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In today's digital age, video production has quickly become an essential component of marketing strategies for businesses of all sizes.
The rise of video platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram's own Story feature has made it easier for businesses to showcase their products and services to the world through engaging and compelling videos.
Long gone are the days of stuffy corporate videos on worn out VHS tapes!
The ubiquity of smartphones with their inbuilt 4K cameras, microphones and video editing apps means that anyone can create a video on almost any subject from the equipment they carry around in their pockets.
Anyone can, but that doesn't mean anyone should!
YouTube and TikTok are overflowing with videos that are great for sharing with family and friends, but not the type you'd want to represent your brand.
However, creating a high-quality video that effectively communicates your message can be a challenging task, and that's where a professional video production company like ours can help.
In this blog post, we'll discuss the benefits and features of video production, why it sells and why it's important to have a professional company on board to help you succeed.
Benefits of Video Production & Why It Sells
Boosts Engagement
Social media has revolutionised how we connect with the world. The thing is, just having an account isn't enough for it to work for you.
Building a community of followers means you have to engage with them at every level and on every platform in which you're active, but there's more to boosting engagement than blindly posting your latest brainwave.
The post itself has to be visually appealing and that's exactly where video can play a part.
Video content has been shown to increase engagement rates across all social media platforms. With over 3.6 billion users across all social networks, why wouldn't you be using social media to connect with them and does video has a part to play? The answer is YES!
Studies have shown that around 65% of people were more interested in brands after seeing a video about it, whether that's on YouTube, Facebook or as an Instagram Story.
Video can capture viewers' attention and keep them engaged longer than other forms of content.
Posts that have an eye-catching image generate over 1000% more shares than text alone. Even including video in your email marketing campaigns can increase your click-through rates.
This is particularly true providing the video is well-produced, visually appealing and communicates a clear message.
Builds Trust
Video is a powerful tool for building trust between you and your audience, which in itself is a key factor in converting visitors into customers. Video can also help humanise your brand by putting a face and a voice to your message.
Consumers often have an inherent mistrust of faceless brands, especially ones they're not too familiar with, but video can cut through that doubt, providing the video is well-made, informative and watchable.
The videos produced don't have to be purely promotional. You can, of course, use them to sell your product, but it's often more valuable to offer new insights into what you produce and to offer new perspectives customers wouldn't normally see.
Videos can showcase how the product is used, behind-the-scenes on how it's made, troubleshooting guides and highlight new ways the product can be used.
If you're more service-based, then videos can include customer testimonials, 'day-in-the-life' style documentaries, training videos, timelines of how your team offers its service or what happens once an order is placed, in fact, you're only limited by your imagination. The more creative, the better!
By showcasing your products or services in a professional, engaging and informative manner, you can quickly and easily establish your brand as an authority in your industry and gain the trust of millions of potential customers.
Increases Brand Awareness
Video can help your brand stand out in an increasingly crowded marketplace but it's never been easier or more accessible.
Whilst not only the video-sharing platform out there, YouTube is huge! As a platform it has over 30 billion visits per month with people spending, on average, around 20 minutes on the site watching 11 videos per visit.
Users are unlikely to ever run out of videos to watch with over 500 hours of content uploaded every minute! You could be part of it!
Whilst most people still consider YouTube to be a purely video-sharing site, it's also the 3rd largest search engine in the world!
Research has shown that around 90% of people discover new brands and products whilst browsing it and 70% have made a purchase based on a video they've viewed.
Despite its enormous reach and popularity, less than 10% of small to medium businesses capitalise on it and include video production of any kind as part of their marketing strategy.
If you're not making use of platforms like YouTube, then maybe it's time to push the button and build a following before your competitors do!
For those of you looking to develop a brand strategy, please take a look at our dedicated webpage to see how we can help you with that.
Make Video Content Work For You!
Video production is a fantastic service that we offer here at P45 Consultancy so when clients approach us looking to create content, there are a number of questions we ask when trying to understand their needs so we can deliver a project everyone involved will be proud of.
Of course, every client and every project is different, but here are a few things to think about if you're looking to produce your own video content, based on our 2 decades of experience.
What's Your Objective?
Before you capture one frame of video, it's vital to think about what the objectives are for the content you're looking to produce. Simply put, what do you want it to do?
To find out, ask yourself some questions like:
What does your business need?
Are you looking to generate more leads?
Is there a new product launch you want to highlight?
Are you looking to boost your online marketing efforts?
Do you want to drive traffic to your website?
What message are you wanting to communicate?
This isn't an exhaustive list by any means and will vary depending on the video you're ultimately producing, but think about what you want from the video right at the start of the process.
Once you understand that and have clear, specific objectives defined, everything will start to fall into place.
Know Your Audience
Obviously the style, format and content of your video needs to appeal to your target audience, but until you know who that is, you're going to struggle to create something that captures their attention.
Different demographics will engage with content differently. Obviously, if your audience is older people, then creating loud, fast-cut videos with flashing visuals and fancy graphics may not have the desired effect, but there's more to it than that.
Knowing who your customer is in terms of their gender, age, location, etc. is only the first step, you also need to know what they need.
To fully understand your audience you need to go beyond basic demographics; what content do they enjoy already? What other brands are they likely to follow? What social networks do they use? All questions to ask yourself when planning your content.
Customers also want to know how you can help them, so it's important you focus on their problem, not your solution. Customers are more likely to come on board once they can see that you understand their pain points and are in the best position to help them.
Being able to know the people you target will be a massive help to you as you begin to design your video. You may well have already developed this information through your work creating customer personas, so use them as a starting point to understand who your audience is for the content you're creating.
Once you understand your market, you can really start to craft a message that will really resonate with them, whoever they are and wherever they are.
Craft Your Message
Once you know the message you want to send and understand the market you're looking to appeal to, then you're almost there. It's time to decide on the message itself.
Like the written word, creating a video requires you to find your voice. This will cover the tone of the message which should always represent and be consistent with strengthening your brand.
Not only can you mix up the content, but the style and format of the video can also vary too. Shorts are increasingly popular, particularly on YouTube, as they're cheap to make but can still generate huge revenue and viewership.
People also expect 'shorts' to be more informal and have a more 'guerilla' style to them making them more accessible to create and share.
The camera itself doesn't have to be static or just pointed at one thing. You can also experiment with aerial shots, time-lapses or even 360-degree videos, provided you have the right equipment.
Create Your Content
Even once you have all the aforementioned information, it's time to create something that works for your market.
As we touched upon earlier, creating a video is simple and can be done by anyone with access to a video camera, but if you're looking to build and grow your brand the right way, you're going to need more than that.
You also need to think about the equipment you use, lighting and sound. Finding people who are comfortable in front of a camera isn't as easy as it sounds and don't underestimate the time it can take to create something worth watching.
Even once you've captured the footage, it still needs to be edited and colour-graded. The sound will need to be mixed to ensure levels are consistent and any music used will need to be copyright free (or you have the licensing to use it). You may also need to do some work adding graphics, introductions, outros, subtitles, captions and watermarks.
Creating a video is easy, producing a video that meets the objectives you've set for it, not so much, but that's where we can help.
Conclusion
"He has made everything beautiful in its time." - EcclesIastes 3:11
The humble video has always been a part of any business marketing strategy, but it's never been more important than it is now. It has become an essential part of our daily lives with around 55% of people watching at least one video online every day.
Video is also a medium that offers something for everyone. As we've demonstrated, you can use it to sell your product, promote your service and appeal to a wide range of customers, but it can also help you directly.
As the online space becomes ever more competitive, video offers you the opportunity to stand out from your competitors. Not only is it clear that people WANT more video content from the brands they love, but videos:
Attract up to 300% more traffic to your website and help generate more leads.
Websites with a video are 53x more likely to reach the first page on Google.
Videos increase organic search traffic by up to 150%.
Creating compelling content for customers, clients and even your employees offers a huge range of opportunities to reach more people in a way that can be more cost-effective than ever before.
If you're looking to succeed with video production, then there's never been a better time to #BelieveInSucces and be able to watch it. That's a wrap.
We hope that you've enjoyed this blog post and we'd love to know what you think. Have you utilised video in your own marketing efforts? What route did you take? Have you found a new audience on YouTube or found a new outlet for what you do through video marketing? Let us know in the comments below.
If video production is something you need and think we can help you with, please get in touch using the form below and let's have a conversation.
From scripting to design, filming and distribution, the team at P45 have been working in this medium for decades and we're ready to help you make the most of your brand.
If we've shown you the value in video production and would like to show your gratitude by buying me a virtual coffee, you can simply by clicking the button below. I'll leave the barista up to you!
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