How to Produce a Corporate Video
Corporate video. Although many of us recognise the value of corporate videos for businesses today, those two words don’t tend to fire up huge levels of excitement or grab the attention of partners and prospective clients.
With brands across the globe revolutionising their approach to traditional corporate video, this mindset is starting to change. In looking for new and compelling ways to engage and entertain their audiences, businesses find that video is a unique storytelling tool. Adding video to your marketing efforts can make audiences 10 times more likely to engage and share your post.
Suppose your business produces a corporate video for the first time or is currently building a video strategy. In that case, this article will show you how to make your videos more exciting and engaging, capturing your audience’s attention and converting their interest into investment. It’ll come down to simple preparation most of the time – a little hard work up front pays huge dividends on the final product and makes for a great corporate video.
How to produce a good corporate video
Many businesses feel intimidated by the prospect of producing a good corporate video due to the input required and the financial aspect, which can often be deemed too expensive. Not every small to medium-sized company has the resources to put hours of work and thousands of pounds into their marketing or advertising videos.
However, any business can create a good quality corporate video with the right content, a few basic tools, and a modest budget. To help you get started, we’ve put together a practical step-by-step plan for your reference.
Eight tips for creating a corporate video
- Define objectives and pick a purpose
The first step is to decide what video your business should create and how to turn your idea into a fully defined concept. A brainstorming session can help develop loose ideas by sketching them out, connecting relevant points, and keeping notes for future inspiration.
Bear in mind that not all corporate videos serve the same purpose and that you can’t necessarily use the same template as one that’s been done before. Whilst you might be using one corporate video to attract new customers, you may use another to attract prospective new candidates and yet another to promote your general brand awareness. The objective will differ for each, so defining these from the start is essential.
Consider what your USP is, what your company offers, and how you can show this off most effectively. Customer testimonials are a great way to showcase your products, customer service prowess, and your company’s value, while employee testimonials are good for recruiting new hires. Product overviews, meanwhile, can be helpful and informative for prospective customers, and “how to” videos can demonstrate expertise in your field.
- Make a plan
As most good business owners know, the key to success is ensuring a solid, well-defined plan behind any action taken.Once you’ve defined your objective for the corporate video, consider who in the company should have input in the production process. What outside resources are required, and what are the budget and timelines? Whilst these are just initial questions to ask early on in the process, it’s important to plan out a framework to know who is doing what, how much it will cost, and when it’s going to be completed.
It’s worth noting that, if possible, you shouldn’t try to do all this on your own. Video is a collaborative medium and requires a team approach. If you can, find the people in your company who are interested in and skilled at this kind of work – otherwise, hire a professional who can help advise and support your corporate video strategy.
- Consider your target audience
One of the most critical steps in the corporate video production process is considering your target audience. Whom are you talking to? Is this video for internal staff, customers, potential partners, or future employees?Think about what they’re looking for and what they care about. The trick to creating a successful corporate video is to create one that resonates with customers – namely your target audience – and focuses on their benefits.
For example, reeling off a list of features might be informative and quick to produce, but it doesn’t demonstrate to your audience why your product or service is right for them. As in almost all storytelling, you need to show, not tell.
Considering your target audience at every turn will help you tailor the tone and message of your video and most effectively convey your message to them.
- Find your message
After you’ve defined your target audience, the next step is to think about the message you wish to convey to them and what needs to be said in your video. Is there a clear topic that needs to be addressed? For example, are you looking to launch a new product or announce a new senior recruit? Are you hoping to educate your audience?
When considering the messaging that will support your video’s purpose, it’s important to remember that not all stories are equal. Some are action-packed, some are funny, and some are emotional. As you plan your video, consider which stories your brand has to tell and what is best to say to them. If you’re looking to recruit, for instance, employees who can speak confidently will do better on camera than quiet ones. Think about ways that you can turn your company’s experience into interesting consumer insights via the medium of video.
When you’re producing a video, you want to shoot with a purpose, rather than sifting through footage and working it out in the editing stage. Preparing your message ahead of time will make your video, production and post-production process much more efficient, with clear targets and intentions throughout.
- Choose your tone and perfect the script
In a previous article, we wrote about the importance of writing a good corporate video script.The tone of your video depends largely on your target audience and the message you wish to convey. If you’re deciding whether you should sound professional and polished or more fun and personable, you’ll need to consider both of these factors.
Say you’re looking to create a video about your company’s fantastic culture. The tone is likely energetic and upbeat, reinforced with lively music and fun graphics. By contrast, if you’re producing a video reporting on the negative impact of climate change, your video will be more sombre in tone, with appropriately downbeat music.
Think about what tone will help you convey your message appropriately without distracting your audience from the subject at hand.
- Consider how the video will be presented
It is vital to consider how and where you will be presenting your corporate video in the pre-production stages, as this is likely to influence the way you film and the resources you’ll need.
For example, a corporate training video that will only be used on internal networks will have a different look, feel and tone to one used on social media platforms for public consumption. Internal videos will address an audience that already knows about the company, so it’s easier to get straight into your key message. Meanwhile, an external video may need to spend more time informing the viewer about the business and capture their attention before telling them about a product.
Consider the environment that your viewer might be watching in, too. Will they be using a desktop or mobile device? Will they watch it in a public space, requiring headphones? For instance, if you’re shooting for Instagram, you’ll want to keep everything within a 1:1 or 4:5 ratio, completely changing how you frame your subjects. Take the time to think about the platform your corporate video will be distributed, as this should influence and inform your production choices.
- Pair your audio with strong visuals
The design of your corporate video should reflect your brand personality, whether that’s fun and animated or professional and minimal. When considering different visual options, think of the imagery and colours that will bring your ideas to life and how these mesh with your brand.
Make sure that your first scene is eye-catching enough to grab people at a glance so that the viewer stops scrolling and continues watching. Secondary shots – such as transitioning from a person speaking to camera to a close-up shot of a product – are known as B-roll, providing variety. At the same time, the narrator continues to talk off-screen. This is a good trick for covering up cuts between different bits of footage or simply enlivening a straightforward ‘talking head’ video.
Whichever visual style you choose, what’s important is to ensure that it’s consistent across all your video communications, and doesn’t feel mismatched to your brand.
- Share your video using the right channels
Now that you’ve created a corporate video and are ready to share it with the world, you need to launch it effectively. Many filmmakers say that a movie isn’t complete until it’s been seen by an audience – the same is true for a video. The biggest mistake to make after producing video content is not sharing it to gain exposure or not sharing it in the right way.
Remember that people interact differently with video content when sharing your video, depending on the social or marketing channel. YouTube is a great place to host your corporate video – in addition to being the most popular video hosting site, it is also the second most popular search engine after Google.
Facebook; Twitter; LinkedIn; Instagram; TikTok; your company blog, your website, and email lists are all good ways to share your video depending on the content, your business, and your target audience. While you should be careful not to spam people with too many videos, an occasional update with some video clips can be highly effective, as can resharing older videos that are still relevant.
Beyond your social media, you can try to pitch your videos to publications, mainly if they contain research or information that acts as a helpful resource. Being published elsewhere means that people who don’t know you already learn about your company and can lead to your content being shared more organically.
No matter which platform you’re using, or the distribution channel you’re sending it out on, you should also optimise your video’s title, description, thumbnail, and call to action accordingly. Making these enticing without being too ‘clickbaity’ – lying about the content to lure people in – will encourage clicks without compromising trust and reflecting poorly on your brand.
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If your business is ready to discover the power of corporate video, then there’s never been a better time to get started. Consider these points the next time you identify a need for corporate video within your organisation.Now that you have some basic tips, it’s time to brainstorm and start producing. What’s your next big video idea going to be? If you don’t want to do it alone, reach out to us for expert video advice and support!
