Should we get a promotional web video?

Frankly, I think the question of whether or not you should get a promotional web video for your small business or corporate needs has already been answered. Back in 2006, we spent a significant amount of time explaining the benefits of web video and why businesses should post them to their websites. Today, web visitors are consuming online video in record amounts and numbers are rising. There is plenty of research and data available on the Internet about online business video uses and the results web video productions can produce.

The question really should be: How effectively can corporate videos and promotional web videos communicate your message or business mission? How successful is web video when it is used by your marketing and sales department to persuade clients to consider your products and services?

Well, repetition is the mother skill, as I mentioned in previous blog posts on video productions: know your buyer persona. Develop a detailed description of the customer who is typically interested in your service or products and use that as a starting point to answer the above question.

Understanding basic human emotional drivers

Generally, we begin the video production process with research into a company’s products and services and the people who purchase them. Then we begin the script development and focus on the message which might be most persuasive to that buyer persona (vendor, customer, student, member, voter). In most cases, the script is the driving engine for a corporate and promotional marketing video. Customer needs are complex or more segmented than they have ever been, but it is still possible to gain an adequate understanding of the “get and avoidance” duality. Customers are always trying to get something from your services or avoid some sort of fear. It seems to me that many folks, including myself of course, are still driven by basic flight or fight responses. Spending some time on understanding these human emotional drivers, as they relate to your products and services, will assist in maximizing the impact of your web video production.

Offer specific solutions

The next step in the process is to provide specific solutions in your video presentation which are actionable both short term and long term. I don’t mean to over simplify the dynamics of the human psyche but the above suggestions are powerful starting points in developing a corporate video communication. The specific solutions which you offer should address the desires and fears which you identified.

Building a storyboard

Once the script has been approved by the client we will then build a storyboard which puts video, photos, and audio to every sentence in the script. The storyboard is also reviewed with the client as it is equally important that the script and storyboard are in line with your corporate mission. The video production process is also an appropriate time to review the corporate mission and goals if you haven’t contemplated these factors in some time.

Now, let’s chat a little about the next step in the video production process. If you haven’t already done so at this point, you need to choose a video production company. Self-producing is certainly a valid option and I have compared these two options in a post entitled ” Should I Hire a Professional Video Company or Do It Myself “

In this post, I will presume that you have opted for a professional video production company. No offense to your own video production skills, but a corporate video production team could add a slick, polished, creative look and feel to your promotional video. Experienced producers and directors will have the experience to translate your script into an appealing and attention grabbing corporate video communication.

Here at eTown Videos, we work with several post production editors, computer animators, and graphic artists that can add just the right musical score and titling that suits your corporate image.

Video distribution to business video directories, YouTube, Google Places, MetaCafe, and Yahoo Video with adequate Video SEO is just as critical as the actual video production process. Video SEO, also called video search engine optimization, assures that your video gets found by the people looking for your products and services. Video SEO is both a science and an art using carefully researched keyword terms which help achieve high Google search engine rankings. There are many SEO tools available on the Internet which will help you in learning how your potential customers look for your products and services on the Internet.

So, does promotional web video really work? The answer is yes, with a well executed video production plan and an effective video production team on your site.

Hope I answered your question. Feel free to contact us to request a video production cost estimate or to view corporate video examples.