Here is one bonus lesson – Video Marketing Bloopers. Part of being in front of the camera requires a willingness to screw up. It is a skill that most people don’t recognize until they are facing down the unblinking eye of a camera. So here I am, still working on that skill. If this was...

Finally we come to the much anticipated question of what all this is going to cost. How do you budget for video? If you have considered and answered every section of this process, you should already have a budget range forming in your head. You know your audience and message. What is the desired outcome...

When outsourcing your video projects, it is important to have a single point of contact or a small team managing decisions. Who will be your key decision maker? Now, I understand that you need to run some decisions past different department heads but that doesn’t make them part of the project. In the beginning we...

So, when do you want to launch this thing? What kind of timeline are we looking at? Is this a rush job? Are we making it look like Christmas in August? What is your video project deadline? Now that we have a sense of the complexity of the project and a list of deliverables, we...

From the outset, you should understand which applications and platforms will be important. Where is this video project is going to live? How and where will this video project be used? On what platforms will it appear? Is it for a landing page on the web? Will it be projected on a wall? Will it...

Each video project is different in creative scope. There are different messages to different audience niches at different points of the customer journey. So it is reasonable to ask yourself, how important is it to you that this particular video project stands out creatively against your competition? For attention-grabbing commercials and heroic brand videos, it...

In this section, we will talk about what we want your audience to think, feel and do after viewing your video content. In behavioural therapy this is called the cognitive triangle. Thoughts inform feelings. Feelings reinforce thoughts and affect behaviour. Behaviour acts out thoughts and feelings and the cycle continues. If you have properly identified...

Now that we have established a vision for the project, we are next going to create a marketing video checklist of things that must appear in your project. It can be as simple as including an interview with the Vice President of Human Resources. It can also be as unusual as including a plush moose...

Now that we are clear on your tone and style, let’s talk about staying on brand. It is equally important to state what you want to avoid. This can be more difficult because you have to resist the urge to be all things to all people. You have to be explicit about who you are...

In this section we are going to talk about your video tone and style in communications. Style ties to the psyche and the efficacy of video marketing has deep psychological roots. This is where your brand style guide is going to be invaluable. Ideally you have a download package with all the information and assets...