Why Produce a Corporate Video?
November 14, 2011
This is a guest post from David Seay, who has over 25 years experience of producing videos, commercials and television programming, and is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. He has produced hundreds of corporate videos, training videos and a full complement of videos for business.
Over to you, David…
———
Why Produce a Corporate Video?
My sales are good. Our customer feedback is positive. We’re getting new clients. Why on earth should I spend money on a corporate video?
At first glance you might not think a video is right for you, but it probably is. In 25 years of working with corporate marketing departments, I have yet to see a company who has not benefited from using video.
Video has always been the best vehicle to define image, demonstrate your products, and give voice to satisfied customers. Today we live in a hyper-connected world. Youtube, Vimeo, Facebook, LinkedIn, and countless others are words we never knew five years ago. Now they are essential everyday tools marketers use to connect with customers and prospects, and they all leverage video.
If you had to sum up this brave new world of marketing and inter-connectedness in a single word, that word would be: MESSAGING. That messaging comes from all sources: customers, and competitors, independent reviewers, you yourself. It is essential that you control the messaging about your company, or someone else probably will. Video persuades, motivates, and brands better than any other medium. Since the majority of people prefer to watch video rather than reading pages, it is more important than ever to leverage your messaging with video content.
When you decide to use video, use a professional producer; this is absolutely NOT a do-it-yourself project. So many homespun videos just reek of unprofessionalism and unless you are an experienced producer/director (10 to 15 productions minimum), leave it to someone who is. Don’t worry, you will still be very involved with the production.
Producing a marketing, sales or training video for your company may seem overwhelming. Here are a few things you’ll need to think about in advance:
- the message you want to communicate
- who your audience is
- where they’ll be watching the video (on the web? On a DVD? At a live event?)
- quality: what level of production values you need
- your budget and deadlines
- an outline for the content of the video
- approval for use of graphics, products, logos
- legal clearances
- and location options if shooting will take place at your office
Make sure you choose an experienced production company; specialist corporate producers will know about using video for business, branding and social media. Agree a production schedule with them to cover the major phases of production (pre-production, scripting, location shooting, video editing, sound sweetening, DVD authoring, duplication, and delivery).
Cost: A simple Internet video of about a minute or so in length can be as little as 1,500 USD. It may sound like a lot, but it takes time, and what you are really buying is experience. A producer who knows what they are doing can maximize a budget to get you the most bang for the buck—and do it quickly.
Once shooting is complete, the video editor will combine the video, audio and graphics to create a rough cut; you’ll review the rough cut and agree any changes needed before it goes into final production.
And you’ll then be able to add video to your suite of tools to help promote your corporate messages.
Video works. Use it.
———
Thanks, David!
David and Kathryn Seay are video producers in the Dallas Fort Worth area
www.davidseayproductions.com
Google and Apple Keep Stealing Market Share from RIM (and All the Rest)
November 10, 2011
Things aren’t looking good for Research in Motion (RIM) as far as the smartphone market is concerned. Recently, comScore released data related to the U.S. smartphone market that paints a grim picture for the maker of BlackBerry.
According to comScore, Google and Apple continue to steal market share from competitors in the smartphone market, namely RIM, Microsoft, and Symbian in the United States.
Check out the numbers below to see how these competitors fared in the fight for market share between June 2011 to September 2011:
- Google: 44.8% market share (up 4.6%)
- Apple: 27.4% market share (up 0.8%)
- RIM: 18.9% market share (down 4.6%)
- Microsoft: 5.6% market share (down 0.2%)
- Symbian: 1.8% market share (down 0.2%)
There is no doubt which brands are dominating the smartphone market, and it seems unlikely that this trend will change anytime soon. For companies and brands looking to pursue mobile marketing initiatives, this data is very important. It tells you which platforms to focus on for exposure to more of the 234 million Americans over the age of 13 who own smartphones.
However, there is more to this story than smartphone platform market share. comScore also keeps track of the activities that people engage in with their smartphones. The number of mobile subscribers using their smartphones for more than just making phone calls continues to increase as the data below shows:
- Sent text message to another phone: 71.1% of mobile subscribers as of September 2011 (up 1.5% from June 2011)
- Used browser: 42.9% of mobile subscribers (up 2.8%)
- Used downloaded apps: 42.5% of mobile subscribers (up 3.0%)
- Accessed social networking site or blog: 31.5% of mobile subscribers (up 2.4%)
- Played games: 28.8% of mobile subscribers (up 1.9%)
- Listened to music on mobile phone: 20.9% (up 1.9%)
The fastest growing mobile activities according to this study are using downloaded apps, using a web browser, and accessing social networking sites or blogs. Get out your creative thinking caps, because there are opportunities waiting for you to promote your brand via mobile marketing.
Mobile apps, mobile-friendly websites, Facebook pages, and brand blogs are just a few ways you could be connecting with the active mobile audience. Their mobile engagement is only going to continue to grow, so you need to make sure your brand is mobile before it’s too late!
Image: Flickr
New York Times Sues Huffington Post Over Brand Name
November 9, 2011
On October 24, 2011, a former New York Times employee and manager of that company’s 3-year old “Motherlode” blog launched a new blog for her new employer, AOL’s The Huffington Post, called “Parentlode.”
That’s the story that a lawsuit filed by the New York Times on November 4, 2011 tells of Lisa Belkin who — 1-month into her new gig with The Huffington Post — launched the new blog with a name that is very similar to the blog she managed for the New York Times.
Belkin acknowledge the similarity in her first blog post published on Parentlode. As Jonathan Stempel of Reuters reports:
“Her first Parentlode blog entry referred to the Motherlode blog and said the name change in part reflected reader concerns that Motherlode does not fit ‘in an era when fathers are every bit the parent.’ She also said the old name does not fit a blog that ‘regularly champions equality, and new paradigms.’“
The New York Times claims in its lawsuit that Parentlode was launched with a name so close to its existing Motherlode blog that it “clearly intended” to confuse people.
Coincidence? It’s highly doubtful. You can follow the links to see the trademark filings from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for Motherlode (filed on October 24, 2011, the day Parentlode launched, but first used in commerce on October 1, 2008) and Parentlode (filed on October 14, 2011).
What do you think? Is the New York Times wasting its time? Should AOL fight the lawsuit or cut their losses (after all, the Parentlode blog has only been live for a couple of weeks)? One thing is for certain, AOL, The Huffington Post, the New York Times, Motherlode, and Parentlode are all getting some publicity from this lawsuit.
Leave a comment and share your thoughts. Who should be the victor in the trademark dispute between Motherlode and Parentlode and which brand should prevail?
Image: stock.xchng
The Eurozone, Cricket, and CSR
November 8, 2011
Sometimes you wonder just how committed people engaged in CSR are about changing business and society for the better. For example, when seriously challenging stories surface about business and governance the news agenda seems to have a blind spot about their effect on the CSR agenda. Instead the focus is on money alone, not finance or any other broader considerations.
As two examples, I hold up the the “spot fixing” convictions in cricket and Greece’s abortive referendum on the latest Euro bailout deal. Both of these should cause CSR businessmen and proponents to think very carefully about what they believe in, and here’s why.
Read more
Google+ Pages Open for Brands and Businesses
November 8, 2011
Just a few months ago, Google kicked brands, businesses, bands, and other non-personal profiles off of Google+ with a message that they’d be welcome back soon with something specifically created for them. That day has come.
Today, Google announced the worldwide launch of Google+ Pages giving brands, businesses, and the like a place on the fast growing social site. In a blog post on the Official Google Blog, Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President of Engineering, stated that any business or organization, “will soon be able to join the community,” by creating their own Google+ Pages.
A number of bands, entertainers, nonprofit organizations, brands, and businesses have already created Google+ Pages, including Toyota, Pepsi, H&M, Save the Children UK, and more.
Not only can businesses and brands use Google+ to connect with existing and potential consumers around the world, but they can also use Google+ features like circles to segment groups of customers for targeted communications, hangouts to speak directly with their followers, and sparks to monitor conversations.
Google+ Pages will be integrated with other Google products such as AdWords for campaign tracking, and a verification process will be put in place for well-known brands to ensure people find the verified brand or business page rather than an imposter.
To coincide with the launch of Google+ Pages, Google also announced the launch of Direct Connect, which will enable people to search Google for a brand name preceded by a + sign (for example, +Toyota) and get an instant connection to that brand’s Google+ Page where they can instantly add the brand to their own account and go directly to the brand’s Google+ Page. Check out the video below to see how it will work.
Google continually teases both consumers and investors about more features coming for Google+, so we’ll have to wait and see what’s next. Google’s goal is clearly not to have the best stand-alone social networking site with Google+ but to integrate its varied products so closely that people become completely dependent on them — like a one-stop-shopping solution to more things than we can probably imagine.
What do you think of Google+ Pages and Direct Connect?
Get our updates
 |