We’ve all seen them – online ads and corporate videos that make you cringe in equal parts sympathy for the company behind it, and disbelief that the maker’s believed it was good enough to be shared. It’s these amateur attempts that can (unfairly) give corporate video a bad name. With 2017 being heralded as “the year of Video Marketing” (read more here), you should be considering creating corporate video for your business, and if you desire a result that doesn’t make eyes bleed read on for 3 mistakes to avoid. And then call us. Because we believe your video should look as professional and polished as any major motion picture, no matter your budget, and we guarantee a 0% cheeze factor!
1. A Script That Would be at Home on a Day-time Soap Circa 1989
Being an expert in your field, you understand that both experience and training are essential to doing something to a high standard. Script writing is exactly the same. Using amateur and subpar scripts akin to those from cheesy daytime TV, can actually harm your brand. A trained and experienced writer will refine the dialogue for your video to be clear, concise and within the tone and style of your brand. You know your product or brand better than anyone. We respect that and can’t wait to utilize all that knowledge as we collaborate with you to develop a concept and a script.
By the way, this rule also applies to any dialogue that rhymes (it’s not cute) and jingles (it’s not clever).
2. ANY editing effect from iMovie – DIY Production
iMovie and similar programs are excellent tools for producing home video. They are easy to navigate, and you can add colors and backgrounds and special effects and animated transitions – cool! But these same elements that make the video of your latest family skiing vacation even more fun, can have the exact opposite effect for corporate video. Using a tiled transition or a stock standard text graphic (Comic Sans…really?) screams amateur. Any savings you think you’re achieving by editing your video yourself are lost two-fold in the damaging effect, as unsavvy post production won’t attract new customers and might even scare off your existing customers! As the best editors in the biz will tell you – editing is an artform and has the power to make or break any project.
3. Using your Family and Friends (sorry, not sorry)
Unless your sister is Meryl Streep, we suggest not roping in your family and friends to act in your corporate video. The people in your video are the spokespersons for your Brand. That’s a huge responsibility, so why would you entrust this to anyone but the most skilled and professional actors? Sometimes we feature actual employees in interview format, or will shoot a company founder passionately explaining what makes their brand so unique – and this approach can have really effective results. But anytime you’re asking people to recreate a real-life environment, anytime you have a scripted dialogue that you’re bringing to life, please leave it to the experts. Forced, unnatural sounding dialogue, or watching a real person’s eyes shift backwards and forward as they very obviously read from a teleprompter is uncomfortable to watch, does not promote trust in your brand and most importantly it detracts from the story that we’re telling – your company’s story.
