In the old days, you made a single video for your homepage, not a series of videos, and that was the end of it. These days marketers are using video all over the place, in new and fantastic ways. You can view some of those ways in our blog about types of explainer videos. When making sets of videos your challenge is to (i) Make the right videos, and (ii) Get value for your budget.
That’s what this article is here to help you with!
1. Make the Right Series of Videos
If you’re investing in a bunch of videos you need to know they’re going to move the needle for you. You need to be sure you’re investing your money in the right places. These decisions are part of the art and science of marketing but here are a few tips and ideas:
- Hit the easy wins first: Focus on areas where you’re guaranteed the video will get seen, i.e. places where you already get the right type of eyeballs on your content. This could mean getting a homepage explainer, upgrading your sales collateral, or using video in your presentations if you have an active conference presence.
- Target specific parts of your Funnel: if you struggle with leads, for example, consider making a product explainer. If the conversion is a problem then consider testimonials and brand pieces.
- Integrate into your marketing plan: what are your big projects for the year? Give them a boost with video!
2. Get Value for your Budget
Making video costs time and money, there’s no way around it. For an overview of pricing and what goes into making a video, read our article on explainer video costing. Here below are a few tips for getting better value when creating sets of videos.
- Bulk buy: Your cost per video should be lower if you buy more videos. Especially if you book them in at the same time. Your creator can negotiate better rates on voiceover, and sound. Also, the animation is a bit more efficient if they are all in the same style.
- Invest in the First Video: Many clients say they want to spend less on their first video and then spend more on later videos if it goes well. You should be doing the exact opposite. By investing in a strong set of visual assets upfront, you’ll get better value out of your later videos.
- Repurpose: Making different versions of a video can help you hit a wider audience or improve conversion. Making translated videos is also a good way to broaden their impact. You can also use the graphical elements created in the video in your broader campaigns.
The Production Process
There will be a lot of work to do and lots of communication, so it’s important to be efficient. It is vital to choose the right creator who has experience making sets of videos. Otherwise, you could end up stuck in a never-ending project or with a set of videos with disparate styling because they “built a team” to help (i.e. roped in their friends).
During the process, you can create your series of videos concurrently. But, if you don’t have an existing video in the style, it’s advisable to finish off at least storyboards and preferably an animation draft of the first video before proceeding with the animation of the rest. Obviously, scripting can be done concurrently, as can voiceover choices.
To cope with all the communication it can be helpful to schedule weekly calls to tackle all outstanding decisions at the same time.
Managing your own Team
A video is a big thing for most companies. For you, it’s a moment to shine! Just about everyone on your team will have an opinion and many of those may be conflicting or subjective. To cover your own bacon and get a good end result, you need to be organized. Here are some tips:
- Write an Effective Brief: Pay attention when filling out your agency’s brief or when creating your own. The purpose and key focus points of the video should be agreed upon internally and documented beforehand. So there is no comeback to you later.
- Building the Right Team: You should create a small but effective team. Making decisions by committee is definitely a bad idea – we’ve seen videos get very… jumbled up from that. Consider involving your brand manager and also make sure you get the right senior support in your company.
- Handling Reviews: Consider who you involve and when. Not everyone needs to see each and every email but the script is an important milestone. We definitely recommend distributing the script from your video creator to all stakeholders, giving them the opportunity to give input. That way when the video draft is presented, everybody already gave feedback during the scripting phase. Making animation reviews a little smoother. The detailed edits on the visuals, on the other hand, can be approved by your brand manager/manager.
Making a series of videos is a good experience for any company, and the knowledge gained will help with many future marketing programs. If you’re gathering some video inspiration, be sure to view our portfolio or YouTube page. Alternatively, if you are thinking of making sets of videos for your company, get in touch today!
