The best way for brands to connect with their audience is through videos. Whether it is full-length YouTube videos, Vines, or Instagram videos known as micro-videos, there is no other way about it—the future of marketing is in videos. This article will highlight the ways in which videos are valuable for start-ups, and how great quality videos can be made by anyone.
Why a Video?
Brands’ short videos make people want to purchase more. Audiences love it when a brand makes a video specifically for them. This medium gives brands more paying customers and, many times, it is the effort of the film which makes the customer decide in favor of the business.
Videos make websites SEO friendly. The items associated with the video, such as the name, the meta-data, the tags, and the popularity of the video, all tell search engines that this audiovisual is what the user’s search query should be directed to. This is why it is vital to not only produce videos that are relevant, but to also invest in researching the tags that will bring the most views.
Videos are great for presentations like employee training, pitches, and corporate presentations. They can aid in making a great first impression with possible stakeholders. Many times, a potential investor will listen to a pitch, but to really grab their attention, a memorable video will keep them engaged.
It is possible for videos to bring in money for a company. If it is naturally share-worthy, it is possible to recover costs through AdSense. Appropriate marketing strategies, decent production quality, innovative concepts, and an aggressive marketing strategy are all that is needed for videos to be watched on a large scale.
Videos Measure Success
Videos give a measurement for true engagement. They can acquire views, shares, and likes, as well as subscriptions and comments, and are also the only media in which it is possible for the viewers to point at the exact moment in which they feel most engaged. This can tell not only that the campaign is successful, but why it has succeeded. Viewers often comment on videos using social media, tagging other social media users and commenting on the specific parts at which they felt the most emotion.
How to Make a Great Video
The script should incorporate a story with a smooth flow and a call to action that will catch viewers. Never pass up the moment to ask the audience to subscribe, like, and share at the end of the presentation. The script can be either a voiceover script or an actual script that has scenes, dialogue, and shots. It is important to note that a single page in script is usually a minute worth of footage.
Actors should be cast (if there will be any), and if there is a product in the video, it should be packaged in a way that the viewer will see it. Location should be neat, quiet, and beautiful.
To record in the best attainable quality, buy or borrow a DSLR camera or hire someone that uses one. Use the appropriate lenses to record, and if there will be any dialogue on location, get a wireless lapel microphone that is used to catch the speech.
If it is not possible to shoot in the daylight, higher basic lighting. Three-point lighting is the best and easiest option for lighting an area for recording a video. Shooting in the evening and early mornings are the best times, since the light is even and won’t cast harsh shadows, especially outside.
Post-Recording
Once all the footage has been shot, continue on to editing. iMovie and Moviemaker are simple options for editing software. For the more advanced user, Adobe Premiere Pro is a great choice. All the software is easy to learn and the licenses are pretty cheap for a monthly rate. It may only take a day or so to learn any new video editing software.
After the editing of the video portions, the voiceover should be added to the sequence timeline. To ensure great quality, you might try to find a voiceover artist at a dubbing studio to record the voiceover. A more affordable option is to download an app on a tablet or smartphone and sequester yourself in a quiet room to record the voiceover, then add it to the video.
Adding fonts, transitions between shots, and music will be the last things you layer on. Everything that is used should be done so lawfully, and this includes obtaining any licenses or purchasing agreements to use commercial fonts or music. To avoid this, look for items that are royalty free—meaning that they can be used freely. After this is finished, export the video and you’re golden.
Last but not least, if you’re not a wiz or simply find it hard to execute the entire production phase on your own, you can always use sites like fiverr to outsource some of the production tasks. The video and animations category has different options to choose from, starting at pre-production, post-production, all the way to a complete production of your videos.
Other Types of Videos
One popular style of videos are animated explainer videos. The market is a bit saturated with them currently, so the chances of your video being extremely unique are small. Stop-motion video animations are quite unique and will shine in a crowd of dull videos. Long tutorials are a thing of the past, as 30-second quick-cut and hyperlapsed videos have taken over.
Small companies actually have the advantage of creating their first videos in-house, allowing them to gain the basic knowledge of making videos that will create a profit, and contributing to the decision on whether or not it’s worthwhile to invest in having videos made professionally. One type of video doesn’t suit every type of business, so it is up to each one to discover what fits them best.
When deciding on who to include in the process, keep a small crew of people who will be genuinely excited to take on this adventure. And don’t forget to have fun while you’re doing it. Content, quality, and distribution are all key factors in determining the success that a video will have, and whether or not it will bring the right type of traffic.
