.gif)
How to use video in your campaign (and get it right)
Video is crucial for any campaign but going all out with wildly expensive and elaborate shoots can backfire. Here’s how to maximise budgets and land a piece just right for your audience.
Of the hundreds of articles telling communications professionals that they “should be using video as part of their strategy”, few provide any solid advice on how video is best used.
Anyone can book a production crew, but it pays (literally) to consider how a production budget should best be spent to achieve its purpose before making that call.
This article will give you some insight into the video production process from the agency perspective and prompt you to ask yourself some questions about how you’re using video.
Gone are the days where a single piece via a single channel would suffice. The deluge of media the average person is expected to consume daily is colossal.
Therefore, it’s our firm belief that consistency and frequency are what cuts through the noise. Your one single (albeit expensive) video piece is likely to sink without trace. But regularity and consistency get noticed.
Kinura have been producing corporate video for 18 years. In our experience simple, solid, consistent content gets reliably better results than exquisitely crafted one-off pieces.
Budget for the message
'Pay peanuts – get monkeys' they say. Sure, but ask yourself if a 30-minute piece of content with a couple of cameras and experienced hosts should really cost five figures. Do I need that drone/crane? Probably not.
It’s about balance. Trying to instil trust and veracity over a webcam is never going to happen and looks like you don’t care. Equally, the five cameras and 10 crew you’re paying for are invisible to the audience and may not actually add any value. Scale production to the content.
Lots of factors affect cost. Location, talent, fancy staging and AV all have their price ticket. But always ask yourself “Can I scale back to make more content that’ll reinforce the message?”.
The transaction
Consider how the piece is supposed to look from the perspective of the intended audience.
Video production is like I.T. - people only tend to notice it when something is “wrong”. So, if the look doesn’t fit the message, your audience will feel it on a subconscious level.
“Why should the intended audience actually want to watch this?”
In comms world the answer to that is ‘information’. It’s a transaction - their time for your info. Make the content clear, concise and authoritative; a well-lit, well-framed shot with clear audio is your baseline. Much of what’s added in after is simply window dressing.
I’m not arguing against high-end production in corporate environments; it has its place in the right context. But turning a press briefing into a Netflix trailer makes no sense.
Try to find videos that look the way you envision, and analyse them from an objective perspective. How many cameras/angles are being used, how often are the cuts, how is it lit?
And speak to your production lead/producer/DOP, whoever, and ask for opinions and advice – is it literally their job to make you look good.
Lighting is important
Sound is a very close second to visual in terms of production
Simplicity doesn’t mean low-quality.
Actual ROI
Everything related to a piece of video content costs one way or another. Crew, kit and location all have their price. However, the main mistake we see is chronic under-utilisation of these elements.
We get that clients are usually focused on the one thing they need this piece to do. However, the aforementioned expensive stuff is usually billed by day or 10-hour slot – give or take. So, what we see is clients essentially paying for an entire buffet then grabbing a single sandwich and walking away.
This is a huge waste of an expensive resource.
Since multi-channel engagement is non-negotiable in any campaign and each channel has a preferred voice or style; it makes perfect sense to shoot this at the same time. In addition to the flagship piece, why not shoot some supporting content for socials? Or another long form piece for the following month?
It does take extra planning, and there’s a limit to what you can do time and resource wise, but the cost benefit is obvious, and your production team won't mind.
Sarah Platt is director and co-founder of Kinura, a purpose built, full-service record and stream facility for corporate communication clients.
Further reading
Over a quarter of PR agencies and in-house teams admit they are still not successfully using video