Expert tips for getting started on your branded video strategy

Branded video content has become one of the staples of digital marketing through social media. Users are able to engage with a more visual form of content and connect deeper to a brand or product. Our team at Your Favourite Story have been hard at work promoting our newest client NooMöo, we decided to create a video highlighting the journey behind NooMöo. This video would explain the project and shed a little light behind this wacky idea. This project gave us the chance to explore creating viral video content, our video for ‘Cow on the Roof ‘ recently hit 107K views on Facebook in just over a week of being live.

Creating branded video content can sometimes be a bit difficult when you’re just starting out. Here are a few things we’ve learned from our creation and promotion process that can help you move forward with your branded video content.

Market research is key

There is no magic formula for video creation, but there is market research and targeting. Taking the time and research exactly what your audience are interested in and craft your content around your target audience will increase the chances of conversion. For our cow on the roof project, we decided to focus on industries we have been working with for a long time. We knew our audience would enjoy something a little light-hearted that showed an over exaggerated persona of a creative in the marketing industry. For businesses just starting out the first step should be determining who you want to see your video content – then you want to figure out the action you want them to take (buy now, click here, learn more).

Pick the best people

Some people are better directors than others, adding staff members who are passionate about creating video content will make your video that much better. People are willing to go the extra mile and make sure the project is done right when they believe in it. It doesn’t take a large Hollywood style team to create your branded video content, but it does require at least one person who knows how to use a camera. For our projects we work with our internal team of creatives and brought in a few external professionals to guide our project forward. For our ‘Jobsite of The Future’ project for DEWALT we filmed drone footage to really give the project the extra attention it needed.

Think about short term and long term goals

When you create your content you often keep your eye on the prize and in the process overlook some quick wins you may have missed. Setting long term and short term goals will help you appreciate all the work that went into the video and give your team attainable targets to achieve. Goals can range from having your video shared over 100 times, having users engaging and commenting on your video or view count targets.

Location, Location, Location

We chose to film NooMöo at our London office, why? Because we have a killer view. This meant a bit of disruption, but gave us the results. Thinking about where you can film, making sure all places don’t require permission or extra editing of people or buildings out of shot. Trying to make the editing process as smoothly as possible will save you a lot of time and money. Trust me your editor will thank you later.

Expect the unexpected

Things go wrong – we are only human. Expect for small things to go wrong, keep calm and come up with an alternative option. When we created cow on the roof we worked with some amazingly talented people and brands. Dickies sent us costumes, Lewis Watson stopped by to help with our party scene, and the Funky Farmer helped us out with Mary, but all these amazing collaborations meant we needed to rewrite and rework our original script and reshoot scenes day of.

Think about the video launch process  

As much as our video was fun it highlighted the product launch process as a whole. Before we even started shooting a bunch of work was already happening with our team. The Pre-Launch phase of cow on the roof was planning, sourcing, and writing. Although the video is only a few minutes long the Pre-Launch phase of cow on the roof took months of work and planning. This meant working long nights and early mornings spent perfecting all the elements related. When you create your own content consider the product launch steps to really get your project moo-ving.

By Sean Singleton.

P.S. Learn more about how we can help you with your product launch or check out our Cow on the Roof film.