So, your business needs a video; now what? How do you pull this project together? Let's take a step back to understand your goals before we proceed forward with a plan.
What is the Purpose of the Video?
There are many reasons why businesses use videos to engage. Why do you want a video? Understanding the project's purpose will help us produce a video that is right for your application. Is your project's purpose informational, educational, or promotional?
Informational: An informational video is the simplest form of a video – that provides information. Think of these as Public Service Announcements or Interview Q&A sessions.
Educational: Training and educational videos are excellent ways to show employees or customers "How To" perform a specific task.
Promotional: Promotional videos offer your organization the means to promote your products online. Use videos in social media ads, Google Ads, your company's website, a webinar, etc.
What benefit will your audience obtain from watching the video? Identifying the perceived outcomes helps establish a call to action and the next step in their journey. Include your call-to-action throughout the video, especially at the end, and link in the description or caption.
Informational: "Check out (name) interview on (topic)."
Educational: "The step-by-step guide is linked below. Connect with (name/email) if you have any questions."
Promotional: "Buy now and (offer)! Click here to order today."
Who Is Your Audience?
Identify your audience and know how relatable the topic is to them. Determine what content is required or not required to reach your audience. The audience perspective helps you to write valuable optimized content for your video, description, social posts, and other resources used to promote this.
Demographics: Understanding your audience's gender, age, education, professional title, income level, and other criteria will help to define the audience and articulate your messaging.
Sales Funnel: Knowing the audience's experience on topics and Product / Industry Knowledge will define the depth of your content.
Video Elements
When creating your video, think of it as having a conversation with your audience. Then, capture every word and graphic element that clearly articulates that discussion.
Your video elements will vary depending on the overall goal and publishing of the video. What are the publishing requirements to which you must adhere? You will likely skip the Intro, Lower Third, and Exit for short videos and jump right into the clip. However, you will probably want all the elements below for longer clips.
Title
It provides viewers clarity and sets expectations. Keep it concise. Titles will aid your SEO.
Deliver keywords first
Search Engines and Video Hosting sites will truncate your title
Use less than 70 characters, as many as one hundred, for your title.
Description
A prewritten description will aid in writing content for your video and provide you with information when publishing the video. When posting your video, you will be asked for a short description. When writing your description, include audience information and why someone would want to watch the clip. A description will also provide a great return on SEO opportunities.
Keep relevant keywords in the first one hundred characters
Search Engines and Video Hosting sites will truncate your description.
Recommend keeping the length to under 5,000 characters
Intro
The introduction is typically the first 3-7 seconds of your video. Some intros are shorter, and others are longer; it depends on the objective. Recommend including your brand logo, video title, and possibly a date.
Lower Third
Encourage clients to utilize a lower third in their clip, especially for longer videos. Lower Thirds are great ways to remind your audience of your brand and the purpose of the video. Again, it is a style thing that is subjective to anyone's preference.
However, if you plan to use Closed Caption (CC) in the video, CC will impact your lower third structure as the words will play over the top of the bottom portion of your clip.
Exit
The end of the clip is a great place to provide credit to the speakers of your video, brand identity, contact information, and next steps. Think of this as how you close out a conversation and use those components in your video.
Main Video
Take a deep dive into every frame of the video. Review what is happening onscreen and offscreen. Onscreen refers to visual elements (video, photos, text overlays). Offscreen is your audio, like voiceover and background music. Providing the content for each frame before production minimizes costs and improves efficiency.
Let's Plan Your Project
It is time to plan your project. Pull all the pieces together and place them in a project folder. Suggest drafting a document itemizing content pieces and outlining the video. Outlining the project allows you to capture your thoughts meaningfully and share them with others, including Imagine Business Solutions.
Step 1: Create a Project Folder.
Store all your project assets in this one convenient place.
Logos
Brand Manual or Brand Standards – How to use your logo, brand colors, channels, etc.
Photos, Videos, Illustrations – Make sure these are high-quality imagery. Vector or High-Definition items yield the best quality product.
Samples – Sharing visuals of what you like or dislike provides clarity and starts the project on the right foot.
Step 2: Draft a Project Document.
Your live project document will help keep the entire team on point.
Dump all your project ideas into a single document and share it with your project team.
Link to project assets
Feedback – Allow space for comments for everyone involved in the project has a voice. Encourage project participation.
Step 3: Plan Your Content.
Link your plan in your project document.
Title
Description
Intro
Lower Third
Exit
Main Video – Frame by frame
Let's Start Production
Contact Imagine Business Solutions to begin your video project. We will set up a planning call to review your project. Then, we will start working on your video.