Producing Engaging & Compelling Video Content

In some of our other blogs, we’ve talked about the importance of strategy and planning out what type of videos you want to create. Today I’m going to share with you five “insider tips” that will help you knock your next corporate video out of the ballpark! Or, in marketing-jargon, “increase the effectiveness and engagement of your next corporate video.” Let’s get started.

#1 – Match Production Value and Content Type.

What is that supposed to mean? Take for example an interview with your CEO. This type of video will require a higher production value than, let’s say, a casual “man on the street” interview with customers. Your video professional will know how to find the essence of the story, and create a distinct look and feel that fits type of video that you’ll be creating.

#2 – Brand Consistency

Your video will be a tactic within a larger brand marketing plan. So you will want to make sure that you keep a consistent brand image across all your marketing collateral including videos. This includes your logo, color palette, fonts, typography style and more. If you have a brand standards document, be sure to get this into the hands of your video team at the beginning of the process so that things like lower thirds or name titles are designed with your correct color palette and style.

#3 – Start With the End in Mind

This is so critical! Before you even start thinking about when to you shoot your video, you need to figure out your end game first. Ask yourselves the following questions. Who will watch this video? Where will the typical viewer watch this video? How long should it be? What call-to-action do you want? How will you measure the video? All of these questions influence the style of video, length, and overall message. Without answering these questions, big opportunities are missed and the success of your video as a whole could be jeopardized. Not identifying your viewer, where they’ll watch it, what you want them to do after they’ve watched, or how to measure it are CRITICAL to the success of a video. Your production team should be able to help you out with this.

#4 – Future-Proof Your Video

Here are my two thoughts on this that aren’t exactly related. The first is make sure that all the footage is captured in 1080 High-definition. This will help to preserve your investment in the future. If you ever want to make additional videos down the road from the footage that was shot, you can do that. If you need to make a change or add a section a year or two later – you can do that. You want to shoot in a high resolution format so that you can put your video on the big screen for everyone to see. The second kind of unrelated thought is that when you are writing your script or conduct on-camera interviews, make sure that any references to time are future-proofed. For example, if you talk about how your company started 15 years ago – change it to 1999. Why? Because it you don’t change it to 1999, a year from now when someone watches the video, they will still think your company is 15 years old and not 16. (And on a random note: The brink of YTK was 15 years ago? Wow.) And last but not least…

#5. Use Professional Talent

Experienced video production teams will have the expertise to coach any on-camera presenter you choose to get their best delivery. However, in my experience, sometimes even the most polished executives become camera-shy or tongue-tied when all eyes, lenses, and hot lights are focused on them. It’s a different experience being on-camera than even presenting on-stage in front of tons of people.

If a specific person isn’t critical to the message, I highly recommend considering using professional talent as a narrator or presenter – aka: an actor. These people have the right skills that can easily respond to direction to get the right emphasis, inflection, and look that the video needs. Trust me when I say this can save you money, time and headaches in the long run. The costs for using professional talent are far lower than if the crew runs into overtime because of talent challenges.

When all is said and done, your finished video should feel genuine to your brand and meet your original objective. For video professionals, creating compelling corporate videos is not just a job, it’s kind of a calling: merging creativity and artistry with YOUR company’s strategic communication.

For more tips, tricks, and techniques about how to get the most out of your videos, sign up for our Optimum Guide to Video Marketing or give us a call today!