Video is fantastic content. Both Google and your audience will value it. I’ve found videos especially effective for clients who want to
a. Explain a difficult concept in an easy way
b. Establish their position in the market immediately.
‘64% of consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it’
Over the years I have helped clients with many different types of video depending on what outcome they were looking for.
Animation
White board animation
Vyond animations
More standard animation
Talking heads: Castle CODA introduction video
Instructional video: Castle 40-point minibus checklist
Positioning: SWJ Consulting demonstrating the type of client they work with
Promotional: Daybreak, Oxford. The launch of their Christmas Campaign 2018
Homemade explainers: Quick and dirty but none-the less effective
It doesn’t matter what type of video you want to make, you need to follow similar steps and ask yourself some important questions:
1. What is the purpose of the video (educate, entertain etc) - this will help you decide on what format it should take?
2. Who are you making this for – who is your audience?
3. Where will it be used - do you need to chop it up for social, is it going on a website, are you going to list on YouTube?
Once you’ve got the answers to these questions you can start planning your video and begin creating the introduction to your brief for whomever is going to produce it for you.
4. Sketches and storyboards
Storyboards are a great place to start for getting what you envisage in your head down on paper. An more importantly sharing your vision with someone else. Don’t worry if you’re not a great artist, this is just about creating an initial concept that includes all the relevant points.
You can use a storyboard style of successive boxes to draw within or take photos of ideas. What’s important is you’ve identified a beginning, middle and end, and the key points you want covered.
If it’s a talking head video, then you can start planning out the script. But, think about location and background. If there is an opportunity to include your branding, and it's appropriate, then make sure you do.
5. Scripts and annotations
It might be that you’re leaving the illustration to the professionals, so you’ll need to concentrate on a script that gets over everything you need included. This is particularly important if you’re trying to explain something complicated in a simple way. Don’t over think it and keep it as simple as possible.
Bullet points are a great place to start, the artist can then provide a storyboard and you can fill in the gaps.
6. Full brief to producers and project coordination
These documents form part of a complete brief for the videographer or illustrator. You’ll need to think about any extras like soundtracks, subtitles or credits.
7. Using your video across different platforms
Your final video should become the perfect showcase to position your website, explain your concept or launch your product. But it pays to think about how else you could use it and commission shorter sections to highlight separate services or products, great for social media posts, online forums, emails and online advertorials. Take a look at our ‘How to use video to get your point across blog’.
We use Filmora9 to edit footage, add subtitles (85% of Facebook users watch videos with the sound off - social media today) and resize appropriately for the platforms.
Videos form part of a comprehensive marketing strategy and should be one of the tactical tools in your plan. If you’re ready for video marketing, but you don’t know where to start, give me a call (07813 846569) for a quick chat. We might not be the right fit for each other but I can certainly help with some advice in the first instance.
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