Corporate videos have a distinct goal and that is to open a conversation between the client and their potential customers. The concept of awareness speaks to all aspects. From product awareness in the consumer’s mind to Production elements within the creation of the video. Even the best get into routines and need refreshing of the basic elements for the upcoming trends. There are some key components that every production needs and some fatal errors that can impede on creating an effective video. Here are some of the mistakes that ruin any potentially good production before the client ever gets the chance to post the video.

• Making the Video Too Long: The modern attention span starts to drift every 8 seconds. This means you need to capture their attention quickly. You have to create interest for them to continue watching the video within the first 10 seconds. Although your format might be a minute or longer you can always do with shorter. If you have a 60-second spot try editing it down to 53. You can always fill in the remaining time with a visual displaying the company’s information. Viewers will subconsciously notice a shorter ad usually in a favorable manner.
• Too Much Information: This is an extension of the length problem but even a short video can suffer from information overload. Speak to your viewers and get them wanting more. The idea is to drive a desire within the viewers for them to seek more information on their own. Of course, you want to provide them with links to easily find more information or watch other videos. Each video should really one have one target message to get across. Perhaps the first one a viewer sees informs them about the product and the company adding a desire they may have a connection for. Other videos will rely on the viewer having watched this initial video so you get down to a specific detail.
• Not Having a Well Formatted Script: Even though the finished video might be short it still needs a script. The script might require dialogue or just be a series of production shots or edited cues but it still needs to be written down. The battle of working in a client orientated business is pleasing the client throughout all phases. A lot of times the client has an idea of what they want and hires an outside company to get it done. The creation of the script will go back and forth between the production company and the client. This is not always the best way to deliver the message to the customer. Clients that have their own scripts often forget they are too close for comfort and need an outside opinion. Production writers need feedback about the product form the client and both should work symbiotically. Often times ads are over plugged with buzzwords. This might have worked to drive interest in the past but just sound like they don’t know what they are talking about. I like to hear a good sale but experience has made me suspect to the word. Write the scripts with the notion of explaining the product and its desire to the potential customers. A natural story element should develop with the idea of expanding product awareness. This will follow to further communication between company and customer.
• Not Knowing Your Audience: Corporate videos are made for specific audiences. Knowing where the viewers will see them is half of that battle. If you are creating a video for social media the audience is different than one being aired on television. Talk to the client about each video concept and be specific about where it will post. Maybe all this needs is a slight tweaking or re-editing. Being aware of this is part of the native advertising rage dominating the commercial market.
• Using Inexperienced Actors: This is a tricky one since a lot of corporate videos want to feature interviews with company executives or actual product users. Hopefully, you can sort through the options and find the best speakers. But another part of this mistake is hiring actors that just can’t communicate the idea of the product successfully. Advertisers use beautiful girls to sell every product under the sun but that doesn’t always create a desire for the product itself. Finding someone to speak about the client’s product should be a natural synthesis to the users. They don’t have to be beautiful they have to be more relatable.
• Sharp Editing Cuts: Video editing is a fine art and knowing the precise millisecond to mark your ins and outs is best left to a professional. Uncomfortable cuts can jar the viewer’s attention and distract them from the video’s message. Amateur editors tend to use annoying transition wipes to give it a more cinematic feel but this is far from the best quality.
• Playing the Wrong Music: Just because you like a song doesn’t mean it is right for the product. The music selected should seep nicely into the background of the viewer’s mind. It should give the video a little more liveliness than without it. Also, resist from paying too much for music cues. There are wonderful selections of affordable library music. You could as well find bands in your local cities.They might have songs you could use for the low fee of exposure.
• Annoying Animation: If your video features animated graphics then make sure they appear clearly on the screen and are not too flashy. Animated graphics can be nice additions to a video. However, they should not be overly distracting or overload the screen with too many features. Keeping them moving at a pace that is calming on the eyes is also important.

In the end, a production company must please the client and that is really only done by seeing increases in product sales. It would be nice to make a corporate video that goes viral or stimulates the art of cinema. But these lofty goals are distractions from the main aspect of selling a product. Keep the videos simple and direct or choose to go in a new direction but “know” what you are going to do and stick to that plan.

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