Our friends over at Hubspot shared two noteworthy stats recently:
1. The number of businesses using video as a marketing tool has increased to 87% in 2019
2. 83% of those business say video provides great ROI
More people using video as a marketing tool and experiencing ROI on said video can mean only one thing —more noise and competition:
3. 90% of marketers feel the level of competition and noise has increased in the past year
So how do you stand out in an overcrowded sea of video marketing? When confronted by quantity, lean on quality.
We asked David Busse, our Senior Producer and Director of Video Production, what qualities people should look for when hiring an agency to handle their marketing video production.
In order to execute a great video for your brand, you need to be able to trust who you are working with. This requires working with a partner who understands your brand, your needs, your budget, and your constraints. To get there often requires a discovery and pre-production process where your video partner gets to know your company, your offerings, and what your customers are looking for.
There are a lot of moving parts in even the simplest video productions: Schedules, locations, equipment, team members, graphics, music, editing, and more. It’s important that your partner has a Project Manager on their team who understands the video production process and can effectively communicate between your team and the video production team. This helps ensure that everything runs smoothly from budgets to scheduling.
Some videos require little more than a “one-man-band,” while other commercials utilize crews that rival those of a Hollywood blockbuster. Your agency partner should be able to scale from small to large production depending on the needs and budget of your project. Over the last 10 years, video technology has evolved in such a way that agencies are able to execute big-looking ideas with lean crews of dedicated video experts. Of course, we always recommend you make your creative decisions first and let the production process follow.
"Your agency partner should be able to scale from small to large production depending on the needs and budget of your project."
Indiana Jones steals a Golden Idol, is chased by a boulder through a cave and escapes just in time to not be crushed, a man performs the experiment of eating only McDonalds for 30 days straight and shares his experience with the world, imagery of animals from the most remote regions of the planet are accompanied by the calming voice of Sir David Attenborough. This is the video magic we are all familiar with. It’s these stories, ideas, and exploration of unknown worlds that make video such an engaging medium.
This isn’t limited to just the world of entertainment. Every brand has a story, ideas, and products that are ripe for creating compelling content. If you allow this content to guide the videos your brand creates, your videos will successfully connect with viewers and lead to sales/conversion.
Professional athletes in Nike commercials look pretty cool, right? Well, ever seen candid photos of them? Or one walking around in public? Surprisingly, when not in uniform or on a video set, they often look more like you or I than the god-like beings they’re portrayed as. The transformation of an athlete into these symbols of cool requires artistry in everything from lighting to make up to music. This same artistry can be used to make anybody look great on camera, to make factories look like a scene from a music video, or to just get a beautiful image of your office. On top of this, it’s important that the video team is aware of current trends in the video world so that they can make sure the video you are receiving is current and will have years of life.
Generally speaking, the most engaging videos are those made with a team of dedicated artists and craftspeople. This often means that creative visionaries need to team up with producers, on-screen talent, writers, shooters, editors, composers, sound designers, and other video specialists to realize their vision. These teams then must be able to work well with each other and trust each other from the conception of a concept until the final video is color graded and exported.
Need snow in the middle of July? There’s a person we could call who specializes in that. What about 7 custom puppets with your brand colors on them? There is someone who has already made puppets for dozens of other videos. Need a high-end camera strapped onto the exterior of a speeding car? There’s someone out there who specializes in that too. Many talented artists and craftspeople in the video world are freelancers who specialize in one area of production. Working with a video partner who is tapped into the freelance market can enable you to create any idea you want.
In 2019 the NAB Show, an annual convention which showcases the latest and greatest in video technology, will take up 1,000,000 square feet of convention floor space. With so many options for gear, there are almost as many options for how to execute an idea. It takes experience to understand what gear to use and when. It’s important to work with a Video Producer who understands what your options are, how to execute within your budget, and options for sourcing rented equipment within your market.
Want to see David’s knowledge in practice? Check out some of the fantastic video projects the in-house team at CI Design has worked on recently.
Need a video now? Drop us a line to get this show on the road! hello@cidesign.com.
David Busse is our in-house Senior Producer and leads our video production department. He’s won several Emmy awards for broadcast spots CI Design created for the Milwaukee Brewers, and is an all-around nice guy.