Talking-head videos are a useful tool in building a brand. An onscreen spokesperson discussing the benefits of your products and services or showing demonstrations on how to properly use them has proven results. Many small or micro sized companies in Oakville are also getting in on the mix of creating regular talking-head video blogs to boost sales. Often times, to save on the cost of hiring onscreen talent, most companies choose a member of their team to be the spokesperson. However, going this route will require you to put in the work of finding the right person for this job.

In addition to developing quality content for your series and choosing a reputed video production company to produce them, it’s equally important that your onscreen spokesperson be good on camera and be a good representative of your brand. If your spokesperson comes off boring or monotoned, your videos probably won’t attract too much attention… no matter how good the content or production value. When choosing an onscreen spokesperson from your office staff, consider more than just one candidate.

Some important traits to look for in choosing your talking-head:

• Comfortable on camera.
• Projects passion and confidence.
• Speaks with varied intonation and natural body language.
• Should be able to improvise (a tasteful sense of humour always helps).
• Sounds intelligent.
• Has noticeable onscreen charisma.

Remember to choose someone genuine that your target customers will relate to. A video spokesperson directly reflects on your brand – whether positively or negatively. When produced properly, a talking-head video series can attract a lot of attention to your brand. Following these little tips in choosing the right video spokesperson can make a noticeable difference in viewer engagement and can possibly even help launch your brand into new levels of success.

We get a lot of questions from our clients and associates in Oakville about video production procedure and how we go about writing our scripts. Script writing for a video is of course one of the first steps in the production process and requires a substantial amount of skill and experience to be done right. There are many variables involved in creating a great video script. Here are a few rules of thumb that we always follow in writing our scripts.

The term “elevator pitch” has become a popular catchphrase in business. The idea is to find a short summary that quickly and simply defines what you do and/or what your company does should you find yourself sharing a short elevator ride with a person of importance to your business. In a situation like this, you would be prepared to pitch your products or services to that person in that short period of time in the hopes of procuring new business.

In many ways, a video can be seen somewhat like an elevator pitch in that you must capture someone’s attention quickly to deliver your message (or pitch). Although there are exceptions, for the most part we approach our scripts from that perspective. We know that a video has upwards of five seconds to grab attention and compel a viewer to continue watching. Within these crucial first seconds, the viewer must get a clear idea that your company and brand are awesome and that your products or services are something they need…. NOW. A balanced combination of voiceover narration, compelling video shots and/or animated titles and text, are some of the many elements that can be written in to achieve this.

With video, one size does NOT fit all so we always keep the target audience (client’s target customers) in mind when developing our scripts. This comes down to having efficient dialogues with our clients and developing a thorough understanding of their target customers. Additional market research is often necessary on our part. The goal here is for the target audience to be able to easily identify with what is being expressed in the video. We ask ourselves the question: “What is the problem that this product or service solves?”. Often, creating a simple scenario or case example can help viewers get the point quickly. From there we present the solution. We explain what makes this product or service ideal and why the viewer should choose our solution over the competition. The solution needs to create a desire for the viewer to act fast.

In terms of duration, today the most effective marketing videos are between 30 and 60 seconds. 90 seconds and beyond is where you start losing viewers unless your content is really exceptional. Keeping a video to within 30-60 seconds means really keeping your information and content to-the-point. Narrations, actors’ lines, shots, call-to-action text, etc. must all be properly planned out to fit within this time rage. It helps to keep sentences and on-screen text short and to use simple language…. no insider-industry jargon…. always use layman’s’ terms. Once the working draft is complete, we read through the script and time it with a normal speaking cadence to confirm that the duration falls between the preferred 30 – 60 seconds. Revisions are then done as needed and the process is repeated until we’ve achieved the right duration for the script. This works very well if the video has narrations throughout and also helps us imagine how the visuals will play out on screen. It’s also important to allow for the right amount of time for the call-to-action shot at the end (the next step the viewer can take to get started). When the working draft is complete, we submit it to the client for feedback and apply any necessary revisions. As soon as the client approves the script … it’s lights, camera, and action time!

Script and concept development is the first step and a decisive factor in whether a video will be great or if it will be a flop. If you are interested in joining the millions of companies world wide that are enjoying the benefits of having video in their marketing plan, contact a reputed corporate video production company today. Remember, video is no longer just some luxury marketing tool in it’s infancy, utilized by early adopters. Video marketing is essential NOW. And it all starts with a great script!

Superbowl Commercial Fun Facts

So this is it, the start of the new year. The holidays are wrapped up for another year and we look ahead to our goals for 2017.

Signs of spring are still far off, but the countdown to Super Bowl VI begins and with audience numbers predicted to smash last year’s 115.5 million, we rounded up some facts about one of the most important aspects of the game: the ads.

In 1967, NBC charged $37,500 for a 30-second spot. This year the usual big brands; beer, cars, Coke/Pepsi, and of course the e-trade talking baby, will shell out a record $5 million for each 30-second spot.

Certainly a Super Bowl ad has it’s cachet value, but today’s advertisers are hoping that their commercial goes viral. Conversations, chatter and social sharing can turn an ad into an online phenomenon. Back when the legendary Apple “1984” spot launched  at the big game, ads ran once. Today, brands want their ads to live forever and  are looking online to connect with their audience. Thanks to the power of social video – online video content – their ads can stand the test of time.

Who can forget 2006’s catch-phrase-making Budweiser “Wassup” spot, or Doritos’ 2011 Pug Attack, and of course, the top shared Super Bowl ad of all time, Volkswagen’s “The Force”?

5 Steps to Optimizing Video Thumbnails

Today video marketing in Oakville is highly competitive. Creating effective custom thumbnails can make all the difference when it comes to a viewer choosing to watch your video, or deciding to watch another. The thumbnail acts as a first impression for your video… it’s the first image anyone sees of your video, but so many companies in Oakville fail to take advantage of this optimization feature.

Nothing beats a custom thumbnail image that ties in with your video, your channel message and your brand. Apart from making quality videos that viewers want to watch, companies should follow some basic guidelines when creating optimized thumbnails.

Here are 5 ways you can optimize your thumbnails:

#1 Make the Best Use of Colour

The brighter the colours, the more chance the thumbnail will stand out from the rest of the competition. Of course, that doesn’t mean to go completely overboard. Do just enough to differentiate your video from the others. Don’t settle for the existing colours in your image. Through graphic design software, boost the saturation in the thumbnail image just enough to make the colours stand out over other thumbnails. Even small adjustments to the hue and saturation can attract viewers directly to your thumbnail instead of others. Consider applying a filter to your thumbnails. Even something as simple as sharpening the edges can have a subliminal effect on thumbnails.

#2 Include an Image of a Face

Make sure that your thumbnail image has a close up of a human face whenever possible. This will help your image stand out on whatever device it’s being viewed on. Emotional facial expressions can also go a long way to engaging viewers to watch. The added emotion will capture the viewer’s attention and make them want to watch the video to see what caused this emotion.

Buzzfeed has this down to a science.

#3 Use an Action Shot

Another way of capturing attention is to use an action shot as the thumbnail (if possible). The added sense of motion will encourage viewers to click on your video to see what it’s all about. The Slow Mo Guys are known for conducting crazy experiments, and along with optimized titles, they almost always include the main action shot from their videos on their thumbnails. The amount of clicks they get shows just how effective this approach can be.

#4 Create Custom Branding for Your Thumbnails

Giving your video thumbnails some brand consistency is an excellent way to build awareness for your content, especially if your videos are in a very competitive category online. Lowes does a good job of this using their branded colours to tie all their content in.

#5 Test and Analyze

One last tip is to test your thumbnails. YouTube still doesn’t have a native feature so you’ll need to rely on resources like TubeBuddy for this. A well-planned testing strategy can improve the performance of your videos and channel almost immediately, so don’t overlook this valuable strategy. Also, stay open to replacing thumbnails if you you can see it isn’t working for your video.

Remember to choose thumbnails that are accurate to the content within your video. Although in the past it was indeed possible for companies to build an audience on Youtube using misleading thumbnails, it doesn’t work like that anymore. Now that Youtube is much more focused on watch time than on simply driving clicks and views, you have to make sure that whatever is on your thumbnail is indeed what your video is all about. If you can follow these guidelines for your video marketing strategies, you’ll create thumbnails that not only accumulate viewer clicks but you’ll also build your Oakville audience.