You should do! It’s the fastest growing advertising format on the planet, increasing by 46% in 2017 alone, and missing this traffic stream can seriously impact your revenue.
You’re already creating videos you say? Well good to hear!
But are you creating the right videos for your business? With over 20 million people in the UK watching online videos every day, you need to be making sure your brand videos are valuable, engaging and conversion focused in order to get the biggest return on your investment.
What’s the Right Video?
It’s common knowledge that high-quality video production requires cash. Lots of it, and with 2017 seeing a UK ad spend of around £669 million, it can be incredibly difficult for SME’s and startups to even get their foot in the door.
Don’t let that put you off though, as it’s crucial to the success of your business that you create content that truly reflects your brand if you want to build customer advocacy and long term revenue increases. Video is one of the single best ways you can do that; not only is it easy to share and for users to digest the information you present them with, it’s emotional, creative and can make an impression in an instant.
Remember, emotion is KEY to creating your success!
You just need to make sure it’s the right impression, and you should be reminded that creating this doesn’t have to cost the earth! There are hundreds of SME’s and startups that have exploded their brand awareness and driven revenue increases that CFOs drool at the thought of, like Sevenly for example.
Their ‘Who We Are’ video exploded their brand awareness and site traffic rates, and within just 30 days, they had attracted over 40,000 unique visitors. The power of video cannot be understated, because if they’d have sent out a long-form text document outlining their business mission, they wouldn’t have gotten anywhere nearthat level of engagement.
The brand showed creativity, authenticity and the human side of their business, and showcasing this in a short & sweet video format gave them the ability to reach millions of eyes across the world in an instant.
And they’re not the only companies thinking big on a smaller scale either….
SME’s are Doing It for Themselves
Dogsee Chew
This natural dog food company based in India needed to increase their brand awareness and revenue quickly, and smartly turned to video to make this happen.
You’ll notice though that the video content isn’t about their business model, not to do with any kind of dog food at all in fact! It’s a video centering on keeping your dogs safe and calm over the Diwali period, yet contrary to not being successful, it was quite the opposite, increasing the company’s revenue by 50% during the Diwali holiday!
Key to this being such a success was the the video evoking the ‘protect mode’ in their target audience; pet owners. Showing their authentic love for dogs, and their desire to protect them when scared resonated with their audience and made them much likelier to engage with a brand that feels the same way as they do. It’s not an expensive video or necessarily a professional looking one (not when you’re used to Coca-Cola and Sony adverts all day long!), but it worked perfectly, and created the success they were after.
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Especially when it comes to food, people love to see how things are made, in what environment, do they have the same funky kitchen apron as you, all sorts of reasons. Just look at the success M&S have with their video adverts for their food range; beautiful close ups of organic and succulent produce, kitsch displays and fun music tracks = designed to make you feel hungry, happy & ready to buy!
Jeni’s follow suit here, but with a much smaller budget and no script, here the images speak for themselves; handcrafted, lovingly made ice cream, in all the colours of the rainbow, made in clean environments by people like You and Me.
Honestly, it doesn’t take much for people to crave ice cream, especially not one as beautifully crafted like Jeni’s! But instead of a more corporate approach to their ‘whys’ and BTS, like Ben & Jerry’s, Jeni’s shows you what goes on behind the curtain to cement the notion of ‘home-cooking’ (no conveyor belts or huge industrial mixers), just getting on the same level as their target audience and showing them delicious and beautiful handcrafted treats that even you could make! You just don’t because it’s easier to buy from Jeni and it looks somuch better than anything that could come out of your kitchen. Well mine at least!
Both these small companies took a short 60 second video and exploded their brand awareness and revenue. Not with a budget well into the hundreds of thousands, or with fancy CGI or edits, they simply took their core beliefs, figured out the best way to showcase their business and used a short video to engage their audience with emotional & authentic content.
It’s really not as insanely complicated as some people think, but it does take some honesty, creativity and gumption to get the results you want.
The Basic Video Studio Setup
It’s entirely do-able, shooting, editing and publishing your own company video content, and it doesn’t have to cost you the earth as you saw from the brands above. Stop letting the fear of failure, expense and time get in the way of you making real leaps forwards in site traffic and revenue! In business you have to invest to make progress, and crafting your video content in-house is a great first step.
So what would you actually need to create your own in-house videos? Not as much as you might think….
DSLR Camera/Video Camera
You might have an old DSLR thanks to an old photography degree, your IT manager might have a video camera that you could borrow, there are hundreds of ways for you to get your hands on a camera (ever heard of a rental?) but ensuring it has the right specs to shoot quality video is essential. Resolution is a big point to notice, as this will affect your post-production process, so do your research on the basics before you dive in!
Microphone
A bad soundtrack to your video will make even the best picture quality seem crap, and is an instant turn-off to viewers. Grabbing a mic like the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Studio kit will give you a simple to use & setup microphone, headphones and interface to create studio-quality sound tracks for less than £300. A brilliant price to invest in for your video production, and will be a drop in the pond compared to the revenue that your amazing videos will create!
Lighting Kit
Lighting is crucial to your video, and making sure you have a setup that eliminates harsh shadows and banishes a yellowed-out background is studio setup 101. A simple kit like this LED set on Amazon is all you need for a basic studio; LED bulbs last longer, are more environmentally friendly and give you greater control over the dimness of the light.
Tripod
A wobbly video looks amateur, to say the least, and is something you need to wholly eliminate from your business content. A tripod, sturdy and simple enough for anyone to use, is a key item in your in-house studio, and one that should be at the top of your list. The most recommended brand for this is Manfrotto, an Italian company that has a reputation for producing stellar professional photography and video tech. Certainly not the cheapest brand on the market, they are however the most durable and reliable, and an investment well worth making in the early stages, as continually replacing your tripod can turn into a costly affair. Invest in the first place and get one that will see you through the decade!
Editing Software
Your mind immediately went to Adobe didn’t it 😉
Renowned for being the software of the professionals, and expensive as all hell, don’t let the rumors fool you. There are plenty of affordable editing options out there, and you may even be surprised by Adobe too….
Apple iMovie Exclusively for Mac users (boo), this free editing software is blissfully elegant, simple and ergonomic to use, making it a great choice for beginners and those shooting on their iPhones.
A handy tool for those who want some fun in their videos, Lumen5 comes in 2 stages of pricing (free and not-free), but is great for social videos and adding some ‘pzazz’ to your clips.
With 4K and VR capabilities, Corel Video Studio is an insanely useful piece of software, for a ridiculously affordable price. Under £100, it’s simple to use, stocked with a host of high-quality transitions and effects, and will be of great use to your team as your build your business’ video content library.
Pretty much at the top of its game, Premier Pro is flexible, simple to integrate and allows you to work with Photoshop, Lightroom and other Adobe platforms to create unique and beautiful videos. Truly an investment, this comes with a £20 monthly subscription, or as part of the Adobe Package.
You and your team have the intelligence and creativity to make your own incredible video content, videos that showcase the humanity of your brand, and build real, authentic relationships with your target audience. Contrary to popular belief, you can take production into your own hands and it won’t bankrupt you, but you mustn’t go into the process envisaging you’ll emerge the new James Cameron. You won’t get the same level of results as giants like Audi or Topshop with amateur-made footage, but you will create results that change your businesses future for the better!
Successful video marketing needn’t mean shelling out wheelbarrows of money. It should simply mean videos that best showcase your business, and create those important emotional connections to your target audience. A tricky yet widely used and wholly creative format, video marketing benefits you andyour users with valuable, engaging and entertaining content for them, and brand awareness & revenue increases for you.
Putting your best foot forward with your digital marketing content can only put you in the best position, so lead with authenticity and finish with humanity to build inexpensive video content that will take your company to the next level.
Of course, our video and design experts are available to discuss any issues you may have about increasing your revenue tenfold and skyrocketing your site traffic. So get in touch to allay any worries you might have about being ridiculously successful in the near future, and let us walk you through the process of professional video marketing for companies who like to win big.
