6 tips for producing awesome online marketing videos in 2014

Use people!

It sounds simple enough but so rarely done well, if at all. Product slide shows & animated text just don’t cut it.

At a minimum level use real shots of real people working in the company or shots of clients benefiting from your service.

Ideally use client testimonials or have the people behind the company share their story in an interview based video.

Remember -People do business with people not companies.

 Avoid Animation

Animation definitely has its place to demonstrate what may be hard for one to visualise, but not to convey the story of people and to build an emotional connection with a prospect.

Fad “Infographic” & animated “Explainer” videos rarely build trust in a viewer. More often than not they simply spew out emotionless information that at times is hard for the audience to even follow.

Think about how many major brands you have seen using them for their marketing?

A Great article on the problems with most explainer videos.

Animation – Fine for some internal & training uses but not for a time poor audience you are trying to build a rapport with.

 What’s your story?

Don’t give people a long lists of facts & features in your video, build some story in. Who are the heroes behind your company? Save your detailed feature lists and statistics for your other print media and web pages.

Viewers are thinking “Why should I trust this company and choose them over others” – so show them.

 Don’t try and say everything- Keep it simple

The visuals in your video will already contribute so much information to your spoken message. There is no need to spoon feed the audience.

If you want to say more, look at producing multiple videos with separate focused messages- it may not even cost any more than trying to squeeze everything into one video.

Keep in mind video also works best when used as one part of a bigger campaign strategy. Be ready with supporting follow up media, including additional videos, website and print to fill in the information gaps.

Work out the videos key message in one sentence

What would your like your audience to do with the information they have just been given? How do you want them to respond or feel? What behavior are you trying to change?

Really think – If there is just one thing that a viewer took away from the video what would that be?

Write it down before you even start and refer back to it time and time again during the whole production process to keep the message focused.

Use Professionals

You already know the obvious things to avoid, everyone has seen a “bad video”

This isn’t where I’m going with this.

Someone in your company, a friend or amateur video producer may have the technical ability to create a visually satisfactory video,  however you can guarantee 100% of their attention will be on the “how” rather than “why”. Frequently people invest a huge amount of time and energy into making a video only to realise the overall concept wasn’t right in the first place.

It’s not only about choosing the right concept.  It’s the hundreds of small strategic decisions that are made during production, based on years of experience, that will make it not just a good video but a great communication.

Using a professional, experienced video producer will save you a lot of time and money.

Business large & small are seeing amazing results from professional online video. Do it properly and save yourself a lot of time and money.