Film Strategy - What it is and why you need one
Film strategy matters. But what is it, and why?
Let’s deal with the why first. Simply, if you are not using video in your marketing, you are going to be left behind. According to a report from HubSpot Research, over 50% of consumers want to see videos from brands, which is more than any other type of content. It is more than just vanity or padding too. Video on landing pages can increase conversion rates by over 80%, and the mention of the word ‘video’ in an email subject line increases open rates by 19%. 90% of customers also say videos help them in their purchasing decision.
So why wouldn’t you start using video now? It is a no-brainer-right? Perhaps you have tried it and felt it didn’t work. Or perhaps it is seen as a bit daunting, with nobody internally having the expertise to manage or create content. Or it might simply be perceived as being too expensive. That is where a film strategy comes in.
Essentially, the film strategy will allow a business to take a proactive approach to their video production, rather than a reactive one.
Content Planning
The overall goal is to align the customer journey, production pyramid channels and insights.
The first stage in this process is content planning. Typically, the customer journey will be mapped and audience personas created, with associated pain points and objectives.
An analysis of existing video content should be undertaken, finding where there may be gaps when aligning it to the customer journey. The website is reviewed to ensure the sales process is supported with the right content in the right areas and, lastly, investigating what other content may help the sales team.
In addition, there are always other ad-hoc things that arise, such as product launches, news and press releases, social media campaigns and so on. The key is to have a framework for who will undertake what.
With a more strategic approach, there will be less chance of people feeling that ‘we tried it; it didn’t work’.
Content Creation
One of the major barriers that many organisations have to using film is the perceived cost. Have a look at this series of films created for Wistia that show the difference in production values between $1000, $10,000 and $100,000 films.
And with the most prolific organisations producing up to 300 videos a year, according to Vidyard research, these costs can mount up.
One often overlooked element is to create a series of guidelines, if not already in existence, that will ensure consistency across all video output, regardless of whether it is produced by an external agency, or in-house. These may be around titling, fonts, footage style and so on.
As a general rule, it is worthwhile engaging professional production for the ‘top of funnel’ awareness films and to consider using in-house resource for the discovery pieces, such as ‘how to’ and explainer videos.
At the buying level, it can be a mixture of resources, depending on time, budget and the like. In the example created for Referoo below, a screen recording was taken and combined with consistent titling to create an inexpensive testimonial video.
Channels
Consideration needs to be given to where the films are going to be shown. YouTube is the obvious candidate—it has a massive audience, it is owned by Google so reaps the SEO benefits, but it is not a great place to convert. What happens after they have finished watching your film? How do you get people back to your site? Do you want to be able to capture viewer data through turnstiles? What about personalisation? Do you need a branded video channel?
Add social channels into the mix and what their purpose is and it is clear that you can’t just ’spray and pray’ (all you will do is spray and pay).
Film Strategy Insights
There are three main areas to look at. Firstly, video performance (how long people watch the film for, where do they drop out, is there a pattern to it, can anything be changed to remedy that?).
User engagement covers who is watching and how long are they engaging with each video. Finally, ROI needs to be considered, in addition to how that is going to be tracked and measured.
Some of the requirements uncovered in determining which insights are important may determine which channels are appropriate to use. Is A/B testing a requirement for example? Obviously other metrics may determine that other elements of films may require tweaking, such as film length. This illustrated that the film strategy is a living document that will require revisiting and adjustment over time, in response to viewer habits and needs, advances in technology and so on, in addition to changes in business goals and objectives.
A strong film strategy will help you stand out from the competition. Get in touch to get started!