By Danny Rubin
Time and again, we see business owners who create a corporate video to promote the work they do and the proud employees who help them. We think videos are a terrific marketing tool that will “sell” for you, even if you’re not in the room when someone watches.
That being said, we often observe people create videos with all the wrong qualities and what could have been a memorable product falls flat. Very flat.
That’s why we want to share our five keys to corporate video success. At the bottom, you’ll see a video we recently finished that incorporates all five components.
1. Be brief
It’s not easy to boil your entire company ethos — and all the people who make it tick — into two or three minutes, but that’s what it takes. A seven-minute piece in which you explain every facet of the business and include every single voice? Boring.
Keep it snappy, keep it short. Your audience will appreciate the brevity and actually retain more information in two minutes than they would in seven.
2. LightingÂ
You want the person being interviewed to have adequate light on his/her face. No shadows or dimly-lit rooms. Think about what makes a good photograph (plenty of light) and then apply that same idea to video interviews.
3. Headroom
Too often we come across interviews with the person at the very bottom of the screen and miles and miles of headroom above them. Think about proper composition. Let the person take up 1/3 of the picture (see image below) and look “off screen” as if he/she is talking to someone beyond the camera. It’s called the “rule of thirds.”
Have the person take up 1/3 of the screen and look past the camera in a well-lit room. And always keep the headroom to a minimum.
4. It’s about the audience
It’s easy to turn a corporate video into a giant puff piece. “We are the best place to work! Look at us! We’re the greatest!”
Remember, you’re not making the video so employees can feel warm and fuzzy about themselves. The video is a marketing vehicle and a way to spotlight how your work can make others better.
Before you get started on the video, ask this essential question: how can potential clients/customers benefit from what we do? Let that idea drive the entire production.
5. 101 Uses
So you made a video for the annual corporate dinner. Now what? Where else can the video thrive and be part of your overall marketing strategy?
A few ideas:
– On a prominent place on your website
– Linked inside future press releases
– On social media networks/company YouTube page
– As part of future presentations
– In your email signature
Bottom line: don’t let the video die after its initial unveiling.
Here’s a video we at RCG recently completed for our client, Cintas, and its annual America’s (and Canada’s) Best Restroom Contest. Notice the length (2 min), pacing (quick), lighting (no dark shots) and our ability to prove how “big” the contest truly is.
The goal of the video: encourage business owners to enter their restrooms in the 2014 contest and give their establishments similar exposure. Think we do a good job?
