Results driven video: it’s all about reverse engineering.
What impact do you want video marketing to have on your business?
- Drive traffic to your website?
- Increase sales?
- Raise the profile of a new product?
- To recruit new talent?
- Improve website SEO?
Asking yourself this question is always the best way to start the video production process. A video for video’s sake can be a big mistake and a complete waste of company funds and resources.
Video is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful marketing tools and with so much noise and content out there it is now even more important that your video cuts through.
Here’s 5 tips for creating video that will have a better chance of returning positive results for your business.
1. Viewer Persona
What does your ideal viewer look like? Sketch them out on a sheet of paper, it may very well be a few personalities in one. Talk about their viewing habits, what interests them, what value do they need from you, what problem are they encountering that you can fix for them, what do they like or dislike?
2. Key Message
Keep it simple, stupid. What are you wanting to say in your video? An awful lot of corporate videos are packed with information, blasting the viewer with a mass of muddled messages that do nothing but turn the viewer off. If you want a general promotional video about your business, pick at least one key thing to focus on throughout the video (i.e. quality of product, dedication to great customer service, portfolio etc).
3. Viewing Habits
With your viewer personas in mind, think about where your audience will be watching your videos. Mobile and other small screen devices are now a very popular platform for viewing online content. If this is the main viewer platform, it can have a dramatic effect on how the video is made. I’d strongly recommend making various versions of the video for the various platforms and devices (i.e. mobile versus desktop, Facebook versus YouTube versus Instagram etc).
4. Incentive
What is your call-to-action? What action do you want your viewer to take after watching the video? More importantly, what is their incentive to follow your CTA? You might have a coupon code if you’re selling a product, or offer the viewer even more information on an important subject. Think about the next step along the sales process, a video is only step number one for your prospects.
5. Hiring A Video Agency
Filming your own corporate video on your smart phone can be an effective way of creating content for your business. However, depending on your answers to the above points, it can also have a negative effect. It comes down to first impressions and credibility. A professionally produced video with a very clear and qualified message can dramatically raise the profile of your business. Your time is more valuable than the tangible costs of making a video, don’t waste it on videos that will have the opposite effect to what you actually want.
Need help with creating results driven video? I’m the CEO & Founder of Stada Media. Find out more about our video production services here.