There are plenty of ways to use video at the moment so it’s all about choosing the right style and method that suits your aims, objectives and, most importantly, your audience. There is a current leaning towards visual, image based video communications in the marketing world especially on social media which is based on audience engagement, attention spans, creative thinking and more but as video becomes more widely used, there is an inevitable move towards quality content rather than quantity.
There was a time when simply putting a video out there was enough. A brand could utilise all the things that video offers and the audience would respond positively to it because in a sea of text and static content, a video would be a beacon of interest. Times, however, have changed. Viewers are more discerning now and expect a certain level of quality or content if they are going to use up their valuable time watching a video for a business.
Five Ways To Use Video
We take a look here at some ways to use video that are more purposeful and could be geared towards a particular target audience or for a specific reason rather than just approaching the medium as “I want to make a video for my business”.
1. Pre-Promote Your Event
All of our event video production work is based around filming at the event and then creating an overview video to show what happened, how successful it was and what the delegates thought. This is one of the most effective ways to use video for an event but have you ever thought about turning this on it’s head? Instead of thinking about showing what’s happened, this footage could be used to pre-promote next year’s event.
All that footage showing how successful the event was can be re-purposed to attract delegates to the next one. A campaign leading up to the next event using soundbites to show what delegates can expect with a positive call to action could quite simply sell the event for you. The variations are endless too, you could create personalised invites based on specific areas of interest, demonstrate the entertainment on offer and use delegate testimonials. You could even plan this in advance so that the footage you capture has a specific purpose of being used for a sales campaign for next year’s event.
2. Make Video Announcements
Communicating regularly, especially on social media, is must-do these day so using video is a great way to do this. It means that you can mix it up between standard posts, images and video to keep your audience interested. Video posts however don’t always need to be full on productions that take weeks to create, if you have an announcement, some good news or a company update then use video to put this across.
It could be the CEO talking or a customer or anyone relevant to the announcement but using video to communicate the message will work wonders. Think about anything from product launches to special events to special promotions.
Its just what our video production retainer service is designed for and could really make the difference between your announcement being scrolled past or actually watched and engaged with.
3. Customer Testimonials
Really simple but really effective. Rather than a written testimonial which, lets face it, could easily be made up, get your happy customer on video. Of all the ways to use video for business this is probably the easiest and most effective. Getting a customer to explain not only how good you are but also why they love you so much is a great way to gain trust with your audience.
4. Keep Your Finger On The Pulse
There are a few times throughout the year when there is a bandwagon to jump on like Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, April Fool’s Day and plenty more. This makes you appear relevant and current and also gives the opportunity to be a bit more creative in the video creation. It’s not just about public holidays though, think about hashtags that are trending or issues that social media is talking about from pouring buckets of ice over your head to no make-up selfies. It will all help to keep you at the front of your audience’s minds and in their news feeds.
5. Be A Thought Leader
If you’ve got something to say about your industry then use video to get those opinions out there. A video blog or vlog can put you or your business out there and help to create an aura of expertise and thought leadership. These are a bit more on the fly than a prepared announcement and they are very much more of a reactive response to something that may have happened. But the more that you can do this and give your opinions on developments in your industry, the more that people will want to listen to what you have to say – giving you more credibility and kudos amongst peers, clients, customers and potential customers. Just be warned, not everyone may always agree with what you’re saying!
As a variation on this, think about platforms like Facebook Live to get your message out there and talk directly to your social media followers and even think about bringing in guest speakers and other people for your live broadcast. It’s a service we provide as you can see here from one of our Christmas broadcasts in 2017 for Coventry BID.
The truth is that there are plenty of ways to use video for your business and it does depend on a lot of variables. Who are your audience? What platform are they using the most? How do they respond to video content? What’s the best way to feature your product or service? But getting on the video marketing and video communication journey is all important. Our video production retainer service works well for a number of our clients already who want regular, quality content and all of them have seen an increase in customer engagement and social media interactions. Contact us now if you would like to find out more.
Blog writer: Adam Snelleksz is the marketing director of CMA Video and has worked in marketing for over 20 years. He has worked in video production in Birmingham for five years with CMA Video and has been using video for marketing for nearly 10 years. He also set up the video TV channel Blues TV, the official online channel of Birmingham City Football Club. Some of the projects that Adam has used promotional videos for include the Birmingham Half Marathon, the European Gymnastics Championships and the World BMX Championships.
Our video marketing blogs have been recognised as one of the Top 50 Video Marketing Blogs on the internet. We hope you enjoy reading them and gain valuable insights into what we do here at CMA Video and show that we’re not just another Birmingham video production company but we do more from animation videos to event filming, video strategy to social media video campaigns.
