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The Ultimate Guide To Maximizing Your Video Production Results in 2023
Learn the best practices that will help you and video production agencies reach the goals that video marketing often promises.
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If you're looking to boost your brand or organization, investing in high-quality video production can be a wise decision.
Whether you choose to purchase your own equipment or enlist the services of a professional video production team or company, well-crafted videos have the potential to yield significant returns. In fact, research has found that video marketing can be a highly effective tool, with as many as 88% of marketers reporting positive ROI [1].
Videos have been shown to be one of the highest ROI's in marketing, when done correctly.
To achieve this kind of success, there are several key practices that marketers should keep in mind. For example, the production quality of the visuals and content, as well as the optimal length of the video, are all important factors to consider.
Since viewers' attention spans are limited, it's essential to master these elements in order to achieve your marketing and business goals. To help you get started, we've compiled a list of best practices for video production below.
Why do I need to know the best practices? Can't learn if you don't know the basics.
7 BEST PRACTICES IN VIDEO PRODUCTION:
- Quality of Picture
- Great Content
- Call to Action (CTA)
- Ideal Video Length
- Thumbnails
- Captions
- Brand Ownership
1. QUALITY OF PICTURE
Lighting and picture are some of the most important aspects of your production.
The quality of a video is immediately apparent upon playback and can significantly impact the first impression of your brand or organization. To achieve great video and content marketing, quality is the most important aspect. A high-quality video is a powerful tool to enhance your credibility and success, while poor quality can have a negative impact on your brand and image.
Partnering with a successful video production company can be key to easing your worry.
Even with interesting content, it's challenging to produce videos to retain viewers' attention without a clear picture and audio. Professional video production elevates your content and increases engagement from viewers.
Mood through lighting: people feel certain ways depending on how you light it. Use this to your advantage and match the lighting to the feel of your production.
If you lack the necessary tools for this level of production, consider enlisting the services of a video production agency or local company that understands your vision and goals.
These top video production companies offer state-of-the-art equipment, including cameras, lenses, lighting, and microphones. Consistently working with a local video agency or production company can also help to establish a cohesive brand message and maintain consistent quality that resonates with your audience.
2. GREAT CONTENT WILL MOVE MOUNTAINS
Take the time to produce great content. You never know when something will 'pop' or go viral. Your chances increase with well made videos.
Successful video production for your brand requires more than just creating high-quality video content. It is essential to produce content that is purposeful incredibly creative and adds value to the viewer's experience.
Depending on your marketing strategy and objectives, there are several types of videos you can produce to achieve your goals. Once you determine your digital marketing strategy and goals, you can brainstorm and plan your own content strategy accordingly.
Video production companies typically do not handle the strategy & objective side of things, so make sure you do this step with your team internally.
For instance, tutorial videos aim to educate viewers on a particular skill or subject matter. These videos can showcase your brand's expertise and offer helpful tips and tricks to viewers. Tutorial videos can help build trust with your audience and establish you as a thought leader in your industry.
There are an endless amount of ways to educate and teach a community or audience
Customer testimonial videos provide social proof to potential customers by featuring satisfied customers sharing their experiences with your product or service on social media accounts. These videos can increase brand credibility and help build trust with your audience, leading to more conversions.
Moreover, live event videos can provide a behind-the-scenes look at your brand's events, such as product launches or conferences, which can create buzz and excitement around your brand.
Live event videos can also serve as a record of your event and be used for future promotions. Not every video production company offers services for this, so make sure to ask.
To create exceptional video content, a video production company can be a valuable business asset. They can provide expertise in storyboarding, scouting locations, hiring talent, and capturing creative shots, including drone footage, to improve the quality of your videos.
A video production company can also provide post-production services like editing and color grading to create a polished final product.
3. CALL TO ACTION (CTA)
Always use a call to action, 7 times a charm, says Neil Patel
After viewing your videos, a CTA, or call-to-action, prompts viewers to take a specific action. This step helps guide viewers towards the next stage in your digital marketing call funnel. Including a CTA is vital in digital marketing videos as it aims to increase engagement with your company or organization. Ultimately, businesses seek consumer action, making CTAs one of the most critical components of marketing videos.
IMAGE VIA: Brainstorm Media Denver
Working with a video production company makes it easy to make content at scale.
The CTA you choose to incorporate in your video depends entirely on its context. For instance, if you upload your video to a social media platform, you may prompt viewers to follow your account, leave a comment, or participate in an online contest. Alternatively, if the video is on your website, a landing page video CTA may encourage viewers to sign up for a newsletter, free trial, or fill a contact form.
Marketing experts recommend carefully selecting the words or phrases in your CTAs. Strong verbs such as "click, register, download" work well because they are direct and tell viewers precisely what to do. Using simple, persuasive language is also essential, such as "Give it a try now" versus "Start your free trial now."
It takes time to win prospects over. They are naturally skeptical. Don't sell at all times, but always leave a CTA for them.
In addition to selecting the appropriate context for your CTA, there are other factors to consider when designing your CTA for your marketing videos. One crucial aspect to consider is the timing of your CTA. Experts suggest placing your CTA towards the end of your video when the viewer is most engaged and invested in the content.
However, if your video is lengthy, you may consider placing a CTA midway through the video to keep the viewer engaged.
Another aspect to consider is the design of your CTA. The design should be eye-catching and stand out from the rest of the video. The placement of the CTA should be strategic and not obstruct the viewer's experience.
It should be visible and easily accessible for viewers to engage.
Furthermore, creating urgency with your CTA can be an effective strategy to prompt viewers to take immediate action. Examples include incorporating phrases like "limited time offer" or "act now" to encourage viewers to take action before the opportunity passes.
Lastly, A/B testing is a valuable tool to determine the effectiveness of different aspects of your CTAs. Testing different CTAs can help determine which CTA is most effective in achieving your marketing objectives.
In summary, CTAs are a crucial component of marketing videos as they guide viewers towards the next stage in your whole digital strategy and marketing funnel. The context, timing, design, and language of your CTA are all essential factors to consider when designing your CTA.
Creating urgency and testing different CTAs can also help determine which CTA is most effective in achieving your marketing objectives.
4. IDEAL VIDEO LENGTH
There is purpose in both long and short form videos of all types.
When it comes to the duration of videos, it's essential to consider the type of content and its distribution platform. For instance, social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have specific duration limits for videos.
Instagram has a limit of 60 seconds for a regular post, while Twitter's limit is 140 seconds. Facebook's recommended video duration is between 15 and 60 seconds for maximum engagement.
Another factor to consider is the video's purpose. Brand videos typically range from 15-160 seconds, while educational or demonstration videos can extend up to 5 minutes. If you're creating a product video, it's recommended to keep it short and sweet and focus on the product's unique selling points.
It's crucial to focus on the video's quality, content, and impact from the outset. You can use tools like scriptwriting, storyboarding, and pre-production to ensure that your video is engaging from the start.
This is the bread and butter of most video production companies, so they will guide you through their specific processes to have the most successful outcome.
Make the correct content for the correct platform. Each place caters to a different audience.
Moreover, personalized content like live streams, vlogs, and behind-the-scenes videos can have longer durations as they strengthen the relationship with your audience.
Such videos have a loyal audience who is already emotionally connected to your brand and has more patience for longer content.
In summary, video duration is a crucial factor to consider when creating video content. You need to consider the type of content, distribution platform, and the purpose of the video. While it's essential to follow general guidelines, the quality, content, and impact of the video should always take precedence.
5. THUMBNAILS
Take the time to make custom thumbnails, they can become easily recognizable with your brand.
Custom thumbnails are an essential component of video content creation, as they play a vital and key role in viewers' decision to click and watch your content. An eye-catching thumbnail can capture a viewer's attention, and when done right, it can increase the click-through rate and generate more views.
One of the best practices for creating custom thumbnails is to feature an interesting or welcoming face that can attract viewers. People are naturally drawn to other people, and using a face in your thumbnail can increase the chances of getting more clicks. For example, if you're creating a video tutorial, a thumbnail featuring a smiling instructor can help capture viewers' attention.
Another technique that can be used in custom thumbnails is adding text. Including a short and catchy title or a descriptive tagline can provide a clear idea of the video's content and make it more attractive to viewers. However, it's essential to ensure that the text is legible, visible, and doesn't clutter the thumbnail.
Catchy thumbnails will get people to click. If they don't click, they don't watch.
Still images can also be an effective option for custom thumbnails. They can be clear and easily recognizable, conveying the video's content in a concise and straightforward manner. However, it's essential to ensure that the image accurately represents the video's content and is visually appealing.
When creating custom thumbnails, it's essential to consider the target audience, the platform, and the overall quality of the content.
For example, a thumbnail featuring bright colors and bold fonts may work better on a platform like YouTube, while a more straightforward thumbnail may be more suitable for LinkedIn.
This is not typically something a video production company would handle. A graphic designer is best for this job.
In conclusion, custom thumbnails are an essential element of video content creation, and investing time and effort in creating them can significantly impact your engagement and return on investment. Experimenting with different techniques and styles can help you find what works best for your content and audience.
6. CAPTIONS
Captions are necessary in 2023, as most viewers are watching with no sound
Adding captions to your videos not only makes them accessible to a broader audience but also has several other benefits that can improve engagement and increase the chances of the video being watched in its entirety.
One of the main advantages of captions is that they allow viewers to watch videos without sound, which is particularly relevant for mobile users in public spaces. According to research by Verizon Media, 69% of consumers watch videos with the sound off in public places, highlighting the importance of captions in engaging with these viewers.
Captions also make your videos more inclusive and accessible to people with hearing impairments, allowing them to enjoy the content without any barriers. This can help build a more diverse and engaged audience for your videos.
Another advantage of captions is that they can improve SEO and discoverability. By adding accurate captions and transcripts, search engines can crawl your video content, making it more searchable and discoverable to a wider audience. This can help increase your video's visibility, drive more traffic to your website, and improve engagement.
Good, short captions that get to the point tend to do the best. Most people don't even read the captions, sadly.
Captions can also help increase engagement with non-native speakers who may have difficulty understanding the language or accents used in the video.
Adding captions can help them follow the content and improve their engagement, resulting in a more diverse and engaged audience.
In conclusion, adding captions to your videos is an essential step in improving engagement and accessibility. They can improve SEO, make your content more inclusive and accessible, and allow viewers to watch videos in public spaces without disturbing others. Not every video production company offer this, so make sure to ask.
Captions are an effective way to make your videos more engaging, and it's worth investing time and effort in adding them to your videos, especially for social media platforms.
7. BRAND OWNERSHIP
Show your logo and brand visuals often, it's literally your most recognizable piece of media
It's important to establish ownership of your video content by strategically placing your brand logo where it makes the most sense. While logos do not define your brand, they serve as a visual cue for viewers to recognize and associate with your content. Any professional video production company will know this and utilize this to ensure that your customers remember who you are.
This recognition is particularly critical for emerging brands seeking to establish themselves and foster customer loyalty. With time and consistent effort, your brand and corporate videos will become synonymous with your logo and create deeper connections with your audience.
If you want them to remember one thing, it's your logo and maybe one sentence or slogan your company represents.
It's worth noting that even the most recognizable logos were once unknown to the world. However, by integrating your logo into all marketing materials, you can ensure that every effort counts towards building brand awareness.
Over time, your audience will become more familiar with your logo and brand identity, leading to greater engagement and loyalty.
IN SUMMARY
It will pay off if you develop each of these areas and give it proper time and resources!
Given the limitless nature of the creative arena in video production services, the potential for innovation is boundless. Before embarking on your video production venture, it is essential to establish a clear set of objectives, as this will enable you to identify the optimal resources and methodologies for your project.
The aforementioned video marketing strategies have been validated to enhance key metrics such as click-through rates, conversions, and revenue. Any video production company worth their worth will be able to help you achieve this.
Nonetheless, it is vital to emphasize that the most consequential factors driving success in video production companies are superior content and visual quality.
Looking for a professional video and post production services company to create next-level video content? Send us a quick note with your needs.
