There’s no denying how powerful video marketing can be and there’s certainly a whole host of household-name brands utilising video in it’s various formats to promote their offerings. It was only recently that Honda launched an online-only advert for their brand new HR-V offer and when you start to read into why they took the decision to produce a digital exclusive, it’s clear that it’s brands of all shapes and sizes who understand the importance of social media and web-content. As such, if the big boys are ditching traditional (and increasingly expensive) TV advertising in favour of online video content to be utilised across social media platforms, as digital video advertising through the likes of YouTube and as an attention-grabbing content marketing assets, SME’s need to seriously consider their own approaches. It doesn’t HAVE to be expensive to launch a marketing video and it’s safe to say that there’s far more low-budget videos produced than high-budget ones.
Of course, what’s important when you’re on a tight, low-budget, however, is getting things right first time and in most instances, the success of your marketing video is largely decided before the production process even begins! As with most things, when you put in the time and effort to plan and create a solid concept, things will go smoothly, however we believe that there’s five essential elements of any marketing video which you need to consider before you hit record!
- It Must Have Emotional Appeal
It doesn’t matter if your audience are left sobbing, crying with laughter or shocked; one vital element of any marketing video is to elicit an emotional response. It’s all about provoking a reaction and sticking in the viewers mind as it’s that which succeeds in the marketing world and the response needed to make sure the campaign works. As a great example of a video which elicits an emotional reaction, why not take a look at the Guinness basketball advert:
- It Must Be Relevant
Whilst there’s the temptation at the creative stage to go all out and produce a video which promotes a certain response, it must still be relevant. If you want to generate an emotional connection, you must first send a relevant marketing message to them and, above all else, one which talks the language of your target audiences and is easy for them to understand and relate to.
- Promote The Benefits Of Your Offering
If you want to promote your products and services, advertise the benefits, not the features. Benefits are solutions and ways in which your offerings can help, aid or improve the life of your audience. Regardless of what you offer, you shouldn’t struggle to outline the benefits of your products or services and get this across in an engaging, visual way.
- Get The Narrative Right
Have an almost completed script for the narrative of your marketing video well in advance of hitting a studio and keep going back to it (and ask others to check it) to see if it can be improved upon. Is it clear and concise yet engaging enough? Advertising is storytelling at it’s finest and it’s ultimately those brands who tell a great, connected story who reap the most benefits.
- Don’t Forget The Hooks
Most companies aren’t producing videos jus for fun (it’d be nice to be able to though, wouldn’t it) and this mustn’t be forgotten during the pre-production stage. You’re hopefully offering a solution to your target markets problems but you need to encourage an action to be taken as a response, whether that’s making a phone call, filling in a form or even attending an event. You need to carefully hook clear calls to action into any marketing video however it’s of equal importance that you use this as an opportunity to tell a great story and really start to connect and engage with your audience.
On that note, here’s what we believe to perhaps be the greatest marketing videos of recent years, GoPro’s infamous ‘cat rescue’ video:
