Half of the world’s citizens are visual learners. They would rather be shown how to do something, than read about it. Yet for years, marketing was stuck in the printing press era. Slowly churning out text after text and leaving the visual learners with few options but to click out. But technology is a fast moving train and in a very short time not only has video become accessible, it’s become standard.

But that fast moving train is still chugging down those tracks. Video is getting cheaper to produce and more importantly more avenues are opening up that you can use it in. So what are the Top 3 things you should know to get the most for your money?

1) Respect The Video

Think about the credits of any movie you’ve seen. Is there just one name? Quality video requires knowledge in writing, graphic design, audio engineering, lighting, cinematography, directing, producing and tens of thousands of dollars in equipment that doesn’t just fall off of trees. In my lifetime I’ve never had a career that fits the adage “You Get What You Pay For” more than video. If you skimp, it will be reflected in your brand.  Take your time to find the right production house. In the long run you will save money and your brand’s good name will be enhanced.

2) Storytelling Will Never Die

While the industry is constantly popping with new flashy technology such as Virtual Reality and 3D video, in the end the one thing that will never go out of style is a good story. Stories keep the viewers attention and engagement and can literally make a customer out of a skeptic. Every business, every product, every employee has a story. Take the time on the front end to define that story. For example, one of my bread and butter clients for years was a Ford dealership. We produced 3-4 TV commercials a month. Rather than just spouting SALE! SALE! SALE! for :30 seconds, we would use an actress to show the vehicle being used in every day situations, like her dropping her kids off at school, or taking the family to the river. This gave the viewer a “hey, I do that too!” moment and they begin creating videos in their mind of the times they’ve done the same thing. The engagement goes up, as do the sales sheets at the end of the month.

3) Three Words: Leverage, Leverage, Leverage.

Quality video is still not cheap to produce. So make the most out of it! Anticipate your video needs down the line and shoot everything you can, while you can because every time your producer has to set up and tear down a set, the price of your video goes up substantially.  Then, once that video has been shot, leverage it for more than just one purpose. Again I’ll use the Ford dealership as an example:

About twice a year we’d take 3-4 of the vehicles that were anticipated to be the dealerships sales priorities and take them out on the road and get driving footage of them going through well known parts of town that people could identify and say “hey, that’s where I drive too!”.

We then had an archive of stock footage that could be used in a myriad of different ways. Social media has opened up a laundry list of new avenues to leverage and present videos. Facebook takes videos that are directly uploaded (as opposed to providing a YouTube link) that auto-start in a viewer’s newsfeed and instantly sets it apart from other content. But it doesn’t stop there. Instagram allows videos up to :60 seconds now. Twitter allows up to :30 seconds of video. 

So now you have video social media posts! Specials, featured items, announcements, etc. can now all feature moving pictures to grab the eye of the viewer. And since you invested in a good archive, you can now produce them for pennies on the dollar, and what would have been a 2 minute web video can be leveraged into a TV commercial, an Instagram post about a sale item, a Facebook feature about a service you want your customers to know about, and a Tweet that is far more than just 140 characters.

Marketing projects are viewed as a “campaign” not as a “one off”. Do the same with video and you will open up a brave new world and save thousands of dollars while doing it. The lights are set; the camera is speeding…so take action!

Scott Elnes is a former TV weatherman who went on to be a video producer at Xbox (Microsoft) and produced content with the likes of Disney and Lucas Arts that aired in 11 different countries. He works as the Video Production Director at Charisma! Communications.