, and this year he was in the middle of a full rebrand to reflect it. He was careful not to share too much, but he was candid about the tension underneath it.
“The longer you stay within a certain brand, the more brand equity you have. And if you decide to scrap all that and change it, you’re losing out on that big time.”
It was easier, he said, to change things freely when it was just him and his computer. Once you’re out meeting people, wearing your brand colors, you really notice whether the brand helps or hurts — and you have to decide.
How Gerrit VanDyk Built His Personal Brand
The second focus for the year was a personal brand — something Gerrit admired in how Isaac had built his own. He was working out his content pillars: his journey as an entrepreneur (a word he thinks carries unfair stigma when it just means creating value from your ideas), the tangible tips and tricks he’s picked up, and community building. He had roughly three months of content scripted and waiting to be shot.
The hard part wasn’t ideas — it was respecting his own time the way he respects a client’s. That became his phrase for the year.
“One of my phrases that I go by this year is trying to treat myself like a client.”
Isaac connected with the same struggle. His own fix had been pairing a dedicated production day with a backlog scheduled out a month ahead — so the peace of mind that content is going out frees you up to also make spontaneous stuff you actually want to make. He’d also been working to take the filter off and post less-polished things from his phone, not just produced work.
Picking the Right Platforms
A big chunk of the episode was platform strategy. Isaac’s approach is to cast a wide net and treat every platform as an outlet for the same message. Gerrit was leaning the other way — toward segmenting, because each channel does something different and meets people in a different headspace.
“I kind of think of TikTok like FaceTiming a friend… it’s off the cuff. It’s a lot more raw.”
Instagram, by contrast, had quietly become something more formal. For small creators especially, he argued, it now functions as a portfolio.
“Instagram more than anything, even for small creators, more than a website, it’s become a portfolio space.”
LinkedIn was where the local business leaders gathered, and where Gerrit had found the most value connecting with people in his own community. Underneath all of it was a bigger thesis: the era of one giant interconnected feed is fading, and people are moving toward smaller communities — which means meeting each audience where they actually are.
Both of them had also let go of feed aesthetics. The endless grid-perfecting, the red-shot-then-graphic-then-green-shot Canva template rhythm — neither thinks it connects anymore.
“A lot of businesses are kind of stuck doing that using those Canva templates, and that’s not connecting with anyone. That’s not doing anything for their business.”
For Isaac, the moment he stopped caring was when Instagram shifted from square posts to 4x5 and people started re-tweaking their whole feeds to compensate — a clear sign it wasn’t a good use of time.
Videographer vs. Video Production
One distinction Gerrit kept coming back to was the difference between a videographer and a video production company — and the transition he’s making toward the latter. A videographer is linear: you show up, shoot as much as you can, and assemble the story from what you got. Production runs in reverse.
“With video production, you kind of start in reverse… you plan out the entire thing. You have your shot list, you have who’s doing what.”
He’d discovered he genuinely loves pre-production — the script that informs everything, the previs, the shot-list spreadsheets, the location scouting — even if it sounds dull to describe.
“It sounds really boring when I start talking about it like this, but I promise it’s really fun.”
The bigger payoff was collaboration. Working on crews — sometimes hired as a gaffer, sometimes bringing people onto his own projects — let him focus on being great at one role instead of wielding a camera while juggling five.
“Surrounding yourself with other creative people, especially people that are better than you, is the best thing you can do for yourself.”
It also meant less burnout. Running every role solo, as Isaac put it, leaves you with a fuzzy head and a higher chance of a mistake on the actual video.
Why Client Testimonials Win in the AI Era
Asked which video asset businesses most need, Gerrit didn’t hesitate: real client testimonials. And his reasoning was pointed at where things are heading. As AI video tools make polished content trivial to fake, trust becomes a business’s most valuable asset.
“In an age of over-information, having actual people that have experience with your product or service, and putting that everywhere, is going to be super important.”
Testimonials are versatile — a talking head, a more cinematic visual story, a paid ad, a section on the website, a display at a trade-show booth — but they live at the bottom of the funnel, where people are deciding. Isaac echoed the behavior driving it: searching “best gravel bike Reddit” to hear what real people actually say.
“I’ll put Reddit at the end and see what real actual people are saying in these forums.”
They closed on the bigger ecosystem — owned, paid, and earned media as the three bubbles, and the importance right now of owned channels like a podcast or YouTube that link back to your website. SEO, Gerrit noted, is shifting into AEO — answer engine optimization — but the principle holds: own your channels, repurpose your content across formats, and let every asset reinforce the others.
Key Takeaways
- Treat video as an asset, not a luxury. Every video should do a specific job at a specific stage of the marketing funnel — that’s where it actually earns its keep.
- Respect your own processes. The phrase “treat yourself like a client” forces the discipline most creatives only give to paying work.
- Match the platform to the headspace. TikTok is raw and casual, Instagram has become a portfolio, LinkedIn is where local leaders connect — each meets people differently.
- Production beats running and gunning. Planning in reverse with a real crew produces better, more creatively fulfilling results and far less burnout.
- Surround yourself with people better than you. It’s the fastest way to learn and the best antidote to doing everything alone.
- Client testimonials are the asset to own. As AI makes polished content cheap, real proof from real customers becomes the thing that builds trust.
Learn more about Gerrit at sollmedia.com. Connect with Isaac at isaacjarnagin.com.
