Video can be a very powerful tool for your business, whether it is aimed at gaining new clients, distributors for your products or investors to give you the money you need to expand your operation. Whether you plan on making hard copy DVDs or throwing the video up on your website or YouTube, you need to give some thought into its creation. It is not enough to just get a camera and start shooting. Here are some tips to create a video that will get results.
Who is the Audience?
You are making this video for other people, and it is important to always keep what exact people in mind from start to finish. A video aimed at investors would be much different than a video aimed at your target customer base. If you are making a video for the latter, it is important to get clear on your exact audience and tailor it to that. You cannot be everything to everyone, and taking this approach may lead to a bland video that fails to make the impact it has the potential to.
Determine the Message
There is a reason you are making this video; you are hoping to get a certain result. To accomplish this goal, you need to get clear on the message. What are you trying to say? What are you hoping people will do as a result of watching this? What do you want to convey about your company or a particular product and service? You need to get crystal clear on this, or you risk creating a video with a diluted, unclear message.
Include a Call to Action
You are making your video because you want customers to buy your product or because you want distributors to carry it in their stores. They know this too, but you still need to make this super clear to them. It’s like Twitter..everyone wants their tweets to be retweeted; do you know the one thing that makes a person more likely to share someone else’s update, according to research? A simple request to retweet included with the message. People are more likely to ‘’click here’’ when you tell them to do just that. If you want a distributor to sell your products, include information on how to get started—throw in some testimonials from distributors you are currently working with. If you want a customer to buy something, tell them the website they need to visit to do so.
Post Video Considerations
You have completed the video but you are not quite done yet. Before you begin the editing process, you need to think about how you will be showing the video—will it be going on the web as well as a DVD? If the latter, you need to look into various aspects of digital disc manufacturing, such as turn-around time, replication rates and what not. Will you be displaying it on a large screen? Do you need broadcast quality tape outputs? All of these different final products can affect the editing process, budget and timetable for completion—you want it all figured out before you start the editing process. If you are making DVDs, do not forget about the pretty packaging—you need to design an attractive cover.
Kelli Cooper is a freelance writer who covers a range of marketing topics from how to make promo videos to social media etiquette.
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