Is Your Visual Storytelling Effective?

Video is an integral part of sales automation

When I first started out in franchising, websites were the hot, new thing and video was not on anyone’s radar. But over the last few years, a titanic shift has moved vast amounts of information and customer engagement to video.

We can thank sites like YouTube and Vimeo for this shift. Web surfers today are simply accustomed to seeing and watching videos. In fact, 85% of internet users report watching informational videos while researching products or services.

Franchising is anything but immune from the video phenomenon. Potential franchisees are serious consumers of video content on franchise websites, and they’re viewing increasingly polished, professional, and often award-winning productions.

But when it comes to producing video content, where should you take your company? Brand Journalists knows where franchisors can get the most bang for their video production dollars. Here are three rules to consider when exploring your company’s video options.

Rule #1: Content Quality Matters

When it comes to online video production, the first and most important consideration is quality. That means quality of content as well as production.

When you’re producing videos to represent your brand, it’s vital that you have people who present your brand’s story, your mission, and your culture well. People should look and sound professional, while embodying a more casual tone.

While it’s vital that the content in your videos is delivered professionally, we also tell clients to avoid a tightly scripted video. Instead, your videos should be much more conversational and must fit the culture of your brand.

If you’re a business-to-business services company and your videos feature a lot of informal banter, balloons, or other light-hearted content, they won’t sound authentics. But, if the business is a trampoline park and everyone in the videos are in suits and ties, that’s just as disconcerting for viewers.

So when you’re planning out your videos with a video production company, make sure you are accurately representing your brand and your culture.

Rule #2: Quality video production does not have to break the bank

Think about your most recent foray into internet video. Which ones did you watch through to the end? Chances are you were most engaged with conversational videos that had the same polish and quality of a well-produced documentary or news broadcast.

Video production quality matters to your brand as much as the quality of the content the videos contain. So, as you work to share your brand story through video, provide viewers with professionally produced content.

Be cautions against “video bling.” Just because the production company has the coolest toys, doesn’t mean they produce the best videos.

Yes, quality production requires the right equipment – cameras, lights, microphones, and more, but that’s not where good video stops. The real quality of video content happens in the editing process, where skilled craftsmen take the raw video and make it tell the story you want in a way that connects visually with the audience.

For our clients, the results speak for themselves. Each video our clients receive incorporates best practices from both advertising and filmmaking to create a rich, viewer-centered visual experience that engages potential customers and keeps them engaged.

Rule #3: Your videos should tell your story

The final major rule for online videos is that they need to tell a story – your brand’s story, to be specific. Often, brand videos get bogged down in details about technological innovations, financial benefits, or the sales pitch. That’s the wrong approach.

The videos that connect most, that impact most, that convert to leads, they tell a story that is personal and connects with the viewer. Yes, we’ll include details about support, technology, market size, customer acquisition and CRMs, but we position all of that as tools in the brand’s story. This methodology allows the individual on the other side of the screen to connect with all of those details in a way that putting them in a high pressure sales pitch wouldn’t.

As you begin to consider the impact quality video production could have on your sales automation process, ask yourself what your brand story is and how you could use that to help guide potential leads to become your next franchise owner.

See How We Convert Viewers Into Buyers Through Storytelling

Ready to explore video production on your franchise site?

If your franchise opportunity is ready to kick your video up to the next level, Brand Journalists can help. Contact us today to see how we can help you employ quality video production to tell your brand story.