Should your company make a brand video?
For me, the answer is quite simple: no. But let me explain why creating a brand video could be a massive waste of money and time.
In the book “The 1-Page Marketing Plan” which all business owners should read, Allan Dib describes actions like this as the quickest way to kill your business. Following the path of the top 1% of companies like Nike, Amazon, and so on that have 10’s of millions to spend getting their brand videos seen by everyone is not the way to go.
In fact in his latest book “Lean Marketing” he doubles down on this. I would agree completely with these views and would encourage you to read the books so you can form your own opinion.
But now, let’s take a look at what a brand video actually is.
When we look at a brand video, it is a very strange video. It offers no value to a viewer. It doesn’t really sell anything. It’s not an ad. It’s not content. So what is it?
Brand videos seem to be well-shot, pretty pictures that a company uses to pat itself on the back. It’s very odd.
The Purpose Of A Brand Video
The purpose of video is to create engaging, valuable content targeted at an audience that converts to sales. It is not meant to be an ego stroke. Who wants to watch or engage with that?
When we get asked to create brand videos, we always ask the same question and are met with the same answer. The question we ask is “Why would somebody want to watch that?”, then we are met with “Huh, I don’t know?”.
And if you want evidence of this, go to a company website, and hit the icon for their YouTube or Vimeo channel where their brand video is hosted. What you will find is that most of these brand videos just sit there, getting no views or engagement.
Some even have less than 100 views after months! This is a complete waste of time and resources. Surely you can see this for yourself?
The real problem with branding videos is they are not really anything. The company thinks the video is great but unfortunately, your customers don’t work there so they have no interest. The reason I always ask “Why would somebody want to watch that?” is to get companies thinking about the viewer.
If we look from the viewer’s perspective, branding videos wouldn’t even exist. And the views on most of them would suggest that I am completely right.
So what kind of videos should your business make?
For me, it is very simple. By generating 1 million views and topping the podcasts, all organically, I have seen a common trend. I have tested my theories and tactics with clients and have had great success.
And it is very simple. When creating any piece of content, it MUST and I mean MUST create value for the viewer. Most companies can not do this.
If you create value for your intended viewer, I promise you that you will dominate your market. Businesses are so fixated on sales and selling that they turn people off and have to compete on price to generate sales.
Don’t believe me?? Go to the Instagram account of a well-known retail company or almost any company. Now look at their video views in relation to their followers. Is it a 1:1 ratio? Is it anywhere near a 1:1 ratio?
I am looking at a retailer here with a following of 86,000 but their videos struggle to get over 5,000 views!!
Where are the other 81,000 people???
The Truth About Your Audience
The truth is, nobody cares about what they produce because they are just selling and adding no value. More big brands are shutting down stores and pulling out of Ireland because of mentalities like this.
This puts you in an amazing position to compete at the highest level if you simply just create value for your target market. And the best part is, most of this can be done at a fraction of the cost of brand videos!
In reality, we want to create content that attracts our target audience, not just now but for many years to come. Creating this type of marketing asset for your business will prove to be a lot more profitable than any branding video.
For example, at the time of writing this, I haven’t made content for 4 months. But every month that content generates thousands upon thousands of views and watch hours.
This is what real content and real value is!! It should attract your target audience day in and day out.
If you think and produce content like this you will crush your competition! The best thing is that 99% of companies will not understand what you are doing. And they will certainly not try to replicate it and if they do, it will be done in a sleazy sales way.
At this point, I hope you can see how much of a time and money waste branding videos can be. The modern world is full of ads and companies trying to tell you they are the best. But if we are honest with ourselves, it’s tired and old.
People crave value, community, a movement and being part of something they can identify with. All you have to do is give it to them.