A Toronto videographer holding a camera in his hand.

Video marketing is a powerful medium and can have a big impact on your business campaigns. It can serve as an effective way to connect with your customers and can help you build deeper relationships with your target audience. However, adding video to your marketing campaigns without having a clear idea can be challenging. To help you create a more targeted and compelling video, Xpression Video Productions has outlined five tips to help you create successful video content in 2021! Keep reading to know more.

Tip #1: Figure out your audience

Whether you want better insights from Google Ads or a more targeted video, figuring out and defining your audience is the first step in any content-creation process. But don’t fall into the trap of assuming that all your customers want to see the same content. Defining an audience is a complex process that includes building buyer personas, which are simply detailed descriptions of your ideal customers, written as though they were real people. After all, your audience is made up of more than just one customer with one interest. The group of people you’re targeting will likely have overlapping interests that you can exploit when planning your video content.

Tip #2: Make your message crystal clear

Although the importance of knowing your audience and narrowing down a target market is critical, clearly defining your message is just as important. In other words, don’t try to cram everything into a single animated explainer video. Your business likely offers different services or products, not just one, so you’ll need different videos for each of these. Similarly, don’t try to explain what your company does, sell your products, and bring up a case study all in the same video. A tailored video with a specific message and a specific goal will be more effective in the long run.

Tip #3: Set a realistic budget

Once you’ve defined your audience and your message, you need to set your budget. Failing to work out the financial costs during pre-production can cause you to go over budget inadvertently. Plus, vagueness means that it’s impossible to manage expectations.

Some elements of video creation are more costly than others, which could lead to you over-promising but under-delivering, especially if you’re planning to go above and beyond with your video content by including voice-overs or third-party interviews. Similarly, if you’re thinking of cutting costs by whipping up a quick video on your smartphone with your employees as cast and crew, keep in mind that when it comes to brand perception, a poor-quality video is worse than no video at all.

The benefit of working with a good production company is that they value their work. Every video they make is placed in their portfolio and used as an online marketing advertisement, which adds to the value they provide. Similarly, giving them a budget before you hire them allows them to produce the highest-quality content within the financial constraints you’ve outlined.

Tip #4: Write your script and revise it. Then revise it again!

The written video script is a key part of pre-production that’s most commonly understated. Contrary to popular belief, not just anyone can write a script. Often, someone on the team will dash off a script and think it’s ready to execute without several rounds of critiquing and revising. It’s important to get input from other members of your marketing team who speak to customers individually.

Don’t worry if the script for your video goes through several drafts by the time you’re ready to shoot. Even Martin Scorsese revises his screenplays many times. Having a solid foundation to work from will form a large part of your production and post-production schedules.

Tip #5: Put your best eight seconds first

Thanks to disappearing messages and smartphone-induced ADHD, the average attention span is just eight seconds these days. That means most viewers will click away from your video in the amount of time it takes to have a sip of coffee if their attention wavers.

Fortunately for video producers and scriptwriters everywhere, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The first eight seconds of a video is a perfectly reasonable amount of time to capture viewers’ attention and let them know what they can expect from the rest of the video.

Don’t underestimate your viewers and think that you need to pre-explain the video in a rambling introduction. Many writers refer to the term “mid-res,” an abbreviation for “in media’s res,” which means “into the middle of things.” Starting a story in the middle of things kicks the viewer into a whirlwind of excitement that will keep them engaged long enough to hear the “why” of the video.

The “why” of your video is the reason your audience will benefit from your product or service (i.e., the most important part). In other words, it’s a problem that your company can solve for them (by the end of the video).

Just take an accounting software company, for example. Their target audience of SMB owners might not realize that they’re spending too much time collecting, scanning, and filing receipts until they’re shown the brand’s video and convinced to switch.

For more tips to create successful video content, reach out to Xpression Video Productions. We are a leading video production company in Toronto. We specialize in high-end wedding videography, special occasion videos, real estate videos, funeral videos, corporate videos, event videos, marketing videos, and transfer or duplication videography services. We have a team of creative professionals who excel in capturing your video project’s artistic look and feel.

To learn more about our video production service, please click here or get in touch with us by clicking here.