It was quite a challenge to create the video we needed to create in order to accomplish the goals of the project . We needed to tell a story. A compelling, heartfelt, emotional piece that would be inspired and based on so many of the true stories behind the work that Kids Kottage does every day. We took on the challenge, and it led us to tell Emma’s Story.

The results have exceeded anything we could’ve hoped for. The video was launched at the annual Kids Kottage breakfast with Premier Redford, where cash donations to Kids Kottage amounted to double what they received at the previous year’s breakfast. At the event, over $60,000 was raised in total- an overwhelming success. Pam Miller from Kids Kottage attributes the event’s success, particularly the success in cash donations, to the video we created.

We’re looking forward to working with Kids Kottage again in the future!

The good folks at Wistia put together the following information based on real viewing data from real online videos.

The above graph illustrates a point that we always stress to our clients. The longer a video is, the less viewers you’re going to have sticking around through the whole thing. Basically, with a one minute video, you’re likely going to retain around 50-60% of your viewers through to the end, and that number drops to about 30-35% once your video is 3-10 minutes long. It’s crucial to keep videos short, relevant and engaging.

Too many cool ideas and messages to squeeze into a one minute video? It’s always a good idea to break up that information and turn it into a series of 30-60 second videos rather than one 3-10 minute video. You can always create two versions for the different applications of your video, one that’s a full length piece for captive audiences at presentations and another that’s a series of short pieces for online use.

We also recommend inserting a brand or company mention halfway through for videos longer than 90 seconds, ensuring that viewers don’t leave your video before even hearing your name.

Video always says it better, so check out the one below for what Wistia has to say about video length!

The advertising platform on LinkedIn, like Facebook does for B2C marketing, enables B2B marketers to target exactly who’s seeing their ads based on the viewer’s industry, the size of their organization, their position/title, geographical region, and more. This isn’t a new feature, but it’s certainly still something to consider for many businesses struggling to reach their professional target audience online.

What’s REALLY news, is that LinkedIn has recently launched video ads as a feature for marketers using their advertising platform. Now, rather than being limited to 100 characters to catch the attention of your carefully targeted audience, you have a full 30 seconds of visuals, audio and on-screen text to do so.

Check out the video!

What would you do with 30 seconds of your target audience’s eyes and attention on LinkedIn?

Let’s walk through a few of the reasons that web video is so much more compelling than text and images alone, and how to ensure that you’re making the most of your company videos online.

1) Sales Conversions

Might as well start off with the kicker! According to the Wharton School of Business, a well-produced web video speeds up buying decisions by 72% on average over text and images alone. So, that product you’re really trying to boost sales for? Try explaining it, using it, or displaying it in a video and be sure to include the video on the same page as the ‘Buy Now’ button.

This client of ours sells awesome field books for the fields of construction and pipefitting. His videos are well placed on the website, and we’ve included a clickable call-to-action at the end of the video which sends viewers to the same page that the ‘Buy Now’ button does.

2) Instant Personality

One of the major challenges with marketing and communicating online is that there’s only so much personality you can get across through a page of text and images. The next best thing to having them walk into your store or office is showing them who you are and what your company is all about through the creative elements in a well-produced web video.
Check out this video we made for an Edmonton business and residential security consultant, whose best-selling feature has always been her personality.

3) Be Remembered

From the same Wharton School of Business study I mentioned above, research showed that well-produced videos were also boosting information retention by 50%. Especially for information and data-heavy industries, video can be an incredibly powerful tool for making sure your message is heard, absorbed, understood and remembered.
Check out our first-ever ‘Video Infographic’ that we created for the Certified General Accountants of Canada.

To learn more about web video production, poke around our other blog posts or give us a call!

The Economic Developers Association of Canada holds the Marketing Canada Awards each year to recognize excellence in the promotion and marketing of Canadian provinces, territories, regions, cities and towns. CA:AP took home the “Investment Attraction Video” award for 2012, and the winning video is below!

You can check out all three videos from the CA:AP campaign here.

Central Alberta: Access Prosperity – Investment from Amplomedia on Vimeo.

Thank you to all of our friends and supporters for the congratulations and social media love!

Here are a few of our favourite motion graphic videos from the realm of warm-fuzzy feelings.

UNICEF Enterprise from J-Scott on Vimeo.

Groundswell Infographic (The Gates Foundation) from Nathan Heal on Vimeo.

Volunteer Kansas “Come & Give It” Video :30 from Greteman Group on Vimeo.

Enter the world of infographics and explainer videos- where the key is using design principles to clearly visualize data and information. By pairing complex information with visuals that give our brains symbols, connectors and clear visual distinctions to latch onto, we’re able to speed up the process of learning and boost the mind’s ability to retain information.

Of course, there’s something to be said for the abuse of infographics too. If the information you’re presenting isn’t useful, insightful or even entertaining to your target audience, it probably doesn’t need to be presented in a fancy infographic or explainer video.

I’m sure that’s enough reading for your overloaded brains today- so I’ll let this incredibly well-produced explainer video (i.e. ‘Video Infographic’) take care of the rest.

Enjoy!

The Value of Visualization from Column Five on Vimeo.

Give us a call if you’d like to learn more about visualizing data and information for your audience.

One of the most common challenges that we face with new clients is the battle over too much content. Many organizations, especially those that are large-scale or non-profit, have a hard time adjusting their communications strategy to fit effectively into the world of online video. Understandably, a lot of communications experts have a hard time letting go of content for fear of being misunderstood or providing incomplete information.

The fact is- online video isn’t the place to get all of that content across! The purpose of your videos should be to offer a succinct, compelling and introductory view of the message or topic. There should always be a call-to-action at the end of your videos directing the viewer to your website and contact information. Your website and employees are always going to be there (hopefully) to get the whole message across- and your video marketing campaign should not be designed to replace them.

Exhibit A:

As you can see from the above graph (courtesy of Wistia), it’s not just about getting the most important information in early. Viewers will stop watching earlier if they already know that they’re not going to sit through the whole thing!

Exhibit B:

Engagement is key when it comes to using video in your marketing efforts- and it’s clear that insisting on a long video is going to significantly diminish the amount of engagement you’re getting from your viewers.

Keep it short and sweet!

Amplomedia’s Portfolio Homepage

A marketing/communications video designed for a website homepage, social media sharing or e-blast campaigns should be no more than 2 minutes long for maximum engagement. Even professionally produced videos with incredibly compelling content start to lose viewers once they start feeling too long (which, according to some audiences, can happen after only 1 minute).
If you have a lot of information that you need to communicate via video and 2 minutes isn’t going to cut it, creating a series of videos is often the best way to go. A viewer that finishes a video wanting more information is much more likely to respond to a call-to-action than one who stops watching the video before even getting to the call-to-action.

Check out how much impact and information can be packed into a 15 second video!

2) Tell a Story

The best way to tap into the power of video is to use it’s most powerful capability: narrative. When fully engaged by something like a video or a piece of writing, our brains are looking for a beginning, a middle and an end. Your organization may depend heavily on statistics or product specifications, but video isn’t going to solve your communication challenges unless you’re giving your audience a context for those pieces of information. Who is your happy customer? Why did they start using your product or service? What was his/her situation like before your product or service, and what was it like afterwards? Answering these questions can lead to a very basic yet powerful story, but there are plenty of other ways to get creative with your brand’s connection to a narrative of some kind.

In this video that we created for the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, rather than focusing on agriculture and farming alone, we tell the story of our planet’s population and how many mouths there are to feed! Agriculture is necessary to accomplish that task- and that’s where their key message comes in.

AgriPathways – Careers in Agriculture from Amplomedia on Vimeo.

3) Share, and Share Well!

Simply having a video produced for your website and leaving it at that is like having a box of business cards printed and only passing them out to those who visit your office. In order to maximize your video’s ROI and truly grow your online audience and prospect list, it’s important to make sure you’re reaching everyone that you can!
Tweet your video at least once per day for the first week it’s launched, and continue Tweeting it every few days after that. Ensure the posts your making are intriguing and interesting to encourage clicks, and use hashtags that are popular among your target audiences.
Finally, don’t forget that on average, video emails receive up to 96% higher click-through-rates than non-video emails!

We’re happy to talk you through any questions that you have in those early decision-making stages and help you decide what’s right for you. In the meantime, here are four things that every business owner or marketing director needs to decide on before getting started with choosing a video company or producing videos in-house.

1) Your Budget

Pricing in the video production/motion graphic industry can range from affordable (roughly $500, using templates and minimum customization), to upwards of $20,000 for a single video. It is entirely up to you and your team to determine what you’re willing to spend on this integral part of your marketing strategy, and use that as a reference in your quest for the perfect video marketing campaign. Having a range in mind is a huge help when it comes to narrowing down your options.
At the same time, it’s important to be aware of how much time and skill is involved in producing a high-quality video. If it’s starting to seem like the budget that you have isn’t going to get you the video you had hoped for, it might be a good idea to start with producing your own simple videos in-house until your budget for the project can grow and become more realistic for what you have in mind.
Budget or no budget, video marketing is something you should be exploring!

2) Your Video Production Resources

As a business owner or entrepreneur, do you have an employee or close friend with video production experience? Do you have access to professional video equipment, or consumer-level video equipment with high-quality audio and video output? Do you have a visually appealing office or setting that is available to you? Are you comfortable on camera, being yourself?

All of these questions are important to consider if you’re exploring the idea of producing your video on your own. If you’re finding yourself answering ‘No’ to most of the questions above, it’s probably in your best interests to hire a professional video production or motion graphic company in order to maximize the professionalism and effectiveness of your campaign.

3) Live Action Videography vs. Motion Graphic Design

We’re obviously a tad biased in this area, but it truthfully just comes down to your preferences when faced with this decision. Motion graphics tend to be especially perfect for organizations with products or services that are technical/complex, new to an industry, or just difficult to explain, but they can really be used effectively in any industry for any kind of business. On the other hand, many business owners feel that they can make a better connection with their audience through live action video of themselves, their products, or their environment.

It all comes down to determining which style best fits with your organization’s visual identity and overall communication strategy. Of course, combining live action video and motion graphics is always a pretty awesome solution!

In case you’re not sure, check out this video explaining what Motion Graphic Video actually is.

What are motion graphics? from NewLogics on Vimeo.

4) Your Goals

What is it that you’re trying to accomplish with your video? Here are some examples of primary goals:
• Announce and promote a new product or service offering
• Explain and promote a product or service offering that is innovative, complex/technical, or simply difficult to understand at first
• Capture and communicate your organization’s core culture and brand personality
• Attract and recruit new employees
• Train and educate your audience, stakeholders and employees

Whatever your goals are, it’s important to make sure that they don’t get lost in the process of creating your video or videos. Your core message and brand identity MUST be priorities in producing this piece of your marketing and communications, so don’t forget about them!