Ok so we need a video!  Ok for what?  I don’t know, we just need to create some video for our business.  Yea, believe it or not we get calls from businesses like that all the time that KNOW they need video but have NO idea where to start or what they need to create.  And that’s OK.  

In this video I’m gonna give you 4 vital ingredients that should go into your ideation process when it comes to coming up with creative ideas for your brands video content.  Please stop just hitting the record button without a plan.  Can I be completely honest with you?  You’re wasting time, you’re wasting money, and you’re wasting valuable company resources.  This video will give you all 4 ingredients you’ll need to create that fire ass content for your brand.  And make sure you stick  around for #3 because it’s one of the biggest reasons a very large number of brand videos flop.

I’m Julian Tillotson Founder & CEO here at INDIRAP.  We’re a top-tier video production and content marketing agency that delivers eyeball-hungry, unforgettable branded video content along with performance-driven monetization & distribution solutions, right to your doorstep.

THE FIRST INGREDIENT YOUR VIDEO NEEDS IS UTILITY.  

Ask yourself, how are we actually going to USE this video and how is it going to benefit your sales, marketing, training or recruitment efforts.  Sounds simple but if you’re going to create a video it should deliver in one of those departments.   It needs to move the ball forward in some way, shape or form for your business.  

Is it going to help you get more sales?  Will you grow brand awareness in a new territory?  Will new hires b excited about their new job?  Think about it and write that down.  This is the premise of your next video or series of videos.  No more blindly creating throw away content folks.  This content is going to be part of your army of videos that relentlessly scales your brand with a purpose.  

NUMBER 2, YOU GOTTA BE AUTHENTIC.  

You gotta be yourself.  YES, some of you are part of a corporate brand and you have a reputation to keep up but that doesn’t mean keep it dry and corny.  You know why, because that’s not who you are and that’s definitely not what your audience is going to interact with.  

Your customers are smarter than they’ve ever been these days when it comes to knowing what’s real and authentic vs. what is a made up, stuffy facade that’s not keeping it real.  And that doesn’t take 1 iota away from you being a business professional.  It just means being you 100% of the time when you’re creating content.  The most loved branded video content online is content that showcases brand culture and the people behind the business.

It shows them laughing, collaborating, smiling, enjoying themselves and most importantly getting shit done for their customers.  THAT is what audiences connect with.  They connect with people that are human just like them.  Not some made up caricature of what a traditional “professional” is supposed to look like.  I mean, if you haven’t logged into LinkedIn lately, check it out.  Gone are the days of it just being a stuffy resume site.  There are people on there sharing their stories, being true to who they are as professionals and keeping it all the way real.  Welcome to corporate America version 2.0 folks.  It’s OK to keep it all the way authentic with your audience.

ON TO THE #3 TO CREATING GREAT VIDEO FOR YOUR BUSINESS  

You gotta keep your content digestible.  Especially if you’re creating content for top of funnel customers.  Let’s put ourselves in their shoes for a second.  I’m searching for a specific product or service and 2 videos come up.  One is yours that’s 8 minutes long and the other is a competitor’s 60 second promo video.  You’re asking them to take time out of their day to stop and watch your content.  Will they be more willing to invest 8 minutes or 60 seconds?  Without really having an established relationship with your brand, 9 times out of ten they’re going to pick the 60 second top-of-funnel video which will increase your competitors chances of gaining them as a new customer.

With that being said, make sure your content can be distributed across your online presence in multiple digestible formats.  For example, if you’re creating a Brand Overview video, YES go ahead and create the full length 3 minute video.  But you may want to think about repurposing that same content into a 60 second and 30 second version for your paid ads, landing pages, cold email etc.

SO HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Basically you want to make sure your content is meeting people where they’re at in the customer journey.  If they are in the discovery phase, shorter content is usually better so that you can quickly create trust and transparency with your customer.  Once they are ready to explore more and you have their full attention, you can hit them with more in depth content to move them along through your sales funnel.  

And this doesn’t just go for sales and marketing content.  If we’re talking about internal training videos, instead of having a library of 5 45 minute videos for new recruits to watch and learn from.  Chop those 5 videos up a bit based on specific topics and add them to an online training module like Thinkific or Kijabi.  That way you’ll have 5 main chapters made up of 5 or so smaller, more digestible videos in each chapter.  The information is way less intimidating when it is broken down this way.  Your information retention rate will skyrocket and your total time watched will see a notable increase.

NOW #4 IS AN EASY ONE, MAKE YOUR VIDEO CONTENT SHAREABLE.  

Unless you are creating some kind of internal communications video, ALL of your video content should be shareable.  Sounds pretty damn basic but ask yourself these questions –

• Can a customer or potential customer watching my video easily share it?
• Are my team members able to share this content with our customer base?
• Is it shareable across all social sites?

Sounds simple but what I find is that alot of companies silo their content by embedding it into their website or behind a firewall.  Make sure that you distribute your content across multiple public facing platforms like YouTube, Vimeo and all of the top social sites.  The easier it is to share, the more chances you have of engaging with your audience and gaining a new customer.

These are 4 simple rules you can follow to maximize the ROI of your next video creation.  If you’re still wondering what you can do to create some amazing video marketing for your business click the link below to book a free 30-minute content strategy session with an INDIRAP content expert.  We’ll do a deep dive into your brand’s content strategy and you’ll walk away with a blueprint detailing the top 3 most hyper-effective pieces of content you can create today to grow your brand online.

If you ‘re ready to build your next sales funnel with the experts, fret not. We are here to help you in every kind of way! Contact us and we will make sure to help you produce the best professional-grade videos for your business.