10 Tips While Shooting For a Corporate Video: The Importance of a Corporate Identity Manual
You’ve been hired to shoot a corporate video. While you want to put your stamp on the project, it’s wise to realize that corporate clients can be very picky about how they want themselves and company assets, like logos and slogans, rendered. How to know what’s right or wrong? The answers you’re looking for are probably going to be found in your client’s Corporate Identity Manual.
Most corporations realize that one of the keys to standing out and appealing to their target audience is projecting a consistent image that reflects both what they are and what they do. To ensure that they shape these perceptions successfully, they generate Corporate Identity Manuals that cover a variety of outward-facing attributes of the company. While these typically cover nuts-and-bolts issues like logo presentation and company descriptions, they often go into more depth, explaining and describing company culture and principles. A smart video editing company knows to use these guidelines to their advantage to create video presentations that mesh well with the company.
Here’s a list of 10 tips that will help a video editing company create compelling video presentations that will please the most discerning of corporate clients.
- Strive for brevity – keep it short!
Most viewers aren’t interested in long-winded videos. Work to keep your video short by starting with the script. Eliminate unnecessary verbiage and keep the story and action moving. You want to engage your audience with a tight story that gets right to the point, not dragging the narrative out. One of the best ways to keep a corporate video short is to focus on a single clear message. When you see a 15-30 second ad online, you can usually understand the brand’s message right away. If the client has more than one message they want to convey, suggest creating a video for each one. This allows them to create an ad campaign that can be distributed over time.
- Utilize the language of your client’s Corporate Identity Manual
To help achieve the goal of keeping your ad simple short, examine the language used in your client’s Corporate Identity Manual. More often than not, a company does not hire you to create new verbiage for their company. They’ve taken the time to distill their message, so take advantage of it. If they don’t have a clear message feel free to work closely with them to come up with a message that fits their brand and their consumers. Having a reputation to create ad campaigns for clients can help you to raise your rates and stand out. But remember, even though you know video, they know their company and its needs far better than you do.
- Start strong – create an impression right away
Most video viewers will only give a video a short period to make an impression. Concentrate on creating an indelible impression about what your video is talking about and why it’s important. Make sure that you know current ad trends and see what can be applied to your client’s video. Remember that their message has usually been used in other marketing, so you want to make sure and capture that in an entertaining and informative way through visuals. Not every brand needs a fun and hip video if it doesn’t fit their identity.
- Search the Corporate Identity Manual for messaging and taglines you can use
Creating that strong initial impression can be made much easier by utilizing the messaging and taglines your client has in their Corporate Identity Manual. Start with one of these to open your video. Feel free to be creative with taglines and messaging, but the old adage of: “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” applies here. If their messaging has worked well for them focus on how to include that in your ad. There also may be taglines they haven’t used to their full potential yet. See how you can create these videos around the tagline or message.
- Target your demographic – know who you’re appealing to
Different styles of videos will appeal to different demographics. The look of a video appealing to a young, tech-savvy company will be different than one pitched towards middle-aged investors. Understand your audience, and plan accordingly. Your client should know their demographic in detail. This will allow you to cater the video to either a very specific demo or to a broader one, depending on the needs of the video. If your client does not know their demographic, encourage them to put the project on hold and figure out those details before you create the ad. A well-made ad won’t do much for a company if it isn’t targeted to the right people.
- Search the Corporate Identity Manual for clues to your client’s social responsibility message
Corporations with a social responsibility agenda will want a video that reinforces that message. You’ll find guidelines – direct or otherwise – in the Corporate Identity Manual that will help you plant your presentation towards stressing this message. If the message is unclear, sit down with your client and ask them the proper questions. The most important part of a corporate ad is the pre-production. Make sure you not only know all the proper information, but your client is on the same page as you. This will result in a video that not only pleases both parties but also will be a success.
- Remember design – stress elements that are simple and consistent
Successful corporate videos should have a consistent and direct presentation that reminds the viewer about whose video they’re watching. The successful video editing company won’t muddy the message by presenting a variety of different stylistic messages. The best ads are simple in nature. Just because simple works best, doesn’t mean that you can’t add flair and high production value to the ad. Filmmakers hope that a client has worked on designs for their marketing before. Logos, website, emails, and other marketing material should have a clear and recognizable look and feel. Most videos will continue or build upon these already created elements. If you need to create new designs, ask about working with whoever created their other designs. A successful video more often than not is a team of creatives all working towards a common goal.
- The Corporate Identity Manual is your guide to the public design face of your client
To achieve the goal of direct and simple design, use the resources of the Corporate Identity Manual. You’ll almost always find very clear directions on logos, fonts, and colors. The wise video editing company will research and use this information from the very beginning of the video creation process. Just as with other parts mentioned above, if you can’t find the proper information in the manual, work with your client directly to get the information you need. Sometimes this means creating the answers together. This is a great time to flex your creative muscles and show them how you are the best person to create their ad because you know their business. Do your homework.
- Strike up the band – remember the importance of music
In your work as a video editing company, you’ve probably seen good and bad uses of music. Use the musical resources at your disposal to reinforce the message of your video. Serious? Lighthearted? Energetic? Whatever the tone, choose music wisely to match the content of your video. Great sites such as Musicbed, Audio Jungle, and Artist can help you find music that fits your video and the brand at a fairly inexpensive price.
Keep in mind that music and sound are almost more important than the visual aspects of your ad. Some of the best ads use music as the anchor to make the video stand out and be remembered.
- The Campaign- Have a plan
Once the ad is created and edited a lot of clients just throw it on Youtube or their website hoping people will watch. With millions of videos being uploaded every day, that type of thinking can lead to trouble.
You can look like a hero if you suggest and work with the client on how to promote, release and give the ad long legs during preproduction. If you don’t work with them on a release strategy and the video doesn’t get the exposure you wanted, who do you think they will blame. Ultimately how to promote a video before, during and after are different for each company. The message, intent and your client’s resources are all factors. Here is an example of a release timeline for a corporate ad.
- BTS pictures, tweets or Facebook posts teasing the video while being shot. Sometimes creating a hashtag along with this content can help.
- Short teaser video. If you look at big budget film you see they almost all share one thing in pre-release; Teaser trailers. These can be 5-30 seconds long and don’t even need to have footage. Sometimes text and music work well too.
- Make sure the client uses social media and email listings to make sure that consumers know when the video will release.
- Release the video on all platforms and avenues available, but don’t shove it down consumers throats. Once the initial release happens, spread sharing the content again over time and alternating platforms.
- Encourage consumer’s to share the content. Having a great video that the consumer likes is great, but more often than not the video is designed to increase sales. By having the consumers who already purchase the client’s product or service share with their friends the content, you can increase sales at no additional cost. Offering a deal to those that share or even running a contest can make the content even more shareable.
- Share the content as long as it stays relevant, but don’t do it on a regular schedule. Make it seem as if it isn’t some robot who hits share every day at 5 pm.
Jason Graisa
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