Jeff HiltyVideo marketing is a powerful marketing tool that can help companies reach a wider audience. Researchers at Oberlo found that 85% of Americans watch online video content each month. Video posts on social media tend to get pushed to the top by the platforms and enjoy high engagement rates. This means any video content a brand publishes is likely to get seen. The challenge is turning those views into conversions.
Thinking Strategically when Producing Video
Video marketing is a chance to communicate with your desired audience in a high-impact, memorable way. For your videos to be a success, you first want to define what you are trying to achieve with them. Are your videos:
- Designed to build awareness (advertisements)
- Designed to encourage more thoughtful consideration (case studies, webinars, overviews)
- Intended to build enthusiasm or delight (product launches, community videos, onboarding guides)
An advertisement for a general audience, for example, would be simple, punchy and memorable. A case study for a corporate audience would aim to combine the formality of conveying information combined with an understanding of the human element, and product launches for existing fans may use more humor or jargon.
Your video strategy may well involve a little bit of each category, especially if your brand has been around a while. Your goal is to understand which type of video gets the best results.
The Importance of Consistency
Your videos serve as the face of your brand, so you’ll need a consistent voice. Content could be funny, edgy, authoritative, emotional, or a mixture of all of those things. The important thing is that you are consistent.
If you make “accounting software for people who can’t be bothered with accounting” and your brand exploded in popularity for making a dry subject entertaining, you would alienate your customers if you started producing information-heavy, serious videos. A more ‘serious’ accountant may lose some longstanding clients if they adopted a flippant tone in their promotional materials. Figure out who “you” are and stick to it.
Here’s a recent example on brand consistency with Rosetta Stone:
What to Look for in Your Video Production Team
Some brands have done well from streaming live content on Facebook and other social platforms. The live and interactive nature of the platforms means viewers are more forgiving of mistakes and low production values. For pre-recorded content, however, production values matter.
Working with an external team can help you produce polished videos, but you are at the mercy of the production team and their understanding of your brand, therefore, you need to find a company that understands you. A good corporate video production company will:
- Listen to you and get to know your brand
- Have strong communication skills
- Understand the emotion you want to convey, and bring that out on-camera
- Be adaptable and flexible
- Become an extension of your in-house marketing team for the duration of the filming/production
Find a team that you feel is effortless to work with and that your team gets on with. The passion will shine through in the videos they make.
How Much Does Video Production Cost?
Video production is a skill. Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that anyone who has a good camera can make impactful and engaging videos. You truly do get what you pay for when it comes to corporate video production. So, think carefully about the types of video you want, and how best to make the most of your marketing budget.
Costs for video production will depend on:
- The length of the video
- The complexity of the brief
- How much post-production is required
- How much set work is required
A simple video that requires only a small crew and minimal or no shooting (for example, editing together stills or existing footage), may cost as little as $5,000. If you need voiceover work, more advanced intro/outro animations, or to have video shot over a period of 1-2 days, then you can expect the cost of the video to increase to between $5k and $12.5k
More complex video work with graphics, lighting, and sound teams can cost $12.5 to $30K+ because of the need for larger teams. When you are investing this much into your video marketing efforts you can expect to receive creative support to help you turn your vision into a reality. This team should help explain what works and what doesn’t, and help you turn bold and adventurous ideas into practical footage that looks good on-screen and represents your brand.
There are still limits to what can be achieved, even with a $30K+ budget. If you’re looking to create a long-form film rather than a short promotional video, you can expect costs higher than this. Remember that long and flashy isn’t always a good thing. This is particularly true with videos intended for an online audience. Attention spans on social media are short, and the best videos get the point across quickly and clearly. Focus on fulfilling your objective and sending a clear message within short time constraints. A collection of effective bite-sized videos will do more for your brand than an expensive feature film no-one watches. Make sure every cent you spend works hard for you.
Plan Ahead to Make Your Video Marketing a Success
The best videos are ones that people don’t just watch, but engage with. Ones they comment on, share, or look forward to watching again. Seasonal promotions are great examples of this. Festive videos get discussed regularly, and other public holidays offer a good opportunity to refresh your marketing efforts, reminding people that your brand exists without giving them “message fatigue”.
Thanksgiving, Halloween, the New Year, Easter and other major celebrations all allow you to get creative. Depending on your niche, Spring Break or Back to School promotions may also be useful. Plan your marketing calendar for the year and have some videos ready to go so that there’s always something fresh to keep your audience entertained. Holiday marketing is so popular for one simple reason – it works.
Filming a large selection of videos in one go is a time-efficient way to prepare your marketing efforts and ensures your brand image is consistent too. If you’re stuck for ideas, we can help you identify key seasons for your industry so that you can plan around them and maximize the ROI for your marketing campaigns.
How We Make Videos
When a potential client reaches out, we learn as much as we can about the organization and audience, then translate that into an actionable plan, with multiple angles of consideration, all creative, all the time.
We analyze every brand we work with, talk with the stakeholders, and align all ideas towards a common goal. Then work with or build budgets and packages to meet the project needs, whether that’s producing videos for different platforms, making a series of videos, or adding a little extra polish to that long-form presentation, and that’s it.
Our goal is to help your brand have its voice and we aim for collaborative partnerships where we work with you to bring your vision to life. Contact us today to discuss your video ideas and get your brand the attention it deserves.