For many people who are not as savvy with the latest social media trends, or do not have time to give it the attention it requires to understand all of the available options, exploring something new can be quite daunting. I know myself that as platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and the plethora of Apps that keep popping up as another new alternative to build awareness of Preface Films or raise my own professional profile, my mind sometimes feels like it may explode.
Many of my clients and colleagues are feeling a strong sense of ‘overwhelm’.
How is it possible to keep up to date?
Which options are right for my business?
There just isn’t enough time in each day and we all feel the fear of trying something that may not even work.
As a Video Content Producer, part of my role is it help guide my clients with choices that are suitable for their goals. In order for me to do this effectively I must first get to the root of why my clients want to create video content in the first place.
There are a number of reasons why an organisation may choose to develop video content including:
• they feel they need to
• to refresh their brand
• to give their clients an insight into what they offer
In some cases these goals are to help convert the client, and nudge them in the direction of making a purchase decision. In other cases it may be to increase brand awareness. Once I understand this, we can then agree a goal for the video content and develop an approach that’s suitable and fit for the desired purpose.
The Client or Buyer Journey
If you are new to reading our blog, welcome. As a strategic thinker, I’ve spent some time this year helping my community better understand ‘The Buyer Journey’. I don’t want your business to ‘do video’ just for the sake of it or because you are feeling external pressure to add it to your content repertoire. Instead, I’d like you to please take some time to think about how a client or buyer interacts with content that is shared by a brand or an organisation.
Most habits commence at the ‘emotional’ point where people are searching for a product or service, when they are in ‘research mode’ and are likely to engage with content that they feel emotionally connected to.
Once they have narrowed down some options from an initial search, they will start digging more until they make their final buyer choice. Conversion to a product sale or a commitment to engage your services is ultimately what everyone wants, but we must first take the buyer through that journey, or we are much less likely to be considered.
Case Study: Legal People
Legal People is a leading, highly reputable specialist legal recruitment agency located in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD. As one of the first established legal specialist recruitment agencies in Australia, this business has been successfully operating for 45 years!
Sharon Henderson is one of the leading, most respected specialist legal recruiters in Australia and the Director and Owner of Legal People. Sharon and her Consultants were keen to start on their video production journey and were curious about which video content was right for them.
In my first meeting I was keen to understand why they were wanting to start their video journey. I then explored each stage of The Buyer Journey with them to help build their understanding of how their clients and candidates could potentially interact with video content.
Once we established the key goal of brand awareness, I went away to do my research and then recommended an About Us video that embraced who they are and what they stand for. Knowing that the team had not created any video content prior to this and were open to guidance as to the type of content that would brand them well, I felt the best way to do this was to explore and find examples that would illustrate my vision. This was not easy. Recruitment and especially legal recruitment videos, are few and far between. Especially ones that are at the standard suitable for Legal People.
Working with a team who felt a little camera ‘shy’, it was essential that I factored this in when making recommendations for a suitable approach. Rather than focusing my attention on the local scene, I wanted to explore suitable examples from around the world. To give the team a full understanding of current video content, I shared an article that contained 5 Great Recruitment Videos on YouTube and Why They Work.
There were 2 examples that stood out in this article.
The first was the Apple Recruitment video. This is quite a lengthy clip with lots of interviews and some very cool shots to break it up. I had two concerns with this type of video; the length and the interviews. By no means is this a bad video, but it was not the right approach for Sharon and her team.
The second clip in this article was the Humana. The video length was far more appropriate for the goal but was more geared towards their own company.
I then came across The Counsel Network. “Hooray!” I thought, “Finally a legal recruitment agency (based in Vancouver) that has a strong message”. Their approach, talking about who they were, is what I felt would work well. But we still had a problem. Their staff were speaking on camera.
And then finally I found it. The Lucas Group Executive Recruiting video. This was the inspiration we needed to commence the journey to produce their video. Think Bespoke wrote the script and we worked with Sharon and her team to storyboard the types of shots that highlighted their personalities and shared their strengths.
It’s with much excitement that we created an About Us video that felt comfortable, reflected the Legal People values, vision and mission and showed the team as the amazingly powerful and compassionate legal recruiters they are!
If you are in recruitment and looking at starting your video journey, call us so we can help you find what’s right for you!