6 tips to making successful corporate video
Everyone wants the stuff they’re working on to be seen. Otherwise – what would be the point in creating it in the first place? We at Flashlight TV, of course, understand it’s not always that simple, and in light of that, we wanted to explore the best ways of creating successful corporate video, and what the clients are looking for.
- Understanding your clients
If you’re creating content for a new client, commit some time to understanding the brand. The Times won’t be interested in the same content as FHM, and recognising this is one of the most important aspects of remotely producing content.
- Understanding the brief
More than likely, you’ll have been provided with some kind of brief to help you understand what your client is looking for. If you get the chance, you should look to discuss this with them at the earliest opportunity so everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.
Most will be happy to answer your questions, as it exhibits an interest in your desire to meet the brief correctly.
- Grabbing the audience’s attention
Before you even attempt to excite the audience, you have to engage the client. They are your first and most important audience, and without them on board, you won’t get any further.
- Paint a picture – create a narrative
Give the people something they can relate to. Creating emotion is one of the best ways to do this, however it’s often not easy. Emotions, like love, compassion and empathy, are the things that separate us from the animals. Use them – they are your primary colours.
- Sign off with a call to action
We all produce content for a reason. Even if it’s purely to make someone smile, that objective should be obvious to the viewership. Within the marketing and advertising industry, however, it’s a fair assumption that your video will be directing watchers to do or buy into something.
Including a ‘call to action’ or ‘CTA’, as it’s often referred to, is when you usher your audience to do something having watched your video. This is often what you build towards throughout, and will be the main focus of the piece.
- Creating shareable content
This often depends on the nature of your work, but creating sharable content is a great way of getting your business off the ground. The likes of BuzzFeed, LADBible or Vice, however much you love them or hate them, produce engaging content their audiences are likely to share with their online social circles. This goes back to understanding what your audience wants.
If it’s not something you’re likely to produce purely on the basis of sharing, make use of YouTube annotations in your work, which queue watchers to do different things, i.e. ‘hit the thumbs up button’ or ‘ don’t forget to subscribe to the channel’. You could also have your presenter say this, if it’s a piece to camera.
It may sound obvious, but it works. Now go on, share this post with all your friends.