Today’s general media usage pattern favors images and videos over pages of text and long, descriptive paragraphs. It’s true that text-based sites are still critical in conveying news and detailed information, but the average user is more engaged with and spends the most time on visual content. One need only look to the cult-like popularity of the image-based news site Buzzfeed to understand this trend. Images are such a critical part of the average media usage pattern that a typical user scans a website in under three seconds and draws a conclusion about the brand, site, or content simply by the visual elements alone.
This is why corporate video production is so important when positioning your brand and engaging your audience. To help guide your video production needs, our full-service Orlando marketing agency is here to help. Click here for examples of our work. When you’re ready, our team will help you craft the perfect marketing videos, assist with the story boarding process, refine messaging, and convey tone through images. As you begin thinking about the types of videos your brand can’t live without, here is our cheat sheet for success. We’ll share the one thing that matters most in corporate video production and two bonus tips that certainly help.
MUST DO: Get painfully aligned to your audience’s media usage pattern:
If you are an avid reader of our blog, you have probably heard us tell you to get painfully narrow about everything from media spends to big data investments. We like to think of this as our “Golden Rule” of digital marketing, so you shouldn’t be surprised that it’s our top recommendation when thinking about corporate video production. When your content is too broad, you risk never engaging your users enough to break through the hundreds of ads, blogs, and distractions vying for their attention. No product or service is suitable for everyone, and your content shouldn’t be either.
When you know your audience very well, you’ll understand their unique media usage pattern, you’ll know the types of material they enjoy most, you’ll know where they spend their time online, and you can tailor your content to their exact needs. By getting painfully aligned with a specific target audience, you may feel like you are alienating customers who don’t fall into that specific subset. Flip your perspective here. Instead of alienating customers, you are simply embracing the quality over quantity mindset to build your business with ultra loyal customers who will engage with and stay with your brand. As this base grows, more subsets will begin learning about and adopting your brand as a secondary audience. In other words, by going narrow, you’ll get broad. If you start broad, you risk never getting noticed at all.
This is critically important when producing corporate videos. No branding video should be longer than 30 seconds, and most viewers stop watching after 10 seconds if they haven’t been hooked by your content. You simply can’t afford to try to appeal to everyone. To create highly engaging content, you have to have a clear vision and know what your audience will enjoy. Let our team help you create a unique story that grabs your customers’ attention and wow’s your audience.
SHOULD DO: Tell a story that fits seamlessly in their media usage pattern:
One of the best ways to capture your audience is to tell a story that fits seamlessly into their media usage pattern. A great example of this is Bergdorf Goodman’s annual holiday catalogue campaign. Each year, to kick off their holiday season, Bergdorf Goodman creates a themed video that introduces their top most outrageous, sumptuous, over-the-top, elaborate gifts. Naturally, they tease these must-have items on social media, and seal the deal with outrageously indulgent email videos and Instagram posts. Our favorite? The 2011 dog-themed shopping spree. Check it out here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5vb8kGLfhpM. The effect creates a magical, luxuriant world that speaks to their most high-valued customers and every single aspirational shopper that ever stumbled upon the brand. Take time to get to know your audience and understand why they are surfing on certain platforms or using certain digital tools. This will help inform the types of stories they will enjoy seeing and how you can relate your product back to these themes.
Telling a story also helps create an emotional bond between your target audience and your brand. Regardless of whether you choose to target your corporate video at the top of the sales funnel or at the bottom of the funnel; or whether your content is product-focused or brand value-focused, relating your corporate video back to an emotional hook helps differentiate your brand and break away from the competition. Remember those Bergdorf dogs? They didn’t make BG products any more luxurious than Saks or Neiman Marcus items, but they did help this brand stand out. While it’s always important to balance your story with critical facts and figures about your product, the vast majority of purchases are decided based on emotion rather than fact when all other elements are equal. So go ahead, get emotional.
SHOULD DO: Make every frame count:
Never create videos simply to create a video. And don’t try to accomplish something in a video that you could do in a powerfully placed image. Every frame of your video should convey something an image cannot. Usually, this is why having a compelling story is so important. Similarly, video can be an invaluable asset when showcasing the unique features or high quality that sets your product apart.
Every frame of your corporate video should be power-packed so that your audience understands the value of your product whether they watch 10 seconds or 40 seconds. Your video should also stand alone with or without sound because you can never guarantee your audience will view with the volume on. Because you can’t control variables such as sound or timing, every single frame of your corporate video needs to convey your key message points and product details seamlessly.
Because corporate video production is one of the most nuanced forms of marketing and requires close collaboration with your creative team, it is often most effective to use a digital market agency to streamline the process and reduce video waste. Remember, our team of highly-skilled videographers and storytellers are here to help if you get stuck. Our team can help you shoot your video effectively, craft images that tell a powerful story, and speak to your specific audience with ease.
