Using A Corporate Video For Promotional Activities

Creating a promotional video can be a daunting prospect so here are some suggestions to bear in mind;

• Price, budget
  Video can vary dramatically in price from your el cheapie home-made style short clip, suitable for YouTube, where the audience is used to rough and ready and relate easily to this style of self-produced video, to as high as $30 – $50,000 for a full bells and whistles, professional finish, something that will bring a tear to the eye (depending on the length of the video). The important thing to note here is;

• Target Audience
  Who is going to be watching the video? Are you intending to make a video that is seen by Corporate Executives, Government types or Investors? Or are you aiming for the 15 to 25 year old Gen X’ers and Gen Z’s. The target audiences preferences and expectations will influence the style of video, the mode of communication, finishes and ultimately cost. Which brings us to our next point;

• Professionalism/polish of final product
  Obviously this is influenced by the first 2 points and leads us quite naturally to the next one…

• Experience and expertise
  When deciding on a team to work with it is important that you take the time to view the portfolios of several different video production businesses as quality of work and flexibility of production style can vary wildly. One company that Profitune HO has had recent experience with and is very happy to recommend is Fotomedia. This part of the decision making process is much the same as any recruitment (initial interview, review of previous work & references etc).

• DER, message
  Once you have clarified your target audience, take some time to think about the desired end result you wish to achieve. You should be sure that the video will lead the viewer to a call to action, be it picking up the phone and contacting you , going to your website or store, or forwarding /recommending the video to their friends and networks. Having this DER in mind at the start of the project will help to shape the video and maintain your focus (and that of the team of people creating it) throughout the process, this is important because in a lot of instances the process of creating the video can be lengthy and with new creative ideas popping up along the way it is easy to lose sight of the focus you started out with. Pete Crossley from Fotomedia recommends that you “think about what you want to say ahead of time and take the time to construct it, the beauty of video is that you can portray yourself consistently in the best light possible.”

• Avenues for distribution, (ie DM (direct marketing) ie mail outs, email, YouTube, website, tradeshows, sales people, in store, Facebook, LinkedIn)
  Something else to think about is the final product, what types of files you will have, how you are going to get it out into the market place, will you be using a short version of it as a teaser. Can you put the video up on your website and if so, how are you going to drive traffic back to it. How will the video fit in with your SEO plan (if you have one). Will you need hard-copies? Can you burn CDs yourself? What sort of label will you put on them? (take it from me, this is harder than it seems!), or will you distribute it on USB’s.

• Define the project manager, it helps to know who is going to be responsible for organising people, places, scripts etc from both businesses (yours and the video production company). Too many points of contact can lead to things slipping through the cracks, delays and confusion

• Click here to view an example of a corporate video that was created for PolyGenomX by Fototmedia, we think it’s a great example of a polished professional video aimed at Corporate Execs, Government types and Investors. Full bells and whistles! PS. PolyGenomX Ltd is the latest venture for Profitune Business Systems owners, Peter Rowe and Judi Reid.