Now it is easier than ever to create and develop brand-video content. Many businesses use combinations of videos that are produced by professional video production agencies, like design agency hampshire, user-generated content that is used for internal and external communications, and their in-house created content. From web pages to social-media feeds, internal newsletters to email marketing, video has shown that it can engage with various demographics, and change behaviours, which results in far more positive actions.
For most organisations, the video content that they use has evolved in a way that is fairly organic. Commissioned videos might form a portion of the internal-communications strategy and overall marketing, yet most of the animations and short clips produced for platforms such as social media along with the other channels are now created more spontaneously without strict adherence and onerous planning to the guidelines of the brand.
How to Be Spontaneous and Stay on Brand
Content that is spontaneous is fantastic. Regardless of whether you use free video tools online, or you have in-house video-production software, today it has become possible to create your own engaging content over a matter of minutes. A few examples include sharing videos of employee birthday celebrations, quickly responding to a question with a “how-to” video that you filmed directly from your mobile. Or even creating animated Gifs in order to respond to reviews from your customers.
Yet this type of video content will often be unbranded, which results in missed opportunities, for example when one of your customers decided to share your video yet it is unclear where this content came from, or it could be potentially damaging. Inconsistencies that occur between conflicting messages or different content, could confuse your employees and customers, and may even end up compromising your brand.
Luckily these issues are very easy to solve, in the way of using a few basic guidelines for your video brand that you can adapt for different forms of video content. Here is a list of the main points that you need to include in your company’s video-brand guidelines:
Video Brand Guidelines for the Content Creators
Most of the points that we have listed below might already be present in your own brand guidelines. We do suggest that you create a basic checklist for the creators of video content which enables these individuals to easily create content that will not misrepresent your brand.
The General Tone for Video Content
It is helpful to establish what the tone will be when it comes to any type of brand video-content. This can then be dialled down or up according to the type or the theme for the video content that is being created. For instance, if the tone of your brand is “upbeat”, then explainer videos that are narrated by staff members should never be delivered in a boring monotone, yet at the same time, you want to avoid the video sounding like one of the race commentators.
Tone of Voice
This will refer to both spoken words and text. This reflects your brands’ personality as well as the way that your clients prefer to be approached or spoken to. Once again the video content type that you use will have an influence over the tone of voice. This is why it is important to be specific when you share guidelines among a group of content creators.
Logo, Fonts and Brand Colours
Do you allow the content creators in your company to have access to your brand stylebook which contains your colour palette, fonts, and logos? In addition, do they know the right way to use all these elements? It might be worth your while to produce video templates, for certain content styles in order to make it an easier task for any content creator to stick to your guidelines.
Imagery
Consider film footage, photos, animation and graphics. Are there any easy guidelines you are able to implement which can assist content creators to choose the imagery that matches up to your brand. Using examples of what you find unacceptable and acceptable can really help.
Sound and Music
Offering simple guidelines on sound effects and using music is also very important. Most of the video tools online offer free access to music libraries. However, you want to make sure the tracks that are chosen promote your brand, rather than detract or undermine your company.
Key Messaging
What is the main brand message you need to communicate? This will vary with different forms of content (customer support, marketing, internal communications and more), and for your audiences which includes investors, employees, and your customers. Make a list of the different video content types that your brand produces and identify a core-brand message according to each type.
With these basic guidelines for your video brand, any person that is creating video content in your business will know the right way to stay with your brand. The opportunities to hire new staff members or reach potential customers will also be retained when your messaging and brand logos are consistently used, even when your content is spontaneous such as a video of your team or using an animated GIF.