Marketeers are constantly looking for new ways to make products stand out. To do so, good content needs to be churned out consistently, and it needs to engage prospects to find out more.
Video is a great way to do this. You do not need to swallow up all your budget on a blockbuster! Think about a series of short, animated videos that highlight your products and why buyers should not miss out on them.
Serialise your messages to keep the videos short and your target personas coming back for more.
An Animated video is a great way to do this. Not only is it cheaper to produce than 3D video with actors, but it is also quicker to produce and finalize. With animated video, you can balance speed and cost with representing your company in a quality way. Animated video is also a great storyboard for telling new prospects about your firm and what you can offer them.
Find an agency.
You have made the decision to produce some video. The next step is to find and recruit an animation video company. Find a firm that has an extensive published portfolio online and is happy to name some of their customers. Look them up on social media and see how influential they are with their own marketing. Also, check out the videos they produce to promote themselves. Do they hit the spot?
What are you looking for?
Consider your own requirements. Are you looking for a local agency or are you happy to work remotely via Zoom? Is cost your main priority or are you looking for an agency that can run with a short brief and come back to you with a draft for approval?
Once you have made this choice, look for a few agencies that could be potential candidates. Send them all a short outline of your requirements and ask them to submit a proposal. Ask for some thoughts on how they would set about promoting one of your products.
When you have some options back, choose two agencies you like the most and invite them to speak in further detail. Share your budget and objectives from the campaign. Also, ask your shortlisted agencies for one of their customers to have a quick conversation with about their work. Good agencies should be happy to provide you with one of their customers to talk with. Not being willing or able to is a potential red flag.
What is your approach?
Once you have made your choice, work with your agency to think about your first video. Will you focus on a particular product or your business overall? This may depend on which social media platform you are targeting, and whether the video is part of a wider campaign.
With animated video, you also have the option to serialize videos into shorter clips. These are more effective for the bitesize culture of social media.
Position your products for the buyer.
Video is a great way to showcase how your products help your potential buyers solve a problem or grow their business. This is especially true for products or services where their purpose or approach is not always clear. With video, it is possible to layout how easy your solution makes it for the buyer. Look for your agency to understand your products and advise you on ways of bringing them to life in an enticing way for the buyer.
If it is worth doing….
If something is worth doing, it is worth doing right. In the same way, your firm is better at doing no video than bad video.
Make sure you do not just choose the cheapest agency. It may seem appealing at the time, but a badly made video will not represent your company well. First impressions count, and a bad video is the same as a cafe having dirty windows.
Potential buyers have a miniscule attention span on social media, so make your statement positively and clearly.
Create value for money!
Challenge your chosen agency on delivering a return on investment. This does not just mean producing a good video. It means challenging them to deliver a clear deliverable at the end that will drive conversions. If you are feeling particularly bold, you could even try to negotiate some kind of performance-based agreement with your video agency. You could pay them a flat fee plus a bonus based on the number of impressions and conversions your video achieves. This ensures both parties are on the same page and focused on the same end result.