The 8 Do’s and Don’ts of Creating Videos For Branding

Brand videos are an outstanding medium that can be used to set yourself apart, tell your story, and connect with new customers. It’s kind of like the elevator pitch of online marketing, and the potential reach is exceptional.

It’s easy to look at examples of exceptional brand videos and feel like they must have been created intuitively and seamlessly, but that isn’t always the case. As many great videos as there are out there, after all, there are at least twice as many that didn’t help the brand represent themselves as well as they’d likely have hoped.

Creating outstanding videos for branding purchases can be simple, but you’ll see the best results if you avoid a few common missteps. In this post, we’re going to look at the 8 Do’s and Don’ts of video branding that you should implement on your next campaign.

Do: Tell a Story

Stories are memorable, and they’re emotional. All brands have multiple stories they can tell, including:

• The stories of how their products are created
• The story of the brand’s origination and development
• Stories of the people who work there
• The story of customers and how they’re affect
• Stories of how the brand interacts with the world around them

Get creative, and remember that the more you share authentically with your audience, the more they’ll feel invested in your business.

Don’t: Ramble

While there are some brands that are able to pull off twelve minute long branded videos, this isn’t something I’d recommend in the vast majority of cases. Instead, keeping things short and sweet is much more likely to keep users engaged. As a plus, it also makes your video campaigns significantly more scalable and affordable.

Videos should be two and a half minutes at the absolute most if you’re trying to shoot for brand awareness, especially if you’re creating a campaign with a series of like videos. There are exceptions to this, of course, but sometimes it’s better to start safe than rather than risk being sorry.

Do: Look At Overall Brand Impact

Remember that every video you make should say something about your brand, affecting how users see you. When you keep this in mind, even a well-constructed product video can work as a strong branded video.

If, for example, you’re showing how your organic soap is lovingly made from scratch, sourced from the best ingredients, and handmade and packaged before being sent off to your customers, you’re doing more than just showing how a single product is made. You’re showing the attention and care that goes into the creation of your product, which directly reflects on your brand.

Think big picture for this one. How do the actions your brand takes affect your customers and even your community? Find ways to bring this up in your video, and you’ll be good to go.

Don’t: Choose a Tone That Doesn’t Align With Your Brand

It’s important that when your’e creating branded videos to actually choose tones and styles of video that actually align with, you know, your brand. It’s not unusual for brands to take a big swing and have a big miss when they try to get a little too creative and create campaigns that just don’t work for their voice.

If you aren’t sure what this would entail, here’s an example for you: I once an extremely painful video from an accounting office that tried to go for clever humor. It didn’t quite work. You can get creative, but be consistent with the brand you’ve already established unless you’re looking for a complete brand overhaul.

Do: Add In Visual Branding

You want people to have a constant reminder whose video this is, and to slowly get them more familiar with your brand name and logo. You can add your logo to the corner of the video, start with a “[Business name here] presents,” and always end the post with a recap and outro screen with your business’s name.

Don’t: Get Stuck In Sales Mode

A branded video should, ideally, help you sell more in the future, but immediate sales should not be the goal here in the majority of cases. Don’t get locked in hardcore sales mode; instead, focus on that storytelling, the creation of value, and the reflection of impact like we’ve discussed so far. Sales will naturally follow as a result, especially if you add in a quick, subtle CTA at the end. That’s all you need, and users will be much more likely to keep watching.

If they wanted to be sold to, they’d watch an infomercial instead.

Do: Go for the Humble Brag

Ok, I am not an advocate of the humble brag in real life; I’m all about owning what you’re great at and think humble brags are unbelievably annoying. When it comes to your branded videos, however? That’s another story.

Humble brags allow you to talk about how great you are or your accomplishments are in a slightly-disguised way, and videos for branding purposes are not the time to be shy about what you’re doing. Gently embrace what makes you great, and humbly acknowledge it in your videos. A great example of how to do this can be seen in the video below, which uses testimonials from customers to say great things for them.

Don’t: Forget The CTA

Your call-to-action is what tells users what actions you want them to take next, giving your video an even bigger impact by driving specific engagement, traffic to a site, sales, and so one.

You don’t want your video to become a sales pitch, but you want to utilize the momentum that comes when engaged users have watched your video all the way through. Give them a website to view, or a specific place where they can take action. Even if you’re just asking them to subscribe to your YouTube channel, that’s a great step and it ensures they won’t just click away for good.

Conclusion

Branded videos have enormous potential, but like all mediums, you need to be implementing the strategies and your creative elements correctly if you want to make the impression you want.  First impressions can be everything, and a big misstep at the wrong time can cause a big hit to your business.

These do’s and don’ts are crucial for success, so keep this list handy when it’s time to update or create your next campaign. Trust us… you’ll thank us later.

Need some help creating videos for branding purposes or scaling your video campaigns? Shakr OnBRANDcan help. Learn more here. 

The post The 8 Do’s and Don’ts of Creating Videos For Branding appeared first on Shakr Video Marketing Blog.

* This article was originally published here