7 Reasons All Businesses Need to Build Video Content
July 29, 2018Good video content animates and engages your audience. With the avent of YouTube and Vimeo and Facebook video the world of emotive television advertising and content, VLOGS, informational styled content and documentaries and webinars is affordable and accessible to most small to medium businesses.
There is something captivating about video content. There is something honest and emotive about watching a video. There is a kind of magic about the story in good video content. Something that creates a responsiveness that you get from the audience. Whether it’s the live action or educational video or illustrating your brands benefits it takes people into your landscape. It brings them into your world. It’s an immersive medium and it’s a great way to “Storyscape” your business.
At Wildfire we are innate illustrators, so for us “a picture tells a 1000 words”. Add live action, believable audio and some clever dynamic direction ideas and you’ll evoke a response in viewers that’s unmatched by just clever words or a photo alone. We aren’t kidding! This is actually ‘fact’ as the captivating quality of video is pure magic – Lightning in a bottle.
Video is a medium that connects your brand story with your viewers far better than any other format. Given all Marketing and advertising decisions are emotional, or should be emotional ones, if your brand isn’t using video to connect with your clients – then why the hell not?
In the past, television delivered and grew all the big brands we know and love today. But with media spots on television becoming expensive to give some businesses entry into this powerful medium. The internet has built options for delivering video and film content without that high cost of Television. It’s been so successful it’s ushered in a new age of video. Video is now available as a medium of every business willing to build potent and powerful content.
It’s been a long time since “Video killed the radio star.” But it’s a killer medium to work your brand premise and demonstrate your products benefits. It’s truly is a great storytelling tool, so you’d have to be silly not to invest in video. At Wildfire we are all about telling your story, your purpose, the why behind your actions is critical to us. Good marketers know this WHY has little to do with your products or service, and everything to do with your values as a business, and your reason for existing – The emotional delivery of the story. Thus as great advertisers we are always looking for great ways to direct and attach emotion to your “why” and make the stories that propel your brand. Story that deliver great ” punch”, in a fun and entertaining way.
Telling this “why” through video is the most effective and compelling method to share your story for these seven reasons:
1. The Most Important Quality is That Video Builds “Trust”.
Video conveys so much more. It’s dynamic and believable! You get to see; Body language, transparency, confidence and honesty. Things are demonstrated and presented in real time. As humans we need these things to make judgements, break something down and build our impression and our trust. If you read my words or hear my voice. If you saw my face facial expressions then chances are you would trust me more than if you didn’t. But trust me now when I say these things. Video is one of the greatest mediums to increases trust between businesses and consumers. It’s fact, being able to see the people in the organisation lifts transparency. It’s the reason we like the sales person in a shop and to go somewhere to experience the product. Video can convey the same experience straight to the screen. We know you get it! The purpose of having a great website is to quickly gain the trust of your consumer, and there’s no quicker, more effective method to do this than through video. First impressions count, customers can immediately sense and get a feel for your brand or product and establish whether or not they share the same values and as advertisers we know video delivers this in spades. If trust is critical in ultimately engaging your customer with your businesses then we only have one question – why aren’t you using video?
2. Quick, Effective and Captivating.
Want to learn something new? Want a step by step lesson in how to change the oil in your car? The internet is full of “webinars” and “how-to-do things” styled videos and VLOGS. Video is an excellent teacher and as kids we have been learning from skills based television shows, programs like the Block, Grand designs, documentaries like David Attenborough’s shows concerning environment, think of all the kids shows like “Playschool” and “Mr. Maker”. All these shows have been delivering education and learning in a captivating way for the best part of our waking lives. The way to learn or explain anything quickly and easily is through video. Added to this, video gives you the ability to control the messaging and direct the brand story, that’s why it’s so powerful in advertising.
Interpretation can be different from what you intend, so clear and clever messaging is critical. Video is the best way to have mastery over your brand story and your communications. It’s easy accessible and the delivery through YouTube is very easy and if you plan and storyboard and develop your message right. Done well and with a good director it’s a joy to watch.
3. The Internet Just Loves Your Video and The Connections It Makes.
With SEO if you are only buying Adwords you are only buying digital “Real Estate”. The problem with that is the value and the supply and demand of those Adwords will always rise and the competition for page one will always be a race to keep up. So why spend on an ever increasing digital Real Estate? Why not build captivating connections and emotional content? Content that is posted on channels like YouTube and Vimeo forever. It can build followings, followers loyal to your products and brands and it connects to your audience. Yes! You become a brand influencer and brand leader by the value of your products, your commentary, your insights, your expertise and your content not by words sold to the highest bidder. So really building video and social media content is better than Adwords hands down, both in the short term and long run.
It’s pretty simple, once you have videos that YOU build, putting them on your website increases the time spent by visitors and Google totally loves this! This signals to Google and their “Googlebots” that you have good content, and your site will show up higher in the search listings. Plus as your popularity on Youtube and Vimeo and any “back linking” of content to other websites develops your search listings grow again and you get highly potent SEO and the ROI your video investment is far greater than an ever increasing market for Adwords. This is the value of advertising or choosing a storyteller over a IT guy or a designer. Story and Videos are one of the greatest ways to let Google know you mean business. Doing this well and effectively is in the execution and in the storytelling so you become interesting and relevant to your audience. Better yet! If you create great videos the interest people see in you will have the opportunity to be shared. Create great content and people will want to share your videos across their social media. WIN WIN to you!
Sharing videos on social media has huge reach, Facebook judges and rates video heavily giving you further organic (non-paid) advertising reach. Spreading your message, and brand, further – for free. It truly doesn’t get better than that?
4. Video Consumption is The New Digital Age Juggernaut.
Our generation was told we were “bad!” Brought up on the evils of TV addiction, MTV, ABC’s Rage and Video games like Atari! Remember when our mums told us we’d get “square eyes” from watching too much television or having to much time on our Commodore 64! Well I think we turned out OK!
It’s funny though, I remember the strange “TDK” advertising. They created this gorgeous, but pretty freaky advertising campaign where the next generation had large ears, huge square eyes and weird sensory features because of the beautiful addictive quality of their Audio visual tapes and videos.
So now we warn our kids about their screen time. But really Y-gens and Millennials are addicted to YouTube, Facebook , Snapchat and Instagram. Let’s face it us X-gens created for them because we inherently loved it so much too. All these new social mediums and platforms have some sort of video, live chat, live streaming video and GIF capabilities. Kids are Live streaming daily fun, creating stupidity and posting it for laughs and everything they do from Skype to video messaging and watching “the world’s greatest fails”, Internet juggernauts on YouTube and “Vines” videos is their new playground.
If you think video is going away – you’re just “switched off” and probably totally “uncool”. Frankly, the fact that video consumption has increased is old news now. Yet if you aren’t up with current affairs, know that “it’s true” and “it’s very real.” At Wildfire we reckon, “The smart money is in starting to produce video content”. Resistance is futile! if you question it you are already behind the times.
But if we haven’t convinced you by now, just think. Video consumption, Television, iView, and sports games and live streaming of sports, are all now on our mobiles and data packaging and pricing reflects this trend. This is increasing annually, so ensure your website is mobile responsive and your video is looking as good as it can on these “smart screens”.
To not even consider moving to video production is ignoring the obvious. It’s like owning a shopfront and when no one comes through the door denying that internet sales and eCommerce truly exist.
5. If Content is King! Video is the King of the Content! It Delivers Personality and Emotional Access to Your Brand Without Question.
Humans are emotional creatures. Love us or hate us Humans are driven everyday by expectations and emotions. Every decision we make is governed by desire, passions, opinions, judgements and learnt behaviours or beliefs. “Perception is reality” and that can change in a few seconds. Videos that are done well can evoke emotions like no tomorrow. Emotions change behaviours. Videos can break down beliefs. Video is as close-to-life-like as it gets, engaging all the senses, it has a power to change opinions, pull at heart strings and deliver jingles that are catchy and fun (MTV and music videos) If you need any more proof or evidence? Just look at Youtube! Let’s say you are a cat lover. Well there’s over 265 million cat videos on YouTube! So go scratch your eyes out with tears, laughs and fur balls of fun! Just don’t hate me if you are a dog lover, I’m sure YouTube has 265 Million dog videos to wag your tail too. So get online and Enjoy!
So our Advice to clients is build emotional content and great entertaining stuff. Tell your story, your product story, your reason your business is so needed in this day and age. And don’t say to us; “I don’t have a big enough story” or “I’m not that kind of person to blow my own horn on YouTube” or “I have nothing to show” or “I don’t have a face for television”. If that’s the case or your attitude, then you’re not in business! You may as well go on the Australian Register for “Endangered Business Species” or maybe Business Extinction is great “cause marketing story?”
The fact remains. Believe in yourself! Be passionate! Be emotional and work with a branding advertising agency to deliver your story in the most positive and entertaining way. Belief is an emotional bridge. Videos help us bridge things, convey concepts with our audience that we can’t do in brochures, static websites or print and even on radio. It is the the King of content! It can be done badly or well but it should be done to thrive in this new digital age of advertising.
So in the immortal and emotive words of Kevin Costner, in the movie ‘Field of Dreams’ (1989) let’s celebrate this idea – “If YOU build it. THEY will come.” I’m sure you’ve seen this one on video!
6. Response Rates
I’ll keep this one “short and sweet” for all you accountant types. The numbers speak for themselves – Video ads are very effective.
The average click-through-rate of video ads is 1.84%. That’s the highest CTR of all digital ad formats! And for a 15-second non-skippable YouTube video ad, the completion rate is 92%. For skippable video ads, the rate is 9%.
These are pretty impressive figures. Considering static banner advertising is both annoying and pretty much a dead medium really only to visually remind people you are out there. Plus consider this little out of the box thought or idea! Videos in games and Apps right now that sell other App games and offer “Free coins” to boost or get players bonuses in games … is just increasing the automatic behaviour to watch and digest advertising and videos. Plus i know myself if there is a relevant entertaining captivating video playing I don’t mind watching the advertising before getting into my Youtube video or game. I like knowing what’s out there. I like being engaged by things. So as a business tap into the power of video and long form social media webinars and leads to drive your business further and build your great response rates.
7. Video is No Longer That Expensive.
Now you’re aware of how awesome video is for your business. Building video content is really now a critical part of your branding and story telling tool kit.
It’s important for your website and social media success. Maybe even vital!
It’s emotional and captivating qualities come in a pert deliverable format that is second to none. But the content and messaging needs to be on brand and well directed. Video can be created by our phones, SLR Cameras, GoPros, Handy cams and all manner devices are readily available. The entry level is so cheap now and it doesn’t have to look cheap either. There are differing levels of the HD quality required to deliver video content. Choosing location, lighting and understanding the limits of your devices will help improve your presentations. scripting, planning and storyboarding will also help with your quality and getting a director or professional involved is important too. But really it no longer has to be done on a “broadcast quality” camera any more.
Look! It’s great if you have a budget for a better quality outcome. But our advice is put the money into the storytelling, planning and quality of your content over the hiring the biggest budget camera crews. Spend on “adding value” with a make up artist and stylist to boost your staff image and give them confidence on the day of filming. Plan your locations and where you set up your filming or when you film your offices have the lawns mowed and tables cleaned or if having your staff present to camera make sure they feel like actors for a day. Giving them “a free make over” boosts their confidence on the day and makes them feel special. This will show when you go to shoot the video.
Spend the money on the the things that add emotional value, spend on developing a great branding story, develop and deliver your message well and put that message “into action”. A presenter 100% to camera 100% of the duration of the video is just boring. Unless the script is very very compelling or emotive and engaging.
You need to be cinematic about your storytelling to gain emotional engagement from your audience. This may seem like a lot of work, but when simple things are done well in the right format, the potential for businesses connecting with clients is unlimited. Video doesn’t have to be expensive, with a handful of simple clever ideas, clever techniques and a really great production plan; video can be cheaper than you realise.
Remember it’s not just great camera work it’s the “Creative Stroyscaping” the whole immersive environment that you create. If you have an active brand make sure the characters are active and moving and there is a sense of purpose to your editing. The way you capture your audience’s attention and get them to dive into your story will always be the best way to elevate your brand. Honestly, It takes “storytellers” and “art directors” and “film directors” to make a great movie although a good director of photography helps bring the story to life. You are always watching video for “the content” and the “execution of the story” not the pretty vistas unless you are watching a “calm meditation video”. So highlight your benefits, have genuine presenters and demonstrate your product attributes. Video is the medium and it has come of age with the internet so employ it and use it to the best of your abilities and build your brand story effectively and easily with Video.
In hindsight Wildfire hopes it’s put forward a surefire convincing case for video. We are passionate in our beliefs. So if these Seven thought provoking reasons have inspired you to develop your businesses video content then talk to Wildfire Productions about developing and producing your brand story. You’ll never look back and have a great lot of fun developing your story.
Isn’t it time you got your business up in Lights, on camera and into some video action. We think you’ll thank us for it in the long run. We hope you’ve enjoyed our insight and story. Thanks for reading.
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