Marketing for companies and brands goes back to the analog days when digital media did not exist and print reigned supreme. Today, with social media and marketing strategies meant for the web, the landscape has shifted. Corporate video production plays a massive role in how your online motion graphics sway and persuade your target audience.
The days when videos and short films were primarily made for the big screen have long gone. Today’s video production companies incorporate filmmaking into advertising and branding. And it works.
From Super Bowl ads to obscure video tutorials and user manuals, there’s a video for everything. Today’s guide focuses on the basics and different types of corporate videos and why they are important for your business.
By the time you are done reading, you’ll know the significance of employing a video production company to help expand your marketing capabilities and which video production company to choose.
Let’s begin.
What is Corporate Video Production?
A corporate video production is a marketing tool that uses motion graphics and moving images (films, 3D animation, live action) for use in the business space. As we mentioned before, video production has been around for quite some time but was mostly reserved for the glamour of A-list movies or soap operas on TV.
Advertisements in between broadcasted movies and shows expanded the capabilities of brands. These brands could now gain customers and subscribers with a cleverly shot and edited advert and had the means necessary to further leverage their commercial prospects.
In the digital age, corporate video production has seen a slight shift where advertisements moved online, corporate tutorials on YouTube dominated watch times, and company websites had everything from testimonials to CEO interviews displayed on webpages.
The industry has grown to such an extent that businesses hire dedicated in-house production teams to cater to their growing needs. And with YouTube, Twitch, and other streaming platforms commanding massive audiences, companies are now looking to promote and market their products and services on these domains.
It’s a successful strategy too. Take a business that manufactures professional dress forms, for instance. Their social media marketing strategy couldn’t just include static images and posts, but should also regularly feature video content in the form of Instagram Stories and Highlights.
They can use short tutorial videos for their IGTV where they can share tips to drape and tailor the dresses on their dress forms. In a similar vein, the company can also produce video testimonials showcasing the leading fashion labels and designers, which can help build trust and credibility among potential customers.
But video production isn’t just limited to social media channels. Multiple types are employed for various purposes.
The 8 Types of Corporate Videos
Corporate videos fulfill different roles for different brands and depending on where they are used, can require different approaches to produce them. Here are 8 of the most popular types of corporate videos in production today.
1. Company Profile Videos
Company profile videos provide an overview of your company or brand, its products, and its services. Some company profile videos may even feature company heads and shareholders addressing potential clients about their business.
2. Promotional Videos
Promotional videos highlight your products or services and detail everything from discounts to sales, and new offers. Promotional videos are normally posted on social media accounts showcasing discounts and information on sales and are powerful marketing techniques that can pique your potential consumers’ interest and prompt inquiries.
3. Explainer Videos
Explainer videos are also known as tutorial videos. They are commonly reserved for guiding customers on using specific products and services, particularly the ones that require technical knowledge.
For instance, if you are an Amazon FBA seller looking for an alternative to the Amazon repricing tool that can automate your pricing workflows, would you buy it if there weren’t enough online video resources available to help you set it up? Of course not.
You would want it to have explainer videos to walk you through the process of linking your Amazon seller account to it and how to use it afterward, in addition to its competitive pricing and ease of use.
Explainer videos are also used for showcasing the company’s products and services and for providing a walkthrough in a colorful, fun, and engaging way. These are either live-action, 3D, or animated.
4. Financial Results
Financial results are investor relations videos where the company releases one video or a series that details the company’s end-of-year statements. These videos help communicate important information about the finances of a company to its shareholders and stakeholders.
5. Recruiting/Training/How-To/Safety Videos
Recruiting videos are generally developed for a company’s human resource department and uploaded on main social media channels or the company website’s career page. These highlight the company’s culture and present an outlook to attract the best talent to work at your brand.
6. Internal Communication Videos
This type of corporate video deals with the internal affairs of the company and is usually sent out as part of the company’s internal communication strategies. It is useful when trying to update the teams with company news, resources, or changes. For quick making, you can leverage the press release templates.
7. Event Videos
Event videos are also called conference videos. These recap the best bits of an event or conference a company participated in. These videos will also help update viewers about upcoming industry trends and changes your company is making.
8. Testimonial Videos
Testimonial videos highlight the positive reviews your clients and customers have left for you. It helps provide hands-on customer experiences to others and in highlighting the good time they’ve had working for your company or its products.
Understanding the different types of video production can also help identify the benefits this brings to the video marketing strategy. Let’s explore some of the most prominent benefits corporate video production can bring.
5 Reasons Why Corporate Video Production is Important For Your Business
Here are 5 reasons why corporate video production is essential to the marketing strategy of your brand.
I. Videos Can Tell Your Story
Every brand has a story to tell. Whether it is about how they began, what their vision is, or what they’re trying to achieve in the corporate space; it is important to let your customers and clients in on it.
Videos can help convey that with real people from your company in place of blocky web pages with hundreds of lines of text. Plus, with a well-crafted video on your company’s website, you give off an air of professionalism that many competing brands would be lacking.
II. They Increase Sales
Product videos are almost essential for customers when they’re purchasing any product online. Sure, pictures do the job. But having an accompanying video alongside can provide customers with a real-world and immersive look into the product.
And if your company provides services instead, corporate videos will be a great tool to engage your customers digitally and help persuade them quicker by detailing all the benefits and salient features.
III. They Help SEO Rankings
Oftentimes when you Google a product, you’ll come across a stream of videos on the first page. This listing is by no accident. It isn’t just humans that love videos, search engines love them too.
Adding appropriate titles, descriptions, and tags, can help your products and website rank higher on search engines. Leveraging YouTube in this instance can also help boost your company’s chances of being visible to target audiences.
IV. Videos Increase Conversions
Have you ever visited a website that had primarily text on all its pages with a few images to supplement its design? Most of us have and can think of examples of such websites from the top of our heads.
Humans love videos because of their ability to process the visuals faster than the text. Websites that do not incorporate videos can seem to drag and drive conversion rates down. For instance, a business offering discounted airline tickets can include interesting videos about holiday destinations on its website that will engage potential customers and make them want more.
And given that 67% of views for travel-related videos come from travel brand videos, the travel site is not only creating brand awareness for itself but it will also help in converting the website traffic and valuable clicks to solid leads that in turn, help generate sales.
V. Videos Cater To Mobile Audiences
The majority of online traffic today comes from mobile phone users and text content isn’t the priority here anymore. Online videos offer users a fast way to access the information they need and to make purchase decisions or learn about new companies or topics efficiently.
A high-quality video can help engage mobile users and provide them with the quick access they need to information.
Understanding the reasons behind making corporate videos is the first step in any great video project. Now let’s get into how you can begin the process of corporate video production.
How to Get Started With Corporate Video Production
Every video should fulfill a necessity for your company and can supplement the already existing content on your website and social media channels. But getting started with video production isn’t the easiest for most companies that have yet to venture into this space. Fortunately, we have a few proven methods that can help them on their way.
Step 1: Knowing Its Purpose
Not all corporate videos serve the same purpose and from the different types we discussed earlier, most companies would be looking for different results with their videos. Knowing what you’re trying to achieve with your video is essential.
Knowing where it’s going to be uploaded is similarly just as important. Not every platform supports the same formats and knowing how to tailor your videos for social media, live streaming sites, and YouTube can help you deliver the best results to your audiences.
For instance, if an online anagram solver wants to create and share tutorial videos to educate its users on how to use the website for finding new scrabble words, they need to decide whether it’ll provide videos in a newsletter, have them embedded in their website upon signing up, or will redirect them to YouTube for an in-depth understanding and tutorial.
The formats and purpose for all three will differ. Newsletter videos will be shorter in length and size and may compromise image quality and resolution as well. The other two can be longer training videos with voiceovers.
Step 2: Plan the Video Idea
Once you’ve decided how the video will be distributed, knowing what it is going to be about is the next step. Product demo videos, training videos, walkthroughs, interactive videos, and other types are filmed and planned differently. Highlight what the video idea is based on and what it is intending to do.
You can come up with a rough outline of what the video should be, what problems it will solve, how it gets the message across, etc. Having an initial idea in mind is an excellent way to complete the writing and storyboarding steps that follow.
Get together with your shareholders and project managers and map out the purpose and plan for the video. Take their advice into account and move from there.
Knowing how long the video duration will be is also key. While there are no hard rules on this, the primary goal should be to get your message across without it sounding boring.
Step 3: Write Its Script
Scriptwriting isn’t like generic writing exercises and requires a lot of crafting before you reach your final version. All scripts typically follow a predetermined format and need to be adjusted accordingly to video length and effectiveness.
If your video features a voiceover, noting down the main points to discuss is a great place to start. Building a script from here is easier than approaching the subject without an outline. Most corporate videos interviewing company shareholders may also require scripts for them to read out.
You should map out all dialogues since you wouldn’t want your “actors” or narrators to improvise during filming. Improvisation can give videos a natural feeling but also sidetrack the entire plan if it isn’t done sparingly.
Step 4: Storyboarding
Storyboarding is the creative process of drawing key frames of the video on paper or digitally that show how the video will progress in different scenes and timeframes. Companies have storyboarding artists on hand for this role since it requires a meticulous drawing process to get the production team familiar with the shooting concepts.
Storyboards are used in all forms of filmmaking and are just as important in corporate videos.
Step 5: Locations and Filming
Most corporate videos are shot in the company’s headquarters and offices, but not every office can afford to have a production team running around finding the best spots.
Some offices won’t make for good locations at all and new areas need to be scouted. What looks good to the eye doesn’t necessarily translate well on camera. Be particular about what locations work and how they’ll look when the video goes to post-production.
Once you have the best locations sorted, your videographers will map out all pre-production work, which includes camera testing, lighting, and setting up sound equipment.
Animated videos have more trouble in this step since locations, environments, and lighting is constructed digitally within animation software. And since animation is a time-intensive and laborious job, you’ll benefit by having multiple animators and 3D artists on hand.
Step 6: Editing The Project
Video editing is a learned skill that can make an ordinary video look professional. A good video editor can take their time to craft the story in post-production, fix any minor lighting details or defects, and help build a narrative for your video.
If your corporate video aims to provide customers with complex subjects, your editor needs to ensure that the video goes in-depth on the subject without sounding boring at any point.
Most video editors work in Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, and Final Cut Pro. This software has a steep learning curve so ensure you have an editor that knows their workflow and has the experience to understand the purpose of the video and translate it in their final edit.
Additionally, you can also use video review and collaboration tools to ensure effective collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
Most corporations do not have dedicated video-making resources on their payroll and it makes sense why they’d be hesitant to hire pre- and post-production teams for a handful of videos a year. The overall return on investment may not be justified if you have to pay a team of ten professionals to make your videos.
So the best way forward is to hire a corporate video production company. Let’s explore the attributes to consider while picking the right corporate video production company for your project.
How to Choose the Best Corporate Video Production Company
Approaching the project yourself is difficult without prior experience in filmmaking, which is why most businesses opt to acquire the services of video production companies to help manage tasks.
If you’re in a similar position and want to hire a video production agency, here’s everything you need to know to choose the best one.
A. Quality
When it comes to any form of production, the worst tradeoff you can make is in the quality department all to save money. A good video production agency does not skimp on quality and delivers the project with a professional and well-trimmed look that ensures it competes with other brands in the market.
The video you present to your target audience tells them all they need to know about your brand. A poorly shot and edited brand video can make your company look unprofessional and unreliable. Ensure the company you pick does not compromise on quality.
B. Budget and Timeline
A good video production company understands that every company has its budget and delivery timeline and aims to fall within the agreed-upon bracket. Video production is nuanced, however, and many factors can play a part in how task management is handled in any project and how expensive it’ll be.
A digitally shot video will typically be quicker to develop and edit than a fully animated one. Animation is also expensive since it can take multiple artists to work on the same project for days and weeks on end. A great company will ensure you’re aware of what’s possible and delivers it within the set timeline.
C. Customer Service
Like with any other business, it is no guarantee that things will go smoothly every time and you can always run into problems during or after commissioning a video production company. Reaching the company quickly to help resolve any issues is vital.
Find a company that is easy to coordinate with and one that can ensure you get the best customer service at every step.
The 3 Best Corporate Video Production Companies For 2023
i. Explainerd
Explainerd is a team of professional video and motion graphic artists that are committed to delivering the best corporate videos in the industry. Founded in 2021, our team is young, committed, and excited to work on all forms of corporate videos we are tasked with.
We are the ideal company to enlist when requiring all forms of video content and our teams can help identify your plans and build them in the most engaging formats. From explainer videos to animation and motion graphics, our experts can handle it all.
Best of all, our company has a full-production team to help with your projects from start to finish and ensures all deliverables are budget-friendly.
ii. Sparkhouse
Sparkhouse is a US-based video production company that specializes in social media, advertisements, and promotional videos. The company has a robust team of video production experts that have helped various companies bring their ideas to reality.
The company has previously worked for Capital One, Honda, and Nissan, amongst others for their promotional video content.
iii. Malix Media
Malix Media is another great production company with a snazzy new approach to filmmaking – from creative advertisements to eye-catching social media videos. Malix Media is based in the US and has even worked with established musicians and artists for music videos.
The company has been operational since 2013 and has maintained its emphasis on quality and project delivery ever since. They’re backed by a skilled team of filmmaking professionals, but may not be the best option for animated videos.
Conclusion
Corporate video production isn’t a straightforward endeavor for most companies that are only now foraying into the market. Like most other forms of creative development, video production requires a skilled team at its helm to ensure all projects are delivered with the highest quality standards and on time.
These are some of the reasons why we feel that hiring a dedicated and professional corporate video production company is the best bet forward. Explainerd is the finest company for the job thanks to our years of experience in corporate video production and powerful designs.
We have a team of highly competent in-house graphic artists to save you from the pigeonholes in the complicated corporate video production process so that you can get your videos in no time.
To know more about our tailor-made services, please visit our website or reach out to us at info@explainerd.com for all your corporate video production needs.
Author: Burkhard Berger, founder of Novum™.
