As brands increasingly adopt video there’s a growing acknowledgement that this type of content is no longer an extra in the marketing stable but part of the overall communications strategy.
But what does integration mean?
Targeted, high quality video that works as a sales tool is more complex to produce than other material … just because it is.
Requiring a multi-disciplined approach, video production combines organisational expertise, team play, copy writing, photographic and technical abilities, people skills, creativity, computer literacy, musical talent and project management.
The result: a piece of content that will improve brand perception and convey the campaign message in a very direct, entertaining and easily digestible way.
So how to effectively work video into an annual marketing strategy?
In my view, it’s about focussing on the things within the campaign that are best illustrated with moving pictures and that complement rather than conflict the other material.
If a photo or copy can do a job better than video, that’s cool. But when it comes to demonstrating, engaging emotion, telling a story then video is a key vehicle for packaging these.
Fitting into a brand’s identity and understanding its consumer base is part of the video producer’s journey to help develop the look, style and feel of the video s/he makes to complement other content.
And most importantly, once the decision is made to incorporate video into the marketing strategy, distribution in the networks should be carefully planned. No longer one video for the website, but multiple videos seeded throughout the online networks and crossing over into offline POS and presentation.