How to Build Your Brand with Custom Marketing Videos
6 Minute Read
We’ve all seen marketing videos and video ads that simply don’t land. The messaging may be off, the visuals uninteresting, the runtime too long – all of these factors result in loss of attention span and a missed connection between the business and the customer (or, worse, a negative impression).
And yet, no business today can afford to ignore online video as a marketing and advertising channel. Nearly 30% of consumers watch more than 10 hours of online video every week. This represents a massive potential audience.
The amount of time people spend watching videos means that quality and engagement are a must to get your message seen and heard. Before you press “Record” on a camera or your phone, it is imperative to develop a strategy for telling your story using digital video.
The first step is setting objectives for your video project, starting with what you want the videos to achieve. Some examples include:
- Creating brand awareness
- Promoting new products
- Demonstrating how new products work
From there, you need to determine a strategy for how your video will accomplish your objectives. If your goal is to create brand awareness, you will need to outline the benefits of your brand to customers. This will help to drive the messaging, content, and placement of your videos.
Why Is Branding So Important?
A successful business sells itself on benefits, not features. Selling the benefits of your product or service means not only connecting it to the needs of the customer but the “why” that underlies the purchase decision.
A sound brand positioning strategy and messaging creates a connection between your customers’ motivators and your product or service benefits. Your brand positioning should drive all aspects of your marketing and advertising – including your marketing videos.
Today’s sophisticated smartphones and the widespread availability of creative software (free and paid) means businesses have more options than ever before for creating engaging video content. Before you start making videos willy-nilly, however, it is important to have branding elements in place to guide the production process.
What Should a Brand Video Do?
Anyone can upload videos to YouTube or a social media platform. But, without a clear marketing strategy, these videos are likely to get lost in the noise.
Branding videos should tell customers who you are and what sets you apart. Putting your brand at the forefront of the process has a number of benefits:
- Fostering brand recognition
- Broadening your audience on social media
- Complementing your other marketing and advertising strategies
- Improving engagement on your website; users tend to stay longer, go deeper into the site, and convert more when pages have quality videos
- “Priming the pump” for customers early in the buying funnel – people are much more likely to remember a video they watched than something they read
Shooting videos just to have a video library is not a recipe for success. Your marketing videos need to convey the story of your brand so customers know what your business is all about.
How Do You Create Video Content for Your Brand?
If you’re taking a DIY approach to digital video, collaborate with your employees, management team, and/or other stakeholders to integrate branding into your videos. This should include key messaging (such as your tagline, mission statement and reasons to believe, etc.) as well as visual assets (such as your logo, color scheme, etc.).
Partnering with a professional videographer and/or your marketing agency is a smart move if you are pressed for time or want to ensure the highest quality of video content. However, not all partners or vendors are created equal.
Local videographers and production crews may have the technical expertise, but they will likely not be able to devote the time and energy necessary to learn about your business and what sets you apart. In addition, some agencies rely on templated storyboards and scripts, which creates efficiency but doesn’t enhance your branding.
You need to make sure your agency takes a customized approach to the look and feel of your videos, from branding to pre-production to filming to editing to delivery. Reputable agencies can also find a videographer and handle scheduling on your behalf, streamlining both the creative and logistical aspects of the production.
How Twelve Three Media Creates High-Quality Branded Video Content
At Twelve Three Media, we make branding a priority at every stage of the video production process. We find that the most effective way to do this is to start with a brand positioning workshop that drills down on who the client is and what sets the business apart.
A brand positioning workshop is a dynamic, fun, and informative session that enables our team to learn about the client and our clients to learn more about themselves. The goal is to help the client develop a brand identity that truly stands apart from the competition.
Once the client’s brand positioning is finalized, we layer the brand identity and messaging into multiple marketing and advertising strategies. This includes video production, with our team developing scripts and storyboards based on the client’s unique brand so the videos truly communicate the vision, mission, and differentiators of the business to potential customers.
What Should Be Included in a Marketing Video?
Whether you have an internal brainstorm session or collaborate with your agency, the brand identity you develop for your business should drive all aspects of pre-production, the shoot, and the finished product. This includes:
- The theme of the video (could be as simple as “Who We Are” or “Why Customers Choose Us”)
- The voiceover that runs over the top of the video
- Footage of your office, team, etc.
- The sequence of images in the video (a process known as storyboarding), which could include graphics, B-roll footage, scripted portions, and more
- Writing a script
- One-on-one interviews with key people in the company is an effective and popular format for branding videos; questions and answers should be developed based on the brand positioning
Ultimately, these components represent the structure for your videos. You can mix and match the various elements to tell different aspects of your story, follow the best practices on assorted online platforms, and more.
More than anything, however, a marketing video needs to tell customers who you are, what you do, and why you’re different from the other businesses they may be considering. This is where brand positioning comes into play.
What Makes a Great Brand Video?
Every business is different. As such, a truly effective marketing video will tell the unique story of your brand using eye-catching visuals and spoken and written messaging that is truly you.
Every great marketing video also needs a call to action (CTA). Once customers get to know your brand, you need to give them a way to get in touch, engage with you, and (ideally) make a purchase.
CTA elements can be added in post-production. They may include your website in the lower third of the video, an end card with your address and phone number, and anything else it takes to seal the deal. All of these additions should match the visual style of the rest of the video as well as your overall brand positioning.
Video analytics is another crucial element of successful video marketing. You can’t win if you don’t keep score, and staying on top of video views, how long viewers watch, and what they do next is a must for increasing recognition of your brand and driving results.
Knowing how your marketing videos perform allows you to make smart decisions about how to get the most from your video library. Some changes may be simple, such as swapping out the thumbnail image or adjusting where the video appears on a page. In other cases, the footage may need to be reshot in order to present your message more effectively. These decisions should be data-driven, not reliant on guesswork.
Start Building a Great Video Marketing Strategy Today
The ability to point and shoot videos has never been easier. Unfortunately, this also means that the competition for viewers has never been higher.
Your business needs to stand out from all of the other companies vying for the attention of consumers. Compelling marketing videos that communicate your brand identity can do just that, enabling potential customers to get to know you and determine how their needs, goals, and values align with your story.
Gain the unfair marketing advantage. Contact Twelve Three Media to learn how our experts can boost your brand positioning through high-quality custom videos!