FAQ's, Tips & Information on Getting Started

• I need a video developed. Where do I start?
  Let’s schedule a call to discuss your project. We’ll start by asking you questions about your business objectives, audience, budget and timeframe. We’ll discuss the various ways we can drive preference for your brand.
  How much should I budget for my video?
  There are a lot of moving parts in a video production. Typical projects can range from $2,500 to $30,000 or more. 
  How much am I involved in the video production process?
  You can be involved as much or as little as you like. Your primary role is in pre-production (the planning stage), working with us to establish the business objectives of your video. Once we have developed a storyboard, you can determine how much you need to be involved in production and post-production.
  What happens when the video is finished?
  Completing your video is the first step of a three-step process. The next step is to develop a plan to ensure your audience sees your video. We’ll help you promote your video and we can also build landing pages that support the actions you want to drive. The final step is measurement and feedback. We’ll work with you do develop ROI metrics on your video.

Why are you making the video? What’s the business objective. (‘Updating the website’ isn’t an objective, it’s an activity.)

How to define your business objectives:

Can you easily fill in the following blanks?: This video will help ___{this audience}____ understand that our product or service solves ___{this problem}___ and provides ____ {these benefits)____ . We will measure the success of this video by ___{this rating mechanism}____.

If you can’t clearly and succinctly fill in the first three blanks chances are your video will fail to achieve any measurable results. If you can’t fill in the last blank you’ll never know what was achieved.

4. You started with creative.

“Our VP Marketing has this really cool idea we’d like to try,” “I just watched this amazing video that used ‘man-in-the-street’ interviews to position the company… we should do that too,” “I  saw the coolest animated video…,” etc. Just like graphic design is the last step in the pre-development phase of a website (too often it is first), ‘creative’ should be the last step in the development of your script and storyboard. Creativity should never be be the ‘tail wagging the dog’. Sure, if you have a budget to create a whack of branded entertainment, that’s a different story – but for most corporate video projects, branded entertainment is not the goal.

How to avoid starting with creative:

Start your video project with a business objective.

5. Loose, or no processes at all for the development of the video.

The most important part of the video production process is pre-production. Chances are that if you are either surprised or disappointed by the results of your video it’s because your planning process was either flawed or non-existent. The purpose of the storyboard is to show everyone involved exactly what is being said and what visuals are being shown to support those messages. You should have an excellent idea of what’s going to be in your video from reading a storyboard. Some clients will claim they are ‘visual thinkers’ and really need to see the edited video to formulate an opinion. If that’s the case then you’re likely doomed to failure.The storyboard tells you exactly what is being said and exactly what is being included. It’s up to the director and cameraman to ensure that those tasks are done in an appropriate style, but no production crew can save a bad script or storyboard.

How to ensure you start shooting properly:

• Always create a storyboard even if it’s a simple video.
• Always create a shot-list before your shoot that tells you exactly what shots you need, with whom and when.
• You should be collaborating on the storyboard and script process with the video production company. Unless your video production company has intimate knowledge of your business and market they shouldn’t be the ones telling you what to say.

6. Budget isn’t large enough.

“We took a couple thousand out of our cleaning budget to do this video.” “Yep, that’s all we’ve got, but we still want it to look like Avatar.” “My cousin Eddy said it would only cost him $400 to make the same video.” The cost of video production has decreased dramatically over the last five years. That said, there is little point in developing a video if you haven’t allocated a reasonable budget for the project.

7. Your video doesn’t support your brand.

Too often, videos are created in isolation. Video should never be a stand-alone endeavour. Your brand is the sum total of all of the experiences people have with your company – that includes video. Your video has to support and complement the tone and key messages that you want associated with your brand. (Warning: Wacky viral videos often do more harm than good.) Video production is not an isolated activity. Your video production company has to understand how you market your business and has to be willing and able to engage with your marketing department and /or the marketing agency that is helping guide your brand.

How to ensure your video complements and supports your brand:

• Whoever is doing your video should work with your marketing folks to ensure that they have a clear understanding of your brand – what you stand for, what value you bring to the marketplace and how you want people to feel about your company.
• It’s incumbent on you to ensure that the video production understands your business. Show them who you are, and what you stand for and show them examples of videos you like that you think reflect values and styles that are consistent with your brand. (Either yours or someone else’s.)
• A video production brief is a great way to start your project.

8. Wrong type of video.

There are many different styles, structures and types of corporate video.  A thirty second pre-roll promotion video is probably too long and a one minute recruitment video is probably too short. Hiring actors to speak to a technical audience isn’t a good idea. Putting your President on camera may (or may not be) a good idea. A talking head is often a waste of time. A detailed technical video won’t resonate with people in the awareness phase of the sales cycle but can work very well for people in the consideration phase. What type of video you develop and what structure you use for the video is just as important as what messages you chose.

9. No call to action.

What do you want people to do after they have watched your video? If you don’t know, your viewer won’t either.

Add a call to action in your video.