Big Boots Productions has been in the business of producing high quality corporate training and promotional videos for over ten years, and in that time, we’ve watched the huge shift in how people view, consume and produce videos.
With the evolution of social media and smartphones, we’ve seen two major changes. The first, is the need to cater to shortened average attention spans, and the second, is the increased need to create engaging content. This ever-growing need has led businesses to seek out more economical ways to create that content and often, it’s easy to fall into the trap of sacrificing quality for quantity. Whether you are producing videos to train your staff, or to promote your product or service, it’s important to remember what your videos really need to be doing for you to make a positive impact on your employees, potential customers and your brand! So! Here are “The Three “E’s”.
Educate
It’s not the sexiest part…but before anything else, your videos should “Educate” your staff or potential customers about your business. That’s a given when you’re speaking about corporate training videos. The number one objective is to teach your employees about your business, corporate culture, products, services, best practices, sales objectives etc. Your staff are your “front line”. They are the people leaving the impression on your clients or customers and if they aren’t conveying your brand’s message or philosophy, it can be a detriment to your business.
When producing a promotional video, you need to “Educate” your potential client base about what sets your brand apart from all the others! Why is your product or service so much better than the thousands of other brands you’re competing with? What can you do for your customers that no one else can do quite the same? How can you make their life better? Why can they not live without your product or service? If they’ve never heard of your brand before you need to make your potential customers feel like they’ve stumbled upon a “pot of gold”!
Engage
OK, so you can’t really succeed at “Educating” your employees or potential customers if you can’t manage to keep their attention, right? Whether it’s for training or promotional purposes, you need to grab their attention and “Engage” them with exciting and visually stimulating video! As previously mentioned, attention spans have become considerably shorter in recent years and social media has played a leading role in this shift. So many of us are looking for instant gratification. Get to the point already! We can no longer tolerate the long boring, drawn out training videos of the past! So consequentially, videos need to be shorter, more focused and easier to consume. (See my previous blog about Micro – Learning)
In the case of promotional videos, they of course need to inspire your potential clients to buy your product or service! There are many benefits to having a custom video on your website, one of which is an improved Google ranking, especially when your videos are shared to social media! Most promotional videos tend to be a little longer than some social media platforms will accommodate, so you’ll often find posting on YouTube, Facebook or LinkedIn the most useful to get the full message across. But we are sometimes limited by the social media platform we are using, for example Instagram’s 60 second limit for videos, so in this case the goal is to grab their attention and leave them wanting more! This is your chance to show them who you are and what your brand stands for! The more authentic the better! Hopefully this will result in more “Follows”, “Likes”, “Comments” and “Engagement” with your brand on social media and drive more traffic to your website or even your brick and mortar location!
Elevate
And the final “E”, “Elevate!” Why the heck would you even bother producing a video unless it’s to “Elevate” your brand? With the evolution of smartphones and their ability to record video “right now” and at “no cost” to the user, as well as the availability of higher quality, user friendly consumer video cameras and editing software, so many believe that they can produce videos on their own. Of course, they can, and this works great if you’re recording a “live” video on social media, intend to capture “behind the scenes” visuals, or you’re a YouTuber! But when it comes training your staff or promoting your business, a professionally produced video will give your staff or potential customers confidence and trust in your brand. It will …yes… “Elevate” your brand. Consider also throwing a few great client testimonials into the mix for that real knock-out punch!
There is so much more to putting together a high-quality video than just pointing a camera. And…yes…it will cost a bit more, but there are ways to make producing professional videos more cost – effective…so it’s worth exploring! Your brand is worth it! You wouldn’t consider offering a sub-par product or service, would you? The quality of your video will leave an impression on the viewer as to the quality of your brand! Something to think about.
Tricia Jarrett
Company President
Executive Producer