Things You Must Do Before Producing a Video
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I may be biased when I say this, but creating a video is exciting. You may feel the same way. When assigned the task of creating a promotional video for your product, client, event, service, etc. it's tempting to run, full-steam-ahead, to produce the best possible video. But, like any other marketing and advertising tool, video requires forethought and strategy.
So, before diving in head first, ask yourself the following questions:
What's the intended purpose of this video? If you don't know exactly why you need a video, perhaps you would be better served to consider other avenues to market and promote your goods and services. Are there alternative ways to communicate your message that might be better tailored to your audience?
Who are you creating the video for? Who is the audience? This will help you determine the right tone, voice, and pacing for your video.
How will the video be shared? Believe it or not, some people will produce a video without giving any thought to how it will be distributed, tracked, and measured on the back end. What's your strategy? Email? Website? Social media? DVD? Event? Meeting?
What do you want the audience to learn? Knowing this will help you shape your script so that the most essential, core messaging is communicated to your audience.
What do you want the audience to feel? This will also help to shape the tone of your video. Should the video be uplifting, funny, inspiring? Or should it have an urgent, serious, or somber tone?
It's important to consider the above questions and to write out a creative brief for your video. If you take the time to do this during the conceptual stage, you will end up with a video that's laser-focused and hyper-relevant. Otherwise, you may end up with a nice, professional (and expensive) video that never sees the light of day. It's best to make sure that the water is deep enough before diving in head-first.