Does your business need a video?

There was a time when a company only made a film if it was either for staff training or for a TV commercial. That has all changed and wherever you look online, in-store and when travelling information is more and more likely to be communicated via video. There are multiple reasons; bandwidth, digital cameras, software editing tools, consumer demand, ease of use, but as a business you cannot avoid the fact that to hold an audience and get your message across you need motion pictures and sound. But there are some very important guidelines to ensure you do not trash your image and loose customers:

Here are a few pointers to prove why video is something you need to do immediately:

81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool — up from 63% in 2017 65% of those who don't currently use video, say they plan to start in 2018 There’s been a 17% increase in video usage during the last 12 months 44% of marketers have hosted or participated in a webinar. Out of those, 87% found it to be an effective strategy 97% of marketers say video has helped increase users’ understanding of their product or service 76% say it helped them increase sales 80% of marketers say video has increased dwell time on their websites 47% say it helped them reduce support queries

Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users

Social media is the place where video is also changing the rules here are a few stats:

Video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined on social platforms 38% of marketers have published video content on LinkedIn 75% of marketers found video to be an effective strategy, and 55% plan to use LinkedIn video in 2018 87% of marketers have published video content on YouTube and 90% of them found it to be an effective strategy 68% of marketers have published video content on Facebook, and 87% of them found it to be an effective strategy 70% of marketers plan to use Facebook video in 2018 Views on branded video content have increased 258% on Facebook and 99% on YouTube as of June 2017

So what's stopping you?

In the UK particularly the perceived cost and usage of the film once created is stopping many marketeers. There is a worry about creating content, how long it will last and the creative approach. Many companies remember the days of boring corporate videos and terrible training videos. But times have changed. Today the approach is to tune the content and creativity closely to your target market. The element of selling, adding pack shot still of products and overlaying with text and calls to action are really completely out of place. Today people by people and want to understand the human factor behind the brand or product. Video is of course perfect for this. It is the skill of the writer and creative director to ensure that a script and story board is created and agreed before you even get close to setting up a film camera. Just like the effort that goes into any publication making a film is all about preparation. You don't want an over edited result as your customers and really everyone is expecting high quality as they see on TV everyday. Don't think those natural fly on the wall videos that look like they were taken by accident actually were. You need the right team to make video work and that means people who are experts.

So what works?

There are a lot of different techniques to create a set of videos that really sell and tell your story in a new and creative way:

1. The 'about you' video. This is normally a video that is less than 1min long and tells a short compelling story about the company and the people. The more about the people the better. It can be branded and have a call to action but should introduce something probably didn't know about your business. (it should work mute with subtitles)
2. A describer/explainer video which explains your service or product offering with a lot of benefits and not too many lists of features. The use of time lapse and actors speaking to camera with cutaways works best as does animations and sketching pictures to a voice over (always compelling to watch when done well). Never turn it into a straight sales advert unless you are actually wanting a standard advert as these have less effect today. People will watch if you entertain them with new information presented in subtle way.
3. Question and answer videos. These can be done as a single person speaking direct to camera answering a specific question. They can be very short or if you make it interesting viewers will watch for as long as they want. The format also works in a discussion group. Skill is required here to edit well so that the viewer instinctively knows who is asking the questions and normally a 2 camera set up is required to make this work
4. Customer testimonials are a fabulous way to develop empathy with your customers they will love being filmed and a good honest testimonial less that 30secs long always work well. The trick here is to write with them and even use an auto-cue. Otherwise make it a Q&A session
5. A good TV style advert. The holy grail is to create a super quality creative 30-45sec advert. Think M&S and John Lewis at Christmas. These are full of CGI (Computer generated imagery) the latest music, and fabulous sets. The reality is that if you have a compelling idea and a difference a quality ad can be produced at a fraction of the cost it might have been 10 years ago.
6. Event videos are also great. If you are having a conference or exhibiting then commissioning a film crew to record the set up, opening and comments from visitors are highly effective and gives you the opportunity to sell your whole story with interviews with customers and staff on the stand and in more relaxed moments
7. Blogs with video and podcasts- the great thing about tech today is everyone is getting better and better at using it. This is really because it is becoming easier to use and less costly. So even as a professional marketing and film production company our approach is to encourage your marketing team or someone just interested at the company to experiment and we can help you develop the skills. Goals could be to create a monthly video news update or a weekly product technical briefing, or a regular pricing and availability video.

Once you've got the bug and established your Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest accounts suddenly you will see a huge difference in your web traffic and interest in your brand and company. Add a short video to the beginning of all your presentations and meetings plus a screen in public areas and you will be amazed by the difference it will make. Employees, suppliers and customers will feel more confident about you and your brand.

Written by Stuart Greenfield