You might not feel inspired by the word corporate, but video is an increasingly popular way of communicating corporate messaging and corporate video certainly doesn’t have to be boring. If you want to create something engaging that’s going to have a real impact on the people who watch it, then you’ll need to consider the points below…
Target audience – Who do you want to watch your video? And what can you include that’s going to make them want to watch – and keep watching until the end? Your audience will dictate the style, content and messaging of the video, so it’s really important that you know who you’re talking to, before you start to think about what you’re going to say, and how you’re going to say it.
Key messaging – What is it that you want to say? You might want to raise your companies profile, send a message to your employees or advertise something new, but try to keep the key messaging clear and simple. Too many messages can end up leaving the viewer confused about the point of the video, while if a message is overcomplicated, it could lead to viewers misunderstanding or misinterpreting the video, and that could do more harm than good. It’s also essential that corporate videos are short and sweet – at Shout! we recommend making them around two minutes long – which is another reason to keep messaging clear and concise.
Pictures – How will your messaging be illustrated? What can you film that’s going to tell the story and be visually exciting? It sounds like common sense, but to make good video, you really need good pictures and that means well shot, engaging content that is going to keep your viewer hooked until the end. It might be possible to film the content on a smartphone, but that doesn’t mean that you should. Well lit, professionally shot footage makes for a far superior video and you’ll want it filmed in a resolution which won’t leave viewers feeling dizzy if they happen to be watching on a big screen. If you know what you want the pictures to be, but aren’t going to be able to film then, then you might want to consider graphics, and there are other tricks that you can use to make it look like you’ve filmed something that you haven’t had access to. At Shout! there are all sorts of things that we do in post-production to enhance or improve pictures – using stills, text, special effects, music and sound effects we can make even the most mundane footage visually arresting and that keeps viewers watching until the final scene of the film.
Spokespeople – Who do you want to include in your video? As well as someone who’s happy to get in front of the camera it’s also important to consider corporate image at this stage, and who will project the best image for your brand. For example, if your brand is a high-end FTSE 100 company it might not be appropriate to have someone in jeans with scruffy hair appear in the video, or if it’s a charity video that you’re making, it might not look good for your spokesperson to be wearing an expensive designer suit. You’ll also want to think about how your spokesperson will convey the information – will it be a series of interview clips or do you want to script something. And will they appear on screen or will it be a voiceover? Research has been done which suggests that the Geordie accent is the most popular, while the study also found that people think ‘posh’ accents are the most authoritative and Yorkshire accents are the most reassuring, so it’s worth thinking about what accent your voiceover will have, and how that fits in with your corporate image.
Call to action – At Shout! we tell our clients to include a call to action on the end-screen of their corporate video. This can be a simple url, an instruction (“find out more…”) or if your video is intended for use online it could be a link through to another site or page related to your video. It can also be a good opportunity to use your logo, or other brand guidelines as graphics.
More top tips – If you’re thinking about making a corporate video, why not chat with one of the team at Shout! who can talk through all of the points above, and much much more – give us a call on 020 7240 7373 and we’ll help you to make a creative, engaging and targeted corporate video.
