When you have a business, product, or any other service that you want to promote, video is a medium that can effectively capture an audience when done well.
According to studies conducted by Wyzowl.com, 94% of video marketers have said that video helps their audiences to understand their product, and 86% have said video has increased traffic to their websites.
But how do you create an effective video? Where do you start, and how do you ensure you land where you want to? Here’s our process for video creation captured in six simple questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
When you formulate answers to these questions (which also appear on our FAQ page!), no matter how simple at first, it helps to breathe life into your video before we even start shooting it.
Who are you trying to reach with this video?
When asking yourself this, you are asking yourself who your target audience is. Are you trying to reach a certain age group? Homeowners? People who need a particular job done that your service offers? When you narrow down your target audience, you can begin to dissect how to best appeal to their desires and formulate answers to the questions they may have. For example, a video targeted towards older people would look and communicate much differently than a video targeted towards younger people.
What is the message you want the video to get across?
The message of the video helps to shape the format of the video itself. Are you trying to create a quick promotional video that is easy to share for awareness, or do you want a slightly longer testimonial video that highlights positive experiences that others have had with your product? Knowing what message you are trying to promote helps to give your video further shape and direction, which will more effectively capture your target audience.
When do you want to deploy this video?
This is determining the time when you need your video ready. Do you have a specific, upcoming event that you need a video for a few weeks in advance, or do you know you will need a video for training future employees? It’s always good to have a deadline, and knowing how much time we have to work on your video will help determine the timeframe we have to accomplish what you want and how to best do it in said amount of time.
Where do you want this video to be seen?
The platform you are sharing this video on will affect the way the video itself turns out. For example, a video for your Instagram profile will look different than a video for your YouTube channel, since Instagram is better for shorter, quick-info type videos. Knowing where this video will ultimately end up helps determine what information is crucial to communicate on that platform, as well as how it should be presented and the way the video as a whole should look like.
Why are you creating this video?
There’s many different mediums other than video that are great for communicating information. So what can this video do for your product that those other mediums can’t? What are you hoping for this video to accomplish? It’s easy to know you want a video out of necessity of promoting a product, but try going one step further and really figure out what this video can do for your product, or how it can uniquely engage your audience.
How is the viewer supposed to interact with this video?
Imagine a member of your target audience seeing this video. Once they have watched, what do you want them to do 10 seconds after they watch? What are the graphics, logos, or information you want to stick with them when they close their computer or continue scrolling through their social media feed, and how can we help to incorporate those elements into this video?
Your answers to all these questions don’t need to be entirely developed- it’s okay to have a few key words in mind for a question, or a half-baked idea! We are looking forward to helping you further build upon your idea in a pre-production meeting. You can reach out to us here to get our conversation started.