One question I’m often asked is “Maury, when is the right time to consider a video marketing campaign for my company?” In my personal opinion, it’s always the right time! But while videos can be utilized for marketing all the time, there are different reasons and seasons for certain campaigns.
Through years of film production experience, I’ve found that many of my corporate clients use video marketing during the times most strategic for their company. Here are some of the convenient times to create a new video marketing series:
1. RELEASING A NEW PRODUCT OR SERVICE
Whether you’re a small business owner or a large corporation, it’s important to promote your new product! When McDonald’s started selling new café beverages, the fast-food mogul did a huge push in commercials to announce their fancy coffee to the world. Imagine if they only changed the menu and waited for people to discover it. Sure, word would’ve eventually gotten around, but it would’ve taken much longer.
Video marketing helps speed up the “word of mouth” process. And when someone sees your latest video, they’ll have the opportunity to tell their friend—“Hey, did you see the new [your company] video? They now have [new product or service].” That way, you have two marketing tactics in play: video marketing and word of mouth.
2. VOCALIZING A CHANGE IN PRODUCTS OR SERVICE
This is not the same as a NEW product or service. Remember, I said change. So that means a product you carry or service you provide is no longer the exact same as it was before. Hopefully, there has been some type of upgrade to attract new customers.
Car companies take particular advantage of this type of video marketing. Whenever a new model of the same car is released, there is still a big announcement about it. For instance, Toyota introduced its Prius in 1997 as a four-door sedan. When 2003 rolled around, Toyota announced that a five-door hatchback version of the Prius was available. And as each year since 2004 has passed, Toyota promotes the new features on their Prius. Now, the Toyota Prius has a backup camera, and satellite GPS, and the newest model even has an electric charge option! Toyota still classifies all of the models as the same car, but the product has changed over time. It’s video marketing that will paint the picture of how chic the new car is. Toyota wants you to know the cool new features—maybe they can talk you into turning in your old car for a new one.
If you’re a healthcare company that now has different co-pays, in-network doctors, etc. A whiteboard animation campaign can thoroughly help confuse customers about what those changes will be. I know the changes to the Affordable Care Act have sent millions into confusion… if only there were a whiteboard animation video to help clearly explain things.
3. HOLIDAYS AND OTHER CELEBRATIONS
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Black Friday and the Christmas season isn’t the only reason to promote holiday-like sales. Most consumers don’t know that Memorial Day savings can seriously help their pocketbooks. But I’d like to recommend making things a little more personal for your company—celebrate your company’s birthday (some businesses prefer to say anniversary)! I’m all for sharing your story in video marketing. By creating a campaign for your business anniversary, you can share your company’s conception and what you’ve been able to accomplish since then.
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4. NEW DISCOVERY
This is a popular type of announcement for hospitals and healthcare professionals. Biotech companies are constantly coming up with new treatments and cures, or alternative treatments. Chemotherapy and radiation might be the most popular forms of curing cancer now, but I guarantee when the next wave of tested treatments hits the market, there will be a video to help promote it.
Explainer videos are particularly useful for biotech companies to (literally) explain the sophistication of science to less-educated viewers. It often bodes well for biotech brands to use an explainer video, because their audience will be more intrigued to call their company, buy their product or become part of a test group if they know how it works.
5. INTRODUCING A NEW FACILITY
If you’re opening up a new headquarters or manufacturing facility, it’s nice to have an explainer video done on-site just before the big day of unveiling it to the public. Explainer videos can be shot on-site, so you can show off the construction and all of its “bells and whistles.” This is also nice to use when training new employees who will also be helping promote the company with their enthusiasm. Video marketing can make a big impression, and it will help your business look more credible.
6. CELEBRATING MILESTONES
It’s always nice to take a moment and celebrate milestones, whether it’s reaching 1,000 Facebook fans or 10,000 Twitter followers. You can commemorate these moments by creating a video that looks back on all that you’ve accomplished. This is also a good time to show appreciation for your customers and subscribers.
So, how will you incorporate video marketing into these strategic times for your company? The key is always to tailor your marketing campaigns to what works best for your specific business. By understanding the most useful times for video marketing, you can choose which ones fit with your brand and goals. By doing so, you’ll be on the path to creating effective video content that reaches and engages with customers in a meaningful way. Whether you’re using video as a part of your marketing campaign or not, it’s important to stay current with the latest trends in order to be successful. Through smart use of video marketing, you can rise above the competition and increase sales and brand visibility. Who knows—maybe one day, you could be featured on a viral video yourself!
7. MAKING A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Whether private charities or the government choose to raise awareness about smoking, the dangerous effects of drugs, suicide prevention, etc. video marketing will help educate the public. Whiteboard animation videos are particularly helpful for public service announcements or other types of special announcements. Through the use of hand-drawn images, whiteboard animation can use text and images to best communicates staggering statistics.
The American Lung Association reported that about 158,080 Americans died from lung cancer in 2016—that’s about half the size of St. Louis, Missouri. Should they utilize whiteboard animation for their next PSA, an artist can help an audience visualize the similarity of the city’s population to patients who have died of lung cancer. That visual comparison will definitely aid the association’s message on lung cancer prevention.
TO SUMMARIZE:
Whenever you choose to do video marketing, remember you should always have something to say or a video to share. That piece of advice might seem obvious, but sometimes companies will be tempted to make a video without a call to action. Customers like knowing what to do.
If you have an amazing promotion without contact information or a website, the consumers are going to abort ship just as soon as they boarded. Working with professionals like Rip Media Group can assure you won’t invest in a marketing campaign that will fail with the details. There’s always time to start a video marketing campaign, so start now. Don’t wait for your competition to get to your viewers first. Think about what it is you are excited to share and let’s start your story there!
There are many options out there and Rip Media Group – as your video production company of choice – has its finger on the pulse. We can create your video – whether it’s whiteboard animation, 3D, 2D, or live-action – and give you a great ROI. After all, you wouldn’t want to trust your brand to just anyone.
OUR MISSION:
INSPIRE YOUR AUDIENCE
TO TAKE ACTION
