It is one thing to decide to follow the growing trend to use videos as a marketing technique. It is quite another to create a winning video if you have not until now had any experience with this media form. So here are a few suggestions to guide you through your first video production.

Decide on your subject.

What is it that you want to communicate? What message do you want to get across to your viewers? What do you want to accomplish by using this marketing technique? What is your target audience? The first step is to answer these questions and then start planning exactly how you want to present your topic to meet your objectives. During this planning stage prepare a script and decide who you are going to use to present the video.

Be professional.

If you are comfortable with all the paraphernalia of filming – camera, tripod, lighting, audio – you will probably manage perfectly well yourself. If not, you need to weigh up the benefits, and costs, of hiring a professional film maker. If you decide to go it alone, at the very least you need to accustom yourself with the technology of video making, if necessary, read extensively about videography before you start. Practice using different angles and lighting until you are happy with your results.

Your soundtrack is a very important aspect of the entire production and so your choice of a narrator is crucial. Great narration can make the difference between an amateurish effort and a polished, professional marketing video. And don’t forget to support your narrator using graphics and subtitles.

Finally, keep it interesting, keep it entertaining and, most of all, keep it short! Certainly no more than 5 minutes, preferably less, if you want to hold the attention of your viewers throughout the video.

Edit, edit, edit.

Once you’ve completed the shooting of your video you are half way there. The next step is to edit your production to remove all superfluous images and to add any special effects or text necessary. To do this you will need to invest in a reasonably good video editing software such as Windows Movie Maker. Be sure to make a copy of the original video before starting to edit it, particularly if you are not yet conversant with the editing software! It’s a good idea, at this stage, to bring in family, friends or colleagues who would be prepared to give you some good, constructive criticism.

When the video clip is as perfect as you can make it, you need to decide where to post it.

Choose the right video directory

YouTube is still dominating the video market and more and more advertisers are using this previously social video directory to market their brands. If you choose YouTube it is preferable to create your own YouTube Channel – a simple procedure which is automatically created when you sign up for a YouTube account. This gives you your own YouTube URL and enables you to create a profile for yourself which you can link back to your own website.

Upload your video

Now its time to upload your video and wait for results. Don’t rest on your laurels though. However good your final product might have turned out to be you need to promote it through e-mails, newsletters, blogs, social networks, and, of course, your own website.