How Your Business Should Be Using Promotional Videos

Using Promotional Videos in this day and age can often feel like spending a lot of time for very little reward. Seriously. Have you ever made your own instagram reel? It can be a huge time suck, especially if editing isn’t something you particularly enjoy doing. You make your reel after spending hours on it, release into the great wide world of social media and then…you get 12 views. And of course that little button that says “boost post” is just staring you down. You know the one, it’s the magic button that you dump money into and MAYBE you’ll get it seen. Does it even work? …Well, yeah, BUT (and that’s a big BUT) it depends on the plan you have using promotional videos. 

No plan? No results. Let’s take a look at 3 Key Points on how you should be using promotional videos. 

WHO’S GOT THE PLAN!?

This one is huge. WHO HAS GOT THE PLAN!? At Kalanset Media, our video production quality is absolute. We’re able to craft ideas and deliver promotional videos of all scale, but without a plan in place for your promotional videos all you’ll end up with is a very impressive  business card that people aren’t going to see. 

One of the first questions we ask potential clients is, “Where’s the video going?”. We do this because I have personally seen more times than I’d like clients receiving a video or photography set from Kalanset Media but then being disappointed that simply posting it doesn’t get them immediate results. There has to be a plan. That plan could be crafted by a professional marketing company or even an in-house employee that will oversee the distribution of the promotional video. What we normally recommend to clients if they don’t have a marketing company or an employee that can take ownership of the distribution is to utilize our friends at Four Service Media Solutions. They’re a dedicated partner of ours who specialize in brand interaction, which includes using promotional videos your company has in different avenues outside of social media.  

Kalanset Media is a full service video production and photography company and we excel at this but we are not a marketing company. Having a marketing specialist in your corner is a great way to protect your investment into the work we do here at Kalanset Media by ensuring there is a plan in place for the promotional video once it has been delivered. 

DIFFERENT PLATFORMS, DIFFERENT VISIONS

Alright, this one requires an open mind. When we plan video productions for clients and we start diving into how using promotional videos requires a plan, we ask “Where’s the video going?”. 9 times out 10 the client will say something along the lines of “everywhere”. Meaning they want to take the final promotional video and blast it on social media, their website, Youtube channel, television runs, and they want to show it at their best friend’s birthday party (or whatever). Well, that’s when we start talking using MULTIPLE promotional videos. Every single delivery platform has its own unique styles for the best engagement. I’ll give you an example; one of the hottest delivery methods right now are the ads that play on the STORY function on Instagram  or the SHORT functions on Youtube. These ads, which I’m sure you’ve seen, consist of a vertical video that is typically very quick and has this “raw” feeling to it; think guy holding his cell phone and saying “Do you wanna know how I saved $1,000 on [insert whatever nonsense here]”. Well, that style may fly in the quick swipes but on a television platform, it would be abysmal. We shoot the styles differently for different audiences. That’s what makes Kalanset Media stand apart from the video teams that just shoot it and walk away. We care about how you’re using your promotional videos because truly want to see you have real success on what we deliver to you. 

Be Ready to Calculate Distribution Costs into Your Budget

A great video needs to be distributed to be seen. Using Promotional Videos to your advantage means being ready to set an investment number that you’re comfortable with to make sure that audiences actually see it. Making the video isn’t enough. Whether it’s Google Ads, Youtube Ads, Facebook, Television, or even putting the commercial in a movie theatre so that it plays before the movie trailers. You’ve got to be prepared to invest in the distribution. Your marketing company or specialist will be able to help you prepare a realistic timeline and budget in which you should be seeing results. Most of the time, within a month of dedicated campaigns you should be seeing some kind of verifiable results. The grassroots delivery methods can help (getting friends and family to share) but honestly, to grow your business you’ll need to be ready to invest past the great video and photos being delivered. Gotta spend it to make it! 

If you’re interested in a free consultation on using promotional videos to your advantage reach out today! 

See You On Set, 

Christopher Jackson

Executive Producer, Kalanset Media