New to using video as part of your marketing campaign?
Video can be a costly endeavour if you don’t get it right…accurately measuring your return on investment is a crucial part of any marketing campaign, without it there is no real way of understanding what impact your marketing has had on your organisations bottom line.
So before you jump in head first read through our production guide which will assist you through the three stages of the production and it will help you avoid any nasty surprises!!
Everyone’s marketing strategy is different and you may have different goals, whether it is:
- Brand awareness
- Customer engagement
- Sales
- Customer retention etc…
Being able to identify your goals early on is important. Video is now common place in many organisations marketing campaigns but the process itself can be a little scary if you are new to it.
The stages of production are split into…
- Pre-Production
- Production
- Post-Production
(Production and post production in separate blogs)
Pre-production is one of the most important stages of a video, it is where everything is decided, from the purpose of the video to whether a script is required. Your video will stand a much better chance of performing the way it is intended to if thought and effort is put into the pre-production.
We can assist you along the way as the pre-production gets underway, including deciding what type of video will best achieve your goals, this may take the form of…
As well as setting your campaign goals you will also identify your audience, select the type of video you require and you will also write a brief (identifying what action you hope to drive a viewer towards) and decide on your time frame. It is also helpful to have an idea of how long you think the video wants to be, keeping in mind that whatever is produced needs to keep your audience engaged. There is little point producing a video that is too long and you lose viewers because of it.
Identifying videos you do and don’t like can be extremely useful not only for you but us, (take a look on youtube, our website & your competitors website), you can highlight these in your brief. The examples can include an overall mood and tone you want to achieve as well as any particular shots or techniques you think look cool!
Deciding whether you need a script to assist in delivering information will depend on the type of video we are producing. Will it add to the overall project? If so what is the right tone? Should it be funny, emotional, formal, informal etc….
A script is usually written the in the pre-production stage (we’re on hand to assist!). One of the biggest challenges is writing a script that has enough information (without bombarding the viewer) resulting in a video with wall to wall talking.
Consider the length, once you have a draft read it out loud, eliminate any unnecessary words, let others see it and provide feedback, this way you will finish up with a script that is suitable for the end product and sounds polished.
Once we are all clear on what we are aiming to achieve we will take the reins from here. We can draw storyboards, select the most suitable equipment and crew to shoot the video as well as dealing with any logistical elements of the filming.
When all the pre-production is completed…the fun begins!!
