This is a guest post from David Seay, who has over 25 years experience of producing videos, commercials and television programming, and is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. He has produced hundreds of corporate videos, training videos and a full complement of videos for business.
Over to you, David…
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Why Produce a Corporate Video?
My sales are good. Our customer feedback is positive. We’re getting new clients. Why on earth should I spend money on a corporate video?
At first glance you might not think a video is right for you, but it probably is. In 25 years of working with corporate marketing departments, I have yet to see a company who has not benefited from using video.
Video has always been the best vehicle to define image, demonstrate your products, and give voice to satisfied customers. Today we live in a hyper-connected world. Youtube, Vimeo, Facebook, LinkedIn, and countless others are words we never knew five years ago. Now they are essential everyday tools marketers use to connect with customers and prospects, and they all leverage video.
If you had to sum up this brave new world of marketing and inter-connectedness in a single word, that word would be: MESSAGING. That messaging comes from all sources: customers, and competitors, independent reviewers, you yourself. It is essential that you control the messaging about your company, or someone else probably will. Video persuades, motivates, and brands better than any other medium. Since the majority of people prefer to watch video rather than reading pages, it is more important than ever to leverage your messaging with video content.
When you decide to use video, use a professional producer; this is absolutely NOT a do-it-yourself project. So many homespun videos just reek of unprofessionalism and unless you are an experienced producer/director (10 to 15 productions minimum), leave it to someone who is. Don’t worry, you will still be very involved with the production.
Producing a marketing, sales or training video for your company may seem overwhelming. Here are a few things you’ll need to think about in advance:
- the message you want to communicate
- who your audience is
- where they’ll be watching the video (on the web? On a DVD? At a live event?)
- quality: what level of production values you need
- your budget and deadlines
- an outline for the content of the video
- approval for use of graphics, products, logos
- legal clearances
- and location options if shooting will take place at your office
Make sure you choose an experienced production company; specialist corporate producers will know about using video for business, branding and social media. Agree a production schedule with them to cover the major phases of production (pre-production, scripting, location shooting, video editing, sound sweetening, DVD authoring, duplication, and delivery).
Cost: A simple Internet video of about a minute or so in length can be as little as 1,500 USD. It may sound like a lot, but it takes time, and what you are really buying is experience. A producer who knows what they are doing can maximize a budget to get you the most bang for the buck—and do it quickly.
Once shooting is complete, the video editor will combine the video, audio and graphics to create a rough cut; you’ll review the rough cut and agree any changes needed before it goes into final production.
And you’ll then be able to add video to your suite of tools to help promote your corporate messages.
Video works. Use it.
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Thanks, David!
David and Kathryn Seay are video producers in the Dallas Fort Worth area
www.davidseayproductions.com
Lucy is Editor at Corporate Eye
