Video Production Best Practice

Creating effective video production is an ever-evolving form of content that, when done properly, is both an art and a science. Today, with more and more people connected to the internet, billions of videos are consumed each day. Over 5 billion video views are clocked in on YouTube each day alone.

Here at Ideal Insight, the video production in London experts, there is talk among our marketing experts that video marketing will rival or perhaps take over text when it comes to people consuming information. This means the time is ripe for video production to become the cornerstone of your content marketing strategy.

But with more consumers of video means more content creators creating them. This means that it’s more important than ever to understand and use the best video production practices so you can stand out and be counted. You should know your core message and target audience and prime your final video content so it best reflects your brand's personality, professionality and ethos.

Before we delve deep into the best video production practices, it’s important to note that consumers are well aware of how video is taking over. The average consumer is hit with over 10,000 ads per day. This means that people are savvier than ever and a lot of content marketers and businesses make the mistake of shooting videos that are nothing more than a quick ad people want to skip over that leaves no lasting impression. On top of all that, brands today require corporate video production that not only look great on computer screens and televisions but mobile devices, too.

We believe in crafting more than that just simple ads. The best video production practices should be timeless. And the camera should capture the brand and personality so well that people watching can’t help but want to be involved.

A ship without a dot on the map to aim for will drift around at sea and end up far off course. There are so many content creators and marketers shooting videos in an endless sea of video content that, without a strong, well-informed goal in mind, it’s going to be difficult to stand out and get noticed. Before getting the camera out and filming your video project, you need to do some pre production, where you ask yourself and the video production team questions such as:

● Am I trying to attract new leads or close more deals?

● Am I trying to create unique, viral content?

● Am I filming this video to showcase social proof such as customer success stories?

● Am I trying to push the boundaries of what and steer this business in a new direction?

Different goals require different sorts of videos. The amount of scriptwriting, voice overs, sound effects, timeframe and style will all differ depending on your goals. So, have a well-informed pre production plan from the very start, a star on the map, and you increase your chances of success with your final cut.

As a brand or business, what is your core message? What is it that’s part of your mission statement that you wish to get across in everything that you do? Knowing and implementing your core message into your video creation is vital to everything that you do.

Having a main goal in mind will help with this. Every video script should have a message at the core. Something tangible that consumers will grasp and understand. This is part of a sound marketing strategy and helps feed into your target audience.

Your core message is what you want to convey as part of your identity. The core message of any brand or business helps separate the wheat from the chaff so you can communicate with the right people more effectively. Knowing and combining your goal and your core message is a powerful combination to communicate through your videos.

Understanding your target audience is key to driving the message home with your camera. If you know who your target audience is, you will have an easier time and a higher rate of success when it comes to capturing and converting consumers into customers. And although identifying your target audience can be a time-consuming process, the benefits are well worth it.

To identify your target audience you will need to know your demographics. These can be found through collecting data through mediums such as social media communication and statistics on videos you’ve made and uploaded before. But it’s also more than that.

Knowing your target audience requires some psychology. You need to understand what drives your viewers. From there, you can better understand their motivations as they change and continue to create compelling video content that grabs the viewer's attention and gets you more of the positive results you want.

Before you hit the record button, where do you plan on uploading your videos? There are so many channels of distribution today and the possibilities are endless. It’s important to know before you film what channels of distribution you will use because it may mean you will need to take different approaches when it comes to video production.

YouTube, social media and other online forms are going to require a different set of skills, camera and video equipment, and a different thought process than if you’re creating a video on a more standard medium such as television. If you’re targeting young people between 20-and 35, for example, then you may focus your video production efforts more on short videos with a lot of attention-grabbing flair. Part of video production best practice also means thinking about if viewing your video requires a log-in, whether you want it to be easily sharable, and many other factors.

If your videos are going to be focused on sharable online platforms such as YouTube and other social media channels of distribution, then you will also need to think about how people watch videos on these platforms. This means thinking about the kind of video scripts and the breadth of content, too. Many people who watch on these social media channels watch without sound, for example, so you may want to add text or make a video that requires no understanding of dialogue for your consumers to move onto your product or service. And you will have to consider video optimisation for each platform, such as how vertical is normal for YouTube videos.

Consider all of these dynamics before moving on to production.

If you’re a brand with the primary goal of getting people onboard your product or service, understanding the sales funnel process is vital. As we’ve already discussed, video is an increasingly powerful medium for brands and marketers to get their message across and attain more customers.

And savvy marketers know there are three key stages in the process that buyers go through when researching and buying online:

Video is a powerful first step in building brand awareness. When people don’t know anything about what you do or your products, a play button is far more enticing than a boatload of text. But we know attention spans are slipping, and they’re generally shorter when it comes to browsing the internet. So, the video needs to be the right kind. In general, short, attractive, sensory videos are going to be better at building awareness. Using the short amount of time you have to pique your target audience’s interest and create a great first impression is vital to generating business.

If you’ve managed to make an impact and people are aware of what you do, they enter the consideration phase. Your video production quality and the way you relay your core message have a tremendous impact on your success here. If the quality of your content is good enough, people in the consideration phase will be more likely to watch more of your videos, read more of your content, and familiarise themselves deeper with what you do. And most importantly, they will consider you if you have successfully given them a clear solution with your content as to how what you do can help them.

If your potential customers have taken the time to consider you, then they’re in the decision phase. This is great news. They’re deciding whether they trust in your message and image enough to buy into you over your competitors. This is where goal setting comes into play and becomes so important.

The right video that conveys the right message to the correct target audience increases the likelihood that they will decide to buy into you. Get this right and you have a new customer, or two, or many more.

It may sound obvious and even trivial, but if you want to produce the best videos that you can, then you need to make sure the area of filming and tools such as the video camera and audio equipment is appropriate. Before you begin to film your masterpiece, you must get a clear idea of what you’re doing by taking your goal, core message, and target audience into consideration so you can choose the appropriate locale, style, and other features of the video. Getting this right from the get-go means you will be better able to express your message through your camera lens and create a successful video.

Great video production begins with a great camera and the right type of camera. Whether you hire a professional agency or do it yourself, you will want to make sure the lighting, angle, and focus are all correct for what you’re trying to produce. Avoid unnecessary clutter and leave out anything that should not be in the frame.

And keep the focus on the target to make sure viewers’ eyes are locked on what matters for your brand and video message.

Whatever style of video content you’re shooting, the audio must be spot on. The ancient Greeks called the theatre the auditorium because they believed the audio or hearing the message was the most important aspect of the performance. So, take heed of this wisdom and consider what is capturing your audio.

It’s not just video that has improved dramatically in recent years but sound, too. Most consumers have high-quality devices. Skimp out on the sound and your video production will be seen as lower in quality. Pay for the best quality audio equipment you can. Eliminate as much background noise as possible. Also, consider if you’re using voiceovers and how this will be done and with what equipment.

Does the type of video you’ve chosen require you to film in colour or black and white? Should the highlights and dynamics be sharp with high contrast or vivid and light? The type of video production you’re aiming for will determine the lighting and style of your video and the recording space needed to capture it perfectly.

This will depend on where you’re filming, too. Filming in a studio as opposed to outside on a bright day will have a different effect on your set-up and chances of success given your video production goals. Take the time to plan the perfect scenario so you can capture what you envision.

The cameras on mobile phones are becoming so good that people film, podcast, and video log from them and in some cases are making millions. While still a (not very long) while away from being as good as professional equipment, depending on your goals, filming video from your mobile phone might be a good option. And YouTuber videos that practices video production have done well to show how much can be done with mobile devices.

With a mobile phone, not only will you save on costs but creating videos in documentary-style is another benefit. The editing process can also be done on the phone itself. Again, this depends on your goals. But the more personal, closer touch might prove valuable.

The speed at which trends in how people consume content is always changing and certain trends will appeal to larger audiences at certain times. Largely because of social media, square and vertical videos are extremely popular and preferred by viewers, for example. This is quite the contrast to when video players with widescreen was the standard only a decade or two ago.

Then there are drones. Filming with drones is hot. And as they become ever more affordable, the demand and amount of different videos being filmed with them are increasing.

Consider, then, if your brand and style for your specific video concept correspond with the trends. If it does and you choose to keep up-to-date and hop on them, you may find you get more viewers and better results. If not, other videos may be more worthwhile.

The competition is fiercer than ever. Video content quality continues to rise as more and more content creators, like those on YouTube and other social media platforms, digital marketers, and brands of all kinds are vying to capture the attention of their audience through the camera lens.

Lacklustre content that adds no value will not make the impact on your target audience necessary to grow your customer base. So, when creating video content, always aim to create interesting, unique, quality content that provides value to your target audience.

People remember how you made them feel far more than they remember what you said. This is one of the key differences and advantages of video content. And people buy for one of two reasons: to move further away from pain or to move closer to pleasure.

Think about your target audience, the message in the video script, and how you can create that spark and make a true emotional connection with your viewers. Consider the context and the motivations behind the people watching your video content and why they might buy into what you’re offering them.

Creating an emotional connection through the camera with your audience is vital. It can be a challenge, but it’s well worth it when you consider how much more of an impact you will have on the people behind the screen. Next up, we begin editing.

In post production, a vital step is to include a CTA (call-to-action). It is fundamental to expanding your customer base. In every piece of content you market, you should think about where and how you can place a relevant CTA. Realise it or not, CTAs are everywhere. Whether it’s a phone number to call at the bottom of a televised commercial ad, a link at the bottom of a web sales page, or a big button that begs to be clicked which says ‘sign-up’. They’re everywhere.

The purpose of including a CTA is to guide consumers of your content toward the next step. Does your video promote a tangible product? In the pre production phase, you should think about how to include a message to guide them to your website where they can buy your product. Do you want your video to lead to another? Give them a watch next video button or link to another video. Don’t leave them hanging. Direct your target audience to the end product.

As we’ve already established, the online market for consumable video production is huge. Video creators, artists, digital marketers, content creators, marketing video agencies, and many others are producing uploaded millions of videos every day. Once you have completed post production and you plan to upload your video online and want to get views, you will need to take SEO (search engine optimisation) seriously.

SEO helps grab viewers’ attention (your target audience) to find your videos and content. In a nutshell, proper SEO practices to consider for the best video production practices include:

● Adding keywords to the title and descriptions of your videos.

● Adding subtitles (if applicable).

● Attaching a clickable table of contents that outlines the topics covered in the video.

● Including relevant tags so your videos can be found.

● Engage with comments on your videos.

Every aspect of SEO that you implement ranks you higher in the search engines and platform algorithms. This means your videos get seen by more people. While it can be a time-consuming process and requires some knowledge, implementing these SEO practices or perhaps hiring an SEO expert can be a tremendous help in getting you noticed.

The internet is one big marketplace for brands, businesses, and creators to grow and expand. This means that, unlike in the old days, it’s easier than ever to test and measure your performance in every sphere, including your video performance.

Most website hosting platforms include advanced analytics. YouTube, HubSpot, BrightCove, and other large video sharing platforms also include deep analytics and metrics. They can show you insights into view counts, viewer behaviour, how many people clicked on your CTAs, etc. By measuring this information deeply on every video, you will be able to glean what works and what doesn’t. This way, you can double down on what works, faster.

There is a lot to consider when aiming for the best video production practices. It’s interesting and deep. If your ultimate goal is to create a video masterpiece, then following these steps should be helpful to anyone, be they a professional film producer, digital marketer, or content creator.