WHAT WILL REALLY MAKE THE DIFFERENCE IN YOUR APPROACH TO VIDEO ONCE THE MARKET REALLY HITS FULL SATURATION POINT?

With every marketing blog, magazine, website, social thread, trade show and conference speaker shouting out loudly for the last three years that video is "The Future Of Marketing" the visual content market place has grown substantially and the well documented, sometimes lamented pivot to video has well and truly happened.

We can now stop saying the brands, businesses and organisations understand they need video (because we all know that they actually do understand this... It started to sink in at least a year and a half ago for the slower learners and marketing budget spend on video has grown incrementally ever since).

The statement is no longer just a well worn cliche it is irrelevant.

Everyone gets even at the most basic level that they need video.

Most people by now probably even understand why they need it and what options are available for them in procuring it at various scales and levels of quality and craft, at various time scales and across numerous time zones.

The challenge as the market becomes more saturated with content is no longer that they need video, or how to get it.

The real challenge is what kind of video and what kind of strategic approach to video do they need to actually stand out?

Its always easy at the start of a market shift to make some headway and get some wins on the board by just making visual content and putting it out there - expectation from the audience at this stage is pretty low (you've not made content for them before, they are happy that you are accommodating their changing tastes, they will watch and consume).

As you develop from these early wins you naturally build confidence and you grow to a point where you feel that video is a commodity you well understand and like any such commodity you try to find ways to make more of it, cheaper, faster, more cost effectively at scale to reach more of your audience, more often (because that's what they want right?).

There is nothing wrong with this approach, it as I have already stated makes perfect sense and is a common growth journey for most products and commodities...

But also just like a lot of products and commodities once the market place becomes saturated with a choice of other options for your audience to consume just showing up and putting out content is no longer a strategically sound or sufficient approach in generating any kind of ROI on your content.

Even when it comes to hygiene and hub content the expectation from your audience on what you can serve up for them versus what your competitors are serving will grow and if you are still just releasing talking head videos shot in your office with a bit of text, maybe some generic overly and graphics you are not going to keep that audience engaged.

Audiences are smart.

They appreciate stories.

They appreciate innovation and new ideas.

They appreciate consideration of how the informational content within your visual content is delivered to them - particularly when they don't feel like it is informational content just being delivered to them.

Even the driest, most conservative of audiences appreciates a change (or even just an innovation) in the information rich diet of factual content delivered in most of the content designed and released for their audience.

They too engage in storytelling.

Why?

Because they are human and human's love storytelling.

If you don't believe me think about it...

You do it everyday.

You do it when we talk to your kids, your co-workers, in presentations about office culture, with the Uber driver, at the pub - you tell stories about your experiences good and bad and you wrap them up in stories.

Storytelling is ingrained in the human experience and we can not escape it.

As the shift to market saturation of video rapidly approaches (some would say its already here but I don't agree) this becomes important in your strategic approach to video and how you define your voice for your audience.

Its no longer enough to show up and talk audible print.

You need to increase your awareness of your audience, their thinking, what motivates, inspires, drives and causes them to take action and you need to create stories that appeal to them (that also tie to your specific business objectives).

In order to this you need to work with people who actually understand visual storytelling.

You need to partner with them to define the visual language of your brand, business or organisation and translate it for your audience.

You can do this at scale.

But scale is irrelevant in the saturated marketplace unless it is combined with a unique voice, a unique storytelling style, and quality, crafted content that appeals specifically to your audience and keeps them engaged with you and not your competitors.

This kind of storytelling takes skill and craft.

The smart brands, businesses and organisations of the world already know this and more and more are turning to this form of visual content already.

If you want to avoid getting lost in the white noise ocean of all your competitors visual content and create something that stands out and sets you apart you will too.

As always if you'd like to know more or chat with me directly reach out to me here on LinkedIn I am always open.

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