You’ve created a video content strategy to boost your brand’s marketing, but now you need to ensure this strategy is effective, consistent, and optimized for ROI. There are four key building blocks that every commercial video needs in order to ensure consistent branding and high engagement with your audience:
• Branding: Who are you?
• Added Value: What is the problem?
• Call To Action: How can the audience utilize this video?
• Social Sphere: How should your audience interact with the brand?
No matter what type of video it is, each piece of content should have those same four foundations. It could be long or short form, customer-facing or employee-facing. It could be an “about us” video on your landing page, a client testimonial video, a product tutorial, or a live stream of a corporate event. Every video needs to say who you are, what you bring to the table, and how it involves your audience.
1. Who are you?
You always need to make it clear to whom this video belongs. Have you ever watched a commercial and said, “That was a hilarious/sad commercial… What was it for?” Oftentimes, the best video storyboards are lost in the ambiguity of a lack of branding. The only way to make an impression is to make your business front and center.
This doesn’t mean you need to make every video about your brand. You don’t even need to verbalize your brand name. But you should have your logo prominently displayed, with your company name and slogan either at the beginning or end of the video. You should also use branded soft-sell marketing techniques to further enhance your company recognition in the video.
The goal is to improve brand awareness. This applies to both customer-facing videos—to be a successful marketing tactic—as well as employee-facing videos—to encourage company loyalty and culture.
The purpose of video content is to provide value. But you want to provide value with your name on it.
The Trigon commercials are a fun example. These are humorous and sweet, but they also have strong subtle-branding by relating the kids’ conversation back to the purpose of the brand. They also end the commercial with the Trigon logo and name while the kids are still talking and laughing.
2. What is the problem?
Present a problem that the video will solve. No matter what type of video it is, you need to make sure your audience knows that the video is worth watching. Your viewer will only watch if you promise—at the beginning—to provide value of some kind.
This Old Spice commercial begins with a creative introduction of the problem. He’s talking to the “ladies,” but really he’s addressing men who want to impress ladies. He instantly presents some sort of problem: “Does your man look like me? No. Can he smell like me? Yes. Should he use Old Spice body wash?” The “problem” here is that the viewer doesn’t attract women as well as this man does. The humor then helps answers the problem and teaches men how to attract women with a masculine Old Spice scent.
3. How can the audience use this video?
You have a strong video story… but your viewers need to know how to use that information. This is accomplished through a call to action element, which literally calls your viewer to action. A CTA further provides value to your viewer by giving them actionable steps moving forward after finishing your video.
The best kind of call to action keeps the audience with you. A product tutorial shouldn’t end with: “We’ve taught you how to use the product. Now go use it the right way.” Instead, tell your viewer to go to your website for more information, to look at complementary products, or to share a review of the product. Anything that keeps them around longer on your site and channels will help your consumer further engage with your brand.
This True Film video for Transfast Careers ends with the employees directly stating a call to action: Are you ready? Join us on our journey.
4. How should your audience interact with the brand?
You want to get your video out to the masses. If you want to see the strongest return on investment for any video, you need that video to spread throughout your audience. Your company only has so much reach—its current followers and prospects. But if you call upon your viewers to further share or engage with the video, your content can gain further influence. You are using social proof and word of mouth marketing to grow your video content strategy.
The best videos end with some sort of social aspect. Maybe you include your brand’s Facebook link, Twitter handle, Snapchat code, or other social media links. Maybe you ask your viewers to share or comment or subscribe.
Additionally, you need to tell the viewer not only how to share it but why. What value did you provide that makes your video worth sharing and discussing?
The social sphere is relevant to employee videos as well. At the end of a training video, you can suggest that employees gather together to discuss what they learned today. This creates a dialogue around your video that further enhances learning and contributes to the successful impression of your content.
Even the trailer for Stephen King’s IT requested that you follow them on social media and hashtag #ITMOVIE. This helped spread the craze around this horror film:
The Bottom Line
Bonus: Want to learn how to use these building blocks to create a vlog? Click here to learn how to start vlogging with high success today!
Every video needs a strong foundation. Branding improves company awareness and loyalty internally and externally. Presenting a problem proves value to your viewer to encourage interest and attention. Providing a call to action gives your viewer steps to move forward alongside your brand. And encouraging a social sphere pushes your reach and impressions further and wider for a more engaged audience.
Use these four building blocks to start creating the perfect brand video TODAY.
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