Creating a branded video for your company is a highly rewarding project. Videos boast higher engagement and conversion rates than written content, but they also boast higher budgets. For this reason, video projects should be planned carefully to ensure their success.
In this blog, our Tampa video production team shares some of the most important questions to ask before starting your next video project.
1. What’s the purpose of the video?
Start with the big picture thinking – why are you making this video? You have to know the why before you can start planning the content of your video.
Are you trying to raise awareness for a brand? Engage with your social media following? Or is the video intended to be educational?
Pick one main purpose, stick to it, and don’t overcomplicate it.
2. What’s your budget?
Actors, equipment, and location rentals all cost money. Know your budget and try to stick to it throughout the execution of your project.
If you’re creating content to embed on your website, it’s better to spend more on one high-quality video than to spend less on several lower-quality videos.
Not sure if your idea fits into your budget? Write a clear, detailed project brief to get an accurate quote from a video production agency. Unfortunately, you might find that some agencies only work with big budgets – not us. Our Tampa video production company is willing to work with any size budget because we’re all about finding the best solutions, not landing the biggest clients.
3. Who is the target audience?
Who do you want to watch your video? Are you creating content that will be understood and well-received by this group? Whether it’s 25 to 35-year-old men from Tampa, FL, or women who recently changed their Facebook status to “engaged”, having a specific audience in mind will help you develop a tone and a message that they can relate to.
4. What is your core message?
Do you have a message that’s strong and clear? It may be tempting to cram as much information in your video as possible, especially if it’s your company’s first one. However, it’s more effective to keep your message specific. You can always make more videos down the road that explore other topics.
It’s also important to remember that people have pretty short attention spans nowadays. Make sure your message is clear within the first 8 seconds of your video, or else viewers may grow impatient and lose interest.
5. Do you have/need a call to action?
Do you want your project to motivate someone to do something, like making a purchase, participating in an event, or following you on social media? That’s a call to action (CTA).
Certain types of videos, such as employee training videos and other internal corporate videos, may not need a call to action. But if your video is being shown to potential customers, it’s a good idea to include one (even if it’s as simple as “visit my website” or “like this video”). Typically, CTAs are most effective at the end of a video.
6. What are your competitors doing?
If your business is fairly new to video, it’s a good idea to take a look at what your competitors are doing. This will give you a good idea of what types of videos are popular within your industry, such as how-to videos, product reviews, or educational videos.
Competitor research is not an opportunity to copy, but rather to learn. Take inspiration from what they’re doing right, and more importantly, don’t recreate their mistakes.
7. Where will the video be distributed?
Will your video be shared on social media, YouTube, television, or all of the above? Think about how your video will translate across different platforms. For example, did you know that 85% of Facebook videos are viewed without sound? Cinema ads, on the other hand, rely heavily on sound to catch the attention of movie-goers.
8. Where will the video be filmed?
This is crucial to the budget, especially if it has to be traveled to. Also, it’s important to keep in mind weather patterns and potential background noise and distractions when picking a location.
9. What will the review process be like?
Some video projects may require approval at various stages by clients or higher-ups. Share pre-production materials like the script and budget as early as possible, and allow extra time in your schedule for any revision requests.
10. How will you measure the success of the project?
Your goals should be well-defined before you start your video project. Will the video’s success be determined by clicks, views, watch time, conversions, sales, or something else?
Ideally, you’ll want to measure multiple metrics, but some can be tricky to measure. It may seem easy to count views, but you’ll find that some platforms define “views” differently from others. For example, someone only has to watch your video on Facebook for 3 seconds for it to count as a complete view, but if they watched the same video on YouTube, they’d need to watch for at least 30 seconds.
Familiarize yourself with the different platforms and tools you’ll be using to analyze your video beforehand so that you can accurately measure your success.
Take Your Video Project to the Next Level
Looking for more ways to elevate your company’s video content? Check out our YouTube marketing strategies for small businesses or our guide to making the perfect corporate video.
Slice Creates is a video production company in Tampa, Florida, specializing in corporate video content, web design, photography, and whatever else you need to thrive creatively. Call 727-267-0650 to learn more, or email [email protected] – We look forward to hearing from you!
