How to plan seriously effective video and animation
Good things come from good beginnings
For any kind of creative to be good, it needs to come from well thought out foundations. Whether we’re being asked to create film, animation or illustration for a brand, this is where being an inquisitive bunch of creatives really pays dividends in our humble creative studio.
Asking seriously spot on questions
There are two main questions we first need to establish the answers to, before we can start to plan your creative. To begin with, we need to be clear about one thing:
Who’s opinion really matters?
And we mean, really! Occasionally this one causes a rumble of bum shuffling amongst some of the larger egos in the room. Because the only opinion that really matters when it comes to seriously good creative, is that of your target audience; What will they think? What will they like? What will they feel?
So for brands who’re serious about looking to achieve their targets, we begin by helping them to establish who that audience is. Unless of course they’ve already done that hard work, in which case we bypass any bum shuffling and head straight to our second question.
What outcome are you looking for from this video or animation content?
This one can be a little harder to answer, since it’s rarely outlined or measured in the same way. Sometimes brands are looking to raise awareness, measured by engagement or PPC rates. Other time brands are looking for audiences to take specific actions, like clicking through to a landing page and signing up to a lead magnet or newsletter for example.
When you know who you’re talking to, how you want them to feel and what you want them to do after consuming your creative, then you’re ready to start thinking about your creative.
And if you’re still not sure you’re on the right track, then join one of our upcoming 30-minute Video Unwrapped webinars. We’ll help you de-mystify the process of creating effective video content successfully for your brand or charity.
Good harmonies help heaps
Forgive the tumultuous tongue twister, but hopefully it’s clear. One piece of creative alone will not necessarily your targets achieve. For creative to be seriously good, it needs to work cohesively within your larger marketing and sales strategy. It works in cooperation amongst a system of channels, collectively encouraging your audience towards the direction of our aforementioned outcome.
Take the signup example shared above. No matter how spot on your creative, unless you’re sending those leads to a well crafted and optimised landing page then brace yourself for a bounce rate higher than tigger on a Tuesday.
Optimise your video marketing within your overall marketing strategy
Whether you’ve centralised all your creative, sales and marketing in-house or whether you’re outsourcing to one or many teams, we can’t emphasise enough how important it is to look at your creative in the most joined up way possible. Invite your team(s) to collaborate in the early stages, and encourage them to communicate with each other. Trust us. You’re more likely to achieve your creative targets by harmonising creative decision making and optimising your audience experience.
Consider your whole creative ecosystem
You may have picked up on the fact that as a humble creative studio we’re big fans of re-using, re-purposing and generally avoiding wastefulness as much as we possibly can. And we take this approach in our creative and digital landscapes as much as our physical.
As much as we love to work in harmony with the rest of your sales and marketing strategies and team(s), we also know that our creative may well be re-worked into other materials and outputs. Let’s look at your typical video case study for example.
By refining a transcript of the interviews, you’ve pretty much got yourself a blog right from the off. Coupled with several stills from the shoot day, you’ve got a whole host of social media or printed articles too.
Maximise the impact and value of your video marketing content
Why not take the full case study film, cut it into several short soundbites and hey presto you’ve got a plethora of promotional clips that’ll last you at least a few weeks. Now, let’s consider what you could do with the rushes that never made the final edit? Perhaps there’s a series of standalone soundbites in there, or perhaps you had the foresight to think about this additional content before the shoot day even took place and you’ weaved in one or two specific questions for this very purpose.
Or perhaps your creative team have done all the hard work for you; they asked the right questions, dreamt up the ideas, filmed everything beautifully, and crafted it into perfection. So that now all you have to do, is share.
Do you want to fuel your marketing success with seriously good video and animation?
Click on the button below and see how we can help you with your next project!
And if you liked this blog then please share it with your content and marketing contacts and tell them to follow @itsmajestical to be kept up to date with more ambitious video production and animation success.
You might also like:
Ever wondered how much professional animation costs, or what skills and specialists are involved in the process? In this article we give you everything you need to know before commissioning your bespoke animation project.