No matter what your company does, the best way to win trust is to show yourself. Within those 5 seconds of time where a first-time website visitor decides if he wants to stay or leave, the presence of a video above (or just under) the fold can make a huge difference.
Be mindful, it is not just about throwing a video in there and hoping that it sticks. If you want that video to fulfil its purpose (i.e. convince your prospects that they should trust you with their money), you need to thoughtfully plan it out, so you can execute it well and then enjoy the benefits down the track.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at the 7 steps on how to produce a video for your company’s website.
1. What’s the message
You need a clear message and a straightforward call to action. You don’t want to overwhelm a first-time website visitor with complicated stuff, let’s boil it down to the core and decide what your business is all about. There’s plenty of time down the line to explain all the details, the variants of your services, the options etc.
2. Script
Once the message is clear, the script is the next step. Spend some time on this, maybe jot it down with whatever wording comes into mind, leave it for a day and then come back to it. Refine it, ask for help and feedback from your staff and colleagues, and then refine it again.
Then, once it’s almost final, read it out loud and time it. The length of the video will depend on the length of the script, so if you have decided that you need a 5 minutes video on your homepage, then you probably need to write a 4-5 minutes script.
3. Seach for a video production company
Look for a videographer near you, and tell them you already have a script and a concept. Tell them the required length of the video and let them know your budget, or ask for a quote.
With a script already in place, the video production company will better understand your needs and the scope of the project and will be able to provide you with a quotation in a very short time.
Having a script before contacting the video maker will help speed up the process, feel free to share your script, this will help a lot. Also, share with the video production company an example of a video that you saw online, having a reference to work on will also help understand the type of video production that you’re after.
4. Who’s going to read the script? Are you going to be on camera?
Yes! Thousand times yes! We really recommend putting your face out there for your customers to see, this will have a great marketing impact and will certainly increase trust. Especially if you’re a local business serving local customers, your websites visitors will get to know you even before making contact with your establishment.
If you think you’re not the right person, you can choose someone else in your business that will be fit for the job and happy to be on camera.
The last resort is (this is if no one is willing to be filmed) to use a professional actor that will impersonate your business, or use a voice-over actor.
5. Production day
The videographer will guide you through the steps, but you need to make sure that there is a plan in place, so ask your videomaker of choice to share the production plan, so you get a better understanding of how the filming day will unfold.
A 5-minute script is NOT going to be filmed in 5 minutes. There will be several takes filmed, there will be bloopers and mistakes, sometimes you will get a bit tired of repeating the same phrase, but you’ll get there.
For this, make sure you’re choosing a videographer that will help you get through it. The video producer will need to guide you on posture, tone, facial expression, and make suggestions on how to get the best result on camera. This is crucial because your video will be as good as your performance.
Apart from filming the piece to camera, which can take up to 2 hours in some cases, make sure that the plan includes a shot list of the b-roll footage that is needed to support your message. This can be footage of your working equipment, staff, company offices and spaces, customers, products, services etc. It’s important that enough time is allocated to collect all this b-roll footage, unless you want the video to be just about you talking to the camera.
6. Editing and post-production
First, choose the right music track. The music track that underlines the video is a key component of the editing and should be chosen before starting the edit. Ask your videographer to supply you with some examples of licensed tracks, and choose the most appropriate.
Second, let the videographer do the work and wait for your first draft. The video editor will need to review all the footage, choose the best parts and put it together in a cohesive manner.
Once you’ve reviewed the first draft, let it sink in for a day or two and come back to the video production company with your thoughts and notes. It’ll take a few more back and forths to get to the final result, and then the video will be ready for delivery.
7. Publish and track results
Once the final video has been delivered to you (usually a 1920×1080 Full HD format, unless you specifically asked for 4K from the very beginning), it’s time to publish it on your homepage.
From there, we recommend using a tool like Google Analytics to track the performance of your homepage’s dwell time (the time your visitors spend on the page). After a few months, you should be able to see this number improved.
Also, right next to the video or directly below it, you can place a call to action (a button or a form) and you can track this call to action using Google Tag Manager, to get an even more insightful analysis on the effectiveness of the video. To do all that, ask your webmaster or marketing professional, they will be able to help you with all this tracking and reporting.
