PentaVision's "What's Your Story?" Blog

This is the first of a two-part series on producing online videos. Here, I will raise questions that help marketing decision-makers make memorable and effective online videos for their brand. Today we’ll discuss some basic pre-planning questions to ask yourself and those on your team in preparation of producing a video. Part Two will offer solutions to some of the questions you should ask in planning a video.

According to a recent Eccolo Media online survey, respondents were asked how influential an online video was on their purchase. 76% found it moderately, very or extremely influential. In this same survey, decision makers were more than twice as likely to find videos extremely influential when making purchasing decisions. There are many other recent surveys that have drawn similar conclusions on the effectiveness of video in affecting someone’s buying decisions, whether they’re purchasing a product or service. It is very clear that more and more companies large and small see the benefits of “showing” their product or service in action via video.

Are you using video? Are your competitors? While there is an increase in incorporating video into a company’s online presence, some may be doing more harm than good to their branding efforts by using less than optimum tactics to tell their story. In the 20+ years I have been in the business, I have seen the price of high-quality production equipment fall dramatically. What I have also seen is many more “would-be producers” who may be able to afford better equipment but don’t have the experience or expertise to produce a high quality, memorable video. And, in the end, you end up with a low end, ineffective video that will most likely portray a poor message to your potential customers. And be forgotten.

First, understand that not everyone out there is as familiar with your product as you are, or willing to devote a lot of time learning about it. They are not going to dedicate 10-to-12 minutes to watching your video unless it is highly technical, and if it is, your audience is a vary narrow one. It is better to make two or three shorter length, highly focused videos than one longer one that encompasses everything about the product or service. Try to identify and stick to focusing on two or three key points about a product or service.

Once you’ve established the key points, the pre-production process starts with writing a basic script or outline. Many find scriptwriting to be much more difficult than anticipated. It is often more economical to hire a professional script writer who is used to tackling difficult topics and turning them into conversational masterpieces. Either way, remember to stick to your key points and review them often during the scriptwriting process. Most often, this step focuses on the written word and very little on what visuals will be shown.

This brings up several questions that need to be addressed:

• Does the audio involve an on-camera spokesperson , narrator or is the video interview driven?  All have certain benefits and drawbacks.

• If you incorporate people to interview on camera, where will those interviews be conducted? Is it a controlled environment, free of sound and traffic disruptions?

• What are the interview questions to be asked? Who will ask them?

• What is being shown visually while the audio is being heard?

• If it is a technical video, what is the best way to demonstrate the key points?

• If it is a service video, how do you show this service being performed?

• Will you have someone within your organization capture the audio and video or will you hire a professional producer? And these are the easy questions, and they all need to be answered long before you begin recording anything. Next time we’ll talk about the production process, and planning for it. Until then, I welcome your thoughts or comments on how you plan for a video shoot.