One of the most enjoyable parts of video marketing is producing your video content. It is truly awesome to have a vision of what you want to create and seeing that vision come to life. As a creator, there isn’t much that is better.

That moment doesn’t magically happen, though. It takes a significant amount of work—both in preparation and editing. Video marketing production is a critical task that you cannot ignore. Whether you and your team handle most of the production work yourself or farm it out to a third-party team, you must pay attention to the production component of this entire process. Doing so will help make your video marketing campaign successful.

But having said that, video marketing production is an expansive topic. Even those professionals who specialize in this topic are constantly learning new tips and tricks. Because of this, I wanted to offer some of the key fundamental principles that you should leverage when you are creating your video content. These principles can help you accomplish your video marketing goals—whatever they are.

Video Marketing Production: Producing Stellar Content

So let’s start with the first part of this entire process. That is creating your content. Whether you are creating a simple webinar showing off your product or a sleek marketing video for a new product release (as we discussed in the last post), there are several things to keep in mind.

Audience, Authenticity, and Story

To start, I would like to reiterate my points on audience, authenticity, and story. These are the three legs of the stool of awesome video content. If you remove one of these legs, your video is going to fall apart. 

For the audience, identify your target viewers for each video. Critically, they may depend on the video. Some videos are for prospects at the top of your marketing funnel while other videos are for those prospects who are just ready to purchase your product or service. 

When planning and shooting your videos, continuously think about your target audience, their wants, and their expectations. One great hack is creating several different variations of one video for several audiences. Keep the camera rolling and slightly alter your script so that you are speaking to different groups of people. This makes it easier for you to repurpose your content and efficiently film targeted content for all of your selected audiences.

Authenticity is also key. Being yourself is going to be more effective than trying to put on some mask because your audience “expects” it. If you are hiring actors for a particular video, make sure that they are talented actors. Your audience can immediately sniff out fake authenticity, so be careful on this point.

And with the story? Don’t forget that your audiences are wired for storytelling. By shaping your video content around a narrative—whatever it is—you substantially increase the chances that your audience engages with your content. 

Preparation and Hitting Record

Some creators face some apprehension before hitting record. Whether it is due to uncertainty about the script or how they look on camera, there can be a million different reasons on why you want to hit record at another hour or day.

I urge you to resist this temptation. It is better to just get started—even if you aren’t completely confident about how the shoot is going to go. Often it can help to do a test shoot—depending on the optimal length of your video. Hit record, do a run-through of your script and see where you trip up. This can help you feel more at ease on camera.

The situation slightly varies if you are interviewing a customer for a video testimonial, for example. If you want to go down this path, sit down with your customer and explain your vision. Whether you want to share specific questions is up to you. Your ultimate job, however, is to make sure that your guest is comfortable. Putting in the time to properly prepare your customer or other guests will lead to higher-quality video content.

Before shooting your final video, however, it is also worth ensuring that everything looks great in your frame. You do not need to be a professional videographer, but you or your team should take some time to make sure your video looks the way that you intend it to look. Consider the rule of thirds and other best practices of videography. The goal here is to avoid any blatant unforced errors or any incongruences between your vision and what shows up on the screen.

Finally, don’t forget to shoot a video for each of your intended platforms. If you want to use a customer testimonial on YouTube, your website and Instagram think about whether you need to shoot your video in both landscape and portrait orientations. This may require you to use two (or more) cameras. Whatever the case may be, keep these end platforms in mind when you are creating your content.

Video Editing: Making Your Video Shine

Your video content is just one side of the video marketing production coin. The other side is video editing. While creating your content may be the most exciting part of this process, editing is arguably just as important. Whether you are editing your content yourself or are relying on third-party editors, you should pay close attention to how your raw content turns into your final product.

As with creating your content, there are some first principles that you should follow here. 

First, make sure that your organization’s brand is present in your video. There are several ways you can approach this. To start, you can create a three to five-second animation that contains your logo. That animation can be inserted at the beginning, middle, or end of your videos. For example, our YouTube videos at Dubb contain a brief animation in the first ten to twenty seconds of each video. Along with this, our videos contain the Dubb logo and website on the bottom left of the frame, and these graphics are visible throughout every video.

Whatever you choose, make sure that your audience can immediately recognize that your organization produced the content. While your regular audience may not need the reminder, your new viewers will thank you. You never know where viewers are going to stumble onto your video, so make it easy for them to understand that your organization is behind the video.

Next, mind the lengths of your videos. This, again, is why planning is so important. Even though you may have shot a 90-minute interview, you may want to only include a 30-minute excerpt on YouTube and a five-minute excerpt on Twitter. This is obviously at your discretion and the limitations of each of your chosen platforms. Luckily, you can repurpose one video into several different videos. For instance, one 60-second video can be split up into several different 15-second videos. Whatever you choose, make sure that you place some deliberate thought into the length of your videos. Sometimes, a shorter video is more effective than a longer video, especially since we live in an era of shrinking attention spans.

Last (but certainly not least), do not forget to include a call to action. If you are not yet aware, a call to action is “any device that is designed to prompt an immediate response or encourage an immediate sale.” In other words, a call to action is a way for your viewers to take the next step after watching your video. 

Calls to action can be various things. Common calls to action, however, include opportunities to complete a form, sign a contract, download an ebook, or even make a purchase. However, a call to action can be anything, so long as it is offering the viewer some tangible step to take after watching the video.

Therefore, when editing your videos, it is critical to include a call to action, whether it is simple text on the screen directing the viewer to a website or an inserted clip at the conclusion which explains your call to action. Alternatively, you can mention your call to action as part of the central content of your video. 

I will be speaking more about calls to action throughout the remainder of this blog. At this point, it is enough to recognize the importance of calls to action and how they can help you accomplish your video marketing goals. Generally speaking, however, the goal of a call to action is to move a viewer down one of your marketing funnels. 

 

Putting in the Hard Work

Whether you are a beginner or an expert, you and your organization must pay close attention to video marketing production. Some of these tasks may not be the most exciting. You probably have a long to-do list. But without following some of the first principles above, you are placing some significant barriers in your path.

Therefore, take some time on video marketing production. If necessary, bring in some help from members of your team or even a third-party organization. Your future self will thank you.

If you are looking for an all-in-one video marketing solution, consider getting a free trial on Dubb.