This is the beginning of a series which will look at video production from the beginners point of view. It’s aimed at those in marketing who don’t understand video but want to know enough to commission something or perhaps have been tasked with the job themselves (maybe you over exaggerated your experience on your CV, I’m not one to judge!)
I’m going to start with the basics of marketing, seems crazy I know in a blog aimed at marketeers, but I can’t tell you how many times I talk to clients who actually haven’t thought that hard about their message or how they intend to communicate it. “Tell the story of the product” is the usual guiding script. And don’t get me started on those who don’t know their audience, “well it’s everyone really” I’ve heard that one quite a bit too. So marketing for marketeers, a reminder…
What Do You Want to Communicate and Why?
Once you have an idea you need to be sure you fully understand everything about what you are trying to say. The planning stage is perhaps the most critical step to producing a successful video. Time consuming errors can be avoided by spending the necessary time to make a clear plan, right from the start of the project.
Finding Your Key Message
Any good project will have a strong message or theme. Deciding on your key message will hugely increase your effectiveness in communicating your issue. If you are able to concentrate your ideas down to one or two sentences, it will really help you to focus.
Know Your Audience
It’s best to define your audience as early on as possible. Who do you want to see this video? Who do you think would be most impacted by your message or product? These targeted groups are your audience. Examples may be CEO’s or commuters but be more critical when defining your audience, what’s their education likely to be or their income? Picture a single person who represents your main audience, it really helps.
Marketing Your Message
A video on it’s own isn’t enough, you need to tell people it’s there. I have made many films for firms who simply place it on their website and never refer to it again. Plan a campaign around it, emails, social media, get colleagues involved if your advertising budget is limited. If your video isn’t time limited go back to it over time.
Call To Action
Give the viewer the best way to get in touch and a reason to do so, it can be a limited offer, a suggestion of more information or a reason only you have what they need.
Know When You Are Successful
Plan how you will measure your effectiveness. You could ask a colleague to act as a test audience, set dates to review your progress. You could contact some members of your potential audience and ask for their advice in your planning. This ongoing dialogue will help keep your purpose and focus in mind during the project, and give you helpful feedback for improving your work. Remember, you don’t have to do everything that other people suggest, but the information that you gather from them will prove to be very valuable!
A final tip, social media viewers on average watch less than 30 seconds of any video online. Planning your film carefully can mean you have the media to create several clips of this length which can be a campaign over time in itself.
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