Video content has become one of the most common practices for businesses across virtually all industries. It’s no longer about if businesses want to leverage video; it’s about how to translate video into business practices in a way that adds value instead of volume.
Many businesses too quickly jump on the video bandwagon without considering whether they have the organizational strategy to back it. They make videos because their competitors do or because someone suggested it. They create a litany of content disconnected from measurable goals, and over time, they waste budgets on cool footage that doesn’t lead to connecting outcomes.
It’s about starting with why, and not with the how.
Don’t Think About Camera Yet
When businesses consider making a video, they think about the camera and scripting and editing software. However, before that, they need to understand their goal. Do they want brand awareness? Do they want lead generation? Are they thinking about internal communications? Each goal leads to different approaches to creating and sharing content.
For example, a lead generation video will be structured, timed, and call-to-actioned differently than a brand awareness piece; content for existing customers differs from that geared toward prospects. Therefore, if a business thinks they can create one video for two purposes, or more, they’re likely doing it wrong.
The audience matters as well. The C-suite should receive a different video than an entry-level associate. A technical buyer needs different content depth than an everyday consumer. This delineation helps identify voice, length, complexity, and home for the content.
Budgeting Accordingly
Budgeting for video production ranges anywhere from barely anything to tens of thousands of dollars. With an almost non-existent cost of production, a business can shoot a video on an iPhone and edit it on basic free software, almost buying time only. At the other end of the spectrum, crewed large productions with expensive locations and post-production effort cost upwards of what many small and midsize businesses can afford easily.
Most businesses sit somewhere in between, but many fail to understand what high-quality productions and professionals actually cost. People think the shoot is the most intensive part; however, pre-production planning and scripting take time on the front end for effective execution. Post-production is often more time-consuming than the actual shoot and represents almost half (sometimes more) of the ultimate investment.
In addition, when businesses hire third-party video post-production services, they need appropriate budgeting for those efforts. Skimping post-production service compromise the budget allocated to filming as well, which often results in wasted investment because the final product does not meet quality appeal standards.
Creating Content that Works Together
One-off videos rarely work effectively; a cohesive video strategy must include several pieces of content that build upon each other for various stages of awareness through decision-making. A person who’s just discovered a company requires different content than someone about to make a purchasing decision.
Building a content calendar establishes timelines that help guide consistency in releases; sporadic outbursts followed by long lulls in content release don’t serve anyone effectively. Better to have one high-quality piece consistently instead of five great pieces one month with nothing else for three additional months. Repurposing content builds longevity; a longer video can become two or three shorter pieces suitable for social media platforms; singular great quotes can become standalones; behind-the-scenes footage of a company’s production can become content itself. However, the point is not to wait until after for repurposing but plan ahead during before production even starts to maximize effort and resources.
Choosing The Best Approach
Not every piece of video content has to be high-quality production value; is a CEO just trying to update everyone needs an ultra-polished interview? Maybe there’s more authenticity in making it simple via webcam on a decent microphone? A product demonstration requires detail and sound but needn’t be cinematic quality; a customer testimonial is usually better when produced in a more honest light rather than glammed up too much.
Production value must also match where the content lives; an Instagram story doesn’t require the same aesthetic level as a home page’s video’s welcome message or pinned LinkedIn post. There are nuances between Twitter and LinkedIn based on length and detail; failing to adhere to what’s appropriate based on audience expectation is wasted effort.
Additionally, some companies can do it all in-house while others need outside assistance for every step. Knowing where capabilities exist helps prevent malfunctions by assuming someone can do something they cannot manage with skill in time or quality.
Value Post Production
The quickest way to kill a video strategy is to ignore editing and finishing production. Companies forget to budget for this step; they assume they can throw all that footage together with some fancy transitions without spending the time necessary with the expertise available to create an effective product. This creates logjams that lead nowhere, videos pile up awaiting editing or get rushed through with sloppy results that prevent them from being meaningful (or worth the investment at all).
There are several components besides slamming transition points; color correction keeps footage consistent; audio levels help bring everything together; pacing maintains viewer interest and graphics/text overlays reinforce messaging. All these elements take time and skill to develop effectively, and then input into projects, therefore, people should anticipate reasonable timelines that afford revision cycles per cycle, not just zip through with first drafts that are never satisfactory without audience feedback (and room for recommendations).
Accurate Distribution
None of this means anything without distribution getting it to the proper audience. Each platform demands different formatting requirements, length specifications, etc.; what’s appropriate for YouTube might not work for LinkedIn or Facebook, so decisions must be made to cover all aspects.
SEO applies just like any content; title, description, tags, thumbnails, transcripts/captions help accessibility while providing text fields for search engines to pick up, with time afforded to ensure those audiences put in place.
Often, paid promotion makes sense for important videos; organic reach keeps declining across platforms, no matter how great content may be, it usually needs some money behind it to get beyond existing followers; even then investment relies on quantity of planned distribution and ultimate goals behind it, pure organic distribution seldom provides strong results anymore.
Measuring What Counts
It’s easy to get lost in vanity metrics from views to likes, however, these don’t always correlate directly with increased outcomes. For example, ten thousand views are meaningless if no one converts; 500 views accumulating ten qualified prospects matter more.
There are various metrics that make sense depending on appropriate awareness through action creation: views/reach matter for awareness; clicks/conversions/willingness matter for lead gen; watch time/completion rates matter for customer education success (or lack thereof).
When it comes down to measurement over time, metrics must inform future strategy, what topics work best? What length resonates most? What calls generate feedback? This data helps shift focus down the road instead of stubbornly continuing without regard for potential realities that could improve outcomes over time.
Creating Long Lasting Assets
Quality video has longevity beyond initial purpose, video can be edited over time as necessary based on shifting factors or repurposed/disguised elsewhere to maintain relevance, and asset development lends credence where disposable content makes it easier to manage expenditures.
This involves extensive organization and archiving, raw footage project files, graphics, and final exports should all have systems in place so they’re easy to access down the road, but access doesn’t work if successful businesses fail to keep everything archived well over time, meaning updating and repurposing new footage is impossible, starting from scratch after the fact and wasting money anyway isn’t effective if new projects are not possible over old holes in plans down the road.
Brand consistency makes sense across multiple videos when there’s adherence to colors/graphics/fonts/songs/aesthetic neutrals creating cohesion amongst different pieces together when they’re on their own based on random topic decisions, but it’s important to choose from the start what works, including visual/audio identity, and seek cohesion over time that’s compromised if standards aren’t adhered to from before video 1 onset of production onward.
Sustainable Strategy
Video strategies fail when they’re unrealistic long term, high hopes without consistent capacity kill budgets over time and turn teams from champions into exhausted advocates unwilling or unable to see them through anymore; instead modestly sustainable strategies with consistent output are far better than meets the eye instead if sporadic bursts here or there where budgets run dry as well as team energy faster than anticipated for such an emphasis from the start.
Sustainability means knowing the production capacity whether internal or external, with budgets that support consistent development, not one-off opportunities and workflows people can maintain unless heroic efforts are constantly running them through fast-paced hoops three times before they’re ever successful on their own past first iterations since they’re not possible other times due to lack of momentum generated by scheduled effort gaining in production sessions originally championed at first without stopping along the way ever again.
An effective video strategy supports specific business goals utilizing resources to make prioritized components efficient enough so audiences actually want to watch them when they’re done! But getting there takes planning upfront with budgeting accordingly, it’s the details separating effective videos from a waste investment that require commitment!
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