5 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Your Own Video

woman making marketing video

We’re delighted to feature a guest blog from our friends at Life Media UK this week. So I’m handing over to Sunjay to share his tips to guide you through making your own marketing videos…

There’s no question that video is one of the most powerful tools you can utilise to promote your brand and business – but are you doing it right?

Video is still one of the most popular forms of marketing, with 54% of consumers wanting more video from brands (Hubspot, 2018). It’s also a very successful form of marketing, with 89% of video marketers saying video, in general, gives them a good return on their investment. (Wyzowl, 2019). 

And with 84% of people saying that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video (Wyzowl, 2019), it’s certainly time you joined the party if you haven’t already!

But right now, during lockdown, producing video is er…difficult. So as a business owner or marketer, the responsibility now falls directly to you to produce the video content! So to help you make the most out of your lockdown video content, here’s my 5 avoidable mistakes that I see SO many people make when making their own video.

Video marketing mistakes

1. Bad framing

We’ve all seen those videos where the phone is awkwardly angled to look up at the person talking. It’s uncomfortable to watch and doesn’t look professional.

Grab yourself a cheap tripod and get the camera at eye level and stable. Once the camera is at eye level, ensure there’s a small amount of room above your head, within the screen. It’s a common mistake for people to frame themselves really low on the screen. Again, this loses the professional look you’re going for.

Remove any unnecessary distractions from your background. Remember that your background is a reflection on your business, so be aware of what’s behind you and what story that is telling! 

Lastly, try to shoot your video with the subject facing a large window. This will allow lots of natural light into the shot and improve the quality, especially if you’re shooting on a phone.

2. Lack of structure

Your video is going to need some structure, to ensure you don’t ramble on! Be intentional with your message and stick to your structure. A simple structure is as follows:
Introduction – Introduce the topics you will cover, and what the viewer will learn.
3 points – Split your message into 3 points or aspects that you want to cover. This will provide you with a good flow and rhythm for your video. By only choosing 3 points to cover it will also allow you to be concise, and it’s easier to remember a few clear items to cover off.

Outro – Use this time to conclude the video, re-cap the key learnings and provide a soft call-to-action.

This is just one of many structures you could use for your video; it will change depending on what you are shooting, but the above format works well for a video blog. By following this structure your video will be a lot more engaging, and you will avoid looking awkward or cringy.

3. Lack of empathy

Empathy is one of the cornerstones of trust. What I mean by empathy in this scenario is the ability to understand the problems, concerns and challenges of your target audience. So many times, I’ve seen people make videos that don’t speak directly to their ideal client. This results in a video that isn’t engaging and doesn’t resonate.

Show empathy by listing the problems that your ideal clients are facing, and create video content based on solving those issues. This positions you as an authority within your field, further nudging your ideal client towards the sale without the hard sales tactics. 

A great way of getting to know your customer better is to speak with them and ask them about their challenges, concerns and issues. You can also read lots of reviews, both your own and those of your competition. Read good reviews and bad reviews to know what your customers love and hate.

4. Lack of passion

Great video comes from passionate people. It doesn’t matter if you’re passionate about trees, business or dogs. You will produce great content when you focus on the topics that you are passionate about. Communicating your passion through video will always be successful, because the energy will be high and people will connect with you. I believe that communicating your passion has an infectiously positive vibe to it, and really humanises your brand. When you choose a topic you are passionate about it, also shows us the best version of you.

A really crude example of this is if I asked you to create a 3-minute video on the different uses of Cos, Sin and Tan and their relation to trigonometry. You probably won’t be that excited (unless you’re a maths teacher). You would be more than capable of learning the content for that video, as it’s only GCSE maths, but even with the knowledge, the video would likely be lacklustre in execution!

The question inevitably arises of “how do I turn something about work into something I’m passionate about?’’. The answer almost always lies in stories, both personal stories and those you can borrow from your clients. You see, an accountant might not be super thrilled about the new tax laws, but they would be passionate about helping their clients make use of the new tax laws to expand their business and go national. When you contextualise the topic, it can easily fit into a larger picture – one that you are more likely to be passionate about.

5. Optimisation

To create professional-looking content, you’re gonna have to optimise your videos.

For social media platforms, I would normally recommend formatting your videos into a square. This allows you to take up the most amount of space, and looks natural on most mobiles.

I would also recommend adding subtitles and/or captions to your videos. This will increase the accessibility and improve engagement rates, as over 80% of people watch social media films on silent.

Optimise the thumbnails for your videos to ensure you have something that catches the eye, and makes people want to click or stop scrolling. Using a human face on the thumbnail works really well… so does a pet or a baby! Of course, only use something that is actually relevant to the content of your video, and suitable for your brand.

And finally, optimise your video content and length of your video for where you want it to live within your sales funnel. At the ‘awareness’ stage, viewers are less likely to give up large amounts of time. As they move through the sales funnel, they are more likely to commit more time for your content, especially for a more considered purchase. Optimise your content so that it answers the right questions within a suitable time frame.

There you have it! 5 avoidable mistakes to keep in mind when creating your own videos. If you’re interested in what equipment you might need, or some simple steps to get started, then check out our guides here and our webinars here. 

Life Media UK specialise in generating business through powerful video marketing. Our videos have helped clients increase both brand awareness and sales. That’s because our mantra is ‘Film with Thought’. First we create the strategy, and then we produce the videos to match. This marketing-led approach to video has helped us win clients like ITV, GKN, Wiltshire College and more. Drop us a message via admin@lifemediauk.com to set up a meeting to discuss your needs. 

Feeling inspired?

If you’d like to discuss how to improve the ways in which your business does social media, or get some help to do it better, please get in touch at:

hello@rapportdigital.com