Video Marketing and Branding:
Even the most disciplined individuals find it difficult to resist the urge of consuming engaging types of digital content. Video content however is arguably at the top of the list as one of the –if not the number one –most effective strategies one can use to connect with their audience, clients, and staff. It’s now more personalized and entertaining than ever and if done right provokes emotion while providing value to the end user.
And yet, despite the obvious potential of video marketing, many companies are still sitting on the sidelines. We see it all the time mainly because the idea of regularly rolling out fresh, unique video content is a daunting task. But this is only true if you don’t have an effective video creative team to help you get the best bang for your buck return on investment (ROI) with your videos.
The truth is video marketing is not as complex as it seems. It’s really just about getting familiar with what video content your viewers love to watch, and then offering more of that. Looking for opportunities and using creativity to help tell the story of why your prospect should choose your company over the competition. At the end of the day, it’s about relaying and sharing valuable information, and videos do a great job at all of these items.
Top Mistakes Companies Make in Regard to Video Production:
- Too heavy on facts and light on emotion.
- Not listing what’s different and why it matters.
While features, benefits, and price are still important to people, experiences and personal identity are even more important. The best way to sabotage a good marketing video strategy is jam pack your videos with every feature and detail. Modern society is information-rich and time-poor so the quicker and easier we can get customers to say yes to your offering the value will be perceived as higher. Cut the fat and keep it short. I promise you’ll find that subtraction, not addition, is the formula for clear communication. The ability to subtract features is the rare gift of the true communicator. I know it’s difficult, but we can all agree that confusion and clutter are the real enemies of communication. It’s easy to forget that people base their buying decisions more on symbolic cues than features, benefits, and price and that the foundation of brand is trust. Most videos are light on emotion which is the ingredient customers want most. All communication should be aimed at creating a positive experience for the user. We want to convey why you’re different and why it matters.
B2B Relationships:
There are so many unique approaches to create engaging videos, and it all begins with the relationship you have with the video production firm you’re working with. For example, our in-house creative agency –Pierpoint Studios—truly operates as an extension of our partners’ business. It’s a growing relationship where we take the time to understand our clients’ challenges, use our creative resources, and help bridge that gap by developing personalized content. This helps the communication and workflow ROI become more effective.
The goal here is to help support your marketing, branding, and company needs by connecting your business strategy with visual design. The best way we do this is through conversation, by taking the time to learn your unique challenges and goals as we know it’s an essential and vital piece to make effective content. We want to learn not only about your business but your specific industry, so we can consistently provide deep, practical insights in a light, visual way. We want to create a playground for collaborative ideas, allowing ample space for the right side of the brain to work its creative magic. Because it’s often magic, not logic, that ignites passion in customers. Most marketers (and business owners) favor left-brain thinking, so it helps having a creative agency, firm, or group to help bridge that gap of strategy and design.
Video Marketing vs Branding
A well-managed brand is the lifeblood of any successful company. As author and branding expert Marty Neumeier says “a brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. In other words, a brand is not what YOU say it is. It’s what THEY say it is.” So, if your clients are comparing you with your competitors, we need to help them know what makes you different. Branding is more about the culture itself, an ongoing process that is about emotions and how your customers and clients feel. Marketing is more about numbers and a set of processes to build awareness. In today’s climate, both are important but how you make people feel can be the ticket to unlock that unique quality that sets your product or service apart from the competition.
Trust is the ultimate shortcut to a purchase
As purchasing choices multiply –it’s less about comparing features and benefits—trust becomes one of the biggest factors to determine whether they will buy your product or service. This is where testimonial videos come into play. Featuring someone who has experience with your product or service helps convey trust.
It takes strategy and creativity together to build a brand. Left-brain thinking –logical, linear, concrete, verbal—compared to right-brain thinking –intuitive, emotional, visual, and physical. This gap of logic and magic can cause a brilliant strategy to fail and doom a courageous creative project before it’s even launched, way back at the planning stage. This can divide a company from its customers. However, having a creative video team that takes the time to learn your unique challenges –creatives who understand business – can bridge this gap of business strategy and effective video marketing.
Creatives That Understand Business = Competitive Advantage
Learning how to bridge this gap creates a major competitive advantage over those who don’t. Because when brand name communication comes through intact –crystal clear and powerful – it goes straight into people’s minds without distortion, noise, or the need to think too much about it.
If you want to learn more about branding and marketing, I’ve found these books especially helpful:
- The Brand Gap – by Marty Neumeier
- ZAG – by Marty Neumeier
- Purple Cow – by Seth Godin
- Permission Marketing – by Seth Godin
- Growth Hacker Marketing – by Ryan Holiday
- Building A Story Brand – by Donald Miller