So You’ve Decided You Need a Company Video: Now What?
Part 1: Goals – Identifying your Target Audience to Increase Sales & Improve a Sales Vertical
You’ve been thinking about how to move more traffic to your website, and make individuals more aware of your brand and product. You’ve decided to use video to expand your “footprint” in the marketplace, by adding video on your website or local cable TV, while also establishing a beach head on the shores of the social media sea. Decision made. So how far have you thought it all out to this point?
- How much time does it take?
- How much does it cost?
- What logistics are involved for you and the production company?
We’ll answer those questions later on in this series. First we need to determine the scope of the video, and in order to do that, we’ll need to set goals. The primary goal is to Identify Your Audience.
Have you defined a target audience? If so, how do you reach them? You can spend the time and money to put a huge neon sign across the entire “dark side” of the moon, but without proper promotion and a way to view it, nobody on planet Earth will see it. Creating an epic 60 minute documentary about your business without an audience to see it will not help increase business!
So now you’re setting Goals. Keep in mind that a Goal without a plan is just a Wish. Still, setting goals is a pre-requisite to having a plan, which will be needed too; just as selecting a destination for a journey, and then mapping out the best way to get there. In many cases, you’ll need to research and gather intelligence. So let’s start by setting goals.
Goals:
One of the obvious goals are increasing sales. Increasing sales in an ULTIMATE GOAL. In part one of our new blog series on corporate video production, we’ll kick it off with the most important first step… Setting Goals. First, you need to eliminate your own personal biases. It’s very difficult for people to admit that they even have a bias, but you need to remember that you’re not creating a video for your enjoyment, ego and self gratification. You’re creating a video to send a message to your clients, both current and prospective.
How do you create a video that speaks to everyone – that addresses a broad point of view – the way that big corporations do this? The answer is that you don’t! Big companies have the budget to blow on multiple campaigns for multiple demographics… …you probably don’t. What are your goals? More sales of course. Right? … Wrong. Sales are just the result of meeting your goals. More sales may be your ultimate goal, but generating leads to acquire sales requires an investment. That is the purpose of investing in a video. Correct?
INVESTING, in a video in this case, is for the purpose to generate valuable leads that turn into sales. YES, creating a video to market your company and / or brand is an investment. Like most investments, there is some risk, and you expect that what you put into it, you receive a proportionate return. So to even begin the mission to gain more sales, you’ll need an AUDIENCE to view your sales pitch, in order to acquire leads that turn into sales opportunities. The goal of the video in reality isn’t to acquire more sales, it’s to gain an audience for leads. To be able to exhibit that video to an audience in order to acquire those leads. The rest after that is up to you, and that should result in your ultimate goal… SALES.
Right off the bat, many who’ve decided to take this kind of risk are tentative, and sure, even concerned. Especially for first timers. No fear here. Local businesses have been doing commercials for half a century on both local TV and local Cable. They do have some experience with this. I’m sure you’ve all seen the cheesy local car commercials and restaurants. Their GOALS weren’t an epic production. It was receiving attention and making their sales pitch in 30 seconds or less. Period. When considering your sales goals, you also need to know the difference between the different types of audiences that you are targeting:
- Captive Audience
- Selective Audience
- Professional Audience
- Active Audience
- Secondary Audience
There are actually even more subsets of all the above. However, for this purpose we’ll focus on these five.
Captive Audience
Captive audience members are usually spectators. Whether or not at a movie, a sporting event or business conference. These are usually people who’ve paid for attendance of some sort to attend a function or event. They’re captive to the extent that they are in attendance at a venue, and any sponsorships, advertising, product placements or commercials are caught by their eyes and / or ears during these events.
Look how the movie theater industry inundates paid attendees with ads and teasers to upcoming films. Same goes for stadiums and arenas. The billboards and sponsored notifications at a ballgame. You may recognize advertising like this at a baseball game: “This 7th inning stretch brought to you by the ACME motors company. We’re your ultimate ride.” Sure a person, can go to the lobby or bathroom … but the lobby is full of things to buy, and both lobby and bathroom have some sort of advertising. You’re captive.
Selective Audience
A Selective audience may be those who shuttle through TV commercials on a DVR. Shuttling through a TV program that was recorded on DVR or Live TV program gives the targeted individual power to select what they want to see. That same remote control also gives the viewer an opportunity to change the channel if an ad doesn’t entice the viewer to keep watching. This also applies to social media. Those ads and sponsored views that pop up on social media are nice, but a browser may just skim past it without interest. The power of the Selective Audience is vast… and fickle.
Professional Audience
Well, this is usually a combination of both Captive and Selective audiences. Trade shows, seminars, webinars and conferences are all examples of the Professional Audience. These attendees in many cases are looking to buy products from people like you. You don’t even need to be an exhibitor at one of these kinds of events. It has many elements of both the captive and selective audience, so you may call it a hybrid. Not limited to professional trade shows, there is also an element of the next type of audience. The Active Audience.
Active Audience
The Active Audience are the kind of viewers that want to learn about your business and product. They search your business out by name or browser search using keywords that describe your kind of business. They can be professionals or consumers, depending on what you’re selling. They may only give your ad a few seconds to grab your attention online or else move on to the next, like your competitor. So sticking to your main goal consideration, you only have a few seconds to grab their attention. They’re just as selective as the Selective Audience.
Secondary Audience
Then there’s the Secondary Audience. This person has viewed, or been exposed to your video on social media via an individual they are connected to who may have commented, liked or shared your video on their professional or personal social media page. You’re all aware of the Facebook thumbs up and other emoticons. Twitter, Pintrest and Instagram have their own versions of the same. So it’s important to note that perhaps your video may also be seen by an unintended secondary audience too. Free exposure, if you will.
Goals of Gaining an Audience, Generating Leads, Targeting Leads & Ultimately Gaining Sales
We’ve identified that the primary goal is gaining an audience, and have identified a variety of audiences from which to draw attention from. Turning that audience into leads, then targeting those leads to ultimately gain sales.
Conclusion
So, how does all this equate to your sales goals? Eyeballs. Eyeballs equal an audience on your brand, service and product. Eyeballs equal awareness. They also equal potential clients, which means leads for sales. So it’s important that you make a good impression with that audience who may be interested in your service or product. To keep your audience, keep it short and concise. Stick to the message, and make sure you mention your brand and product frequently, but not in an obnoxious way. Always, keep in mind that it’s not all about what you’d like your audience to know about your company, product or service … It’s about what you’re offering that is of value to your AUDIENCE. Stay tuned for Part 2 in our series, when we discuss the Planning portion of your video project.
Currently there are 1000’s of businesses creating corporate videos for their business. Most of them are doing it the wrong way, self directing, shooting and telling their story without any consideration for their audience. They are imitating what they’ve seen, and without the experience of story telling, and reflecting on their audiences needs, they’re wasting thousands of dollars and dozens of hours of productivity time. AMPED Video Solutions will provide you with professional guidance through this corporate video maze, and help you establish that beach head you desire on the corporate video landscape. Reach out to us at www.getampedtv.com. Amplify Your Message and Boost Your Image.
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