Best Types of Events to Showcase Your Brand Video
I do quite a bit of networking and attend several events throughout the year. Over the past month, I’ve seen a professional video played at 3 different types of events, so it encouraged me to write this post.
It’s important to me that our clients are getting the most out of the video assets we produce for them. If you have a professional video shot for your business, here are 3 events at which it should be played.
Trade Show/Conference
We had a company reach out to us last month requesting that we shoot a video for a trade show they are attending. The owner mentioned several other businesses had a video showcasing their products and services, so he wanted one as well.
It makes sense: businesses invest thousands of dollars in a booth at a trade show or conference, so they need to do everything possible to attract leads for a great ROI.
Corporate Luncheon
If you sponsor a corporate event, you will typically get a few minutes to talk about your services. You can use some of the time to play a promotional video. That’s exactly what Huffines did at the McKinney Chamber Spring Quarterly Luncheon.
They played a short video showing their activity in the community.
These types of videos can be powerful because they tell a story, and your ideal audience (hopefully) is in the room.
Gala
Galas and events for nonprofit organizations are a great place to share your company’s story video. When people are bidding on items or donating to a charity, they want to know the impact that the nonprofit is making.
They also want to be able to trust that organization.
We shot a testimonial video for Delighted to Doula a while back to show the powerful impact they are making for moms who need postpartum support. This is a video they use for galas, donation drives, and more.
Your Next Step
If your business is sponsoring an event soon, we’d love to put together a video for you that shows how amazing your company is to maximize the ROI on your investment.
To discuss your project, click here: Get a Quote
Vertical vs. Horizontal Video: Which is Better?
This is a question we get from potential clients from time to time.
When determining whether your video should be shot horizontally (landscape) or vertically (portrait), there are two factors to consider: where the video is going and what its goal is.
Let’s get into it:
Website
If the video is going on your website, we recommend that you have a horizontal video. When you embed it from a platform like Vimeo or YouTube, it will look better than a vertical video.
Also, if the goal is for the video to have a long shelf life, you should have it on YouTube and those look best shot horizontally.
These will also look better if you plan on embedding the video in an email campaign.
Social Media
Here is where it gets a little tricky. Both styles of video, horizontal and vertical, can look great on social media, depending on the content/type of post.
What we recommend for vertical video:
- Reels (Facebook and Instagram)
- Short Form Video (YouTube shorts, TikTok, LinkedIn)
- Stories (Facebook and Instagram)
- If the content does not need a long shelf
What we recommend for horizontal video:
- Promotional Video (Facebook and LinkedIn)
- Testimonial Video: (Facebook and LinkedIn)
- If the content needs a long shelf life
Since most of our clients need a variety of videos for their marketing strategy, we can provide both horizontal and vertical video assets so they are covered for their website (long-form content) and social media (short-form content).
If you are shooting your own content, you want to determine where you are posting the videos before you start recording.
What type of content does your company use most of the time?
3 Symptoms of Bad Branding
Some businesses are missing out on thousands of dollars in revenue each month without even knowing it.
Here are 3 symptoms to look for to see if it’s time to update your company’s branding.
Potential customers say you’re too expensive:
When you step into a Mercedes car dealership, you have a general idea of the pricing. You also know it won’t be cheap.
Due to their branding, Mercedes and other luxury brands do a great job attracting high-end buyers.
Your branding may be off if people are consistently shocked by your pricing or can’t afford your services.
Potential customers should be able to look at your videos, website, and social media and KNOW that you’re more expensive than your competitor (if you are providing a high-ticket service).
Be sure you’re showing off the quality of your work through videos and pictures to attract the correct audience for your business.
Confusion:
If potential customers routinely ask you what you do, even after visiting your website, your branding isn’t clear enough.
When someone hits your website or your social media accounts, they should know exactly what your company does within seconds. If not, this leads to confusion, and like Donald Miller (author of Business Made Simple) says, “When you confuse you lose”.
Make sure your messaging is crystal clear through your company’s branding.
Low Retention:
Have you ever had a client use your services and then find out they went with another company when they needed the same service down the road? Not a great feeling. They may have had a great experience with you but simply forgot about you. Ouch!
If this happens often, your ongoing branding may be off. Be sure to stay in sight, and in mind through email campaigns and social media content. The key is to make sure you’re helpful and not “salesy” every time you show up.
This will help your clients remember who you are the next time they need you and will result in more referrals as well.
What other symptoms would you add?
3 Trust Signals For Your Website
We’ve all heard that most people do business with those they know, like, and trust. This is not just true for people; we also like to use businesses we trust.
Believe it or not, even if your company is B2B, potential clients will check your website before considering you.
Here are 3 of our favorite ways that companies can build trust through their website:
Pictures of Team Members
Having professional headshots of your key employees (or at least pictures of actual team members) gives potential clients an idea of who they’ll be working with. We recommend replacing any stock photo on your website with a picture of an actual team member. It’s a great way to build trust for your brand.
Promotional/Brand Video
You probably knew this was coming since we’re a video production company, but we’re confident this is a great way to build trust for a company. We know this because, during discovery calls, this is the main reason why businesses tell us they need a video.
If one of your potential clients watches your website’s brand video, they get a sense of who you are. They can also see your team and the quality of your work.
A one-time investment for a professional video can pay off for years if you add it to the homepage of your website.
Case Studies/Portfolio
Proof that you’ve delivered the services that you offer is the ultimate trust signal in my opinion. When you can show prospective clients what you’ve done instead of telling them, it gives them confidence you can do the same for them.
When companies contact us for a professional video, they’ve usually watched a couple of our videos on the “Our Work” page of our website. If our style is what they are looking for, they know we can do it for them too.
Be sure to have some examples of your work, a client testimonial, or add the logos of the companies you’ve helped somewhere on your website.
I hope these tips help build trust for your brand.
What are some trust signals you have on your website?
When To Shoot a New Brand Video
One of the first questions we ask potential clients on a discovery call is “Why are you interested in a professional video?”. A common answer lately has been, “We are updating our website and our web developer asked us if we had any video content for the home page?”.
This huge event typically triggers the need for a new video. Here are the other main events that may mean it’s time to shoot a new brand video:
New Website/Rebrand
We just mentioned this above. When your company updates its website or goes through a rebrand, you may need a new video.
If your old video is outdated, it won’t look consistent with a new website. Also, if you change your logo, your old video may include old logos, etc.
Web developers that we work with highly recommend shooting a new video to add to a new website or rebrand package.
New Office
We’re scheduling a shoot for a financial services firm in Frisco that just moved to a new office. They want a new professional video to show off their company’s culture and its new digs.
Their location is a selling point to attract advisors to their firm, so it’s important to them that we highlight their office interior and the surrounding areas.
If your company moves offices, especially if it’s an upgrade, it may be time to shoot a new brand video.
New Key Team Members
Recently, we talked to a company that needed new professional videos because their CEO is stepping down and he was in most of the videos on their website.
They wanted to reshoot the videos with their new key team members so there was an accurate representation of their company. If you’ve experienced turnover with key team members, and the old ones are in your brand video, it’s time to shoot a new one.
If any of these events happen at your company, we’d love to get you a quote for an updated brand video.
Click here to schedule a call with us: Book Discovery Call
