Make your video content even better
How an agency can support your brand’s video content
It’s no surprise that video is popular right now, and many brands are scrambling to ensure they’re not missing out. In the process, some are finding that creating strategic, high-quality video advertising can be a daunting task, made even more challenging by uncertainty regarding where to turn for branded video content.
Maybe you’re already making video content in house, or using local collaborators to capture your content. Perhaps your videos haven’t been hitting your KPIs, or they’ve seemed like a collection of one-offs with no brand consistency. Or you’ve simply been so mired in the back and forth with content creators that you’re looking for a more streamlined process that will allow you to focus on the bigger picture.
There are a lot of factors that go into making great videos, but perhaps none so important as the first step: Choosing the content creator that is best suited to your particular goals and objectives. From one-person-band content producers all the way to full scale Hollywood-style productions, there are numerous factors that will determine what you can accomplish with your budget and timelines. Choose correctly, and it’s likely that the remainder of the process will be smooth and efficient, with a final product that accomplishes your goals. Choose incorrectly, and, well, we all know how that usually works out.
If you’ve been struggling with your video content, it might be time to consider hiring an outside agency for your video needs. Below, we’ll touch on some of the ways in which a good agency can help ensure that your content hits the mark. But even if you’re not considering hiring an agency, the following considerations can help elevate your in-house content.
Strategy comes first
Don’t just create content; instead, create content based on audience personas, consumer insights, and a content strategy that is geared to getting the right eyes on your content. Without an underlying strategy, your content runs the risk of not resonating with your intended audience, and therefore, it’s unlikely to deliver a return on investment that will make you feel as though you have derived value from the project.
The other benefit of having a strategic content agency responsible for your video projects is that it allows your marketing teams to focus on the bigger picture goals of the project, and not get drawn into the nitty gritty creative feedback loop that often happens with any video production.
Maintain consistency across marketing materials
Applying a logo or a consistent graphic treatment across all your videos is important, but what about the overall tone of your videos? How about the shooting style, the music and sound design, and even the colour treatment? These are all aspects of your brand that might be overlooked if you’re working with a number of content creators, or with creators who aren’t deeply invested in brand consistency.
Agencies understand the value of brand standards and brand creative, so even if they didn’t build your brand, it is part of their process to ensure that your videos are hitting the correct tone, look and feel. This can be achieved in everything from a short Tik Tok video to a longer brand anthem or episodic branded storytelling.
Management of content and content creators
If you’re working with multiple content creators, it’s a heavy workload for your marketing team simply to manage their contracts, schedules, briefs, assets, brand downloads, reviews, asset delivery, and so on. Working with an agency on a suite of content means you get your own account manager and/or producer who can handle the details and streamline the process, allowing you one point of contact regardless of how many creators are working on your projects.
New perspective, consistent process
Maybe you’ve had your team or your local content creators out taking photos and capturing footage for the past few years. They know all the spots, and that’s great, but you end up with similar angles, locations, and models, and that’s starting to feel a little stale. When you work with an agency, you get a consistent process, but you also get some fresh eyes on your request. Agencies have access to both strong internal team members and trusted contractors, and both work together within a consistent process to ensure a high standard of work.
What does this process look like? At Origin, it begins by writing the strategic brief with you, then moving onto either a photo brief or video treatment created by our lead creatives and approved by your team. This brief serves as the roadmap for the asset capture and post production process, and is continually referenced by the creative team. This allows us to bring on new photographers, directors and content creators, while ensuring your team can expect the same process, point of contact and standard of work across multiple projects.
Production heavy lifting
Are your content creators following all the steps for a successful production? Do they have permits and production insurance? What about worker’s compensation for talent? Are they licensing your music and voice overs for the correct distribution? Do they have model releases? If you can feel your blood pressure rising just thinking about all of this, you’ll be comforted to know that agencies handle all legal and logistical aspects of a production so you don’t need to worry about issues down the line. And so you can sleep well at night.
Again, you don’t have to hire an agency to produce well-executed, strategically-sound, and on-brand video content. But if it’s something you’d like to explore in more detail, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We love this stuff and we’re always happy to talk.
