Whether you’re producing your first corporate video for your business or tenth, there are lots of traps that you could fall into.

In this post, I’m going to talk you through the 8 most common mistakes people make when they are producing a corporate video for their business. And more importantly, I’m going to tell you how to avoid making them.

It would be a huge waste of the time, money and resources it takes to produce a video, only to fall at the first hurdle. But the good news is that once you know what these common mistakes are, you’ll know how to avoid them.

So, without further ado, let’s get started…

1. Not thinking about your target audience

When you’re planning to produce a video for your business, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of producing something that you would like to watch.

But it’s so important throughout the process of producing a corporate video, not to lose sight of who you are producing a video for – your target audience, your prospects, your potential clients or customers.

Essentially, this means don’t be too sales heavy in your video, or have long, boring clips of your CEO or MD speaking to camera. And don’t focus on the features of your product too much, as this will just become uninspiring for your viewers and they will stop watching.

How to avoid this mistake

First of all, always keep you target audience in mind when writing the script and coming up with ideas and concepts for your video. And also, all the way through the filming and editing process too.

You need to focus on the problems your target audience may be facing and why they are looking for a solution to their problem. Think about their needs and interests and what makes them tick.

If you’re not entirely sure on who your target audience is, do some research. It will really help to know what they do and don’t like. What sort of videos do they enjoy watching? What problems are they facing on a day to day basis? How can you help to solve these problems?

As mentioned above, don’t focus too much on the features of your product or service; instead, think about the benefits that your product or service will bring to your target audience.

2. No clear objective in your video

It may sound very obvious, but it’s been done so many times. Don’t start down the road of producing a corporate video if you don’t know what you want it to achieve.

It can be very tempting to launch right into producing a video for the homepage of your brand new website, for example, but you need to consider what your goals are with this new video. Do you want to raise awareness of your brand? Or do you have a new product or service that you are launching? Whatever it is you want your video to achieve, make sure you think about it carefully, throughout the whole process.

The content of your video should reflect your objectives for your video as well as the wider aims and goals for your business as a whole.

How to avoid this mistake

There is no point at all in making a video for the sake of making a video. You will reap far greater rewards if you think about a problem you want to overcome or a goal you want your business to achieve.

Perhaps you are launching a new online piece of software and you want to encourage people to try it out. A video is a great way to encourage people to sign up for a free trial.

As soon as you know what it is you want your video to achieve, you’ll have a much clearer idea of how to get there and make your video a success.

3. Producing a video that’s too long

So now you’ve filmed your video, it’s time to sit down at the computer and start editing. As with every stage of producing a video, you need to think about your target audience when you’re editing. At the same time, however, you need to keep in mind the message you want to deliver as well as making your video creative and engaging.

Remember, that the average human attention span is just 8 seconds!

So unless you’re producing a training video, keeping your video short and sweet is going to see a much better conversion rate than a long video would.

When you’re looking through all the great shots you’ve filmed it can be a difficult job choosing which ones to include in your video and which ones to leave out. But using every shot is going to make your video too long and boring, and it will probably mean that your message gets lost or miscommunicated as well.

How to avoid this mistake

In short, keep your video as short as possible! If you see a great shot that you’d love to use, take a step back, think about it and ask yourself the following questions:

Is it completely relevant to the message you’re trying to deliver?
Is it going to distract the audience?
Will it add anything to your video?

If not, then leave it on the cutting room floor!

4. Trying to deliver too many messages

The most effective corporate videos generally deliver one single message.

If you try and cram in lots of messages into a single video, chances are that your viewers are going to get lost, confused and ultimately stop watching.

We recommend that you only try to deliver one message in a video. You could stretch this to two if you need to; any more than two and your video is going to become messy and lose its direction.

Just this one simple tip will help to keep your video focused and enable your viewers to enjoy watching it.

How to avoid this mistake

Think about your target audience and the goals and objectives for your video. What message do you want to deliver to your viewers?

If there’s more than one, break them down into bite-size nuggets and choose one or two of these for this video.

Consider delivering any other messages you want to communicate to your viewers in a series of different videos.

5. Forgetting your Call-to-Action

Still thinking about your objectives for your video? You’ll most likely want your viewers to take some sort of action after watching your video, which means including a Call-to-Action (CTA) in your video, usually at the end.

Your viewers aren’t mind-readers! They need to be told what you want them to do. Not all of them will do it, but you can be sure that a lot more people will do what you want them to do if you spell it out to them.

Maybe you want them to sign up to your newsletter, take free trial of your software, download a freebie you’ve created or simply share your video with their friends and colleagues. Tell them – subtly!

How to avoid this mistake

Always, always, always include a CTA in your videos, especially if it will help you to achieve the objectives for your video. And remember, it needs to be clear, persuasive and relevant to your target audience and your brand.

6. Not thinking about video placement

When you finish editing your video, the first urge you might have is to get it online – and fast! But just take a few minutes to think about where you want to use your new video, to ensure that it reaches the largest number of people from your target audience as possible.

Ideally, you should be thinking about where you are going to showcase your video online, right from the outset of the project. But sometimes this is something this is overlooked.

How to avoid this mistake

Try and think about video placement whilst you are writing the script and concept for your video. If you’re producing the video for Facebook, remember that due to the way Facebook works, some viewers may watch it without audio.

If your video is going to be used on your website’s home page, think about what other features are going to be sitting around the video and whether they will detract from it.

Maybe you’re producing this video to show at a conference or event you are exhibiting at. It’s unlikely with all the people attending the conference that viewers will be able to hear your video, so you may want to consider adding subtitles to your video; this way people stopping to look at your stand and your video will be able to read the message you’re trying to deliver.

7. Too much talking, not enough showing

The one main feature of video is that it is visual! So you need to take full advantage of this by showing your message rather than just saying it. Keeping things visually stimulating for your viewers will help to maintain their engagement and they are much more likely to remember your brand and your message.

For example, instead of filming a member of your team talking about your product, try filming your product in use and overlaying this footage over the interview.

There are some things which could be difficult to show on camera, but wherever possible try and utilise the power of visual content.

How to avoid this mistake

When you’re coming up with the concepts for your video, think about how you can showcase your product or service in action. Use footage to overlay interviews and long clips of dialogue to liven things up for your viewers.

8. No video marketing strategy

Just like all marketing, your video needs to be marketed correctly in order to make it a successful and effective investment for your business.

You need to come up with a strategy that will help your video go as far and wide as possible and ultimately, how to present your video to your target audience.

Unfortunately, there’s more to a video marketing strategy than just uploading your video to YouTube and waiting for the views and orders to come rolling in!

How to avoid this mistake

Build a solid plan for how you aim to showcase your video to your target audience. This could be through word of mouth, press releases, social media, email marketing, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) and so much more.

Conclusion

And there we have it! A list of the 8 most common corporate video mistakes. Now you know what they are and how to avoid them, you’re well on your way to producing a fantastic corporate video for your business.

If you need any help with any part of your video, whether it be script writing, planning, filming, editing or anything else, please feel free to get in touch with us, by calling 01902 544 317, or send me an email at matt@visual8.co.uk

Here’s to your video success!

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