We’re producing a range of videos for clients at the moment, ranging from selling the success of a program through storytelling through to product demonstration and even supporting funding applications and reports to Government bodies.
One of the things that we encourage our clients to do when thinking about their videos is to think beyond one application to get the biggest bang for their video buck.
The line I hear a lot is “we’d like to do a video to go onto YouTube”. But that’s not just it; what they have is a piece of content and it should be shared as many times as possible, to reach as many people as they can and to stretch their budget as far as they can.
You see, their thinking is based on a misconception that video equals YouTube. It doesn’t. It might be the biggest video platform and the most known, but that isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of that clip. I regularly educate clients that what they’ve produced is a piece of content that should go on YouTube as a starting point but that’s just the start of it.
Good video requires an investment. It requires planning, good shots and, importantly, a good story behind it. Every person and their dog with an iPhone can shoot video but if you’re going to do it properly, it requires an investment of time and money.
So where else could video go? Here are three ideas that have worked for our clients:
- Upload the clip to your in-house CCTV. I’ve worked with a number of doctors and turned their thinking towards using waiting room TV screens as promotional/educational avenues. If you look at a waiting room, you’ve got a group of bored people stuck to their seats, reading 10-year-old copies of Reader’s Digest. In the waiting rooms I’ve visited, the TV is on in the corner, running a safe family-friendly braindead morning show or a soap opera. Could these TVs start to run five-minute clips where the doctor talks about everything from hygiene and washing hands to checking for cancer or high cholesterol? Absolutely. Any videos produced in health must be considered in this way. You’ve got a group of people captive in your business, and they’re bored. And here’s the main thing: THEY’RE THINKING ABOUT HEALTH. They’re primed for your message.
- Use them as trailers for prospective customers. This one relates to any industry that has communication with customers before they take up a business relationship with you. Here’s how they engage with you: before contacting you, they’ve already checked your web site (and possibly those of your competitors), and asked contacts for referrals or otherwise. Then they turn up. You converse, give them some collateral and then they leave. If you follow them up, you could send them a short video clip to watch to reinforce your sales pitch. Inspire them to act as a prospective customer with a message from other customers who were so pleased they decided to be your customer.
- Staff inductions or training. We’ve recommended to a number of clients that when new staff get on board (or in some cases have just applied), that they send through a number of video clips for them to watch. This goes beyond the WHAT of your business to the WHY – and helps inspire your staff as to your brand and how you carry out your business. Staff inductions have usually been about the procedural WHAT of your business. They don’t usually give you much about the WHY of your business. But it’s this why that inspires them to provide better customer service, to buy into the ethos of your company and turn up to work wanting to contribute.
So I’d encourage you to consider spreading your video far and wide to make sure it delivers far more than you’d hoped.
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