You’re probably asking yourself how it’s 2020 already or if you’re reading this later you’re probably thinking 2019 seemed like a decade ago. With that comes a new set of goals for your business or brand that you’ve already strategized; selling a product, service, communicating key messages, bigger brand awareness, driving people to your website, and so much more.
Video is (and should be) part of that strategy. Here are some mind-blowing stats from 2019 about video content marketing:
96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.
84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.
This tells us that people WANT to see your content. Potential customers and your audience want to know what it looks like, how it works, what it can do, how it can make their life better and on and on. You can tell people all you want in text form about your offerings, but if they can’t visualize it in a matter of a couple minutes they’re less likely to take action.
86% of people would like to see more video from brands in 2020.
86%! More! To us those numbers are a shocking confirmation that video content is a powerful marketing tool and reaffirms that human beings are visual when making decisions about what they buy, attend, consider, and join.
89% of video marketers say video, in general, gives them a good return on their investment (ROI).
92% of video marketers feel the level of noise and competition have increased in the last year.
The Return on Investment stat is obvious, but the real one to touch on is the Noise. Video content is becoming more and more proliferate; the competition is heating up if it wasn’t already very hot.
Of people in the 18-64 age bracket, their digital media time is spent 75%+ on mobile. 63%+ of that mobile use is dedicated to apps like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the new behemoth TikTok.
How will your video content stand out in all the noise?
To answer that question we love this quote from Ann-Christine Diaz in Ad Age’s Marketing Predictions because it illuminates a problem that many production companies and clients have; not incorporating a collaborative approach to creating video content.
“Production companies have a bigger seat at the table. Some major deals this year…show the need for marketing organizations to have agile production of all kinds woven into their business processes. The trend of production companies incorporating creative into their offerings will also gain traction.” – Ann-Christine Diaz, Creativity Editor
At MEDIAPOP Films, we’ve produced over 600 projects for clients across many different industries – we know what’s worked and what hasn’t. Having a seat at the table allows us to help marketing teams with content strategy and ideation. Instead of simply the people filming your content Production companies can be a valuable idea resource.
To stand out among the noise you have to produce video content that answers a question, solves a problem, captures imagination, generates buzz, inspires people to take action, and is high-quality in production value (this doesn’t always need to cost $$$). To succeed at these you need a great idea. It’s not enough to show off the product or highlight a service or just communicate a message there needs to be a narrative imperative attached to it. To achieve great ideas you need to do something different – even if it’s only a small – and to finally land on that amazing idea you need to be a bit of a rebel in your brainstorm. How?
Without risking your own corporate, business, or brand position there are ways – summed up perfectly by Sam Conniff in the book Be More Pirate…
1. Break a rule
Crucially, this should be a rule that shouldn’t exist in the first place – one that’s been executed with minimal thought and still somehow exists. See what happens… probably not much.
2. Start a mutiny
You need to put something in place of the rule you’ve just broken – and when you do this, recruit other people to follow you. Run your idea up the flagpole and start your own mutiny.
3. Be agile
Pirates weren’t successful because they relied on systems that slowed them down – they made their decisions quickly based on values and principles, making them dynamic and responsive.
4. Redistribute your own power
Pirates devolved power to the rest of the ship – the captain could be voted out at any moment. Make sure your decisions can be challenged by the juniors on your team, who might have creative ideas of their own.
Out of this Pirate rallying cry (which we understand can’t always be achieved) come some pretty great ideas for content, here are a few we like to use, this one from Google/YouTube:
Tease, Amplify, Echo
It costs little to turn your content into a series of videos – tease the audience, reveal the idea, hammer home the idea.
The Mini-Series
Another sequence of videos that introduce the problem, solve the problem, and wrap it all together to resolution, ending with the effects of that resolution.
Direct Shot
Longer story with the problem, your solution, and the wrap-up all enclosed in a single video. These can still be broken into multiple videos with different edits.
Lead In & Follow Up
A shorter version presenting the problem and what you’re doing to solve the problem, ending with the successful resolution. Follow that up with more successful resolution and the benefits of that resolution.
The beautiful benefit to any one of these ideas is they can versioned in the Edit Suite with a few extra editing hours to all of the different platforms:
- YouTube
- TikTok
The differentiation doesn’t stop there, why not try some of these ideas?
Bizarre, Benign, But Awesome
Twitch, the platform where people literally watch other people game, has millions of members and a new crop of videos called “With Me” videos, where people watch normal people do normal things, are gaining popularity. Even Apple is getting into the game with ASMR videos.
Content with a Higher Purpose
Our lives are getting more stressful and we have less time to get everything done. More and more people are searching out video content with a higher purpose. Whether it’s meditation, relaxation techniques, self-improvement, health and wellness these videos are connecting people to their inner-self.
Never Doubt Music’s Power
Sometimes content is communicated without ever saying anything at all, rather it’s the power of music and visuals that get the message across. Many ads, products, and services can gain traction by tapping into the emotional impact of music videos that tell your story.
These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to content ideas and strategy that we can help facilitate, produce, and deliver at MEDIAPOP. It’s what we’re passionate about and good at.
Video marketing will again be the go-to strategy in 2020 and finding the right content needs a production partner that understands you and your goals for the new year.
Let’s start a conversation.
Sources: Think With Google, Wyzowl, Be More Pirate, AdAge