The Success of Your Corporate Video Depends on the Strategy Behind It

Before launching into anything, particularly something that requires money and effort, you need a strategy — a plan that lays out what success looks like and how you are going to get there. 

A corporate video strategy does just that. It is a plan that answers vital questions like:

• What do we want to accomplish?
• What steps do we need to take? 
• Who is our audience?
• What special considerations should we make in light of our audience?
• What does success look like for this project? 
• How will we measure success? 

A corporate video strategy is a path that leads to a successful video that meets the needs of your project. 

It has been said that “without a vision, the people perish.” While this may sound a little melodramatic for the corporate world, the principle remains — without a good corporate video strategy, it is unlikely that you will reach your goal. 

You would never set off driving somewhere you have never been without a GPS or, at the very least, a map. You need to know how to get where you are going. It’s like this with a corporate video strategy — it gives you the map to where you want to be. 

A corporate video strategy is important because it gives you a tangible sense of what you want to accomplish and what you need to do to reach your goal. 

One sunny spring day, a business professor divided his class into teams and gave them 20 pieces of uncooked spaghetti, a length of string, some tape, and a marshmallow. The instructions were simple: each group had 18 minutes to create the tallest tower, made only of the provided supplies, with the marshmallow placed at the top. The group with the tallest, free-standing tower at the end would win. 

Stress and ideas filled the air as the university students began the task. Soon sighs, exclamations of remorse, sadness, and even mild anger, filled the room. Tower after tower crashed in a heap as soon as the marshmallow was placed atop it. 

At the end of 18 minutes, the dejected students turned to their professor. He began to explain that this exercise, called the Marshmallow Challenge and popularized by Tom Wujec, revealed something important about the mental process of the class — they were trying to create something without a clear view of their goal. The professor went on to explain that most adults fail at this exercise but that kindergarteners have a surprising success rate. 

Why? The kindergartners would place the marshmallow on top of a piece of pasta and work down from there, always keeping their goal in mind. The tower was then built to support the marshmallow that was already where it needed to be — at the top, dictating the next move. 

The goal of your corporate video — the reason you are making it and the things you want it to accomplish — is the marshmallow. Your corporate video strategy is the pasta, string, and tape. These things make it possible for the marshmallow to sit successfully at the top of the tower. 

When developing a corporate video strategy, it is important to work backwards, starting with the goal and then thinking through what it will take to get there. A good strategy always follows the goal.

One of the most important parts of a good corporate video strategy is making sure that you know and understand your audience. 

When thinking through your target audience, you should consider several points:

• What department do they work in?  
• How old are they?
• What is their gender identity? 
• Will they watch the video on their work computers or click on a link sent to their phone? 
• Are they more likely to appreciate a creative approach, or would they prefer a down-to-earth, short and sweet message? 

You are going to want two very different videos for the predominantly female, GenZ creative team and the male-dominated, GenX accounting department. 

You may also want to consider the audience’s attention span. The length of your video matters. As attention spans keep dropping, it is important to think through the length of each component of your videos. 

Set clear, specific objectives for your video. If you never set a goal, you may never fail, but you will also never succeed. 

Decide what you want to convey and stick to it. Don’t try to address too many things in one video, or your point will get lost.

One great way to see how well you are doing is to have someone outside the company view the video, without having any context. Can they tell you what the main point of the video is? If so, congratulations! If not, you may need to reevaluate and see how you can make your point clear. 

Similar to having a clear objective, your corporate video strategy needs to include a solid concept of what you want the video to look like. 

Are you hoping to show how great your company’s work environment is? You might want to include some footage of employees laughing over lunch or enjoying your new alternative seating options. 

Is your goal to help new employees understand safety procedures? You may want to have a couple of different clips of employees demonstrating the right way to do things. 

Allow your goal to drive your concept. 

Maybe you have heard that it is important to ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’, but what exactly does that mean, and why does it matter? 

Imagine a video intended to convey proper sweeping technique. A man in a suit sits in front of a white wall, explaining the process…

“Place the broom on the ground and, with both hands on the broomstick, pull the broom towards you. Repeat this process until you have covered the whole floor and gathered all of the debris into a single pile. Take one hand off of the broom and firmly grasp the dustpan as you lower it to the floor….” 

Anyone watching this video would have either fallen asleep or already left the room. It’s boring. 

Now, imagine that same person, in the same room, holding a broom and demonstrating how to sweep while explaining the process as needed. 

No doubt your audience is going to learn much more from the quick clip of the person actually doing the sweeping than the video of someone explaining the process. 

Show, don’t tell. 

Don’t create a video that tells all about the fun atmosphere of your company, show clips of employees enjoying the catered lunch, celebrating the office manager’s birthday, and chatting in the breakroom. 

This is one great way to make your corporate videos more interesting. 

In your corporate video strategy, outline specific ways of showing instead of telling. 

Emotion is a driving force in decision-making. Find a way to create some type of emotional connection through your video. 

Maybe that is done by depicting the emotions of others, such as someone crying after a coworker spoke harshly or someone laughing with a friend. 

Maybe your emotional connection comes from a story shared by a great storyteller. 

Maybe you appeal to the nostalgic history of the company. 

Whatever it is, try to make some type of emotional connection with your audience through your video. 

Not only will viewers remember more, but they are also more likely to take positive action. 

According to one Harvard scholar, “Emotions constitute powerful and predictable drivers of decision making.” 

An emotional connection will make your point memorable and more likely to be implemented. Employees will be more likely to align their actions with the goal of your video if you create an emotional connection. 

It is hard to know if you are successful if you do not have a way to measure success. 

Define what success looks like for your project and create a tracking method that will allow you to decide if you have reached the goal you set. 

If you are creating a video hoping to encourage more friendly, team-oriented applicants to submit the resumes for your new opening, consider tracking how many new applicants you get and how many of them fit your specific criteria. 

If you are hoping to reduce workplace injuries with better explanations of safety protocols, you might be able to measure the number of injuries still happening after the video and their relation to the content you created. 

What does success look like for this project? Deciding on a goal and finding a reliable way to track progress are vital parts of creating a great corporate video strategy. 

At the end of the day, none of your strategizing matters if you do not have a great team producing the video. 

Even the best corporate video strategies have holes, and a professional can help you catch these before it is too late. 

Finding a professional team to help you… 

• Create your strategy 
• Plan production
• Film and edit the video; and 
• Handle all the other details along the way 

… is key to helping you create a valuable corporate video. 

Here at Houston Video, we are in the business of helping our clients create beautiful, professional, and effective corporate videos. We specialize in helping our clients create corporate video strategies that lead to results. 

We have worked with many different corporations to help them create content that accomplishes their goals consistently and efficiently. 

Set up your free consultation today and take your corporate video strategy game to the next level.