The value of video

Communicating quickly with your target audience is of paramount importance in the days of multi-marketing channels.

Video in particular adds real value, enabling a business or organisation to quickly communicate a variety of messages in a way that can truly connect with the recipient.

Youtube, one of the most popular video hosting destinations, reports that 100 hours of footage are uploaded to the site every minute, with six billion hours of video watched each month – an hour for every person on Earth.

Given statistics like this it is easy to see the appeal. But it’s important to make sure that a video will both stand the test of time, stand out from the crowd and serves a real purpose.

As with any other initiative, we should start by setting objectives to ensure it supports the wider marketing strategy.

Simply creating a video version of a press release is not enough. Why use video in the first place?  What story will it tell that cannot be told more effectively another way, and how will we tell it? Planning out these elements early on will make for a much smoother process, with higher impact.

Video is by nature a dynamic, visual medium. It gives a chance to be creative and to communicate a brand or a message through unspoken as well as spoken means.

Preparation is still key. Never turn up to a video shoot with a half finished idea, hoping the look and style will become apparent as shooting takes place. Check the location in advance, and chat with any interview subjects to make sure they’re clear what will be happening on the day and their part in it.

A storyboard is a useful device to plan in advance how a video will look. This doesn’t have to be drawings of each scene, but could be a simple list of required shots and locations in sequence, to help tell the story in a logical order.

Finally, ensure it is directed at your original target audience and it satisfies the objectives.

Simply uploading a video to Youtube or other destinations such as Vimeo, is not enough. How is the video to be used afterwards? Will it sit directly on a website, or will it live on Youtube and be embedded?

This is a rigorous creative process, but the end result is well worth it.