In a world where we spend most of our time online, video is vital for brands to stand out from the sea of content. Easier said than done though, right? If you want to reap in the rewards of video production, you want to avoid these six rookie video mistakes. Read on.
1. NEGLECTING YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of creating a video that you’d enjoy watching, rather than thinking about your target audience. However, you need to remember that you’re creating this video for your potential customers and clients. Think about what they want to see. Would a long clip of your MD speaking to the camera draw them in or would a creative film showcasing your brand be more interesting? We’ll go with the latter.
2. HAVING AN UNCLEAR OBJECTIVE
You may be surprised, but this is actually one of the most common video mistakes. Before cracking on with production, you need to know exactly what you want the video to achieve. Are you launching a new product? Perhaps you’re wanting to show off your facilities and workforce? Your goals will be the direction for the production, editing, and marketing process.
3. FORGETTING ABOUT THE CALL-TO-ACTION
The CTA. Probably the most important part of the video. Without this, your audience will have no direction of where to go next or what action to take. Unfortunately, your viewers aren’t mind-readers. You need to shout about something — whether that’s where to buy your product or sign up to your newsletter, for example.
4. CREATING A VIDEO THAT’S TOO LONG
The average attention span of a human is only a mere eight seconds, so you really have to make those first few seconds count. In most cases, the shorter the video the better.
There’s nothing more off putting than scrolling on social and seeing a video is five or ten minutes long. When deciding what should be added to the final cut, ask yourself whether or not the excess footage adds value and contributes to the message you want to deliver.
5. LESS TALKING, MORE SHOWING
People love watching videos because they’re visual. Your video needs to be visually stimulating, exciting, and engaging, so that viewers remember your message and brand.
Trying to saturate your video with too many messages will only lead to confusion. One single message is typically enough for a memorable video. If you’ve a lot to say and not enough time to say it, it’s best to dilute multiple messages into a series of videos.
6. LACK OF A STRATEGY
It’s all good and well having a flashy video to show off your brand, but if you haven’t the strategy to promote it, then who’s going to see it? Just like all forms of marketing, videos need a well thought out strategy in place to make sure it reaches the intended audience and gets a sufficient return on investment.
Think about the platforms and channels you’ll be plastering your video on, and whether or not you’ll be running a paid ad campaign.
THE NEXT STEP
Hopefully you’ll now be all clued up on the most common video mistakes and can avoid them during your video production endeavours.
If you’re eager to crack on with creating the content but are stuck on getting started, have a read of our blog post where we knuckled down on 10 industry tips that’ll get you ahead of the game. If you’re still a little lost, drop us a message and we’ll be happy to help out.