Top 6 Most Common Video Mistakes to Avoid

A corporate video is a representation of your business, therefore any major slip up will make the brand look amateurish, incompetent, or both. This will send customers running the opposite way: right into the arms of your competitor. So how can you be sure to produce top-notch video content?

Let’s start with a few insights on what not to do, which we hope helps lead your marketing team in the right direction.

Lack of Video Direction

You’ve probably already got a strategy in place for how you want to approach your brand’s content–and it’s the same strategy you’ll follow when producing your corporate video. The end product should align with your company’s intended goals, meaning that it needs to have a clear purpose and objective. A common mistake is churning out content with no real value or no clear purpose. Once you’ve committed part of your budget to video, it’s important to post content that ties in to your overall approach, or you may find you’ve wasted both time and money.

Choosing the Wrong Representative

Oftentimes when marketing teams produce their videos internally, they make the mistake of assuming they can use, for example, Joe from IT who knows a lot about specialized software. That may be true, but keep in mind that whoever you capture in film represents your brand,  and despite his knowledge base Joe may not be the best person to highlight your product or service on camera. His knowledge base will be invaluable when putting together a script–it just may be a better option to hand that script off to a professional host or actor on the day of the shoot. 

Poor Audio

Nothing kills video like poor audio–after all, if no one can hear what you’re saying, the message will be totally lost. Achieving crisp, clean audio can be challenging for businesses working with an internal marketing team. Professionals have the equipment, talent, and expertise to ensure that the sound is perfect and the message comes through loud and clear.

Poor Video 

If your corporate videos look grainy, it’s a sure bet customers will click away. You want the fresh, clean, and modern look that comes with high quality video production–and often an internal team doesn’t have the equipment necessary to pull that off. Sure, anyone can film on a smart phone. But once you’ve compared it with professional grade film, you’ll recognize the difference–and your customer base will too.

No Call to Action

Anyone whose marketing already includes blog posts (which is pretty much, well, everyone) knows that each post should have a call to action containing a link leading customers to your contact page. Videos are no different in this respect: the call to action should appear at the very tail end of the spot, and it should be in line with the objective of the video. For example, if you’re doing a video to cover the release of a specific product, you’ll want to end the video by urging customers to check out the product on your website. A good video will pique your customers’ interest, so you’ll want to make it easy for them to access the product once they’re done watching. 

Talking About Yourself Too Much

A gratuitous focus on individuals or too much information on the company itself can be a turnoff for prospective clients. While it’s important to incorporate key elements of your brand’s story into every video, it’s important not to lose focus by spending too much time on your company history, personal background, and general greatness. Think of it like a first date: you want to let the other person know you’re interesting without coming across as conceited. The best way to do that? Relax, put your best foot forward, and trust that what you bring to the table is compelling enough for the person watching to keep digging for more.