Marketing
Pretty much all of the world’s biggest companies are first movers, to some degree. Microsoft built package software. Five Guys concentrated on a luxury fast food burger. Netflix ushered in the age of film and TV streaming. The definition of moving first is taking a chance on a service or product that hasn’t yet been introduced successfully to the sector you’re hoping to influence.
Read MoreDirectors and marketers work together for a promotional plan that makes sense within their wider business goals – including who to target and which channels they should use. Salespeople focus on the commercial element. Graphics experts may have a say in how the brand looks. Without some or any of these qualities, your business might struggle. So why should a video crew work outside of them? After all, the ideal video is a perfect representation of the client – without tapping into your knowledge and experience, it can’t be a success.
Read MoreFrom the 15th January, HSQ Productions are offering North West charity organisations the chance to win professional marketing material valued at £12,000. The giveaway is set to help up to a dozen worthy causes broadcast their message, attract new donors, and reward those who are already supporting them.
Any charity can enter – they simply have to be based in the region. Entries are free and require a brief description of the organisation’s role in supporting a chosen ideology, in addition to any ideas surrounding video/photo needs. The production team will then select 12 winners and commit to delivering high-quality visuals over 2018.
Content may take any form desired within HSQ’s set of services. Examples include interviews, event highlights, web photography and short explainer films. Overall, these projects will broaden the exposure and narrative techniques of whoever takes the top prize, making it easier for the charity to engage with prospective and existing donors.
Adam Smith, founder of HSQ Productions, is adamant on the beneficial influence of video marketing for non-profit groups: “. Our aim is to cast light on stories that need a vivid image to expand their audience and, likewise, their economic resources. Empathic tales of triumph over adversity are very hard to ignore.”
“Under the skin of any charitable organisation, there is strife, joy, hard work, and an emotional gravity that can make would-be donors consider what they have – as well as what others are lacking – providing these values are well-communicated.”
We believe that powerful visuals can display the real, human value of whoever or whatever receives a donation. Videos are excellent at bringing viewers into the reality of a situation. They can form a nexus of your website, fortify the strength of an email campaign, or bring followers up to speed on social media. High-resolution photographs, meanwhile, are a testament to the lives and communities changed through charitable work.
A perfect example can be found in the content that HSQ produced for the RNLI’s (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) Yellow Wellies campaign in 2017. Adam counts this as one of his most rewarding projects so far: “We took great care with our composition, and everyone involved was fantastic. There were 9-year-olds and octogenarians in, quite literally, the same boat in terms of what they believed in. It was a heart-warming experience.”
Charities can register for the competition here from the 15th January. For more information or press enquiries, email adam@hsqproductions.com
Whatever business you’re in, there’s always an excuse to bring clients, peers and Joe Public together for a showcase event. Some of you may run several of these over the year. Plans may already be in motion for 2018, either as an exhibitor or the company pulling the strings.
If so, have you added video marketing to that agenda? Recording the day – and cementing your place in it – will provide a trove of amazing material that can be brought to bear on all sorts of promotional work.
Here, we explain why video is an essential contribution to the success of your events…
Put viewers ‘in the moment’
The first and most obvious benefit of video is its immediacy. Even after a short clip, people can fall into the mood, sounds and vibrancy of whatever you’ve organised. The best events are milieu of images; delegates grinning from ear to ear whilst demonstrations happen on the sidelines, or an amazing speech is backlit in a conference hall. Why not capture them? It makes all that hard work worthwhile.
By watching your film material, it’s impossible to deny that the event does what it says on the tin i.e. presents ideas, provides a great backdrop for discussion, and (potentially) entertains the crowd with music or live acts.
Scene to scene, a marketing video can flit around every face of the event, immortalising its diversity. Time lapse videos, for instance, may start with an empty space that’s quickly filled with stands, furniture, people and buffet trays. The viewer can gaze at all of this momentum, which comes to life in a matter of seconds, and admire what you’re able to do.
Beyond time lapse photography, a production team can take snippets from each section of your event schedule, editing them to perfection. Want to focus on a networking session? Done. How about random interviews with attendees, getting their on-the-spot opinion? They’re easily stitched together. Whatever your plans, we can showcase them.
Drumming up demand for another event, later in the year, can seem like climbing a mountain again… But video is the strongest primer for what’s to come, based on what you’ve already filmed.
Once more, we’d like to stress the power of visual stimuli for selling your concept. Attendees, performers and exhibitors will be eager to sign on for whatever else you’re cooking up, if they can observe how the previous event went down. This makes video an excellent tool to add to any campaign. Emails will get better click-through rates; your web pages will score higher on search engines; a homepage show reel, in all honesty, is just the thing that some people need for validation.
There are so many methods of using event video footage – we’d love to talk to you about them. HSQ Productions can be an accompanying light for that 2018 event strategy. We’ll show you how video marketing is a solid, beautiful extension of your promotional tactics. Get in touch for a conversation.
Draw up a cohesive plan for content that’ll require the same equipment and resources. You’ll save hundreds of pounds, providing you time the shooting windows so they match up together.
Read MoreSo if you haven’t planned any video production for January, what’s stopping you? Today we’d like to pick apart the perks of investing in a professional video – one that’s ready for release in the first month of the year.
Read MoreOur work with them has been very rewarding, resulting in some beautiful clips of the on-site nursery to support their marketing. To tap into what made this project so special, our founder, Adam, took a few minutes out to explain our ongoing partnership with this prestigious educational centre.
Read MoreThe popularity of animated videos has made it hard to say something new, as companies fall too easily into the same patterns, looks and constraints within the medium.Live action is better for a number of reasons, and here we explore why:
Read MoreWhite labelling someone is making them an extension of what you represent; it is you, after all, that will be credited with the work. For the purposes of a client assignment, the two of you are bound together, and the video team must therefore reflect your brand wherever they can.
Read MoreVideo is likely to form part of a much wider strategy, which makes close collaboration critical when bringing in an outsourced production team. Film styles, lighting, set design and props can all feed into the overall look and feel of a brand video.
Read MoreThis week’s Video Production Jargon busting blog looks at why clients should focus their efforts on deploying native and video advertising.Advertising is changing at a rapid speed. With the rise of data centred creative campaigns and the internet, it is difficult not to get caught up with it. When businesses flocked to the internet and tried to increase their online presence, the more amazing opportunities they found.
Read MoreYou’ve got ideas, we’ve got ideas, everyone has ideas when it comes to creating and promoting video content. I could even go so far as thinking that you’ve already got a video marketing strategy. But have you asked your audience what they want to see in your videos?
Read MoreIn this week’s Video Production Jargon Busting blog, we will be sharing with you three different forms of video content and how you can use them to share your message. We encourage you to experiment with these formats to help your business stand out from the crowd, drive engagements and increase sales.
Read MoreThis week’s Video Production Jargon Buster blog is looking at how we can stop people from scrolling past your business video. When you have spent a large amount of money on high quality business video production you need to find a way to catch the viewers eye.
Read MoreIf you have a business video, look into using it for social media. Don’t be shy in using it in your posts. These days, every social network supports video uploads that play within user’s feeds, like Twitter and Facebook. For many of our clients that means creating one corporate video and splashing it everywhere.
Read MoreIn simple terms in order to have a fully functioning, profitable business you need to have a marketing strategy, even if that means hiring a marketing company to do the work for you.
Marketing works to sell the business’s products and services. Furthermore, if you want to have more sales you should think about increasing your marketing budget, as it focuses on customers, both existing and potential.
If you are considering using paid advertisement such as Adwords, Twitter + Facebook ads and finally TV spots, then you will want an experienced company which can look after your investment. This can help you get a better rate of return on your investment. No matter how large or small a budget, you will want the best in order to maximise your potential.
Finally, you should hire a marketing company at the beginning of a campaign. This way they can advise you on how you should spend your budget and develop your marketing message. The best way to put it is you need a marketing company first thing on a Monday morning, not on a Friday afternoon.
