Avoiding the Most Expensive Video Marketing Mistakes
Everyone can probably recall the last time they got burned by a bad purchase or when a service wasn't provided to the level of their expectation. For the smaller purchases, it can really ruin your mood or your day. For larger investments like video, it could sabotage your marketing strategy or your business.
We put together a list of how to avoid the most expensive video marketing mistakes. This list is comprised of production companies we've seen/worked with, client horror stories, and even some of our own mistakes that we've made over the years. Our hope is that this list would help educate you on the best ways to prevent this from happening, whether while working with us, or the next production company you work with.
1. Clear Objectives - “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time." Zig Ziglar
One of the most costly mistakes you can make is not having a clear message. If you don't outline the overall message or objective of the video, you'll be stuck with a vague, mediocre, and/or unsatisfying final product. Even worse, if you want to improve the video after the fact, you'll have to spend twice as much reshooting scenes and nailing the message the second time around.
2. Clear messaging - don't fluff with irrelevant internal lingo
We've experienced many times where a client will try to add fluff, flowery language, or overly-technical internal lingo and it can absolutely ruin a video. Below is our favorite example of this happening (this is not our video). If you're producing a video to help simplify your product or service to the public but no one outside of your business or industry understands it, you need to go back to the drawing board.
3. Don't go cheap on the talent
In the past, we worked with an ad agency that had hired us to edit the commercial they filmed. There were many different actors and extras involved in this commercial and the acting was noticeably bad. Particularly the "host" of the commercial had what their client called a "creepy" vibe. They ended up scrapping the whole idea and had to reshoot, costing them way more than it would have if they didn't cheap out on professional talent from the start.
4. Don't neglect the art department
When it comes to video, a lot of times you're trying to sell reality. If you're filming on a set or on location, there's a look and feel you're trying to create and you need an art department that's going to make sure that feeling is met.
5. There are always tech issues.
Hire enough crew to mitigate those issues. Sometimes we have productions that only require 2-4 people and then there are other productions, that require us to hire 10+ people on set. For those not experienced with that level of production, we often get the question: why do we need that many people on set? We like to describe crew as insurance. The more opportunity for problems to arise, the more crew we need on set to ensure that those problems don't prevent us from creating the video or videos we've been tasked with bringing to life.
6. Always get the right permits.
We probably shouldn't have to explain this one but you wouldn't believe the number of horror stories we've heard because one simple permit wasn't obtained. Imagine you spend all this money on the crew, location, talent, gear, etc... all of it building up to one particular day, and you get shut down the day of production because you didn't get the proper permits. We haven't experienced that, but we definitely have heard of these horror stories from our peers in the industry.
7. Show, don't tell.
You may have a great script for your commercial but if you don't have the right visuals, people will quickly stop watching. We've personally experienced many times when working with new clients that they want a video that describes their brand. So they create a beautiful script, and then they just throw us iPhone videos from last year's Christmas party. Don't do this. It's worth the investment to build a strong archive of footage that in all senses visually describes your brand, your culture, and your product or service.
8. We'll just "fix it in post". Don't ever let this happen.
We shouldn't have to explain this one but please, please, please don't just assume that on the day of production or after, we can just fix it in post. ("Post" referring to "Post-Production" a.k.a. where all of the editing happens.) One of the strongest skillsets a director can have is the ability to think like an editor. That means thinking through how the video will work in post-production. That's why we prepare for our shoots far in advance, with several rounds of planning meetings with our clients, if possible. To ensure that all of the logistics align with the artistry on the day so we can achieve the vision for your brand's video. Not going in with a plan or changing things day-of will cost you... a lot.
9. Not thinking holistically about your marketing strategy and how video plays a role in most if not all of it.
Now we're not claiming we invented this method, but we pride ourselves on this. We work hard with our clients to produce videos that holistically support their companies. We've experienced this way too many times: a company hires us to shoot a single video; we hire our crew and talent for the days needed, and produce the videos; only later does the client realize they want more videos that could have been accomplished on those same filming days. Instead, we have to start from scratch and hire crew & talent for a new set of filming days. This mistake either leads to a higher spend on video, or less video content because the spend is too high. The latter leads to less of the best ROI marketing capital for your brand. Make sure to read through this article on the importance of holistic thinking for your marketing strategy.
10. Not choosing a company that's invested in the success of your videos as much as you are.
Thanks to technology, anyone can shoot video. My 18-month old films videos on my iPhone all the time. Are they good? No. But that doesn't stop him. You can hire anyone to shoot video (hopefully not an 18-month old for obvious reasons). But choosing a team to partner with you for the long-term to accomplish and surpass your marketing goals is something else entirely. Wondering where to start? Check out our article Finding The Best Video Marketing Partner.
