How to Improve the ROI of Your Marketing Video
Showcase your video whenever you can.
At Prodigium Pictures, we create marketing videos to help purpose-driven businesses grow. However, in our 10 years as a company, we have observed that while many businesses are interested in investing in a video, many are unsure of how to maximize their video’s ROI. The truth is, a well-made video is one of the most effective long-term marketing investments you could make for your business.
There are a wide variety of ways your business can utilize a video: both on and offline. Your work does not end when you upload your video to a YouTube channel or a Facebook page, it’s only the beginning. In this article, we wanted to share some of the lesser-known ways that companies can use a video to market and grow their business.
1. Exhibitions
No matter what you sell (software, services, products, etc.) exhibitions and trade shows can help you get more exposure for your business. If you’ve been to an exhibition before, you may have noticed that many brands showcase a video at their booth. Videos are a great way to grab the exhibition-goers’ attention and increases the chance of them engaging with team members at your booth.
2. Press Coverage
Speaking of exhibitions, one of the major reasons brands attend these large events is to get the attention of journalists from industry-relevant media outlets.
If you can’t attend these events, you can also send your press releases directly to journalists through your own marketing department or a PR agency. Media platforms are always looking for newsworthy subjects to impress their readership, but they often receive an overwhelming number of these releases, so it's important to make your release stand out. The more interesting info and digital assets your company can provide in the press release, the easier it is for the journalists to determine whether or not they want to feature you. When journalists see that you have a quality video, they see it as an asset they can use to effectively engage readers.
You may also want to send two different versions of your video to journalists: one with title overlays and one without them. “Title overlays” are the text and subtitles that overlap with the images of your video. Usually, your video editor adds these overlays to the video, but you should also have a “clean version” without them for your press kits. Why? Sometimes, these online platforms have their own video editors who re-edit the video to display the platform’s logo at the end. In these instances, the platform’s editors usually prefer if the video provided is “clean.”
As a video production company, we provide clients with both the “clean” and subtitled/text overlayed versions of their video, so that they can easily send whichever version a media outlet desires.
3. Announcements / Updates About Your Business
Videos are a great way to get out an announcement about your business (ex. an update to your service, a new product, etc.). A video can help viewers easily understand how and why your business is making a change.
If you are announcing a new product or service that could appeal to existing customers, you should also include your video in an email announcement to past customers or current subscribers.
4. Pitching / Presentation
Videos can be a great asset when pitching to private investors, venture capitalists, or judges at grant competitions. Opening your presentation with a video can help set the right tone for potential investors. A video with stunning visuals and well-timed music can help grab their attention right off the bat, so they already have a positive impression of your team when you start giving your live presentation. Beginning a pitch presentation with a video also helps your team members go into a pitch with confidence.
Many startups also consider raising funds through crowdfunding. If you are getting ready to develop your product and market it to customers, crowdfunding can be a great source of both funds and publicity to tap into. In addition to raising money, crowdfunding can also help you gauge what niche(s) is/are the right audience for your product.
A video is an essential part of almost any successful launch on a crowdfunding platform. Your crowdfunding video can be the same video you use for media outlets, social media, pitches, etc. Many of our clients have done this, or even used an extended version of their video for their crowdfunding campaign.
Case Study — Mui Lab
Finally, we wanted to share the story of Mui Lab, one of our clients who successfully utilized their video in a variety of contexts, ultimately winning a major award in their field. Mui Lab is a Japanese tech startup based in Kyoto that brings calm and natural design to modern tech products.
After completing their video, which featured animated “product demos” and founder interviews, we delivered multiple video formats for them, including a longer crowdfunding video, a shortened Instagram video, and a clean video for press releases. Note that they decided to use a longer video (with founder interviews) for crowdfunding because the Kickstarter community often supports projects when they resonate with a founder’s vision and passion. Check out this version of the video below:
For investor pitches and pitch competitions, Mui Lab used the longer video minus the founder interviews, since the founders were present at the actual pitch, and filmed founder interviews would have felt redundant.
For the Instagram video (which was also used on Facebook), we added a text animation with motion graphics. Since Instagram only allows up to 1 min of video content on their platform (unless you use IGTV), we needed to shorten the video. Note that short isn’t necessarily a negative: a 1 min video can actually be an advantage when it comes to appealing to people who may be casually scrolling and have short attention spans.
It was also important that all social media versions of the video had captions. Captions not only make your videos more accessible, they also ensure that all viewers hear your full message, even if their computer or phone’s sound is turned off. It’s very common for Facebook and Instagram users to play videos without audio, so captions are important on those two platforms in particular.
Mui Lab also sent their video to a number of media platforms, most of whom wanted the “clean” version of the video without text overlays. Some platforms wanted a clean version specifically so that they could reformat the video to fit their platforms’ parameters.
The video ended up being accepted by several publications, and Mui Lab received a splash of media coverage. Mui Lab also went on to be selected for “The Best of Kickstarters of 2018” award at the 2019 CES conference ( a well-known tech and innovation conference).
About Prodigium Pictures
We hope this article was helpful for you, and if you are interested in promoting your business with video, we would love to hear from you!
More about us: Prodigium Pictures is a Californian production company founded in 2011. We specialize in Social Impact Entertainment and we produce commercials that allow people to rethink their assumptions, engage in critical thought and make better choices for their own lives.
For more information, please visit www.prodigium-pictures.com.
