What Really Matters to Consumers When Producing Video

What is the true purpose of a company video? Some would say to sell a product, service, or idea. Are they wrong? Ultimately no, but the true purpose goes much deeper than that.

Anyone can pick up their smartphone nowadays or hire a video production company to produce a single video about a business. But the truth is, no one cares about your business. 

What they do care about is content that communicates important educational information that resonates with them (your target personas), and how it solves their problems and makes their life better. That is the most important concept to grasp when investing time, money & resources in producing video content...not just in the present, but a long way down the road.

Don't waste time or money on a single one-off video. Especially if that video is poorly produced. It will have long-lasting negative effects on your brand. After all, if you can't properly produce a quality video, you can't produce quality products or provide quality services. At least that's what people's perception will be. 

Maybe that 'about us' video or 'overview' video your company produced will get viewed by a few people but it is highly unlikely to garner customer loyalty, generate leads, move the sales dial, or build an online presence in any way.

The main goal for most video companies that produce a video for industrial manufacturers and distributors is to make a single good-looking video that tries to tell a story. Why? Because storytelling is buzzworthy in the industry right now and creating an aesthetically pleasing video is easier to produce than a results-oriented video series. In other words, most video producers are creatively inclined but not business-inclined. So, in their proposal, they’ll tell you that having a single great-looking video will be the end-all, be-all, and get you results. It won’t.

Every video needs to look great and be technically sound, consumers expect that. But consistently producing videos that educate, answer questions, and resonate with your buyer personas is the definitive factor that will help you sell your product or service.

Sentry Equipment CS705 Milkshake Machine from Avanti Vision on Vimeo.

Many video companies will advertise the awards they've won, which is great, as there are many different awards and contests to measure one's creative chops. However, most video awards carry little weight unless you operate at the network TV level. The 'awards business' is a business, meaning people pay to enter and in most cases pay for the trophy as well. The whole basis of the award is to make money off of the people applying. Plus, it's always questionable if the people judging the awards are even qualified to do so, especially if they're not your industry peers. Awards measure creative merits, they do not measure whether a video helped a company generate leads, build a following, or help close customers. Which is ultimately what your company seeks.

The better you communicate how your product and services make your customers ' lives easier and how they solve problems, the more value your brand has to customers. Let them know you are there for them, build trust, educate them with your knowledge and expertise. That builds customer loyalty.

Once you are producing your video series, it should reach customers at every stage of the buying cycle; Awareness, consideration, decision, and delight phases. The majority of your videos can be distributed to a wide audience at little or no cost through the web and social channels. To learn more on how to educate, cast a wide net, and build your consumer following with video, click on the graphic below.