A picture might be worth a thousand words, but why would you stick to a single picture when, according to Forrester Research, a minute of video is worth 1.8 million words? However, to create a valuable marketing video you’ll need to do more than switching on a camera. Mapping out your video with a clear plan is the best way to increase its chance of success.
What Are You Trying to Achieve?
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Have a single, clear goal in mind when creating your marketing video. Perhaps you’re trying to raise awareness of your company, educate customers about a new product, increase sales, or improve your image. Whatever your goal, write it down and refer back to it throughout the creation process. At every stage, ask yourself whether your efforts will support this goal, so you can keep your marketing video on track.
Who is Your Audience?
Once you know what you’re trying to achieve, identifying your audience should become clear. No video marketing campaign can appeal to all types of consumers. Instead, build a clear picture in your mind of the type of person you’re trying to speak to. Is this person young or old? Male or female? With children or without? What are his or her passions and hobbies? The clearer the picture in your mind, the better, as it will guide the language in your script, the visuals you use, and other production elements.
Where Will the Video Reside?
Once you’ve made your video, where do you imagine it will reside? Planning this will help you create video that’s the best length. Videos on social media compete with memes and statuses, so they should be short; keep these under 45 seconds. On crowdfunding sites you’ll need time to build trust in your brand, so make your clips around 2.5 minutes. Podcasts on your website should be much longer; 22 minutes is ideal.
Who Will Produce the Video?
Once you’ve planned other aspects of your marketing video, start thinking about production. Should you self-produce, or enlist the services of a professional team?
Self-production is relatively affordable. Anyone can make a marketing video with just a smartphone and free editing apps. Your production values will be lower, but that may suit family businesses that want to seem approachable.
However, there’s some truth to the old saying that you need to spend money to make money. Hiring a production company can be expensive, but it will help you create a professional looking, high quality marketing video.
Browsing through the “Producing a Video for the First Time” ebook created by 522 Productions will show you how much knowledge a company like this has about video production. When you hire a production company, you benefit from its knowledge and experience. The pros are likely to have ideas about how you can make your video better. Should problems arise in production, they’ll have the expertise to fix them.
Ask yourself some key questions about all aspects of your video before you turn the camera on or turn your ideas over to the pros. This will ensure that your production runs smoothly and your marketing efforts have the greatest chance of success.
Article Submitted By Community Writer
