Hi all, Micah here. It’s been over a year since I started working at VA as a junior Video Content Creator and I thought I’d come on here and share my opinions on something I am passionate about. Although I haven’t been here for the whole ride, VA has been building and refreshing brands for many years now.
Over its tenure, VA has gained an in-depth understanding of what constitutes a vigorous brand, and how to maintain it as well as just how flexible it needs to be presentable and discoverable across a plethora of platforms.
The key to maintaining a brand is a well-established style guide and simply ‘following the rules. Shocker, right?! While this is pretty common knowledge for the agency fraternity you might be surprised at how often its significance is overlooked by the broader business community.
Recently, we have started including video in our offering. Video has rapidly become the go-to medium for brands wanting to get their message across. With platforms like Facebook, videos outstrip static images by over a third – if the video isn’t part of your marketing mix, it should be!
Did you know: On a Facebook video increase in click-through rate by almost 30% and increases conversions by 20-30%
Utilizing video content to build an engaged audience
Last month we published this article ‘Content is King’ It’s an old adage but still 100% true; If you want an increase in engaged followers, brand recognition, good will in the bank, better conversion rates? It all comes down to content curation and content creation.
The advent of the mobile phone saw instantaneous content become a thing. The time between ‘snap to post’ is measured in seconds now which was great in the early to mid-2000’s but the world moved on pretty quick and so did consumer expectations, hence video…
There is no doubt that photo content is the easiest and quickest way to get content out onto your channels, but it is nowhere near as engaging for viewers as video content.
However…. with video content, there is almost always a significant overhead. Video requires a lot more effort and money overall. Because of this, it has to be thought about more. The investment of time and money often yields a better and more deliberate result. For brands, this interprets directly into better communication, better engagement and a better return of investment.
Creating videos that match your brand;
Stay on brand – your brand!
Depending on your brand, your overarching communication strategy and brand archetype, the type of video should vary. For example:
A law firm could easily create a video of themselves explaining their firm, which kind of law they specialise and what values they have as a company. Why? Because law firms need to inspire trust, establish themselves as an authority and explain their service difference. An explainer video delivered with authority helps build that trust and cement their reputation for expertise. Because lawyering is pretty serious business, creating a ‘serious’ video makes sense.
By way of contrast. A brewery having a playful video showcasing their work and how they make their unique flavours, then having end-users ‘enjoying’ their product makes a lot of sense. Simply because it’s ‘on-brand’.
How you sell is as important as what you sell! So, stay on brand.
Music can make or break good video
Ever scrolled through your feed, been intrigued by a video enough to ‘unmute’ only to have the music blow your phone speakers as the latest chart-topper blares obnoxiously into your personal space? We have, and it’s annoying.
Selecting the right music is no secret to videographers. It’s one of the most common ways to bring life to your videos and set the tone (as a side note your video should also be consumer worthy without sound). Although it can be challenging having to deal with copyright, nothing will set the mood of your video and convey your sentiment easier than music.
My fledgling advice; get it right and give it the consideration it deserves.
Your search for the right tunes is made easier by stock music websites; Pond5, Musicbed, Artlist etc
NB: Silence is golden and less is more.
As crucial as music is to create a good video, there are times when it simply isn’t needed at all. Sound effects and silence can be just as powerful (sometimes more so) and they have their place in any videographer’s tool kit. For example, this video we did for our pixel stick campaign not long ago – https://www.weareva.com.au/creative-agency/. No music was used, instead, we went for subtle camera snap sound effects and silence.
Video should have its own chapter in your style guide
If you haven’t noticed already, I have developed some opinions on how to get the most from your video investment. The more and more video content I produce the more and more it dawns on me that brands should have video included in their style guides.
Style guides have evolved to cater to the exponential mediums you need to get your brand ‘out there’. A style guide has to be flexible enough to be able to apply to anything from newspapers to Snapchat and everything in between. Video, despite its growing popularity, is often overlooked in style guides. The way I see it, style guides and brand guidelines should also include guidelines for video creators.
Covering;
- Music
- LUTs (Lumetri Colour overlays) that suit the colours of the brand,
- Acceptable logo variations for video e
- Animated logos for video top and tail, or vectors that can be used
Video is timely and timeless
With increased access to video creating tools, new affordable editing software and of course its popularity and increased user interactivity – video is here to stay. Video is engaging, works across a variety of platforms. If executed correctly, it is (in my opinion) the most effective way to encapsulate your brand in its entirety and sell, convert or otherwise persuade your audience that your product is the right fit for them. At the risk of being unpopular at VA, it’s so much more powerful than an image, an article, billboard, banner – because it is all these things, in one easy to consume medium.
Got a video project? We can help…