Campaign Goals for Your Video

Creating an awesome video for your customers is not enough. You need to think about the campaign as a whole from the start. This means taking the time to step back and plan your campaign strategy before you get started with the video itself.

Out of the Box, a video production company in Perth, Australia state in their blog, “Only after you clearly define all of  your objectives can you tailor a perfect strategy to achieve them.” Here at Key West Video we completely agree with this.

Our clients often ask us what makes a great video. There are so many different elements that come together to create an amazing story, great production value and a solid concept. But the fact of the matter is if you want your video to be distributed optimally, you need to think about your video as part of a larger campaign.

Target Your Audience

Plan your video with your target market in mind. Everything from how long the video should be, to the gender of the voice-over artist you choose, should be tailored to your audience. When it comes to the campaign, and distributing your content, make sure to decide on the best avenues to reach your audience.

Create a Specific Message

What message do you want to send with your video? Buy our product so we can get rich is not a good strategy. Step into your audiences shoes and determine what they would want to know, what they would like to see, and the best way to get that message across. Your message should not only be an integral part of your video, but a part of the larger campaign as well. Other aspects of your marketing strategy should be co-branded with the video. For example, change up your Facebook display picture to coincide with the new video, create a whitepaper with the same characters from your video, use photos or screen captures from the video to put on branded material.

Measure Your Success

The point of a campaign is to get your brand noticed. Without setting specific goals and finding out if you met those goals, then you will never truly know the success of your campaign. Check out this great article on Innovid to learn more about how to measure the success of your video marketing campaign.

Remember, video is a fabulous marketing tool that can serve a wide variety of purposes. However, videos by themselves need to be part of a larger story. Focusing on the audience, the message, and how you will track it all, will aid you when putting together your next video marketing campaign.

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Campaign Goals for Your Video

Consistency & Standards in Production

Consistency creates a level of standards, and standards breed consistency. Of course, you can have one without the other, but it is the power of the two together which create a level of professionalism and trust which keeps clients coming back again and again.

We have come across clients who ask us if we can hire freelancers to film at their different locations or events across Canada, instead of sending our own crew. The answer is of course we can. However, it is not something that we recommend. Here’s why.

At Key West Video we have have a certain level of standards which we apply to our everyday interaction with clients. Whether in a meeting, on a shoot, or during the editing process. We want our clients to feel well taken care of, and want them to be assured that they will get the premium quality service which they have been delivered in the past. One of the salient ways we do this is maintaining a level of consistency throughout all of our projects, and throughout the projects life cycle.

Maintaining consistency means training our staff in our specific branded fashion. Above all else we ensure our employees understand that great customer service is at the heart of our business. Creativity and attention to detail are important as well, but being able to accommodate and be flexible with our clients is one of our top priorities.

Elizabeth Halford wrote in her post on Consistency in Post Production, on the Digital Photography School website.

“It is less likely that you will be hired as a photographer if your potential clients can’t look at your work and know what they’re hiring you to do. By all means, experiment experiment experiment! But keep your portfolio of work easy to ‘read’ so there is no confusion about what you have to offer.”

Ms. Halford perfectly sums up just why we find it so integral to keep our work consistent. We want our clients to feel comfortable that every time they come back to us, or advise a colleague or friend to use our services, they will be provided with the same experience they previously had.

Zak Pines in his article Why Consistency and Standards are so Important – Production and Production Management, details his thoughts on the matter. He provided a great list which explains the why. Why are consistency and standards so important? This list can practically be applied to any industry, but I believe it is especially relevant in video production where costs can be great, and timing is often crucial. Here is his list:

1. Standards ensure customer expectations are met around the quality of deliverables


2. Standards give customers predictability of deliverables that allow them to better plan programs – critical since our goal and measurement of success is always around customer outcomes


3. Standards reduce turnaround time (by reducing the amount of cycle time spent on revisions and rework) – faster content time to market


4. Standards ensure our costs are managed carefully on projects, resulting in the best possible rates for customers – cost savings


5. Standards ensure our customers’ time is well-managed on projects – and our customer’s time is incredibly valuable, particularly when working with subject experts


6. Standards ensure consistency (of brand, of voice, of presentation, of formats) across communications channels and content types

Standards and consistency should go hand in hand. When they do, they create a formula for a successful business which is able to deliver on it’s promises to their clientele, and build lasting relationships.

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Consistency & Standards in Production

Instructional Videos: Challenge Accepted

Thinking of creating instructional videos for your product or service? It may not be as straightforward and simple as you image. Here are some key things to consider before you accept the challenge of creating an instructional video.

Over the years we at Keywest have helped numerous organizations produce instructional videos to help aid their employees, clients or even vendors to better understand their product or service. Instructional videos can be an integral asset to companies marketing strategies and service offerings. When done correctly they will help boost sales and be something which sets you apart from the competition.

However, time and time again through our experiences working on these type of projects, we have stumbled across individuals who see instructional videos as a simple endeavor.  The biggest mistake people make is thinking they can just film someone going through the motions, and that will be good enough. When it comes to video production, and getting across the message to an audience in a clear and concise way, so much more is involved. Here are our top 5 factors to consider before delving into your instructional videos.

1. 
   Write a good script - Do not take an instruction manual and use it in place of a script. Those things are written by individuals who don’t necessarily understand the product/service, and certainly don’t know how to explain it to the general public. Therefore it was not written to be engaging and easily understood. Take the time to think of the best way to describe each and every step in the process.


2. 
   Go through the motions – Too often I have been in the middle of a shoot only to learn that the step we are currently filming could only have been preformed in an earlier step. Although things can sometimes sound good on paper, you need to perform a dry-run to ensure nothing was looked-over. If you take the time to do this in advance of your shoot, you will save a lot of time and budget over-runs on the day.


3. 
   Hire a professional – If you are planning on using a host in your video opt for a professional actor rather than an employee. It doesn’t matter how great they are with hand tools or arranging flowers, it is unlikely you will find an employee who is great at their job, and also miraculously fabulous at speaking to camera explaining what they are doing at the same time. The exception comes of course if the task at hand is way too complicated or dangerous to get an actor to perform. In this scenario another great option is to utilize the employee performing the task, and then hire a professional voice-over artist to explain the process.


4. 
   Have someone on standby – If you decide to go with the route of hiring a professional actor, don’t just bank on them reading the script and knowing exactly how to do everything as if it were their day job. Having an employee from your company on hand in case any questions arise is always a good idea. That way the actor can take tips from the person who knows what their doing, and look as though it were second nature.


5. 
   Schedule enough time – This is one of the biggest mistakes I see individuals making when planning their instructional videos. If something normally takes one hour to perform, schedule 4-5 hours to film it. Film is not real life, and you want your instructional video to not only by easy to understand, but easy to look at as well. Therefore time and effort needs to be taken to ensure your video looks as best as it can. Factors such as lighting, staging, hair and makeup, all need to be factored in. If you can film everything from one angle then you will save a lot of time, but most often you will want to film a wide shot, then a close-up to punch into certain aspects of the process. A detailed shot list will save time on the day, and also can give you a sense of timing in advance so you know what to schedule.

Contact Keywest Video today to learn about how we can aid you with your instructional videos.

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Instructional Videos: Challenge Accepted

Google Analytics: Innovative Marketing

Google Analytics has recently created a humorous marketing campaign to raise awareness about the online shopping experience.

The series of videos illustrates what a consumer’s everyday shopping experience in real life would look like if it were handled in the same way that we shop online. #GoogleAnalytics created the innovative campaign in order to illustrate to businesses exactly where they were losing/deterring their very own customers within the online shopping experience. The campaign is designed to help businesses realize that their website and digital marketing may not be up to par, thereby costing them greatly in the long run.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics came up with an innovative and especially humorous way to demonstrate exactly how missteps on the digital shelf would play out in real-life scenarios. The campaign not only clearly illustrates the errors being made, it also entertains the viewers by depicting highly relatable scenarios that almost all of us have been a part of. Take a look at the three videos below.

Optimizing your website’s landing page is key since you always want to make sure that your ad text leads to a matching page. Google Analytics suggests that many consumers are being led astray by other pages or products when searching for what they want. Ultimately, they’ll end up not finding what it is they came for and leave your site completely. In this video, Nick is distracted by other (unrelated) products on his quest for olives, only to find out that the olives weren’t even where he thought they’d be in the first place.

Shopping online is meant to be easy. Find out where your customers are being led astray.

Optimizing your website’s search functionality can be especially helpful when customers are looking for a specific product or service. Google Analytics suggests that it is important to categorize your products accordingly so that consumers are able to find what they are looking for quickly, easily, and in a logical manner. In this video, Oli is forced to jump through hoops in his search for semi-skimmed milk only to find out that he should have been searching for “milk, semi-skimmed” to avoid all of the hassle.

Shopping online is meant to be easy. Discover what your customers are looking for.

When optimizing a website where purchases are made, it is important to find out when it is your customers are “checking out” – not in the literal sense, but more in terms of where are your customers getting fed up and leaving your site. Google Analytics helps you understand your website flow process and identifies ways in which to better optimize your customer’s buying process.

Shopping online is meant to be easy. Find out where your customers are checking out.

Tell Keywest what you thought of the Google Analytics in Real Life campaign.

Key West Video Inc. — Corporate Video Production Toronto

Google Analytics: Innovative Marketing