Branding with Video: 3 Tips to Get Started

When you think of large insurance brands such as Nationwide, Progressive, and Geico you probably imagine their spokesman whether it be Flo or a little green lizard. Insurance is pretty boring. Actually, it’s really boring. No one wants to talk about insurance except insurance agents. How do you make a topic like insurance more conceptual and entertaining to your audience? With video. These brands make a great example of how video can turn your not-so-fun product into a quirky and memorable ad.

These are big names though, and you don’t have a 100 million dollar marketing budget to impress your audience. Lucky for you and every other small business out there the size of your business has nothing to do with your ability to market with video. When done right you can produce quality video content without diving into the depths of your bank account. You may have never made a video before, which is why I want to let you in on our 3 Tips to Getting Started when Branding with Video.

Be Consistent

When Progressive decided to use Flo in their commercials, it wasn’t just one ad. It was all of their ads. As a viewer, you began to recognize Flo as the face of Progressive and expected new fun ads with Flo in fun situations. Progressive achieved this result by being consistent with its marketing. For months they consistently ran ads with their new spokesman.

The consistency of the videos helped the audience build a connection with the brand. If they were only to release one video with Flo, it would be unlikely that anyone would know who she is except for the actress who plays her. If you’re not able to continuously deliver content to your audience, then you’re never going to get any traction. No one hits a home run on their first swing or gets 1000 subscribers on their first video. Through repetition and practice, you’ll slowly increase results and profits.

Value First

Only posting videos that are trying to get into your viewer’s wallet won’t do you any good. Marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk has an infamous saying “Jab, Jab, Right Hook”. This means that your right hooks or sales offers should be used sparingly. The majority of your marketing content should focus on making connections with your audience and not making a sale. 

If you want your audience to care about your brand, then you need to give them a reason. Produce video content that provides value in the form of entertainment or information.

Here’s an example. If you’re a plumber, create a series of videos on how to take care of your pipes during the winter, or tips to prevent clogs. These videos will perform much better than you standing in front of the camera saying “Hire Me Today!”. Why? Because viewers want to build a relationship with someone before pulling out their wallets.

80% of your content should be value first. When a customer watches your videos or goes to your social media pages, they should find your content helpful and entertaining. Only in that remaining 20% of content should you be trying to close sales. Limiting your right hooks will increase your close rates and overall engagement.

Practice over Perfect

There’s a famous quote by Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn.

“If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”

Trying to make your first video perfect is tough, more so impossible. You don’t know what video techniques engage your audience most effectively or what is the best way to promote your video just yet. Viral videos aren’t a shot in the dark they are a well-calculated marketing move to target a particular demographic. My advice? Take a long hard long at that quote and prepare yourself that your first video won’t be perfect. In fact, get the word perfect out of your head altogether.

Instead of focusing your efforts on making your first video perfect, you should be preparing to produce multiple videos. By repeating your video marketing efforts on a consistent basis, you will learn what is the ideal method for marketing your audience. Look for patterns and how engagement varies on different video types. After each video, analyze your results. What worked? What didn’t? How can we improve?

At the end of the day using video online is marketing. You’re producing this content because your business has a message or call to action that your audience needs to see. It’s your job when creating a video to find the most efficient and affordable way to do that.

Luckily, you don’t have to go the path alone. At Chocolate Bar Studios we want to help you and your business achieve success when using video for your business. If you’re considering making a video or if you already started producing videos feel free to email or DM us any questions and we would be happy to help.