Guide to Producing a Promotional Video

The right video can give a big boost to your small business

By Elaine Grant, Principal, Muddy Dog Media LLC

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Determine your purpose

The biggest mistake most people make when they set out to create a corporate or nonprofit video is trying to make it be all things to all people. Just like a great advertising slogan, the best videos send a single message, or one primary and one secondary message, simply and with focus. Ask yourself what you want your viewers to do after they see your video. Buy your product? Donate to your nonprofit? Write to their congresswoman? The answer should help you stay on track.

I recommend: For help narrowing your focus, complete Muddy Dog Media’s video planning questionnaire. For a helpful explanation of the entire process, from pre- to post-production, check out Corporate Video Production – A Free Guide for Managers.

Empathize with your viewer

There are a few types of videos that people will watch at length. For instance, some “webinars,” or online classes, run 60 minutes and manage to hold their viewers’ attention, although even live, interactive online classes can feel long at an hour. In general, viewers have short attention spans – it’s best to keep your promotional video under seven or eight minutes. Make it compelling with effective storytelling techniques and engaging, colorful video. Help your viewer “enter” your story by using good “B-roll,” music, graphics – and by allowing articulate subjects to tell the story in their own words.

I recommend: For a terrific newsletter on visual storytelling, subscribe to storytelling guru Andy Goodman’s free newsletter “Free Range Thinking” at agoodmanonline.com.

Find a specialist

Most small companies are hardly in the financial position to employ in-house videographers. But there are numerous ways to get your video produced. At the low end – for a “quick-and-dirty” video that you want to post on YouTube or another free video-sharing site -- you might try a college intern with an inexpensive video camera. For a professional quality product for use as a video news release, a trade show video or an investor presentation, you’ll need a video production house or even an ad agency that will ensure your video works with your communications campaign. Ask for demos and get a proposal, with time frame and financial estimate, before starting your project.

I recommend: State and regional film commissions often provide directories of local video producers; find your state film commission at FilmCommissionHQ. For a national directory of video professionals, check out the Production Hub. In addition, advertising agencies, PR firms, and local public television stations usually have connections to video crews and post-production (editing) companies.

Hire a writer

It’s been said that everyone thinks they’re a writer. And because videos employ dialogue and conversational narration, it seems like it would be easy to write a great script. Not true! If you’re not a professional writer, hire one. Bad writing is the downfall of many a nice-looking video.

I recommend: Many video producers can either write scripts themselves (always ask who wrote the scripts in any demo videos) or employ scriptwriters. You can also search for a scriptwriter on MediaBistro or Guru.com, or post an ad on Freelance Success, an online newsletter for writers.

Post your video online

You’d be foolish not to post your video on your corporate Web site and possibly even on free video-sharing Web sites. A recent study by Wharton Business School showed that video is three times more likely than text alone to convert a Web site visitor.

I recommend: Have a video that you want to post on your Web site? You don’t have to be very technically savvy to upload it to YouTube, or to another video sharing site like JumpCut, and then take the simple code that the site generates and embed it onto your Web site. Want help? For a huge directory of streaming media and other online video specialists, visit StreamingMedia.com. For an easy-to-read overview of what online video can do for your business, visit The Online Video Guy and download “The Online Video Revolution.”

Create a video blog

Have a visually interesting business? Or maybe your employees have a knack for making pithy comments about your industry? Try a video blog, or “vlog” to get your message out. It’s an affordable way to achieve frequency of exposure. But don’t make your vlogs barely concealed sales pitches or people will turn them – and your business -- off.

I recommend: Free blogging services like Blogger.com make it fairly easy to upload videos. You can do it yourself with an inexpensive video camera or up the production values by hiring a professional.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Don’t forget the follow-up. Make sure the video prominently includes your URL.
• •  Video increases your chances of being found on search engines. If you want to track where your Web visitors are coming from, create a unique landing page and edit that URL into the video.
• •  When you work with a video production house, you can keep your costs down by doing a lot of the pre-production work, such as finding subjects, yourself.