Using Video Content Marketing: An Introduction

Video Marketing Strategies

Pen and paper is a great way to communicate, but it hasn't really changed in nearly 100 years. As tech has taken over, the ways in which we can communicate has become more diverse, with platforms such as Google, YouTube, Shopify and Facebook making the online world more accessible than ever before. Video content has become a key component of online communication.

The internet has a global reach: that's billions of conversations; billions of people who can be reached and engaged with; billions of potential customers. However, it’s important to remember that this opportunity breeds competition and there are also many more choices for consumers. Being able to communicate your story effectively is a key element in guiding consumers on their purchase journey before and during their time on your Shopify store.

Why Is Video Marketing So Effective?

Video is a fantastic storytelling device. We use stories to entertain and to inform. People have used stories for thousands of years to pass on information: from identifying dangerous animals in our early ancestors’ cave paintings, to hieroglyphics in Egyptian murals, to modern language. We have evolved to use stories as an effective way of communication. It just so happens to be that video is an excellent multisensory platform for communicating stories. Thanks to cinema, the structure of visual and moving storytelling has been refined and has developed common characteristics and tropes. The most common form of story arc is the hero's journey in which the main character goes through a transformational circle. So how do we use the medium as promotional and marketing collateral?

Video Marketing Benefits

Brands and marketers have used video to influence our behaviour with effective results. They have used imagery that we can all relate to, that often strikes a chord with our memories and emotions. Brands use this to influence us, whether it be through product placement, adverts or thought influencers.

The best adverts are ones that use association of memories, emotions and ideology, in order to build an emotional response to a brand or campaign. Think of the John Lewis Christmas ads for example.

Talking of Christmas, the image of Santa Claus that we all know and love was actually created by Coca Cola, who first depicted him as the friendly and plump character with a white beard (and although they don’t claim responsibility for the red outfit, it’s worked out well for them from a brand colour perspective!).

When it comes to video there are many choices. Often people are put off by not knowing where to start from a technical perspective, or because of the perceived cost involved. However we are often working within campaigns that rely on content. By cross-pollinating this content on different platforms (such as television, YouTube, social media platforms or on the brand’s website) we are able to maximise the value of the video content by amplifying it through different channels and bolstering the campaign by putting it in front of audiences in different spaces.

Commercials can be rerun for specific events that marketers know are key dates in their diaries such as Christmas and Easter. This is really helpful for marketers, as it allows them to plan their content strategy around these key dates well in advance.

Video Marketing Statistics

If you’re not yet convinced by the potential value of incorporating video into your marketing and content strategy, here are a few headline stats:

81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool - an increase from 63% last year.

78% of people watch online videos every week, with 55% viewing online videos every day.

Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to just 10% when reading it in text.

72% of customers would prefer to learn about a product or service via video.

Below we talk a bit about some of the projects our in-house videographer and creative teams have been working on this month, and some strategies you may find useful.

For Goodness Shakes

The starting point for any project is to understand:

a) who is it for?

b) what do we want the campaign to do?

We recently produced a short film for a brand called ‘For Goodness Shakes’. They produce supplements for people who have an active lifestyle. We documented a charity run in partnership with GoodGym to promote the brand and its benefits.

This involved a group of volunteers running to a local community centre and lending a helping hand. The core messages for For Goodness Shakes is ‘feel the good’ so by running to a local community centre, it not only makes the volunteers feel good from the exercise, but they also get to see the good they are doing from a community point of view.

The main goal of the video is to drive the messaging of ‘feel the good’ by partaking in good things. We wanted to inspire followers of FGS to get active. It also demonstrates the company culture and commitment to local people, health and wellbeing. We capitalise on the film by making it work across different platforms such as the web and Instagram to drive awareness of the key message.

Going into production we knew it was going to be very much a ‘run and gun’ shoot. The story would be unfolding right in front of us, so we needed to be light on our feet and react to events as they happened. Time and location are always a challenging factor at events. Because of this we decided to capture the whole event in slow motion to give us more wiggle room in post production.

After production, it's time to assemble the film. However first we need to convert the footage to something more manageable - most computers and hard drives can’t read the video files fast enough. To do this we create ‘proxy files’ which is a copy of the raw footage but in a smaller format, like 720p.

The trick to a good edit is to draw out the key messages that we can take advantage of. This is what the film is built around, and holds the edit together while everything else fits in (such as cutaways, music, graphics and animations). We then take the edit to our grading suit where we grade the film to make it look its best.

After all this work we then present the edit to the client for feedback on all aspects of the film from the messaging to the design and musical elements. We generally create a longer first cut so that client can see all the elements, we then go to the cutting room and trim the fat from the film. This can be a tricky process but you have to be willing to cut clips you love to get the edit right!

At this point we are getting close, however we still have to work on the sound design and sound mix. This really helps to give the film more depth and make the interviews sound great. We then go over all the elements to make sure everything is working together and share our progress with the client again. It’s very much a collaborative process, ensuring we capture the client’s vision while steering the project using our expertise.

The film is currently going through the final edit and will be going live soon.

Brand Imagery

Our design team have been working closely with another client - a new brand launching on Shopify soon - to help define their company image. Our goal was to create some imagery that could be used across social platforms to start to grow their audience. These images have been created by our design team and used by our marketing teams to be deployed online across social media. More on this exciting launch soon!