If you have been keeping an eye on marketing trends, you will know that video is an essential part of every business’s marketing mix. You may even have decided that you need a video now and are eager to get the cameras in and rolling on your fantastic product, services and team – but wait!
An effective video needs careful planning and in this series I intend to share all the points you need to consider before you invite a production crew onto your business premises.
Think of it as a form of presentation. If you were to present at a conference, seminar or in a meeting room full of colleagues or clients, you would need to be well prepared in advance – creating PowerPoint slides, rehearsing your spiel, even down to deciding what you will wear appropriate to the event and audience. Video is no different. As with everything in business, preparation is key.
We don’t expect you to understand every technical, creative and logistical aspect of video production. These are matters for the video production company and the best ones will advise and work with you to obtain the best result for each, individual video project. There are, however, many aspects to consider from your business’s side prior to filming. To make the information more accessible I have broken it down into the six basic question forms. I will deal with each question individually in the subsequent articles in this series.
WHY?
Why do you want to make a video? What is its purpose? What do you hope to gain from it? I will also highlight some of the most common forms of corporate and business videos here to help you identify which may be the most relevant and suitable for your business.
WHAT?
What do you want to say (and, equally important, what do you not want to say)? What information do you want to get across? What is the purpose of the video? What do you want to show? What is your budget? As the first part of this deals with spoken information, we will offer advice on “script versus no script” here.
WHEN?
When do you want to film it? When do you want it delivered? Is it time relevant or time sensitive? When will your team/product/contributors be available? As this is a time-based question, I will also look at video length and other time considerations here.
WHO?
Who is your target audience? Who do you want to present your company on screen? What should they wear? Who else do you want to include in the video? I’ll also help with some advice on choosing the right production company for your needs.
WHERE?
Where do you want to film your video (and the things you should consider when choosing a location/locations)? Where do you wish to show the final video? Where are your target audience based?
HOW?
How do you want to show your business? How should it be presented? How do you want it filmed? We’ll also look at how to advise the production company on what you want to say, music, animation and style options and the impact of each on the cost.
This is a brief and simple overview and you can probably see already how there will be overlaps in the information provided in each article as one will very much affect another.
However you wish to use video in your marketing and promotion, please take the time to consider these questions carefully. The more prepared you are before the cameras roll, the better your finished film will be.
The next article will cover the first of these questions – WHY? If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch via our CONTACT PAGE and we'll be more than happy to chat with you about any aspect of video production.
