DIY business videos really are simple.
It doesn’t take a year’s marketing budget or a production company to create video content to engage your customers.
Creating business videos yourself is easier than ever thanks to technology and digital platforms. Even a small team with a smartphone and a good idea can make DIY video.
Here are some ideas to kick start your video production:
Time lapse video
The easiest kind of video is one that requires no editing but that gives you the most visual bang for your buck – time lapse video.
Setting up for an event, moving into new premises, on the road to a new client – there are many ways that you can tell a story about your business with a compressed version of an event or experience.
The key to a good time lapse video is ensuring there will be lots of movement in what you’re filming (people coming and going, items being moved, weather patterns) and picking a good out-of-the-way spot that captures it all.
Share to social feeds or stories and boom, you’ve created your first video!
Go Live
Live is a hassle-free video-making option perfect for content for your social feeds.
At a trade show or event, let the world see your stand, capture a presentation by one of your team or record the unboxing of a new product. In the field with a customer? Hit record and capture a quick case study interview.
It doesnt have to be fancy, but the benefit of live video is that… it’s live; there’s no re-doing it again and again until it’s perfect. Accept that you’ll never be completely satisfied but it’s over and done with in one take regardless. Audiences are happy to trade quality for authenticity as well as insight into something timely and “special”.
The key to building an audience, is creating a buzz before. Invite viewers via socials, emails or even in person. Interview a guest or client and invite them to also share the event with theri team before hand to build interest.
Read: Live video explodes reach and visibility online
Piece to camera videos
Using your smart phone or webcam puts video production firmly in your control. Prepare a spiel, check there’s no food between your teeth and press record; it really is that simple.
Record messages to send to prospects in an email, create a video introduction about yourself as an email footer or deliver industry insights to sit on Linked In or stories.
The more you put yourself in front of the camera, the more confident and relaxed you’ll get. Build recording messages into your daily to-do list and before you know it, you’ll have a video library made on a budget.
Montage
If you or someone in your team has editing skills, a cut-to-music montage is a highly engaging way to create a buzz around an event and feature people, activities and sponsors taking part.
A montage is an editing technique that combines a series of short shots together to condense space, time and information and is often set to music.
It’s often referred to as a “happy faces” video because ideally it should feature lots of happy faces at your event, which in reality you may have to engineer. You’ll need a good eye for capturing eye-popping visuals and a killer music track, but the result will be a highly engaging video that you can use long after everyone’s gone home.
Check out some examples of event videos in our portfolio
Explainer videos
If you don’t have the capacity or technical skills to create your own business video, then there are plenty of promotional video-making apps out there.
Promo, Animoto and Biteable are just a few that enable to you to select their templates, stock footage and production music tracks to create short and punchy pro-looking videos to order. Or if your service or product is better explained through animation, Doodly, Powtoon and Vyond offer a similar experience but with animation.
It gives you the ability to make your own videos easily and affordably.