Creating a corporate video? Looking to maximize the impact of your video? Here are some pointers that can enhance your time and investment.
Know your goals: Be clear about how this video will serve and solve your organization’s communication needs. For example, your recruitment team may want to showcase your culture on campus or your media team is interested to popularize key innovations or a corporate social responsibility project is mature enough to get highlighted on your website. Every video can serve one or multiple purposes. You will need to evaluate which video will serve the best interests on which channel.
Focus on the messages:  This is by far the most important part of shooting a corporate video.  I discovered that to get your messages right you need to ask the right questions. Instead of probing – ‘tell us about what you do at work’ if you ask ‘what do you enjoy at work?’ or ‘why does it excite you to contribute to this organization?’ you can get better messages.
Invest time to develop your shoot plan: This is a crucial part of any video shoot and often the most overlooked. Apart from the logistics of getting the crew, equipment and lining up your speakers you also need to consider the content and the shelf-life of your video. Based on your assessment define how many days of interviews and office shots you will need to amplify the impact of your video.
Coach and guide interviewees: Not everyone is great in front of the camera and not everyone will be comfortable. Explain how their content will be leveraged and how they will add value. You also have a role in influencing how they deliver what they say. Give your interviewees sufficient time and space to think about their lines and internalize. The best interviews are when interviewees believe in what they are saying.
Repurpose content: You might already have footage that serves the needs of your video just that it requires repurposing. Revisit earlier videos and seek out employees who may have shot clips in their personal time. You might be surprised by the quality of content already available. You can create multiple videos from a single shoot if you can get speakers to share perspectives to be reused in the future. Think in terms of your new hire orientation program, the journey, culture and community events, business updates, core values refreshers among others.
Keep your audience front and center of your video:  Always ask – ‘how will viewers receive this video?’ and ‘what will viewers take-away after watching this video?’. Address your audiences’ needs and you will gain from pulling the best interviews and footage that will deliver exceptional value.
Got other tips? Do share them here.
