How to help your promotional video stand out from the crowd

Video content is a great addition to any company’s promotional arsenal. They’re an effective way to showcase the products and services that you offer — but they’re also equally effective at showcasing how and why your company does the things that you do. Today, the ethos behind your business is just as important to many consumers as your core offerings. Videos are a great way to simply communicate all of these points, while still providing an easy opportunity to convert to a sale. But actually getting eyes on it is the challenging part; you want your future customers to see your content so they know how great you are firsthand. How can you get the promotional videos for your business seen in a world which is, frankly, already overstuffed with video content?

The good news is that there are some simple ways to make your video stand out above and beyond your competitors. We’ve put together some expert tips on promotional video production that can help put you at the forefront of the pack.

Why are promotional videos important to your business? It’s easy to assume that you should be producing video content just because everyone else is — but doing it without a clear purpose in mind will just lead to unfocused content and your campaign fizzling. So it’s key to have a core message in mind when you’re producing your videos. These are some key questions you need to ask yourself before moving ahead with production. 

• Is it a pure advertisement for your product or service, or is it more educational? 
• Does it provide insights into the way your business works? 
• Does it effectively link back to your brand? 
• Is it something that’s easy for someone unfamiliar with your business to understand? 
• Can it be easily shared with others, whether via email or social media? 
• What sort of returns do I want on this video? (e.g. click throughs, sales, brand awareness) 

These purposes aren’t mutually exclusive and there isn’t one “right” answer for any of them. Rather, they’re here to serve as guidelines when you’re allocating a budget for promotional video production. You want to have firm objectives so that your video isn’t just getting lots of eyeballs on it — it’s being seen by the people you actually want to see it. By being able to outline a clearly defined brief and expectations for performance, you’re far more likely to save time and money in the process and get the maximum impact. 

One of the big benefits of video is that it’s a tried and trusted medium; people are familiar with the format, so you’re not selling them on the medium as well as the message. Nonetheless, you don’t want to test people’s patience. So as a rule, your video ad should stay short, sharp and to the point — leave them wanting more. It’s an effective way to ensure that you’re not just being noticed but to encourage people to actively seek you out in the future. Sites like YouTube are ideal for fast, non-skippable advertising, letting you capture the attention of your existing or new audience within just a few seconds.

Animation is one of the most powerful tools available for video creation. It’s bright, attention-grabbing and uses a blend of movement, colours and sound in order to keep the audience engaged. It’s a great way to bring your brand’s ideas to life, promote new products or services and endear your company to prospective customers. This doesn’t necessarily mean creating an animated video from scratch either; rather, it can be about utilising animated elements or touch-ups in an otherwise live-action short. 

Investing in high-quality video content is a great way to build trust with your customers, both in the short and long term. If you’re at top of mind and highly trusted, you’re likely to attract new customers and have repeat business from existing customers. So investing in standout promotional video production is crucial; it’s not just about providing purchase-related information but also playing to their sense of trust. 

This isn’t just about abstract emotional considerations, either; there are real tech benefits to it. Embedding a video on your business website encourages visitors to spend more time on your site; they have a reason to hang around and engage with your content. As a result of this, Google will begin to rank your website as more trustworthy, and you will start to see your site sitting higher in search rankings. Google’s algorithms favour video content, so posting high-quality videos, whether they’re promotional, instructional or marketing videos, will help your website (and future video content) to reach a bigger and broader audience.

Promotional videos for business have a great uptake by target audiences when delivered in email format. So if you’ve already got a pre-existing database of clients, an email blast can be an effective way to ensure that it’s not just seen but viewed by clients who have an existing interest in your company. When leveraged correctly, a high-quality promotional video can help keep you top of mind or even give a customer the additional push they need to make the final decision to purchase.

It’s easy — almost glib — to talk about the power of social media in the present climate. But it’s nonetheless true; you want your videos to be able to be easily shared across a variety of different social platforms. Smart and snappy video content is an excellent way to attract attention and encourage your audience to help do your promotional work for you, by sharing it on their own profiles.

Video cameras are more easily accessible than ever — most of us now carry them in our pockets, on our smartphones. But that doesn’t mean everyone has become an expert videographer overnight! So if you don’t have the know-how or capacity in your internal team, opting to work with an external provider can be an excellent way to ensure that you’re still producing high-quality video content. This is where a company like Shootsta can be particularly helpful as a partner in the creative process. By renting the equipment, doing the filming yourself and then delegating the editing and production process to an external partner, you can guarantee that the final product will be both relevant to your company and of a high standard.

At Shootsta, we’re long-time experts in helping create promotional videos for business, along with corporate and marketing videos. We provide you with a step-by-step plan that enables you to put together a quality video that’s aligned with your company’s goals and target audience. With the right plan in place, the process of making quality promo videos is simplified, so that your team can easily put together all the videos you need in the future with minimal stress and maximum quality.

Step 1 — Getting your team trained and ready 

The learning process for your in-house team is an important part of the creative process. Shootsta provides your team with a 90-day onboarding program with our expert team; it’s a crash course in everything they need to learn about making superior quality promotional videos for your business. We’re all about empowering people in your team — because who knows your business better than your own employees? 

Step 2 – Pre-production content planning

When putting together any promotional video production, it’s important for everyone involved to understand the key messages that your video is trying to get across. Good planning makes for a great video — so it’s during the pre-production planning and research phase that your in-house video team comes together to decide on what kind of video they’re making. 

You need to figure out how your video is going to grab your target audience to convey your message in the most standout way possible. Will you use long-form storytelling, or will it be a more straightforward advertisement that focuses on your product’s unique features? Perhaps something more avant-garde to pique the interest of your audience. Whatever the final decision, this is often the longest part of the process. It will likely involve consultation with a number of different departments in order to ensure the best outcome. 

Step 3 – Storyboard creation

Storyboarding is an incredibly useful part of the pre-production process. It’s an excellent way to plot out what you are trying to say and how you’re going to use the video to say it. Having a clear storyboard enables every person on your promotional video production team to understand the shots that need to be captured on the day of filming, so you don’t need to waste any extra time or money on reshooting. This applies to both live-action and animated content alike, to ensure that your team stays on-task. You don’t need to be a gifted illustrator either; stick figures can serve just as well as detailed illustrations. You can also opt to use resources such as photo libraries to demonstrate your vision and provide your team with the desired reference materials. 

Step 4 – Detailed shot and materials lists

Prior to shooting a promo video, your team should be engaging in as much planning as possible to ensure that the shoot itself goes as smoothly as possible. A detailed list of the shots required can easily be put together from a well-written storyboard. All you’re doing is creating a simple list of instructions for the folks shooting your footage on the day. Together with your shot list, there should be a list of all materials required for the video shoot, which will include:

• Details of shoot locations
• Any props required
• Names and contact details for actors or models appearing in the shoot
• Comprehensive list of equipment required
• Anything else that is deemed necessary for your video team to know on the day of the shoot (e.g. weather conditions, attire required, travel arrangements etc) 

Step 5 – Promo video shoot

On the day itself, your team should be able to capture all the raw footage that we require to put together a high-quality promo video for your business. Our team of creative producers will also be on standby on the day of your video shoot to answer any questions you might have while shooting. And if you feel you need additional assistance, we can also arrange for one of our Creative Producers to be there in person, through our Shootsta Assist program. 

Step 6 – Upload to the platform for expert editing

This is the stage at which employing the services of a professional promotional video production team can truly shine. Once your raw footage is uploaded to the Shootsta platform, we take over — your raw footage is placed into the hands of professionals, and we’ll cut it together into a professional quality promotional video for your company that is designed to shine. Within just 24 hours, your promo video will be returned to you, ready to be shown to the world.

Once you’ve got the right content ready to go, you’re going to have a far easier time grabbing the attention of your customers. So having professional support in creating that content is key to being able to put your best digital foot forward — there’s no need to muddle through on your own via trial and error. 

Looking for more information on how Shootsta can help you create a great promotional video production? Get in touch with us today — as the industry-leading disruptor in how businesses create their videos, we understand how to produce the most effective promo videos to gain your company the best possible return on investment.