Thinking about dipping a toe into video marketing, but not sure how deep it goes? You’ve come to the right place.
Having produced thousands of videos for our clients, we know exactly how intimidating video marketing can be. After all, it ain’t cheap and you need to know you’re gonna get something from it!
This blog will give you a better idea of what’s involved, so you can start developing your own video content plan!
Why video marketing is vital
Let’s face it, we’re all hypnotised by moving pictures – TV binges, movie marathons etc. – and social media is the same.
In fact, people are 10 times more likely to share video posts with their connections than any other type of LinkedIn post!
Video is that much more engaging that 80% of marketers agree that video has directly boosted sales too! And there are so many different ways to use video in your marketing. Here are just a few:
- Behind-the-scenes
- Brand videos
- Case studies
- Customer testimonials
- Event recaps
- Expert interviews
- Educational / How-To…
- Explainers / Tips + tricks
- Product demos
That makes video a vital aspect of your marketing strategy if you want to turn the most eyes your way. But how? Without the right plan, things can quickly go off-track, get rushed or forgotten about. That’s why it’s so important to develop a video content plan.
Developing a video marketing content plan
Think of your content plan like your video bible for the year, with all the different campaigns, locations, timeframes logged so you can keep to your production schedule and publish videos on-time.
But if you need to separate a specific project, especially if you’re working to a tight deadline, it’s best to work back from when you want the video published!
Things you’ll need to consider for each video in your plan:
What’s the Takeaway?
We don’t mean what’s the number for the pizza place down the road, more what message do you want your video to drill into the brains of its viewers?
In the end, every decision you make when it comes to producing your videos should come back to that takeaway.
Storyboard and script
If it’s just a short, informal piece to camera, you may fair better with a more improvised approach, maybe just some cue-cards to stay on topic.
For anything that’s going to require a team to film, make sure you use that valuable time well by making sure you’ve got an idea of the shots you want and what’s being said
But no matter what, remember “the shorter the better!” No one wants a brand video as long as Ben Hur. They want short and snappy!
Shooting stars
Ask yourself, who’s going to be in the video? Will they be comfortable in front of the camera? Are they free on filming day? Asking questions is easy – getting everyone in the same room at the right time is the hard part!
Any video production company worth their salt should have Directors skilled enough to get the best performance out of your team, even if they’re camera shy, and help juggling diaries to find the right dates and call times for filming to stay efficient.
Filming
If you don’t know your gobos from your elbows, how to light a scene or the fundamentals of video composition, we’d really recommend working with an expert, as there are a lot of factors in video production that can affect the overall quality of the end result.
If it’s one person in front of their phone or computer screen, fair enough – go at it all guns blazing! But if you want your videos to convey the professionalism and credibility of your brand, make sure you’ve got the skills to back it up!
Post-production
Depending on the type of video you’re producing, you might need to think about audio, and any effects, titles and animations you might need to include. And they may take a while to produce, especially anything animated!
While we just said consider audio, it’s also worth thinking about silence. Social media users on mobiles tend to watch videos with the audio off. So, it’s probably worth adding subtitles to your video to make sure that key takeaway still comes through on mute!
Going at it alone may seem like an easy way to save money – and it’s great for short, informal videos on social media – but trust us, you’ll want an experienced partner with you for bigger projects!
Not only can we help you figure out where we can add the most value to your video marketing, like brand videos, anything that’ll live on your website or gets presented to customers. But we can also make sure that you stay on schedule and deliver a professional video experience that works into your wider marketing strategy to enhance your brand, not tarnish it!
Plus, we can find other ways to optimise your content plan. For example, if there’s an overlap – subjects, interviewees, locations etc. – between two projects, it could be far more time (and cost) efficient to film them together, even if the end-results are planned to be published months apart!
There are a lot of other factors to mull over through your planning – budget for one, which is its own kettle of fish – as well as minute details like video resolutions for different platforms, what kinds of cameras and lighting rigs to use – Yes, they can all make a BIG difference…
So, if you want to start your video marketing journey but don’t know which direction to go, give us a shout. We’ll walk you through each step at your pace, keeping your videos on-track and on-time.
If you’re interested in seeing how we could help you, download our Price Guide here.
